SECOND SUNDAY LUNCH December 8

Food for Friends and Fellowship. Invite someone you know to come to a worship service and lunch with Slow Roasted Prime Rib Carved to Order. Lunch is in the FLC 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. $12: adults, $6: 12-17 years, $3: 6 - 11 years, and under 6 free.

CHURCH CHRISTMAS CAROL SING-ALONG - This Sunday, December 8

In the SonShine Cafe from 9:00 - 10:30. Come sing along with the St. John's Bluegrass Ensemble. Free Coffee!

QUINTESSENCE CHRISTMAS CONCERT - This Saturday & Sunday, December 7 & 8

Join Quintessence this weekend as they present two performances of their holiday concert, “Gloria in Excelsis” in our sanctuary: Saturday at 5:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm. They will be joined by the Concert Choir from La Cueva High School for a performance of the Vivaldi “Gloria” with orchestra. St. John’s members can get a 15% discount on advance tickets at quintessence-abq.com by using the code SJUMC1920.

PRAYER IN ADVENT

Prayer in Advent is a 3-week advent study on prayer based on the book Listen: Praying in a Noisy World by the late Rueben P. Job. There is a weekly prayer practice for each of the 3 weeks: Sitting in Silence, Intentional Listening and Remembering God’s Love. These practices will be part of a structured daily session with prayer. Each Thursday we will have quiet time to calm the noisy Christmas shopping and discuss of your experiences and reflect and pray together. This is an opportunity for time during advent to prepare your heart again to receive the precious gift we receive in Jesus. Taught by Donna Berry, certified spiritual director and credentialed coach. If interested in taking this study, please call Debbie at 883-9717, ext. 138 or email her at reception@stjohns-abq.org to sign up.

MEMORY CAFE TEAM LEADERS NEEDED

We are looking to enlist the assistance of 4 or 5 more team leaders for our dynamic Memory Cafe  Program in 2020. We need a couple of volunteers to plan & provide simple monthly snacks and a couple of volunteers to help with quarterly program planning. If interested, call Angie Young at 715-0292 or sign-up in the Hospitality Center, and Angie will provide more details. 

REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR

Everyone loves advent calendars to count them down to Christmas Day. Have you heard of a REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR? So, here’s how it works. Pick up a Reverse Advent Calendar sheet at the Hospitality Centers or on-line HERE. Gather a box and each day beginning December 1, add a food item to your box at home. On Christmas Eve (or the Sunday prior) bring the collected items to the Hospitality Centers to be donated to Silver Horizons. Don’t want to do one by yourself? Find three other friends and each of you take a week filling the box. Or divide up responsibility for the box with members of your small group or Sunday School class. Whatever works for you! If you can’t do the Reverse Advent Calendar during the month, just do your own thing! Just find some way to help feed the hungry during the month of December.

JOLLY ELDERS

Enjoy Christmas carols with the Joy Singers and the Jolly Elders on Wednesday, December 11. Meet at noon in Room 245 for our shared dish dinner; afterwhich the Joy Singers, directed by Doug Arrington and accompanied by Tsufeng, will present their Christmas cantata. Doug will later lead us all in singing our favorite carols. Bring your own table service, a dish to share, and a smile. Adults of all ages are welcome!

YOU HAD TO BE THERE! AND MORE STUDY GUIDES ARE HERE! 

The crowd of people wanting a study guide for “A Look at Crowds in the Bible” exceeded expectations. New stock has been delivered. The readings for this time of year are short, so you won’t have any trouble catching up. Pick up a study guide in the Welcome Center, or call or write Regina Hunter to join the email study: 294-2877 & drhunter@nmia.com.

NEW MEXICHORDS CONCERTS:

The New MexiChords will present their annual Christmas concerts, A New Old Fashioned Christmas, on Saturday, Dec 21, at 2:00 and 7:30 and on Sunday, Dec 22, at 2:00 in the sanctuary. Their guests will be St. Johns’ own group, the Joy Singers. General admission tickets are $10.00 (under 6 are free) and they are good at any of the three concerts. Tickets will be available at the door or you can get one from members of the Joy Singers. Call 323-6435 for additional information.

MOUNTAIN CATHEDRALS

December 21, 2019; Corrales Acequias and Bosque Preserve; 8 AM to 1 PM (meet at St. John’s). More info - contact Kelly Giese or Mike Furnish. Next trip: Saturday, January 18. 

Our December hike will be close to town. The planned route will cross through a unique mixture of adobe homes, small farms, deciduous forest and pass near the Rio Grande. We will be able to identify a number of architectural styles of roofs: Spanish revival, pueblo style, Santa Fe style among them. The hike has no significant rise and remains on either dirt or asphalt trails.  We hope to see some wildlife, especially birds. In preparation for the hike dress in layers, bring sunscreen, some light snacks, binoculars if you have them and a hat if you like.  

