Midweek Lenten Service Schedule

On Wednesdays during Lent, the United Methodist Churches in the Casco Bay Cluster co-lead worship services on Wednesdays at 7pm. This year’s worship theme is “Personal encounters with Jesus on the way to the cross” and will consist of music, prayer, meditation and some creative art form such as art, dance or poetry. Afterwards, worshippers gather for some light refreshments. All are invited. You can get driving directions through www.neumc.org or contact the pastors at 799-6814.

3/4 Elm Street UMC Gene Koelker preaching
The church is located at 168 Elm Street in South Portland. FMI call 799-0407.

3/11 Buxton UMC Ruth Morrison preaching
The church is located at 276 Chicopee Rd in Buxton. FMI call 642-3996.

3/18 Thornton Heights UMC Lee Smith preaching
The church is located at 100 Westbrook Street in South Portland. FMI call 774-0487.

3/25 West Scarborough UMC Jamie Arrison preaching
The church is located at 2 Church Street-Route 1 in West Scarborough. FMI call 883-2814.

4/1 First UMC Lynne Campbell preaching
The church is located at 179 Ridgeland Avenue in South Portland. FMI call 767-2688.

4/10 (Good Friday) Peoples UMC All clergy leading
The church is located at 310 Broadway in South Portland. FMI call 799-6814.

Preparing Children for Easter at Peoples

The children’s Sunday School is beginning a new unit during Lent ( the weeks leading up to Easter) to teach children how Jesus journeyed to the cross in order to show Gods powerful love for us.

The unit will kick off with a children’s worship service on 3/1, followed by a 4-week center-based curriculum, PowerXpress, which includes music and movement, crafts, storytelling, cooking and video.

Thank you to all of the teachers to will be serving during this unit. Please invite your friends and family who have kids! FMI call Andy Folley, 749-5702.

Freed-Up Financial Living

The Gospel is all about setting us free. One of the great burdens in our lives today is our personal finances. Come and study biblical principals for managing your finances and live more freely. This is an excellent opportunity to invite friends burdened with financial struggles, debt or just have a desire to understand their finances better. This is an excellent tool that can help set you and your friends free from worry about this constant challenge in our lives. Friday March 20 7-9pm and Saturday 8:45am - 3pm. Particpants guide $15 and $3 for lunch Saturday. Please consider paying for friends you are inviting. Checks payable to Peoples UMC. Contact Art Tordoff or the pastors for further information. Brochures are available at church.

Ministry at SMCC

For many years before we arrived in 2005 as your new pastors, Peoples people have been praying for the Southern Maine Community College, and for vision in how to be in ministry to the college in our neighborhood.

That vision began to be revealed to us several years ago when we began a discussion group with just a few students Fall semester 2006. Those students have now begun an official student group at the college, the first group in the history of the school that has been initiated by the students with no faculty or staff leadership. They have named themselves SERVE, and their vision is to serve the student body in various ways, including providing opportunities for study, discussion, prayer and service. They now meet several times per week:

The Inter-Faith Discussion Group Mondays at 2:00pm - Preble 106
The Bible Discussion Group Wednesdays at 12:00pm- Preble 207
The SERVE meeting Thursdays at 12:15pm- Hague Hall 201
The Prayer Group Thursdays at 3:00pm -Campus Center Boardroom

Community members are welcome to attend any of these meetings. SERVE would particularly appreciate financial support from local churches and the community as they do not wish to do fund raisers within the student population they are aiming to serve - what a great witness and example they set!

Pastor Gwyneth continues to participate in some of these meetings and provide pastoral support when needed. The students continue to send thanksgiving our way for the prayers through the years, and our continued support.

If you would like to contact SERVE to see how you might be able to continue supporting them, please call or email Bethany Aelmore at myall4_him@hotmail.com or 699-6322.

Life in Review 2008

What is Life in Review? Exactly that; a time to review our life together over the past year and celebrate what God has done through Christ's church at Peoples. Often we spend all of our time and energy on planning future events; this is a time to spend time remembering the past.

The event started with potluck lunch with the 2008 Variety Show video, made by Wes Splettstoesser, playing in the background. That was fun to see again, and Wes is making copies for a number of folks who wanted a copy of their own!

For dessert, there was a homemade cake by Carol Bruneau, as well as many other goodies. As folks began dessert, the senior choir sang, followed by the Junior Choir which sang some of the Sunday School songs they've been learning.

