Monday, December 1, 2014

OUR WEEK - DECEMBER 7TH TO DECEMBER 13TH

R E M I N D E R S —
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3RD —

• ADAIR UMW CHRISTMAS PARTY IN
  ADAIR U.M.C. - AT NOON 

  • SPRC MEETING IN CASEY UMC AT 6 P.M.    
• AD COUNCIL MEETINGS IN CASEY UMC
             •  CASEY MEETING AT 7 P.M.
             •  ADAIR MEETING AT 7:30 P.M.
             • JOINT MEETING TO FOLLOW
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6TH —
CHRISTMAS MALL IN CASEY U.M.C.
FROM 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M.

Kids will find great gifts for parents, 
grandparents, and sisters or brothers.
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7TH —
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
COLOR: PURPLE OR BLUE
We have Holy Communion today.

Happy Birthday Donna Kopaska!
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SCRIPTURE READINGS —
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ISAIAH 40:1-11
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Three prophecies declare the hope of
God's coming to rescue the exiles from
captivity. In verses 1-4, a voice  cries out
"Prepare God's way" as a highway forms
across the desert from Babylon to Judea.
In verses 5-8, a second cry announces
human ephemerality and the eternality of
God's word. In verses 9-11, whoever may
be keeping a watch in Jerusalem, a city in
ruins, is called to declare from the 

highest height the victory of God 
bringing the exiles home and sustaining 
them.
PREPARE FOR GOD’S ARRIVAL

1-2 “Comfort, oh comfort my people,”
    says your God.
“Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem,
    but also make it very clear
That she has served her sentence,
    that her sin is taken care of—forgiven!
She’s been punished enough and more
    than enough,
    and now it’s over and done with.”
3-5 Thunder in the desert!
    “Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
    a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
    level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
    clear out the rocks.
Then God’s bright glory will shine
    and everyone will see it.
    Yes. Just as God has said.”

6-8 A voice says, “Shout!”
    I said, “What shall I shout?”

“These people are nothing but grass,
    their love fragile as wildflowers.
The grass withers, the wildflowers fade,
    if God so much as puffs on them.
    Aren’t these people just so much grass?
True, the grass withers and the wildflowers
    fade,
    but our God’s Word stands firm and
    forever.”

9-11
Climb a high mountain, Zion.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud,
    Jerusalem.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
    Speak loud and clear. Don’t be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
    “Look! Your God!”
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in
    power,
    ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
    and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
    gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
    leading the nursing ewes to good
    pasture.
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PSALM 85:1-13 (UMH 806)
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
A response of thanks and trust in God's
deliverance.


A KORAH PSALM   

1-3 God, you smiled on your good earth!
    You brought good times back to Jacob!
You lifted the cloud of guilt from your
    people,
    you put their sins far out of sight.
You took back your sin-provoked threats,
    you cooled your hot, righteous anger.

4-7 Help us again, God of our help;
    don’t hold a grudge against us forever.
You aren’t going to keep this up, are you?
    scowling and angry, year after year?
Why not help us make a fresh start—a
    resurrection life?
    Then your people will laugh and sing!
Show us how much you love us, God!
    Give us the salvation we need!

8-9 I can’t wait to hear what he’ll say.
    God’s about to pronounce his people
    well,
The holy people he loves so much,
    so they’ll never again live like fools.
See how close his salvation is to those
    who fear him?
    Our country is home base for Glory!

10-13 Love and Truth meet in the street,
    Right Living and Whole Living embrace
    and kiss!
Truth sprouts green from the ground,
    Right Living pours down from the skies!
Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty;
    our land responds with Bounty and
    Blessing.
Right Living strides out before him,
    and clears a path for his passage.
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2 PETER 3:8-15
THE MESSAGE (MSG)
Coming fiery destruction or purification 
of the world as we know it means that 
we now, in the face of that, must strive 
for holiness. We are called to make the
this age a place where righteousness
is at home as we wait for new heavens
and earth after that great conflagration.


THE DAY THE SKY WILL COLLAPSE

8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here,
friends. With God, one day is as good as a
thousand years, a thousand years as a day.
God isn’t late with his promise as some
measure lateness. He is restraining
himself on account of you, holding back
the End because he doesn’t want anyone
lost. He’s giving everyone space and time
to change.

