2024 Poinsettia Dedications

POINSETTIAS GIVEN BY AND IN LOVING MEMORY

Barbara Baker, in memory of my husband Bill and our parents
Betty Barding, in memory of loved ones, Keith Barding
Mary and Lori Bazan-Sargent, in memory of Ruth and Fred Sargent and Tom Bazan
Kay Blevins & Family, in memory of Jack Blevins, husband and father
Wanda Clark, in memory of our parents and grandparents
Carol Clem, in memory of Fred Clem
Carol and Clayton Foxworthy, in memory of our parents, Doyle and Rosemary Bilyeu and Lee Foxworthy
Cynthia Gaunt, in memory of Patty, Rich, our parents, and siblings in heaven
Norm and Mary Geible, in memory of our loving son, Nick Baar
John, Sue, Andy and Mollie Hylton, in memory of John’s parents and Andy’s and Mollie’s grandparents, Byron and Ellen Hylton, and Sue Castleman Hylton’s parents and Andy’s and Mollie’s grandparents, Tom and Thelma Castleman
Tamara and Terry Jones, in memory of Ken and Carolyn Jolly, and Jack and Carolyn Miller
Nick and Lori Kellum, in memory of Paul and Louise Kellum
Daniel and Debi Kinnamon, in memory of our mothers, Carol Edmondson and Valerie Clark
Melinda Lambert, in memory of Jean Lambert
Abby Lietz, in memory of my grandparents, Jim and Janet, Hafe and Rita
Rachel McGinn, in memory of Harry & Sally Mitchell, and Debbie McGinn
Brent and Jenny Miller, in memory of our parents, Bob Coffer and Jack Miller
Karen Carter Pennington, in memory of George and Marsilee Carter
Treva Rubsam, in memory of dearly loved ones in Heaven!
Larry and Anne Rudy, in memory of our grandson Brayden Smith
Jonathan and Prudence Sims, in memory of Earl and Evelyn Sims; Dennis LecClier
Vern and Lou Sullenger, in memory of Philip Sullenger and loved ones
Eleanor Vermillion & Family, in memory of Ed Vermillion
Judy Watts, in memory of Robert R. Watts, Charlotte M. Watts, and Robert C. Watts

POINSETTIAS GIVEN BY AND IN CELEBRATION

Barbara Baker, in celebration of my children and grandchildren
Carol and Clayton Foxworthy, in celebration of our mother, Pat Foxworthy
Cynthia Gaunt, in celebration of our children and grandchildren
Jane Iles, in celebration of Lynn Blosser’s music ministry to PUMC
Jane and Tom Iles, in celebration of our children, Kimberly, Laura and David, and our grandchildren, Henry, Gracelyn and Lucas
Melinda Lambert, in celebration of mother
Abby Lietz, in celebration of the children of PUMC
Gary and Jeannine Neuen, in celebration of our grandchildren: Addison, Anna, Bryce and Lucia
Jim & Martha Roath, in celebration of our grandchildren
Treva Rubsam, in celebration of dearly loved ones on earth

Dedications will appear in the Christmas Eve Worship folder. Poinsettias can be picked on December 26, 2024.

Alternative Christmas Gifts: Spread Joy Through Giving

Do you have someone on your list who’s tricky to shop for? Spread joy this season by giving a meaningful financial gift in their honor or memory to one of the many impactful missions at PUMC! It’s a heartfelt way to celebrate someone special while supporting a cause that makes a difference. Visit the table in the main lobby to explore how you can share love, kindness, and generosity this holiday season. Together, let’s brighten lives and create lasting memories. Give the gift of hope, compassion, and change—because every act of giving matters!

Missions in the Memo

At PUMC, we’re blessed to support many mission projects that share God’s love with those in need. Your generosity—whether through financial gifts, donations of supplies, or hands-on service—helps us make a lasting impact in our community and beyond. If you’d like to contribute, please mark your undesignated gifts to PUMC missions with “Missions” in the memo field. This helps our Missions Committee direct your gifts to the areas where they’re needed most. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to spreading God’s love through these important projects. Together, we’re making a difference!

Last Saturday Lunch: December 28, 2024

Join us for our Last Saturday Lunch—a heartwarming, community meal filled with great food and even better company, completely free of charge! Happening on the last Saturday of each month, it’s the perfect opportunity to gather with friends and family for a delicious and uplifting experience. Enter through Door 14 on the north side of the Sanctuary, and enjoy lunch served from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Got questions? Contact Mary Ann Hamilton at m.a.hamilton2@gmail.com. Come hungry, leave happy—we can’t wait to welcome you!

