Good day Maranatha.
Attached is the news for last Sunday
Thanks to those who provided information to include in this weeks newsletter.
If you ever have any information that you need included, no problem, shoot me an email.
Have a great week and we will see you next Sunday.
Dan Blevins
blevins_dan09
Good day Maranatha,
The Rev. Sara Pugh Montgomery told us about the path that eventually brought her to Boston Avenue. I always find it interesting the stories that people tell about how they are certain that they are called to service. If you’re not listening, you might end up being a pharmacist.
Several bits of information in the Missions section this week.
Have a great week,
Dan Blevins
bleivns_dan09
Hello Maranatha!
Linda Alegria gave our lesson this Sunday morning, and she will be followed next week by the Reverend Sara Pugh Montgomery.
If you haven’t paid for your Christmas Auction item(s), please take the time to send your check to the Butterworths, or see Susie or Mark in class next week. Thanks.
See you Sunday.
Dan Blevins
blevins_dan09
Nancy has asked that the class be in prayer for her. She has a stomach virus and feels very sick and appreciates your prayer for healing.
Caranatha is providing a meal for the family Monday evening.
Thank you for your support for the Morgan family during this difficult time with the passing of their father Wayne Morgan this week.
Scott Morgan
Suzan and Nancy Morgan’s father Wayne Morgan passed away on Wednesday this week. There is a private ceremony next Wednesday at Montereau. Also, there is a celebration of life with a reception from 12:30 to 2:00 on Wednesday at Montereau which is open to the public.
Caranatha has arranged to take them a meal on Wednesday. Please keep the family in your prayers during this difficult time.
Hello Maranatha!
Our second Sunday of the year brought Brenda Reed’s second presentation concerning the state of Boston Avenue. The next lesson will be from Linda Alegria.
Paula Scott lost her brother Gary in December. I’ve included a link in the newsletter that links to his obituary. If you wanted to leave her a message, the best way might be to go to Facebook and search for ‘Paula Ralston Scott’. You’ll find her.
I have made a few changes to the format of the Newsletter. My goal is to have it display the same whether you open it with Word, preview it in Outlook, or view it on your smartphone or tablet.let me know if you don’t like the way it looks on your device. Thanks.
See you next Sunday,
Dan Blevins
blevins_dan09
Good day Maranatha!
January 1st brought in the first day of a New Year and our first class of 2017. It also brought in our capable new class president Scott Morgan was at the helm. Not a bad Sunday.
Our first speaker of the year was Brenda Reed our church Business Administrator. She will be back again this Sunday.
For the coming year, if you have any announcements, joys, or concerns that didn’t get mentioned in class and you like to have it included in the newsletter, then please feel free to email the information to me. My email address is blevins_dan09.
Thanks,
Dan Blevins
blevins_dan09
Hey, Maranatha friends:
This will be my final Maranatha newsletter, as the newsletter will now be in the very capable hands of Dan Blevins. I have appreciated both the opportunity to speak to you each week, and the patience you have employed when the newsletter skated into your mailboxes minutes before the weekend due to my work schedule. I am confident that Dan will be much more punctual!
For those that were not able to attend the All Church Christmas Brunch and might be wondering how it went, I have a few observations. Jim Embrey will finalize our ticket count and Suzie Butterworth will calculate whether we lost or made any money to be turned over to the BAUMC Mission Endowment Fund as we promised. But my thoughts add a different computation.
On Christmas morning, as I struggled out of bed at zero dark thirty, I was filled with giant trepidation. I was mentally kicking myself for having created this crazy situation and having brought all these lovely Maranatha people along for the ride. I had been hugely humbled throughout December as Maranatha member after Maranatha member stepped forward to bake wonderful goodies for the pastry table, to bring a sea of milk and juice, to gather in the midst of their own holiday cooking to create the casseroles to serve our guests. Each time I thought, “Will anyone agree to do this?” virtually everyone who could make his/her schedule work rushed to help. Generous Ruth Giessen, in addition to cooking pastries, ever offered her talented family to play their harps during the brunch so we could have the lovely sound of live music. The lead-up to the brunch was overwhelming, and I was nervous that the actual event would be a letdown.