10 But when the Day of God’s Judgment
does come, it will be unannounced, like a
thief. The sky will collapse with a
thunderous bang, everything
disintegrating in a huge conflagration,
earth and all its works exposed to the
scrutiny of Judgment.

11-13 Since everything here today might
well be gone tomorrow, do you see how
essential it is to live a holy life? Daily
expect the Day of God, eager for its
arrival.  The galaxies will burn up and the
elements melt down that day—but we’ll
hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other
way, ready for the promised new heavens
and the promised new earth, all
landscaped with righteousness.

14-16 So, my dear friends, since this is
what you have to look forward to, do your
very best to be found living at your best,
in purity and peace. Interpret our Master’s
patient restraint for what it is: salvation.
Our good brother Paul, who was given
much wisdom in these matters, refers to
this in all his letters, and has written you
essentially the same thing. Some things
Paul writes are difficult to understand.
Irresponsible people who don’t know
what they are talking about twist them
every which way. They do it to the rest of
the Scriptures, too, destroying themselves
as they do it.
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MARK 1:1-8
THE MESSAGE MSG)
The gospel begins with the ministry of
John the Baptizer, calling all to 

repentance and baptism for forgiveness 
to get ready for the kingdom of the one 
to come, the one who baptizes not only 
with water, but with the Holy Spirit.
JOHN THE BAPTIZER
1-3
The good news of Jesus Christ—the
Message!—begins here, following to the
letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher
ahead of you;
He’ll make the road smooth for you.
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild,
preaching a baptism of life-change that
leads to forgiveness of sins. People
thronged to him from Judea and
Jerusalem and, as they confessed their
sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan
River into a changed life. John wore a
camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a
leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field
honey.
7-8 As he preached he said, “The real
action comes next: The star in this drama,
to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will
change your life. I’m baptizing you here in
the river, turning your old life in for a
kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism
by the Holy Spirit—will change you from
the inside out.”
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• 1787 - Delaware became the first state 

to ratify the U.S. constitution becoming 
the first of all the United States.
• 1796 - John Adams was elected to be 
the second president of the United 

States.
• 1836 - Martin Van Buren was elected 
eighth president of the United States.
• 1941 - Pearl Harbor, located on the
Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked 

by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes. The 
attack resulted in the United States 
entering into World War II.
• 1987 - Soviet leader Mikhail S. 

Gorbachev set foot on American soil for 
the first time.  He had come to the U.S. 
for a Washington summit with U.S. 
President Reagan.
• 1988 - An estimated 25,000 people 
were killed when a major earthquake 
hit northern Armenia in the Soviet Union. 

The quake measured 6.9 on the Richter 
Scale.
• 1989 - East Germany's Communist 

Party agreed to cooperate with the plan 
for free elections and a revised 
constitution.
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 8TH —
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• THE OFFICE IS CLOSED TODAY •
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• 1776 - George Washington's retreating
army in the American Revolution 

crossed the Delaware River into 
Pennsylvania.
• 1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln
announced his plan for the 

 Reconstruction of the South.
• 1941 - The United States entered World
War II when it declared war against 

Japan.  The act came one day after the 
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain 
and Canada also declared war on Japan.
• 1953 - Los Angeles became the third
largest city in the United States.
• 1991 - Russia, Byelorussia, and 

Ukraine declared the Soviet national 
government to be dead. The new alliance 
was known as the Commonwealth of 
Independent States.  The act was 
denounced by Russian President 
Gorbachev as unconstitutional.  
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9TH —
Happy Birthday Jamie Noland!
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• 1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution was passed by the U.S.
Congress. With the amendment Electors
were directed to vote for a President 

and for a Vice-President rather than for 
two choices for President.
• 1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation 

unveiled a new computer, known as 
"Univac 1107." One computer was a 
large room full of equipment.
• 1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford
signed a $2.3 billion loan authorization 

to prevent New York City from having 
to default.
• 1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first
direct presidential election in the 

country's history.
• 1993 - Astronauts aboard the space
shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to 

the Hubble Space Telescope.  
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10TH —    

• GOD SQUAD MEETS AT CASEY U.M.C. -
FROM 4 TO 5:30 P.M.   