Reach Beyond: Transforming Space, Extending Love

After months of prayerful planning, Reach Beyond is ready to help PUMC extend its mission and share God’s love in powerful new ways! This inspiring project will transform our Worship Annex into a warm, welcoming hub for hospitality, outreach, and worship.

We’re making meaningful updates: replacing broken windows, upgrading 25-year-old carpet, modernizing the electrical panel, and adding cozy seating. The refreshed space will also feature a permanent prayer wall, art tracks, and more—a beautiful reflection of God’s love for all.

With a total project cost of $65,000, we’re already over halfway there! As of December 15, 2024, we’ve raised $34,988.66. Every gift brings us closer to our goal.
This revitalized space will bless PUMC and our community, offering new ways to connect, grow, and share the Good News of Christ. Your support matters—together, we can make this vision a reality.

Let’s do this, PUMC! The best is yet to come.

The Nativity Scene: Then and Now

Pastor David Neuen – Lead Pastor, dneuen@pumc.org

Inspired by his travels to the Holy Land, Saint Francis of Assisi created the first live nativity scene in 1223 to help children understand the true meaning of Christmas. The friar wanted to portray the birth of the holy child in a way that people might remember Christ’s humility and poverty. He showed the onlookers that the holy can be found outside the physical structure of the church. Crowds gathered holding candles and torches at a cliff side in Greccio, a small town 50 miles north of Rome, to see the reenactment of the manger with Jesus, Mary and Joseph alongside live animals. The story goes that the onlookers experienced a miracle, seeing a real infant appear in the empty manger with St. Francis taking the beautiful child into his arms, holding him in a loving embrace.

In the late 15th century, brothers Pietro and Giovanni Alamanno began creating life-size sculptures of religious figures for display in local chapels. This included creating the scene of Christ’s birth. A Christmas creche craze had begun. Soon, small-scale nativity scenes became a popular collector’s item among the wealthy. In 1567, the duchess of a small town in Italy commissioned more than 100 crèche figurines for display in her home, including camels carrying treasure, dogs, an elephant, and a giraffe.

Emerging in the 16th century, the Protestant branch of the church took issue with nativity scenes, rejecting and destroying them as materialistic distractions. Figurines of baby Jesus were called out as idolatrous icons distracting from a personal relationship with the living Christ. But hostility towards the nativity scene softened. Some Protestant Christians settling in the Americas brought nativity figures with them as domestic decorations. When Christmas became celebrated as a national US holiday in the mid-19th century, the popularity of nativity sets grew tremendously.

Today, artists have pushed the boundaries in merging the nativity scene with cutesy or current characters. Relevant Magazine reveals what they consider to be “17 Very Theologically Questionable Nativity Scenes You Can Own.” When Jesus and his earthly parents are represented by gnomes, ducks, woodland creatures, or Frankenstein, we might be missing God’s gracious revealing in coming to dwell with us, like us.

Through the years our family has collected a number of nativity sets for display in our home. One holds significance because it was hand painted by my grandmother. Another olive wood carved creche was purchased in Israel. They each remind me of the presence of Christ known in the giftedness and kindness of the artist that made them. They also capture my eyes, directing me to God’s self-giving in the form of a humble child. I see God’s loving nature, God’s willingness to stoop down into hardship and discomfort. I glimpse the first to worship Jesus beaconing my praise. I spy an angel reminding me of God’s intention to continue sending messages of assurance, renewal, and call. And I chuckle at the sight of a camel, a cow, and some sheep, pointing me to God’s beautiful creation which also reveals God’s holiness.

Do you own a nativity scene? What stories does it tell about God and about you? Enjoy the moments to see again the miracle of Christ’s birth and the gift of God’s miraculous love. Merry Christmas!