Next we saw a slide show created by Pastor Gwyneth showing many of the year's events, and getting a few laughs too.

The first presentation was a celebration by Dan Doughty, Chair of Staff Parish Relations Committee to celebrate Debbie Cole coming on as our part time Music Director in 2008. Debbie got a standing ovation! This was followed by an ABC list of Sunday School activities by Andy Folley and a Vacation Bible School video by Karen Jennnings.

Merrill Kaiser, Andy Folley, Carol Bruneau and Rosemary Herd presented a skit to summarize how our mission focus on Heifer began, and how we reached our goal of raising an ark through the inspiration of the Sunday School.


Earle dressed up as a mosquito for the Nothing But nets presentation! As Carol Bruneau talked they threw a net over unsuspecting attendees, and then set up a hoop for Isaac Dunn to throw his basketball. Peoples overshot their goal of 17 nets by a lot, with close to 70 nets purchased.

The Trustees skit was created by Chuck Kamilewicz, but was ill so his son Rob played the role of chair. All of the items on the agenda were tabled, but some of them were quite interesting!

Art Tordoff put together a great quiz show using the format of "So you think you're smarter than a ..." The questions revolved around the history of Peoples and People people in the distant as well as recent past. Groups competed for the correct answers. Do you know for instance the address of Peoples when it was in Ferry Village? Lots of fun learning. Marlene Tordoff also presented the people who have had the longest membership at Peoples. We concluded the presentations with Karen Freitas speaking about the new worship / meditation service we started last Spring and singing a reflective song similar to those used in this service.

A few words were spoken about Malcolm Cass, Ada Tordoff, Carolyn and Butch Teeter, and Grace Corey, all who went to be with the Lord this year. Pastor Jamie then wrapped up the time with an Igniting Ministries video to speak about some of our vision for 2009.

Thank you to all who organized, participated, brought food, and came out for this special time.

Sunday School Mural

The Sunday School has been hard at work painting the mural designed by Rosemary's son, Gary Herd. The big day was February 15 when the kids completed the mural!

The theme as you can see is baptism, which the kids studied about in the winter Sunday School unit. The mural portrays John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River.

The unit used the PowerXpress curriculum, and included center-based teaching such as cooking mud pies and locust pies, baptizing bears, singing, games and crafts. The unit concluded with a summary of what baptism means for us and why we believe in baptism, and used a bowl of water, shell, heart, rock and towel to explain some of the elements of baptism, followed by a time for questions.

What a fun time of learning this has been. Again a big thank you to the Folleys and all of the teachers and parents for your time and hard work.

Candlelight Meditation Services

Meditative music, Scripture, prayer and silence in candlelight. For the remainder of the Spring, the meditation services will be held monthly instead of weekly, on the 1st Sunday of the month:

Sunday, March 1 7pm
Sunday, April 5 7pm
Sunday, May 3 7pm
Sunday, June 7 7pm

The service begins at 7pm and lasts about 45 minutes, with a chance to gather for snacks and fellowship afterwards. This is a great chance to invite a friend.

"Hearts For Healing” Pillows

For the second year, the Prayer Shawl and Arts & Crafts Ministries made "Hearts for Healing" pillows for the Mercy Oncology Center. Sewing pillows before the meeting were Susan Angell, Janice Huelin and Marlene Tordoff. Helping to stuff the pre-sewn pillows with fiberfill and hand sew the openings were Joyce Alexander, Susan Angell, Kathy Brann, Doreen Gay, Janice Huelin, Betty Lane, Betty Smith, Marlene Tordoff and Catherine Whittemore. Art and Marlene Tordoff delivered 26 pillows on February 13, 2009 to the Mercy Oncology Center.

On behalf of the group, Marlene Tordoff received an e-mail from Lenore Kraus, Oncology Social Worker, expressing her appreciation and saying, "Those pillows may be feather light but are worth their weight in gold!"

Another Oncology Social Worker, Colleen O’Connor, sent a lovely thank-you note. She said, "The patients are enjoying different ways to use the pillows bringing some comfort at a difficult time."

What a joy to reach out to our local community and to provide the comfort to those in need as Jesus would have us do.

