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Announcements
Commitment
Forms
If you have
not turned in your financial commitment form for 2022, please
do so as soon as possible. Your commitment helps our
Finance Team determine our spending guideline for 2022.
Your commitment to Woodridge UMC has been unparalleled in the
past and we want to go into 2022 with that same
attitude! Let's do this!!!!! Any questions,
assistance or details needed, please contact our financial
secretary, Walt Read, or the church office.
Thank
Yous
THANK YOU to all who donated grocery gift cards for our
sister church, Trinity UMC in Joliet. We sent just over
$1500. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!
THANK YOU to all who supported Woodridge UMC’s Youth
Ministry through the Gift Card Sale. Thanks to your amazing
generosity this fall and winter, we raised just over $1000!
You all truly are the best!
Opportunities/Events
Christmas Eve Services
Celebrate the birth of the Christ Child,
Emmanuel, God with us, this Friday, Dec. 24th
at 5:00pm and 11:00pm. All
are invited to worship with us as we commemorate God’s
ultimate act of love and solidarity — joining us in our
humanity through the babe of Bethlehem. Candles and
carols at both services.
The
Bible for Curious People
Our Tuesday
study group is on Christmas break. The Bible for Curious
People will return Tuesday,
January 11th at 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday
Bible Study
Our Wednesday
Bible study meets from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
We are on Christmas break and will return Wednesday, January
12th.
Youth
Ministry 2021-2022
Youth Ministries at WUMC in December &
beyond:
TODAY, Sunday, December 26th & next
Sunday, Jan. 2nd: No Confirmation class or Youth Group. Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year!
Sunday, Jan. 9th: Confirmation and Youth Group return at regular
time.
Upper Rooms
Upper Rooms
for January-February are now available in the narthex with a
limited number in the mailbox.
January Birthdays
4
Sue Seago
6
Alexis Morman
Bob Copeland
Julie Straub
7 Diane
Waynick
8
Kayla O’Leary
10
David Straub
12
Chris Manderfield
16
Barb Harris
Nancy Valenta
19
Jessica Shubert
21
Kyle O’Leary
22
Maddison Barba
27
Savannah Wibiral
29
Christina Smurzynski
Outreach
Opportunities
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
As you have probably heard from neighbors and
news media sources, the tenants of Woodridge Country Club
Condos have had to vacate their homes because of extensive
building repairs. Mayor Cunningham and her offices have
been working diligently to relocate these families.
However, there are some very serious needs for the families
in their temporary spaces at nearby hotels. The immediate
needs are as follows:
1.) Cases of water;
2.) Personal care toiletries (such as full
sized body wash, shampoo and conditioners, lotions, etc.);
3.) Children's activities/games, hot
cocoa, snacks, family-sized cereal;
4.) Monetary donations (addressed to
Woodridge Neighbors Helping Neighbors).
Please feel free to assist where you can.
We will coordinate our efforts through the Outreach Committee
and make a more concerted, church-wide effort in
January. However, you are invited to respond more immediately
if you so desire. Please watch our E-news for updates
and details in the coming weeks.
United
Methodists Respond After Deadly Twisters
United
Methodists in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and neighboring
states are coming to terms with the devastation of a string
of tornadoes Dec. 10-11, while also mobilizing quickly to
provide food, emergency shelter and other relief.
The storm system that struck on Friday evening into Saturday
morning — including one tornado that caused destruction
across some 240 miles — is blamed for nearly 90
deaths.
A tornado collapsed the roof and walls of an Amazon
warehouse in Edwardsville, Ill., killing six people. The storm also caused
damage to homes, silos and an FS Plant in several downstate
towns. Illinois Great Rivers Disaster Response
leaders are assessing needs at this time. Twisters
sheared roofs and shattered windows at some United Methodist
churches and parsonages, as well as badly damaging
congregation members’ homes and local businesses in Kentucky
and Tennessee. Read
more.
How
to help
Donations also can be made directly to the
Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference’s Disaster Response Fund, the Missouri Conference disaster response, the Arkansas Tornado Fund or the Illinois Great Rivers Conference Disaster Response Ministry.
DuPage
Pads: Did You Know?
DuPagePads operates a Street Outreach call line
for anyone who observes someone unsheltered or in need
of services. Please notify our Street Outreach team at
630-682-3846, option 2, or email streetoutreach@dupagepads.org with the following information:
Your name and contact information (for
possible follow-up)
- Individual’s/Family’s Name (if
known)
- Location (last seen)
- General Description
ONGOING OPPORTUNITIES
Suits for Success
There are donation boxes in the hallway by the
coat rack just outside the narthex for both men and women's
clothing. The clothes are picked up, dry cleaned and
then taken to area men and women's prisons for people being
released. NO belts, shoes, underwear or ties.