•A-C FOOD PANTRY - OPEN  6 TO 8 P.M.
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• 1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned 

the papal edict. The papacy demanded 
that he recant or face excommunication. 
Luther refused and was expelled from 
the church in January 1521.
• 1817 - Mississippi was admitted to the
Union as the 20th American state.
• 1830 - Emily Dickinson was born in
Amherst, Massachusetts. Only seven 
of her works were published while she
was alive.
• 1869 - Women were granted the right 
to vote in the Wyoming Territory.
• 1901 - The first Nobel prizes were
awarded.
• 1906 - U.S. President Theodore 

Roosevelt became the first American 
to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1950 - Dr. Ralph J. Bunche was 
presented the Nobel Peace Prize. He 

was the first African-American to
receive the award.

• 1964 - In Oslo, Norway, Dr. Martin 
Luther King Jr. received the Nobel 
Peace Prize. He was the youngest person
 to receive the award.
• 2007 - Cristina Fernandez was sworn in
as Argentina's first elected female
president.    
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11TH —
Happy Birthday Glenda Moore!
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• 1816 - Indiana was admitted to the 
Union as the 19th American state.
• 1872 - Pinckney Benton Pinchback
became America's first black governor
when he took office as acting governor 
of Louisiana.
• 1936 - Britain's King Edward VIII 
abdicated in order to marry American 

Wallis Warfield Simpson. He became 
the Duke of Windsor.
• 1941 - Germany and Italy declared war 
on the United States. The U.S in turn 
declared war on those two countries.
• 1997 - More than 150 countries agreed 
at a global warming conference in Kyoto,
Japan, to control the Earth's 
"greenhouse gases."
• 2001 - Federal agents seized computers
in 27 U.S. cities as part of "Operation
Buccaneer." The raids were used to 
gain evidence against an international 
software piracy ring.    
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12TH —
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• 1787 - Pennsylvania became the second
state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
• 1792 - In Vienna, 22-year-old Ludwig van
Beethoven received one of his first
lessons in music composition from Franz
Joseph Haydn.
• 1800 - Washington, DC, was established
as the capital of the United States.
• 1870 - Joseph Rainey of South Carolina
became the first black man to be sworn
into the U.S. House of Representatives.
• 1917 - Father Edward Flanagan opened
Boys Town in Nebraska. The farm village
was for wayward boys. In 1979 it was
opened to girls.
• 1946 - A United Nations committee 
voted to accept a six-block tract of 
Manhattan real estate to be the site of 
the UN's headquarters. The land was 

a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr.
• 1955 - It was announced that the Ford
Foundation gave $500,000,000 to private
hospitals, colleges and medical schools.
• 1997 - The U.S. Justice Department
ordered Microsoft to sell its Internet
browser separately from its Windows
operating system to prevent it from
building a monopoly of Web access
programs.   
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13TH —
CHRISTMAS MALL IN CASEY U.M.C.
FROM 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M.  

Find something for Mom and Dad, and 
grandparents, and sisters or brothers.
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• 1577 - Five ships under the command of
Sir Francis Drake left Plymouth, England,
to embark on Drake's circumnavigation of
the globe. The journey took almost three
years.
• 1636 - The United States National Guard
was created when militia regiments were
organized by the General Court of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• 1769 - Dartmouth College, in New
Hampshire, received its charter.
• 1913 - It was announced by authorities 
in Florence, Italy, that the "Mona Lisa"
had been recovered. The work was stolen 
from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911.
• 1964 - In El Paso, TX, President Johnson
and Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz
set off an explosion that diverted the Rio
Grande River, reshaping the U.S.-Mexican
border. This ended 100 years of border
dispute.    
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FUTURE FOCUS ———

• WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17TH 
ESTHER CIRCLE MEETS AT 7:00 P.M.    
HOSTESS:  GINGER SPANGLER 

Thank you for your hard work this week.
Hope you had a marvelous Thanksgiving. 
Can you believe it's almost Christmas?

God Bless and Keep You,
Donna