UMCOR Kits

This month we are collecting school kits, anyone who would like to make up a whole kit can do so or they can pick up any item or items on the kit list and put them in the box in the back of the church and we will put the kits together when we have enough items to do so. The school kits have to go in a cloth bag and the directions for these are included in the list in a box in the back of the church for anyone who would like to sew a bag. If you have questions, please contact Carol Bruneau at 799-5995. Thank you!

CLYNK !

If you would be willing to donate your redemption bottles to the church please see Susan Angell for a CLYNK bag, or call her at 799-8340. Then just fill up your bag (please no Smiling Hill glass bottles in the bags though) and drop it off at Hannaford - you don't even need to wait for it. CLYNK personnel are only there during daytime hours, but you can drop your bag off anytime the store is open.

Each bag has a bar code which is scanned by CLYNK and the money goes into the Peoples Church account automatically. The funds this year will be put toward paying our mission shares. For more information on CLYNK go to http://www.clynk.com/

Also, Chuck Kamilewicz has offered to help people get bags to Hannaford for those who may have difficulty doing this. You can contact him at 767-4841.

Valentine's Cookie Bake

The cookie bake began with pizza and card games after Sunday School on February 8. Behind the scenes in the kitchen, Rosemary Herd and others were busy baking delicious cookies - sheets and sheets of cookies! They were then brought out on racks to cook, and the kids got to work smearing frosting and decorating with heart candies and sprinkles.

Several hundred cookies were decorated by the Sunday School. Several cookies were then put in plastic bags for distribution.

While the kids were still decorating, some more adults were busily compiling the list of recipients who included newcomers, shut-ins and other grandmothers and grandfathers of the faith at Peoples. This group decorated cards and attached them to each bag of cookies.

A big thank you to Andy Folley and Rosemary Herd for coordinating this awesome event, and for all of the parents, teachers and others who came out to help make this such a successful and fun time.

Commissioned into Ministry

During worship on January 25, we commissioned everyone serving on teams, committees and ministries with our blessing and prayers. This was an idea brought forth by Linda Wade who had witnessed such a service at another church last year when she was out of state.

So that Sunday School folks would not miss out on this event, we held the commissioning service at the beginning of worship. And since Sunday School is studying baptism this month, it was the perfect opportunity to talk to the kids about how each of us receives our call to ministry at the time of our baptism, just as Jesus received the Holy Spirit and was empowered to begin his ministry at his baptism.

Commissioning involves not just blessing and prayer but also accountability. Each team, committee and individual serving in ministry at Peoples was asked to stand and remain standing, and then were asked a series of accountability questions ... by the children. Readers included Isaac Dunn, Megan Arey, Jonathon Locke, Faith Arrison and Nathan Dunn. What a humbling experience to be reminded of our responsibility as a congregation to love, serve and disciple children and adults alike.

May all who have been called by God into ministry this year know the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Baptizing Bears

The excellence and excitement of our Sunday School program continues with the unit on the Baptism of Jesus. The Power Xpress program we use immerses the kids in a single Bible story for four weeks through various interactive means that can include art, science, cooking and more. This unit includes Ellen walking the kids through a baptismal service using stuffed animals and an coloring in an amazing mural  designed by Rosemary's son Gary Herd. Make sure you see the mural  in the Sunday School room off of Ellis Hall.

Upcoming units include the road to the cross and Easter. It is always a good time to start, so make sure to invite friends and family with kids to join in the fun.

Peoples Hosts Church Life Training

Our annual Church Life training was particularly inspiring this year with a program led by Alexx Wood on welcoming and Igniting Ministry. Break out groups also covered finance, trustees, SPRC and reorganizing churches for growth. Check in with Jamie, Art, Dan, Kathy or Betty Smith to see what you missed. We will be bringing forward additional material from the igniting ministry program in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned. 

Sunday School during Lent

The kids Sunday School will be hosting their next PowerXpress unit during Lent, entitled: "Journey to the Cross." These will take place on March 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th.

This would be a great opportunity to invite a friend or family member with elementary-aged children. For questions or more information, please contact Andy Folley at 749-5702.

Valentine’s Cookie Bake

The Sunday School is organizing a cookie bake on February 8 after church to bake cookies and bring them to nursing homes in the community. More details will be available in worship on February 1, or you may contact Rosemary Herd at 799-2392 or Andy Folley at 749-5702.

Prayer Shawl Meeting Feb 12

The Prayer Shawl ministry and Craft group will be meeting on Feb 12. The group meets every 2nd Thursday at 7pm, and all are welcome who would like to help out. Last month, instructions were given out for preemie hats, which can be crocheted or knitted. We are also getting low on shawls – if you are able to crochet or knit, or can donate yarn, please contact Marlene Tordoff at 799-6222 as soon as possible. The latest shawls will be blessed during worship on February 8.

Letter from Marlene Tordoff:

The Peoples UMC Prayer Shawl and Arts & Crafts Ministries are reaching out to our local community with two projects. If you knit, crochet or sew, you can help with these project, too.

1. We are making knit or crocheted preemie, toddler or young children's hats to be delivered to Maine Medical Center at the end of February. These are to be made of soft, acrylic yarns, not wool or metallic and no pompoms. I do have several patterns. Betty Smith shared the Perfect Preemie Hat pattern with us at our last meeting. I know Rosemary Herd can use hats in her department, but Judy Tordoff Aiken said they have a need for children's hats in the radiology department, too.

2. We will be making Heart for Healing Pillows for breast cancer surgical patients at our next meeting on February 12 at 7 P.M. in Ellis Hall. We made 12 pillows last year for Mercy Hospital. The oncology department will gladly take more.

Materials needed are 1 1/2 yards of 100%cotton fabric that is soft on the skin, fiberfill and thread. Other supplies might be a portable sewing machine (I have one), scissors, pins and needles. If you do not sew, perhaps you could donate material, help cut out the hearts or stuff the pillows with fiberfill.

Providing we do not have another snowstorm, I look forward to having you join us on February 12.

In Christian love,
Marlene Tordoff

Grace Corey, beloved and remembered

Grace Corey, a longterm and active member of Peoples Church went to be with the Lord on January 10, 2009. A service was performed by Pastor Jamie and Rev. Lin Arnold at Peoples to celebrate her life, grieve her loss, and remember that the resurrection reality Grace now experiences is our own hope as those in Christ.

Thanks to all who surrounded the family with love and care, and especially to Brad Morrison and the UMW for hosting a beautiful reception in Ellis Hall.

We miss you Grace.

Valentines Day Men's Breakfast

Men’s Breakfast Feb 14 7:30am – Come on out and enjoy some great food and fellowship. All men are welcome!

The men's breakfast takes place every 2nd Saturday.

Life in Review 2008

Due to the storm, the celebration is postponed until February 15 after church. All are invited to lunch followed by some fun presentations from ministries and teams from the church to celebrate what God had done throughout the year.

Please contact Chris Ward if you can bring a casserole, dessert, salad or drinks to share. Mark your calendars!

United Methodist Women

United Methodist Women will be meeting February 17 2pm in Ellis Hall. This is the group primarily responsible for putting together the monthly bean suppers and annual Christmas fair. Please contact Chris Ward for more info at 767-2516.

School Vacation Notes

The pastors will be away during school vacation week February 16-22. Please contact Earle Harvey at 799-5088 for assistance, or to reach the clergy on call for pastoral care.

There will also be no Sunday School on February 22 due to the school vacation week. Kids are welcome to stay in worship with their families.

Root Cellar February 26

Join us to serve at the Root Cellar on February 26, as we provide food, worship music and a message for their community meal. More information will be available through the next few weeks. We will also be serving at the Root Cellar on May 28 and October 22.

Please contact Carol Bruneau for more information at 799-5995.

You Have a Story to Tell!

You have a story to tell! Come share a retreat time with guidance and practice telling the stories of our faith. Come to hear how Jesus has been faithful and active in the lives of your brothers and sisters.

The pastors are hosting a retreat at their vacation home in Bridgton, Maine near Moose Pond. Friday evening beginning at 6pm will be time for food, singing, fellowship and games for all who would like to stay the night. Others can attend the daytime portion only on Saturday 9am-3pm (content will begin at 10am).

Children of all ages are welcome but there will be no childcare – children and parents can go ice skating, skiing, sledding or just hang out at the house (anyone for some Wii ski?).

Food will be provided (dinner Friday, breakfast and lunch Saturday). Financial donations will be accepted.

For questions or to register, please contact the pastors at 799-6814.

Ash Wednesday

Join us on February 25 at 7pm for worship on Ash Wednesday at the Cape Elizabeth UMC, and each Wednesday 7pm through April 1 at different local UM churches. The schedule will be published in the March newsletter, and will be available at Peoples News Online shortly. The senior choir will be rehearsing on Thursday evening during Lent to allow choir members to attend these meaningful times of worship.

What is Lent?

What is Lent? Forty days of Lent are celebrated by churches all over the world. Lent is the time of year the Church reflects on the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ and on our own faithfulness as disciples who follow Jesus. Please look for announcements on ways to deepen your relationship with God during this special season which begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year is February 25.

New Small Groups Soon!

The Discipleship committee is planning a few exciting small group series in the next few months, and you don't want to miss these. The first is called "Beyond 30 Seconds," and is planned to begin the week of Ash Wednesday. Honing our hospitality and our sacrifical love for others is a suitable Lenten topic. The adult Sunday School will most likely be participating in this study, with the first week on February 22. That Sunday we will begin a preaching series in conjunction with the study, enabling small groups to discuss the topic after hearing the sermon that week. This is a 7-week study. Small groups currently meeting are welcome to participate, and we are also looking for others who would like to host and/or lead a group.

The second is called "40 Days of Love" which will begin a week after Easter Sunday. This study is very similar to "Purpose Driven Life" and would be great to invite an unchurched friend or family member to attend. Our vision is that 50% of each small group be unchurched friends, family and neighbors. Who might you invite to attend with you? The content revolves are 1 Corinthians 13 including topics such as "Love is Patient and Kind, "Love tells the Truth" and "Love is Forgiving."

Materials for both studies will be arriving within the next few weeks. Please contact Art Tordoff or the pastors for copies, or for more information.

Freed Up – Financial Living

Freed Up – Financial Living is a new Good $ense program sponsored by the Peoples UMC and the Methodist Foundation. March 20-21. Friday 7-9 pm, Saturday 8:45am –2:30pm. Learn valuable techniques for your own personal finances. This training will aid our church in sponsoring future seminars on our own, and will be led by Gary Melville. If you have questions, or wish to register, please contact Art Tordoff or the pastors.

Mark it on the Calendar

The Church Council hosted a special meeting to plan ministry and mission for 2009. The calendaring event took place on January 10 and was well attended. We planned out our committee meeting schedule, Easter worship schedule, special events such as the February church retreat and June BBQ, and discipleship studies such as the 40 Days of Community.

This is not to say that dates set at this meeting are cast in stone. Already several dates since the meeting have been revised. These revisions are made to the calendars and are available to download and print on the Calendar link on Peoples News Online at http://www.peoplesumcnews.blogspot.com/
We will be hosting these Church Council calendaring events three times per year so that there is overlap in our planning process, planning nine months of ministry at a time. The next scheduled events will take place June 6 9am-noon (planning June-February), and October 10 9am-noon (planning October-June), and then again in January (planning January-September). All are invited!

Church Winter Storm Guidelines

Winter has begun! The following are some general guidelines when there is a storm during worship:

1. Each person / family needs to assess the weather and decide for themselves if it would be best to stay home. If you feel that it would be best to stay home, why not take that opportunity to have your own family or private worship service? As a mission, perhaps you could think of some older members of the church and give them a call to see if they're okay and if they need anything.

2. If there is a parking ban in South Portland, and you need to drive to church, please seriously consider staying home. There is very limited parking in the parking lots, and the parking lots will most likely not be plowed anyway. In addition, if there is a parking ban, the Snow Angels will not have cleared the sidewalks so if you do walk to church please be prepared to trudge through the snow up to the doors. As a general practice sidewalks and parking lots will be cleared after a storm has ended rather than mid-storm.

3. We will post Sunday morning worship cancellation on TV WCSH channel 6. If the storm occurs Sunday evening or during the week, we will also post other cancellations on channel 6 as necessary. For individual groups (committee meetings, prayer service, choir rehearsal), the group leader will contact regular members if there is a cancellation.

4. Even in severe weather and worship has been cancelled, one of the pastors will be there to pray or to lead an informal service. There will most likely be no pianist/organist, and there will most likely be no Sunday School (kids or adults) or coffee fellowship.

5. If you decide not to attend church on a Sunday morning, please set aside your gift or pledge contribution and either mail or bring the following Sunday. Wintry Sundays are extremely difficult on the church budget when folks take this as an opportunity to skip a week's donation. Better yet, fill out a direct debit form so you need not worry about making up missed donations at all.

If you have any questions about these guidelines, please contact the pastors or church council chair, Chris Ward. Thank you!

Merry Christmas Letter to Peoples

It wouldn't be Christmas without ... This is a question that is different for everyone and made all the more complicated by the fact that most people would have at least eight different people, things, traditions, foods, decorations or songs they cannot imagine a Christmas without. This year, however, we have been looking at an increasing number of things that we have to do without as people lose jobs, have less time and less money. In addition to these losses, every year brings the changes of kids growing up and loved ones being lost. Before long, it may be that "It wouldn't be Christmas without..." becomes "It just isn't Christmas."

There is only one way to fill in this sentence that holds for all times and all situations. That is, it wouldn't be Christmas without Jesus. Jesus is worthy of being celebrated with all of the trimmings of music, friends, food, worship, decoration and tradition. Yet, when some or all of these trappings are gone, Jesus is walking with us all the closer in our loss. He might say, "Yeah, I know what you mean. At my birth, I had no family, no doctor, no clean room or even a bed. I know these losses hurt, but I'm here with you." Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us. This is the miracle of Christmas. It is not a warm, comfortable love that blows away in the face of the cold. Jesus offers a deep abiding love that provides most in times of need.

It is my hope this Christmas season that every gift or emptiness, decoration or loss would turn us to Jesus in celebration and pure need. As you turn toward Jesus, share your hope with others around you in need and come live your celebration here with brothers and sisters at Peoples throughout the year.

Prepare the way for Sunday School!

New Sunday School Unit Begins January 4 – Come learn about John the Baptist! Centers will include story telling, arts and crafts, music, and cooking. All kids ages 3-11 welcome, and bring a friend! . FMI call Andy Folley at 749-5702. 2009

Telling about Taize

It may be scary to try something new. This is particularly true when the new thing has a strange name like Taize or involves something as strange as meditation. I would like to assure you that the only scary part may be getting closer to God. The service is based loosely on the popular ecumenical services of the Taize Community. This involves meditative music, scripture, prayer and silence. For those who have been coming, it has been a wonderful uplifting time with an opportunity for fellowship afterwards. We are sure it will be for you as well. Come and invite a friend who would be fed by a quiet moment.

The meditation service will not meet December 28 as it is a school vacation. The meditation service will start back up on January 4 at 7pm, held each week on Sunday evenings.

Candles and Bells

Peoples hosted the annual Candlelight Christmas Eve worship service, and experienced the light of Jesus Christ our Savior! Thank you to all who participated in facilitating worship through singing, reading Scripture, prayer, welcoming as well as setting up and clearing up. Ushers/greeters were Charlie Lyons, Chuck Kamilewicz, Jim MacKinnon, Keith Snoddy and Tom Nelson. Doug Greer ran the sound and computer system as we used slides for the first time in this service. Dan Doughty led the welcome and announcements portion. Hank Dunn opened us up in a moving prayer. Scripture was read by Linda Greer, Linda Wade, Betty Lane, and Chris Ward. David Cole sang the offertory, and Debbie Cole led the senior choir and carols throughout worship. We closed with the dimming of lights as we sang "Silent Night" followed by some holy silence, and then the ringing of all of our bells. Merry Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas Devotional Guide

This year in lieu of the Advent meditation booklet, Art Tordoff put together a 12 Days of Christmas devotional booklet. The format is very similar to the Advent booklet with writings from Peoples people, but also contains information such as symbolism of the 12 days of Christmas.

If you haven’t already, please pick up a Christmas devotional book - readings continue for the 12 days of Christmas. Thank you to Art Tordoff for pulling this together!

Church Life Training January 24

The annual Cluster Training Event will take place January 24 9am-12:30pm. There will be workshops on the exciting Igniting Ministry program that ties our welcome to nationally run advertising as well as training for administrative committee members. To register, contact Pastor Jamie by email or 799-6814. (Snow date: January 31)

Put it on the Calendar

2009 Church Calendaring Party – The Church Council is going to gather together on Saturday, Jan 10 for several hours to plan out the next 6-12 months of church ministries, mission and fun activities. Please join us -- all are welcome

Celebrating the Year

End of Year Reports – We will be compiling a book of all committee and ministry reports to be handed out during the Life in Review 2008. These committee reports will be due January 5. Thank you!

Life in Review 2008 is a chance to hear creative presentations from teams and committees from the church to celebrate what God had done throughout the year. This year’s Life in Review is scheduled after church on January 11. Please come and celebrate the ministries of Peoples Church together, with lunch and lots of fun. If you have been a team or committee leader or have been involved in ministry this year of any kind, please be thinking about a creative, fun presentation! Photo presentations, videos, skits, songs, art ... the sky is the limit.

Pledges Well Under Way

Pledges – If you consider Peoples your church family and have not yet had an opportunity to turn in a pledge card there are extras in the pews and can be placed in the offering anytime.

Hungry New Year

Wayside Soup Kitchen on New Years Eve– Please join us in serving a meal at the Wayside Soup Kitchen on December 31. Meet there at 5pm to help set up, and then the meal service begins at 6pm. You may contact Tom Nelson 799-6321 for questions or to carpool. With the holiday we may have difficulty getting enough people – please consider serving those in need before going to our own celebrations.

Gifts for Root Cellar

Thanks to all who participated in the Root Cellar Christmas gift drive, organized by Carol Bruneau: Kathy Brann, Barbara Kenney, Ellen Dunn, Jody Fyles, Janice Huelin and Pastor Gwyneth. Gifts were given to many families in the Portland area, and Peoples was part of this great work. We shared Christ’s love and brought joy to many!

What Do You Want For Christmas?

We had about 30 people involved in various small group studies of the Advent book, "What Do You Want For Christmas?" The studies took place over the four weeks of Advent, and groups met on Monday evenings led by Pastor Jamie at the Dunn's home, Tuesday mornings led by Rosemary Herd at her home, Wednesday evenings at the church led by Claralee Street, Thursday afternoons at Ruth McLellan's home led by Earle Harvey, and a virtual study by email led by Pastor Gwyneth.

We received positive feedback on the book and group experience from all the groups, and hope to continue with these and additional small groups through the winter.

Christmas Pageant

The children presented a Christmas Pageant on December 21 during worship. Many thanks to Andy and Teresa Folley for organizing and heading up the pageant this year, Linda and Doug Greer for help with costumes and sound, Andy’s father, John for assembling the stable backdrop, and all of the other parent and teacher helpers! What an amazing time!

Pageant Rehearsal

The kids had their final rehearsal for the Christmas pageant on Saturday, December 20. They tried on costumes made and re-made by Linda Greer. The set was fabricated by Andy and his father, Rev.

John Folley. Teresa and Andy, and other parents helped children with their lines. Due to the ice storm, the cookie bake wasn't possible at this time, but that didn't prevent the kids from having a great time eating ginger bread cookies and juice at our mid-morning break! Then back to another run-through, and then home to keep practicing those lines and songs!

Christmas Caroling

Thank you to all who came out to sing for the neighborhood Christmas caroling party. We sang the Good News through the church neighborhood. Then we came back to the pastors home for some food and fellowship. A good time was had by all.

How to tell your story

You tell stories every day. Yet, because we don't often tell the stories of our faith, they fade to the back of our mind. What counts as a faith story? What are the most important events and people that have formed our faith? Do your children, siblings and church friends know these stories. Be built up in your faith as we build up one another as we recover and share God's great works in our lives. This small group series will be launched in January. Details will follow.

Hanging the Greens

There was a smaller crowd for the annual Hanging the Greens service this year, but no less enthusiastic as we sang carols, decorated the church, hung ornaments on the tree and the kids brought forward gifts for the Root Cellar gift drive! Ellen Dunn then led the children in the Christmas story as the animals were placed in the manger on the altar. A wonderful and joyous time was had by all.



The Hanging of the Greens service takes place on the Sunday after the Christmas fair (the fair is generally held the first Saturday in December).

Coastal Christmas Fair

We earned $2,083 on the day of our fair and have had other funds trickle in from after fair sales. It was such a fun day. We worked hard, we had wonderful fellowship, great food from the kitchen and in these times are proud of the earnings.

Great lobster stew too! Thanks to all who donated their time and talents! And thank you to all of the United Methodist Women who led the effort.

Thank you also to Karen Jennings for putting together a wonderful craft area for children to make ornaments and gift for friends and family while parents shopped. It was a great success!