Reflect, Reconnect, Renew 2025

Pastor Abby Lietz – Associate Pastor, alietz@pumc.org

Today is a beautiful fall day – the clouds are grey, there are still pumpkins on porches and a bit of color on the trees here and there. We are in a season of gratitude as Thanksgiving approaches, at least it was at the time of my writing, and in a season of preparation: Advent will have begun by the time you read this, the season in the church we prepare our hearts and homes to welcome Jesus once again. We have also seen another United States presidential election, and a general election that saw Indiana consider candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and more – all the way down to our town councils and school boards. I’m admittedly still processing the outcomes and what they say about the state of our nation, what the role of the Church and we as Jesus followers play in all this. It’s the end of 2024; 2025 is fast approaching. In the past year we said goodbye to one senior pastor and hello to a new, we had lots of staff shuffles and even more are on the way with the retirement of our youth pastor next summer. Our General Conference of the UMC met last spring and opened the way for gay clergy to be ordained and gay couples to be married by our pastors in our places of worship. We received a new bishop in Indiana! I got married and moved farther away from you than I wish I was. Via the Worship Annex, we are launching something new this month – the beginning of what I am certain will birth incredible ministry and sharing the love of God with others. There is a lot I could say about any of these moments, these decisions and how they impact us and will continue to impact, inform and guide us in the days, weeks and months to come.

But what I want to share with you is encouragement, some reminders, some challenges to take up for the year ahead. I am convinced, now more than ever, our institutions are not going to save us, that our stuff is not going to save us, nor our money or our health or anything. We have Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit, we have ourselves, we have each other and this beautiful Earth. How, in 2025, can you connect more deeply with these four areas – your own Self, Creation, your fellow human beings and God? What do you need to cut out of your life or give up or take up in order to connect, to reconnect? What do you need to dive into? Ease into? What must you walk away from? Who must you listen to? Don’t forget – trees are people, too!

I mean this seriously: it matters how we live. And we can talk all day about ideas over coffee, but I wonder what practices can help us stay connected. What can we do to stay grounded, to heal, to create more capacity to love and forgive ourselves and others? So we can ask ourselves: Are we worshiping God with every part of our lives? Where else do we need to surrender to God? Where else can we serve some aspect of the Earth or other humans who are not us and our immediate household? How can we live more joyfully and peacefully with ourselves, each other and God? These are good reflection questions to ask so when 2025 arrives we are ready to live, at least a bit more fully, the lifestyle Jesus modeled when he was alive and the one he calls us to live yet today. One that bears life-giving fruit.

Dallas Goldtooth, a Native American environmental activist and performance artist recently shared ways people can organize themselves in their community. He listed things like:

Create a local group where you can share ideas and create support for people who need help
Get together with crafty people to craft and learn to craft and be in fellowship
Join a radical read book club where you read books often banned or that push you into new territory for thinking and serving in the community
Make art – radical art – like public art, theater, and zines. Make music! Play it! Read poetry in public!
Join or start a community garden
Start a community fridge or a clothing pickup point, or a sanitary products giveaway
Volunteer with a cause you care about
Get to know your neighbors

As the church, we are great at coming up with these kinds of efforts but if you’re like me, maybe you need a fresh start. I hope we can be about even more intentional connection this year – the kind of efforts and connections that don’t burn us out, but instead fill us up with the love and assurance that we are loved by God and empowered to make a real difference in the world around us by the way we live, by the way we speak and forgive and love. It’s going to be OK in 2025. God is already making a way for us – I’ll see you there!

Men’s Breakfast: December 21, 2024

Plainfield UMC’s men, young men, and guests come together every third Saturday of the month at 8:30 a.m. for an amazing time of food, fellowship, and faith!

We gather in the Worship Annex, so bring your empty stomach, a friend, and your Bible. Get ready to enjoy delicious food, meaningful connections, and the nourishment of God’s word. It’s the perfect way to start your weekend with purpose and community.

We can’t wait to see you there—don’t miss it!

Reach Beyond Update: December 15, 2024

After months of prayerful planning, Reach Beyond is here to help PUMC extend its mission and welcome more people into God’s love! This exciting project will transform our Worship Annex into a space of hospitality, outreach, and worship.

We’re making essential upgrades—replacing broken windows, updating 25-year-old carpet, modernizing the electrical panel, and adding cozy seating. Plus, we’ll enhance the space with a permanent prayer wall, art tracks, and more.

The vision costs $65,000, and we’re over halfway there! As of December 15, 2024 $33,788.66 has been raised. With your help, we can reach our goal!

This refreshed space will bless PUMC and our community as we build relationships, extend invitations, and share the Good News of Christ. Together, we can bring this vision to life. Let’s do this—our best days are ahead!

The Gentle Ministry of the Threshold Singers

The Threshold Singers offer a unique and tender ministry, bringing comfort and peace through song. Their harmonious voices create a soothing presence, providing solace to those at life’s thresholds, whether in moments of illness, transition, or end-of-life care.

This compassionate group reminds us of the power of music to heal and connect. Their gift of song is a gentle reminder of love, hope, and God’s grace, touching hearts in profound and meaningful ways.