"Goin'
Green" Shoes & Clothes Recycling Box
Located in the northeast corner of our parking lot,
this receptacle is a convenient place to recycle any shoes
and your clothes that are at or near the end of their
usefulness.
Did you know discarded clothes account for more
total landfill space than any other waste item? The “Goin’
Green” Box helps us reduce our waste.
How is this different from our “Suits for
Success” ministry?
The big difference is that “Suits for Success” cannot
accept shoes of any kind, nor can they accept belts, ties, or
underwear. “Goin’ Green” accepts all shoes and clothes.
In summary: Keep bringing your gently used clothing
donations to the “Suits for Success” collection boxes in the
hallway.
For all shoes and any other clothes, instead of
throwing them in the trash, put them in the “Goin’ Green”
receptacle in the northeast corner of the parking lot.
West Suburban Food Pantry
We have a basket that we "inherited"
from the Faith, Lisle church that is waiting for
donations. It sits in the narthex, usually near the
sanctuary doors. They did not stop operating during the
pandemic and there is pending legislation in our state and
nation that might cut their corporate donations in large
amounts. Let's replenish our basket!!!
Used Eyeglasses
There is a
basket also in the narthex for collecting used
eyeglasses. Jorie would see that her sister, Kendra,
got the eyeglasses and that they are recycled to the Lions
Club and Gift of Sight groups. Kendra is continuing
this important mission. (Prescription eyeglasses only).
December Outreach Offering
Save Abandoned
Babies
The Save Abandoned Babies Foundation is a
not-for-profit volunteer group dedicated to saving babies
from being abandoned in dumpsters and other unsafe places.
Our only mission is to save the lives of newborns that might
otherwise be abandoned unsafely in Illinois.
Our grassroots effort began in March of 2000 when one of our
members read a newspaper article about a baby found in a
Chicago dumpster. We quickly learned that other states were
addressing this horrible and growing problem with "safe
haven laws."
We went to work, calling on anyone willing to help. The Save
Abandoned Babies volunteers drafted a safe haven law and
lobbied for its passage. The resulting Abandoned Newborn
Infant Protection Act unanimously passed both the Illinois
House and Senate and was signed into Illinois law in August
of 2001.
The Save Abandoned Babies Foundation is now focused on
telling desperate girls and women that this option exists.
Making information about the law available to those who need
it will save innocent new lives.
West
Suburban Community Pantry
The West Suburban Community Pantry offers food
for the hungry and resources to empower persons to improve
their quality of life. Our vision is a community
without hunger.
The Pantry operates year-round with a goal that
each eligible family in DuPage County as well as Bolingbrook
& Romeoville receive nutritionally balanced food,
including meats, dairy, and fresh produce monthly. We are
also registered as an emergency food pantry for Illinois.
With the help of volunteers and sponsors, our
vision is to eradicate hunger within the families and
individuals in the DuPage County area. We are dedicated to
providing food for the hungry, educating the donor community
about existing needs, and supporting advocacy efforts for the
hungry. We also work hard to encourage volunteerism and the
sharing of resources.
Northern Illinois Conference
Prairie
Central Winter Lay Academy
The Prairie
Central District is having a Lay Academy - (Jan. 8 &
15) 8 am - 4 pm. at Plainfield UMC
breakfast and lunch provided. Cost: $40. Register by
January 3rd.
The
two Saturday event from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. will offer four
classes:
Leading Public Prayer
Heritage of United Methodism
Rediscovering Our Spiritual Gifts
Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition
Everyone
interested in learning more about their faith, seeking
support as they consider leadership positions, and enjoying
fellowship with other believers are welcome. Lay
Academy’s goals are to enrich the individual as well as
support the clergy of the local church. Click here
for details and here
for registration.
Prairie
Central District
The new names
of the districts, which went into effect July 2021, are Lake North, Lake
South, Prairie Central, Prairie North, and Prairie South. We
will be in the Prairie Central district. Click here to read the list of churches in each district. Find the new
district webpage here.
Prairie
Central Monthly Lay Meetings
Please join
our District Superintendent, Jeffrey Bross and
your lay colleagues in the PCD every SECOND
Thursday of the month beginning on September 9
and ending on May
12 at 7pm. We will share news, have
some prayer and devotion, hear the call story of a colleague
and laugh with your friends. We try to keep it to an
hour but if something is really important and we need some
extra time, we can do so. This is a no-stress way to
stay connected and get lifted up and know you are not alone.
Please note that ALL lay persons who are in
leadership at their churches are invited. This is not just
for designated "lay leaders" but anyone who
has an interest in the church and gathering with
other lay persons.
Hope to see you there. Contact the church office for
the link.
Amazon
Smile
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible
purchases to Woodridge United Methodist Church whenever you
shop on
AmazonSmile.
AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same
prices, same service. Support WUMC by starting your
shopping here.
Ways to
Connect
December
24th, 2021, Volume 12, Edition 52
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