I needn’t have worried. As each beautiful, sleep-deprived Maranatha person arrived, they came in ready to smile and serve and spread cheer. It was a true joy to work alongside them. During the course of the morning, I made three distinct observations:
(1) Jim Embrey organized this event for months and kept us on track right up through 12/24. Then he handed the baton to Rex Donley who created the most unbelievably detailed minute-by-minute chart of what we were to accomplish that it was impossible to either deviate or fail. Truly, as a person who loves spreadsheets and organization, other than the faces of my children it may be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! But all of Rex’s organization was magnified by Allene encyclopedic knowledge of the BAUMC kitchen and its contents. Without Allene, we would have struggled to find what we wanted or know how to use it. With her, we barely finished sentences of, “Where is the . . .” before Allene would find it, show us how to use it, and have us hard at work. Together these three great organizers made the Maranatha volunteers a mighty force indeed.
(2) An even greater joy than the organization of the task was the ownership of the work by the entire group. Everywhere I went I heard Maranatha members talking earnestly about the tasks that they had been given and the best way to attack them. Carol Maus, Sarah Maldonado, Julee Embrey and Sharon Bookout reorganized the pastry table into a work of art. Mickey Maus directed patrons to the serving line with a flair that made them feel they were being shown into the Oval Office. Rita Singer’s actual job was just to serve fresh fruit, but she augmented that job by greeting each guest with a beautiful, beaming smile and a warm, “Are you hungry this morning?” Everywhere I looked, Maranatha members did what they had been asked to do, but they did more of their own volition and they did it warmly, with love and affection for those they were serving. I have rarely been so proud.
(3) But the absolute best part about our brunch was the group that we served. I may be in the slow reader group, but even in the press of serving casserole to every guest, I began to notice the demographics. While there were isolated pockets of young families with adorable children in their jammies, the overwhelming majority of our guests (probably 85-90%) were older couples or older women on their own. They came early, dressed in their Christmas finest, ate well, and stayed happily at the tables talking with others. At 10:30, we had a full dining room of folks still chatting. They only began to drift to the sanctuary when Sam and Larkin none-too-subtlely began stacking chairs and tables! From the smiles on their faces and the comments that they made, I realized that what we had done was give these people somewhere to go on Christmas morning. These were the BAUMC folks who might have been home alone that morning, but because of us, they had a reason to get up and get dressed, to go somewhere that they were welcomed and wanted. They were thrilled to have somewhere to go and it was extraordinarily moving to those of us who were there to see that we had changed what might otherwise have been a lonely day for people who should never be lonely. When this epiphany finally hit me, the lure of my warm bed didn’t seem appealing at all.
So those are my thoughts. I believe we served a group that needed us and added a lustrous sense of community to what might have been an all-too-quiet day for them. We did so while revealing again the true generous and loving hearts that make up Maranatha and make me so grateful to be part of you. Thank you for giving Jim and me the opportunity to lead this past year. Now we will slip back to our aisle seats where Jim can continue his practice of displaying wild socks and I can retire my newsletter keyboard.
Much love from both of us.
Remember that you are appreciated, enjoyed and admired by your class members.
Angie
(918) 638-2353
adale
My dad, Glenn Wood, died suddenly Wednesday December 22. We are deeply saddened to lose our father and a husband to my sweet mother of 61 years. My dad was 83. Funeral services are being arranged through Mark Griffith Memorial Funeral Home. Viewing is Monday 4-7 pm.
The funeral will take place on Tuesday December 27, 2016 at 1 pm, Carbondale Assembly of God.
Karen Harris (Joe Harris)
Maranatha
Hey, Maranatha friends:
We are right on the cusp on Christmas. I hope you are filled with Christ-centered Christmas joy, not bogged down with secular, shopping center mania. I hope the people that you love best are close to you and you have time to enjoy them. I hope that there will soon be great smells coming from the kitchen (or the microwave or the delivery bag – not judging!) and that you look forward to picking up your fork. I hope that there is a light in your eye, a carol in your ear, a smile on your lips and a hug just waiting to burst out of your arms.
May you, my sweet, warm, generous, boisterous, energetic, rowdy, lively, animated, hard-working, dedicated, laughter-filled Maranatha, feel in this season all the love that you have helped spread in the class, in the church, and in the community all year long.
Remember that you are appreciated, enjoyed and admired by your class members.
Angie
(918) 638-2353
adale
Maranatha Class Website 