As we walk we will share in a reading from Luke 2, the story of the birth of Jesus and the story of the announcement to the shepherds by angels. How are you now experiencing the good news of great joy? Come join us for this hike on the winter solstice as we reflect on what the Lord is making known to us, now.  

REVELATION CLASS - WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS

Wycliffe Bible Translators presentation Sunday, December 22nd at 9:30 in Classroom 149/151. Eric and Allison Pyle, daughter and son-in-law of Richard and Terry Bryant, will give a presentation on Eric’s current work with the Digital Bible Library, which provides access to the Bible in over 1,000 languages. Anyone interested is invited to attend.

CONGREGATIONAL INFORMATION MEETING

Wednesday, January 5 at 12:15 pm

Please join together in a congregational meeting in the Sanctuary. Building facility needs will be discussed and the schedule for the upcoming replacement of the roofs on our campus will be shared. (If you have questions prior to January 5th that you need answers to, please contact Jim Hickman.) We will also have reports from the Staff Parish Relations Committee and the Finance Committee. A capital campaign will be outlined. We look forward to your attendance!

Women's Bible/Book Studies Beginning in January 

First Corinthians, Living Love When We Disagree by Melissa Spoelstra (Bible study)

Tuesdays, January 14 – February 25, 2020 (7 weeks), 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., led by Dara Bell

Cost of study materials, $11; registration deadline, December 29, 2019

With more and more ways to communicate in a culture that encourages sharing the details of our lives, there exists greater and greater opportunity for disagreement. Our differences seem more pronounced. Our words sound more divisive. Even as Christians, we struggle to get along. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians living in Corinth about this very thing, encouraging them to not ridicule one another but to work together to show the love of Christ. In this six-week DVD study, you’ll explore Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and discover how to live love even when you disagree. 

Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilken (Bible study)

Tuesdays, January 14 – March 10, 2020 (9 weeks), 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. led by Ann Look

Cost of study materials, $13; registration deadline, December 29, 2019

Most of us have only encountered the Sermon on the Mount in fragments, considering its subdivisions as complete teachings in their own right – a study on blessedness ; a reflection on the Lord’s Prayer; a discussion of religious devotion, money, ambition, and relationships. But what if we navigated these three chapters in Matthew as they were originally heard: as one cohesive, well-ordered message, intended to challenge us to think differently about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven? Come and learn from Jesus, just as His disciples did.

God of Creation, a study of Genesis 1 - 11 by Jen Wilken (Bible study)

Tuesdays, January 14 – March 17, 2020 (10 weeks), 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., led by Donna Bruce

Cost of study materials, $14; registration deadline, December 29, 2019

The opening lines and chapters of Genesis teach us fundamental truths about God. We watch Him bring light after darkness, order after chaos, and rest after toil—all through the power of His Word. Over 10 sessions of verse-by-verse study, dive into the first 11 chapters of Genesis by following three critical stages of understanding: comprehension, interpretation, and application. Revisit familiar stories and historical figures, challenge your basic knowledge, and discover deeper meanings in the text. As God reveals Himself through Scripture, we can only begin to understand ourselves when we first glimpse the character, attributes, and promises of our Creator

Youth News

ROUND TABLE LEADERS MEET TODAY

This Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of the month & we will have our Round Table Students Leaders meet at 9:30 am up in Room 258. Same next week.

YOUTH CHRISTMAS PARTY CHANGES

Join us THIS SUNDAY @ Mesa View UMC (4701 Montano Rd NW, 87120) 4:00-7:00 pm for our Gift Exchange & Bake-Off; same great party; new venue. Bring a wrapped non-gender specific gift of $10 in value to swap/steal & bring a baked item you decorated. Tacky sweaters encouraged; food and music provided.

SOLID GROUND YOUTH GROUP HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Due to Lessons & Carols and Christmas, there will be no Sunday youth activities Dec 15 & Dec 22. We plan to join “The Collective” joint youth group event offsite for their event on Dec 29—details forthcoming. We will be back up and running full strength on Sunday, January 5.

SONRISE CHOIR

Hey there! Come sing with us in the Sonrise Youth Choir! Find us on Instagram here: instagram.com/sonrisechoir.

Learn more about our Youth programs here !

Click the image below to access our Advent & Christmas calendar!

CHRISTMAS FOOD BOXES: 2019

for the John Marshall Community Center

 

    Interested St. John’s church members are invited to participate in our program of providing Christmas food boxes to needy families served by the John Marshall Community Center in the south Broadway area of Albuquerque. This year’s timeline looks like this:

 

*by Sunday, December 15, commit to Jack Nuzum (tel. 265-5241, jcnuzum@juno.com , Room 151 at 9:30) as to the number of boxes which will be provided and by whom. There also will be a SIGN UP SHEET in the Hospitality Center/FLC with a suggested LIST OF CONTENTS for the boxes.

*on Saturday, December 21 , 2019 , bring the completed boxes to the west side of St. John’s between 8:00 and 9:00 am.  

*If the Saturday morning collection time doesn’t work for your boxes, we will also collect boxes FRIDAY (Dec. 20) EVENING BETWEEN 5:00-6:30 pm in the Narthex.  We will arrange for refrigerator space at the church for perishables overnight.

Weekly Activities

CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL/NURSERY

A Sunday nursery is available for young children in Room 138. See “This Week at St. John’s” for children’s Sunday School class locations.

NEW BOOK STUDY IN THE NEW SPIRIT CLASS - Sundays at 9:30 am

We in the New Spirit Class would like to invite congregation members to join us for an upcoming book study on Sunday mornings. We will be studying John Ortberg's I'd Like You More If You Were More Like Me: Getting Real About Getting Close. Ortberg is both insightful and humorous and this will be a study of developing relationships with God and others by avoiding common relationship pitfalls and responding to our need for others. The study starts on December 8, 2019, at 9:30 AM Sunday mornings, in Room 151.

FAMILY SPIRIT CLASS - Sundays at 9:30 am

The Family Spirit Class meets at 9:30 am Sunday on the second floor in the education wing across from the youth room. This Sunday, our Advent study continues with Amy-Jill Levine’s book, Light of the World: A Beginner’s Guide to Advent. This four-week study includes a weekly DVD presentation and discussion handout. Everyone is welcome. Please contact Doug Sweet if you have questions at 554-6047.

TAI CHI - Thursdays at 10:30 am in the Family Life Center

It’s a great time to join the Tai Chi class. Tai Chi does not require physical fitness or coordination and may be done standing or seated with some modification. All age groups are welcome. No special clothing or equipment is required. Contact kathleen_sta@yahoo.com or 220-4814.

Mission & Outreach

DECEMBER SPECIAL OFFERING: Two ministries for Children

This month, we have the opportunity to support two wonderful ministries dealing with children. The Methodist Children’s Home in Waco, Texas, has helped troubled children (ages 12-18) find a place to heal and grow in a loving Christian environment for over 125 years. Younger children thrive in homes of loving foster parents. “They (MCH) are here for me when no one else is.” “They never give up on us.” “I now know that God’s going to be there for me. A second Methodist-supported haven for children is Providence Place in San Antonio, Texas. Its motto says it all: “Giving God’s Children a Faith, a Family, a Future.” “Providence Place loved me and helped me make the best decision for my child without any pressure,” said one birth mother in the open adoption program. And, as an adoptive couple puts it, “It is indescribable the joy that Abby has brought into our lives.” Providence Place also helps young adults with physical and/or cognitive disabilities develop their full potential and learn to live on their own with minimal assistance. Both of these fine ministries rely on our generous donations.

MEMORY CAFE PROGRAM

 Join us on Saturday, December 14th at 2:30pm in the Sonshine Cafe. We will enjoy a Jolly Holiday sing-along, and decorate some holiday cookies. We will relax with some healthy, sit-in-a-chair, movement exercises, and we will craft a simple warm scarf project as a Community Outreach to Seniors in need this holiday!

ZUNI FOOD BOX DRIVE A HUGE SUCCESS

Thank you all UMW Circles, Preschool Plus, Therese & Children's Sunday School, the Family Spirit Class, the Looks, Eatons, and Perrys for the generous contributions to filling 15 Thanksgiving Food Boxes and providing 15 frozen turkeys for families in need at Zuni Elementary School this past week. Our support was deeply appreciated and our efforts were indeed a welcome Blessing for the families.

WAYS WE CAN SERVE

See what’s happening in December for missions at St. John’s! Come by the Hospitality Center to pick up your copy or download here .

JOIE DE VIVRE VISUAL ARTS MINISTRY

Joi de Vivre Visual Arts Ministry of St. John’s UMC celebrates the blessing of creative expression that has been bestowed upon all of God’s children. We are seeking input from the congregation and other interested parties who would promote both individuals and groups of artists or craftsmen to participate in an ongoing effort to curate and present images that bring glory to God through a gallery setting here at St. John’s. Please submit ideas or website information to Paul Chandler at (505) 260-0090. 

FAMILY PROMISE

Family Promise will be hosted at St. John's the week of January 12th -19th. Many hands make light work. Please stop by the Hospitality Center and Abide Service to sign to volunteer starting December 8th. Family Promise Volunteer Reorientation class will be held Tuesday, January 7th at 6 pm in RM 231. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Family Promise and recent changes our policies about hosting families. Have questions???? Contact Jenn Shields, 505-450-9978 (jennshields200@yahoo.com) or Linn Furnish, 505-884-6626 (swimsew@comcast.net)

This Week at St. John's

Contact Us

www.stjohns-abq.org

(505) 883-9717

2626 Arizona St NE | Albuquerque, NM 87110

Office Hours: Monday - Thursday, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm