Palm Notes

Worship Rewind

Christ The Lord Is With Me

Austen Hecker and Lauren McLeod shared a cover of "Christ The Lord Is with Me" by Steffany Gretzinger as the Song of Reflection at the December 17 "The Gathering."

Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)

The Praise Team shared a cover of "Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)" at the 8:30 a.m. worship on December 18.

That First Cry

The Chancel Choir shared "That First Cry" as their anthem at the 11:00 classic-style worship on December 18. The choir is directed by Anna Marie Kuether and accompanied by Dr. Janet Elshazly.

Other Events of Importance

Lowcountry Youth Wind Symphony Winter Concert

The Lowcountry Youth Wind Symphony shared their Winter concert on December 18 at Church of the Palms.

Sending Forth Service for Bishop Dease

A Sending Forth Service for Bishop Robin Dease was held at 4 p.m. on December 18 at St. Andrew by-the-Sea where Rev. Dr. Dease was the Senior Pastor.

Gift Bags Delivered to NHC

Anna Marie captures the departure of the gift bags, coordinated by the Evangelism Team, as they make their way to the residents of NHC (National Health Care) in time for Christmas!

Advent 2022

Jesus replied, “the most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

The Bible is filled with scripture about love. It’s God’s nature to love. Take time to look around you throughout the season and remember that God wants us to treat those around us with the same love he has shown to us. Think of how you can show God’s love to others, and what a difference that can make.

Christmas Eve Worship

Christmas Eve worship at Church of the Palms will be at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The 4 p.m. service will be in our contemporary-style while the 7 p.m. service will be in our classic-style. Music at both services will feature Anna Marie Kuether and Lauren McLeod. Both services will include Holy Communion and candle-lighting.

Unless designated, the offering received on Christmas Eve will go to support the Lowcountry Food Bank, which provides child hunger programs that reach children and their families with healthy food!

Christmas Day Worship

On Sunday, December 25, Christmas Day, one worship service will be offered at 10 a.m. This will be a relaxed, casual, come as you are worship experience with Holy Communion and the retelling of the Christmas story via lessons and carols.

Christmas Day Potluck

At noon, on Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25, Church of the Palms will join in a casual potluck dinner. We will combine what we can to form a community meal. The best part will be the opportunity to celebrate Christmas day with one another!

A SignUpGenius is available for you to let us know if you can attend and what you might bring! Contact Pastor Pete at 843-694-7447 or pete@palmsumc.org with questions and / or to help with organizing and setting up.

The Church Office will be closed on Monday, December 26 and Monday, January 2. Pastor Pete may be reached on his cell phone in an emergency: 843-694-7447.

New Opportunities to Serve

Opportunities to serve in various roles are listed in the January Worship SignUpGenius and the 2023 Flower Calendar is also available.

Sisters!! Bible Study

Sisters!! Bible Study will break for Christmas on December 21 and December 28, and resume January 4.

Beginning January 4, and on the first Wednesday of each month, Sisters!! will have a coffee social at 10 a.m. followed by study time from 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Merry Christmas to all.

Forks and Fellowship Dine Out Groups

New groups for January, February and March Forks and Fellowship are now forming. Even if you participated in the past you MUST sign up again. Please use SignUpGenius to put your name on the list or contact Dee Lehr at dee@palmsumc.org or 843-816-6775 or Sandi Goodwin at ssgoodwin@earthlink.net or 843-707-1291.

As a refresher and for those who have not participated, we are a group of people who get together once a month for a wonderful dining experience. We go in groups of 6 to area restaurants to get to know each other a little better and explore local dining. It can be for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.

The first host will organize the first month, contact all in their assigned group to coordinate the date that works for all and make reservations at the restaurant of their choice. The hosts rotate for the second and third months. If for some reason someone cannot make it, still go and invite a friend or couple from Church of the Palms and have a wonderful time getting to know each other.

Please sign up no later than December 20 so we can have the new groupings out to you by the end of the month.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dee Lehr or Sandi Goodwin.

New Bible Study begins January 8

Chariots of Fire

Room 106 at 9:45 a.m.

Chariots of Fire is a study of the Prophet Elijah, a Prophet during turbulent times in the history of Israel. Enduring adversity, doubt, and fear, through obedience and trust in God, a strong faith, with a dash of humility, Elijah not only prevailed but became one of the great Prophets of the Bible. The life of Elijah assures us that God's Power, Might, Wisdom, and Love helps us overcome life's trials and insecurities.

This four-week study will include a weekly study guide and the Bible is the only reading requirement. The facilitators are Larry Fullen and Harry Danforth. Please contact Larry at lbfullen@verizon.net.

Orderly Affairs - A Gift from the Heart

Bereavement is sponsoring a three-session seminar on preparing for someone to handle your affairs should you become incapacitated or pass away. Jerri Hanna, a resident of Sun City, will present the workshop on collecting such documents as medical information, funeral planning, income and expense sources, estate documents and online accounts.

The next workshop, to be held in January 2023, is limited to 12 attendees and consists of three one-hour sessions at 2 p.m. in Room 106:

• Fridays, January 13, 20, 27

The cost of the seminar is $20 and all you will have to do is bring a 1½ or 2-inch ring binder and 24 plastic sheet covers. All the workbook documents and forms will be provided for you.

Please sign up using SignUpGenius.

Contact Sandi Goodwin:ssgoodwin@earthlink.net or 843-707-1291.

Gideons International

Celebrating 2.5 Billion Seeds Sown as 2022 closes! The Gideons are one of our church’s Major Missions and your generosity this year has provided $3,600 or 2,250 scriptures toward this tremendous effort. As Christ followers we celebrate the 2.5 billion Scriptures provided by the Gideons in nearly 200 countries, territories, and possessions! Countless men, women, boys, and girls now have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thank you. If you have any questions about the ministry of Gideons International or how to provide personal support, please contact Jeff Harrison at 804-426-9782 or hokie67@sc.rr.com.

Support The Mercy Mission

Please continue to bring your canned and packaged food donations plus unopened toiletries to the containers in the narthex for The Mercy Mission Pantry, one of our Cornerstone Missions. Please remember food items need to be in bags or boxes.

Your support will help supply the food pantry in Hardeeville. The pantry collects items such as: cereal, canned vegetables, canned tomatoes, dried beans, pasta sauce, small bags of rice, pork and beans, canned fruit and bottled water along with personal care items including individually wrapped toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Special needs at this time: Canned goods, canned pasta, cereal, soup, jelly

Please contact Sylvia Kaufman for additional information: 843-705-5306.

Mercy Missions Needs Volunteers!

Mercy Missions in Hardeeville needs volunteers: Thrift store cashiers, Warehouse, food pantry and thrift store assistants. If you have some time when you can help or need more information, please contact Kathy at 631-275-2803.

Prayer Concerns

In Joy and Thanksgiving

For Austen and Glenn Hecker as they move through the adoption process to receive Esperanza Grace.

For Josie, the newest great-granddaughter of Dick and Diana Tesman.

For Direction, Comfort, Protection

For our Country, our UM Church, and the leadership of each

The citizens and soldiers on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine

Healthcare workers – including those caring for the elderly and those with mental illness

Refugees in Syria and other war-torn areas

The millions living in hunger in Africa and Afghanistan

Our military and those serving in law enforcement

Our civil service workers and leaders in government

For the people of Puerto Rico

For the people recovering from Hurricane Ian

Thanking God for continued Healing and Wholeness

Sharon Boulware

Aura Lee Mulik

Jack Hills

Mary Snyder

Lois Solomon

June Taylor

Sue West

Lou Greer

For Those Under Hospice Care

Rev. Kenny Burr

Helen Berntson

Doris Milnes, sister of Gary Bolstad

Ill / Healing

Don Myers

Mark Forry

Dan Mabey

Carol Baxter

June Stone

Fred and Donna Bagley

Kristy, daughter of Linda and Lou Greer

Amy McCarthy, daughter of Ed and Katie Corbitt

Kevin Alymer

Bill Teeter

Vickie DeSantis

Caitlyn Mulik, daughter-in-law of Aura Lee

Cindy Donley, daughter of Arlene Small

Mary & Gary, sister and brother-in-law of Arlene Small

Diane (Bagley) Tucker

Luther Berntson

Lorraine Campbell, close friend of Heather and Dale Larow

Sam and Mary Hollis

Don Smith

Chick Mazon

Rick and Dee Lehr

John Kowalk

Melinda and John Nash

Hospitalized

John Hurley

Dominic, grandson of Larry and Margie Fullen

John Klai

Those Grieving

Angela, family, friends of Jere Estes who died Dec 2.

Christmas Time is Here!

The cantata has been sung and now we are preparing for the Birthday of a King!

This time of year really highlights how my creative life has changed since coming to work full-time at Church of the Palms. As a public-school music and theater arts teacher by the time I reached Christmas week I was exhausted.

The exhaustion was physical and mental. More than likely, I had been in rehearsal with students working on our holiday concerts and plays for 6 or 7 weeks. After selecting the performance material, the first big challenge was to get the kids to “buy into” the excitement of performing the work. Then to continue building on their skills as the performance time came closer. Then came the fear of bad weather or major sporting events that would keep the kids from showing up at the performance. Add in the fact that some wouldn’t have parents that would bring them to perform or that many would not have the performance uniform due to lack of caring, communication, or financial reasons.

Are you starting to feel a little anxiety creeping into my tale? In most cases, we would perform many times in the same week. Whether it was caroling, sing at the airport, parent performance, or the last day of school for classmates, it was always being judged. How did we look, sound, and act. The performances had to be of caliber that would please the parents and administration. (Keep in mind that the administration might not even be at the performance but somehow, they would be able to critique my ability to lead, teach, and wow the community while trying to keep 100 to 200 kids quiet backstage.)

Okay! I’ll stop. I only took you, and myself, down memory lane so I could try to communicate how much things have changed for me. Now my teaching, directing, and sometimes my ability to quieten down my singers, has a higher purpose. I used to say that God had called me into teaching kids music. I still believe that. I think that to everything there is a season and now my season calls for me to be right here. As our Church of the Palms cantata choir worked and rehearsed to learn and finesse our Christmas cantata, the message in the music prepared us. We first had to allow the notes and lyrics to enter our ears, our voices, and our hearts. Once that task was complete, we were ready to present the message to our congregation and friends. The “buy-in” was believing in Jesus Christ and desiring to use our God given talents to share that belief through music.

This morning I opened a card sent from a member of Church of the Palms. This member wanted to let our choir know that they had watched our performance online – twice. The sweet words included… “The Christmas story was beautifully told through song and scripture because of your performance. The Baby Jesus has never been more real to me.”

There have been many times in my career that I have left a performance season wondering if the “art” had helped anyone. Had the performance made a difference? I am truly blessed to know that God is using our little choir here in Okatie, SC. I pray there will be many more times that we can plant the seed to “change the world.”

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus.

Anna Marie Kuether