Ever wake up the day after Christmas wondering if that was really what it was all about?  Do you want Christmas to be different?  To focus on things that really matter, rather than just things?  If you’re ready to experience something more out of Christmas and life then join us in worship on the four Sundays of Advent, beginning November 28.   This year First UMC, Hillsboro will experience “A Life-giving Christmas … keepin’ it real” in which we will discover a more meaningful way to celebrate the season and find hope for the New Year.  We will have opportunities to experience community in service and service to the community.  We will have the opportunity to pray and reflect on the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love the season of Advent announces and brings.  This Christmas we invite you to experience authentic joy … joy that doesn’t come with a price tag.    To get us started, here is a passage we will look at on November 28:  Romans 13:11-14

But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all you day-by-by obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God.  The night is about over, dawn is about to break.  Be up and awake to what God is doing!  God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed.  We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering an grabbing everything in sight.  Get out of bed and get dressed!  Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute.  Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! 

 Now consider these questions: 

• Where does time with God fall on today’s “to do” list?
• How is God at work today?  Where is hope?           
• What is your deepest hope this Christmas?  

 Individual challenge:  Name three things you will do differently this Advent season, substituting things that bring renewed hope and faith, rather than depleting energy and bank accounts.

Practical application:  You are encouraged to “fridge journal” throughout the season of Advent – keep a notepad on or near the refrigerator and jot down a time when God got you through something that, at the time, may have seemed hopeless.  Now look for ways to share that hope with people in the community.  Share Christ’s hope, and your hope will be increased as well.  Send a card to someone in the nursing home, write a note to a youth who may be having a tough time, or call someone to reconnect.

The United Methodist Men (UMM) of Hillsboro First United Methodist Church are an active group, reaching out and serving others in the community and the church as well. November has been a particularly busy month starting with hosting a joint breakfast meeting on November 5 with men from the First Presbyterian Church. Twenty-five men attended this meeting and were treated to a good breakfast and a thought-provoking talk by Rev. Delbert Taylor entitled “Living Thanksgiving”.  The next First Friday Breakfast meeting will be (December 3 at 7:00 am) at the Presbyterian Church and we hope men from other churches will join us.

Next up for this group was cooking and serving food for the November 17 Terrific Nights Together (TNT, a Wednesday night fellowship dinner at 5:30). This included the traditional turkey and dressing meal. Approximately 175 people were served. Scenes from TNT follow:

Next on the agenda was a Faith Builders workday at the house of a client in Hillsboro.  Faith Builders is an organization sponsored by the UMM, but not limited to just Methodists. The purpose of this group is to assist people in the community who need help in maintaining their homes. The specific project of this workday (November 20} was to replace ceiling tiles in several rooms. Seven workers completed this work on two of three rooms. Pictures follow:

The organized functions for the month conclude on November 22 when the group provides lunch for the students participating in the United Christian Fellowship (UCF) at Hill College. This will be another seasonal turkey and dressing meal with all the trimmings for about 50 students… and you know how they can eat!

If you are interested in participating with UMM in these kinds of service activities or desire more information, please call the church office (254-582-2342) and you will be contacted. Everyone is invited to participate.   

Wesley Academy Parents Day Out is a two day per week (Monday and Wednesday) program for children aged 6 months to 3 years of age. The program is dedicated to the development of every child: spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, socially, and physically. More information is available on the church website, click on Wesley Academy. Shown below are scenes of the Hillsboro High School cheer leaders’ visit with the children.

by Betsy Schwarzentraub

Some churches across our denomination follow the tradition of Stewardship Sunday. Regardless of whether we are naturally timid or passionate about the subject, this Sunday invites us all to engage in life-giving talk about joyful, faithful stewardship and how we can nurture generous living.

I say “living,” not “giving,” because generosity is much more than just giving. It has to do with how we receive, manage, and use our energy, time, abilities, relationships, money and possessions, as well as how we share these same gifts. Generous living flows out of a generous heart, which refers to our total nonverbal witness.

“First fruits living” is at the root of such radiant living and honest-to-God stewardship of the life God has entrusted to us. Our Mennonite sisters and brothers describe this biblical phrase as “giving the first and the best of all that God has entrusted to us, and using all the rest according to God’s generosity.” This embraces the whole of gospel living!

So Stewardship Sunday is really a great celebration! It’s a time to lift up the over-the-top beauty and goodness of our generous God and the quality of living freely and responsibly on God’s behalf. The Bible offers a wealth of texts on stewardship, including Jesus’ words in Luke 12:13-21 about being “rich toward God.” Or how about Matthew 6:24-34, where Jesus says we cannot worship both God and money, not to worry about our lives, and to trust our Creator. St. Paul is equally challenging and affirming in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 about acknowledging our abundant blessings, giving intentionally and with joyful abandon, and prompting a ripple-out effect overflowing with thanksgivings to God. Another outstanding passage is 2 Corinthians 4:5-7, about letting our earthenware lives cradle and then pour out the treasure of the gospel.

Wherever we look in the Scriptures, it’s all about stewardship — nurturing generous living in response to our extravagantly generous God. So have a terrific Stewardship Sunday!

* I found this article on the United Methodist Church website and thought it appropriate for us as we head into commitment/consecration/ stewardship Sunday on November 21.  May we all engage in generous living.In Christ, Pastor Donna

   I thought I would share this with you as we head toward Consecration Sunday on November 21: 

“We give, I believe, out of love and gratitude.  I don’t think the Lord wants one dime out of a sense of duty or guilt.  Quite often we think of it as a financial issue, but at its very heart, giving is really a spiritual issue.  And so we give out of love.  We give out of a deep sense of thanksgiving for all that God has done for us.  And we give because we really want to make a difference in the world.  Our mission is to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; and a major part of living out that mission is generous giving.”  –Bishop Lindsey Davis  President, General Council on Finance & Administration 

Do you live in a spirit of thanksgiving for all that God has done for you?  Or, are you like James Stewart in the movie Shenandoah who grudgingly prayed grace and thanks over a meal even though he told God he didn’t know why he was thanking God since he (the Stewart character) was the one who did all the plowing, planting, harvesting and preparing of everything on the table?   

When the Israelites entered the Promised Land God warned them not to think they got the land, crops, cattle, homes, and other “riches” by their own hand, but to remember that God had given them everything. 

Do we remember?  Are we thankful?  Where are our hearts?

 In Christ, Pastor Donna

As of Monday morning , November 1, this year’s Pumpkin Patch is over. Only a few bales of hay and a somewhat forlorn TAMU canopy remain on a lawn that was filled for two weeks with people and pumpkins. We owe a big thank you to Nanette Wyatt for leading us through this event.  She worked very hard and was supported and assisted by a large number of people from the congregation. We also had several hundred non-members visit the site and  participate in various ways.

As a reminder of what it was like, here are some pictures of the Wesley Academy visit to the PP: