Senior Pastor Reflection
October, Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas: A Future with Hope
By the Rev. Karen Yokota Love
As I write this letter to you, it’s been two weeks after the election results – and I am still processing the election. First of all, please know that you are not alone. Whatever you are feeling or just not feeling for the past weeks, you are not alone. If your heart is aching, you are not alone. If you are in despair, you are not alone. If you are afraid, you are not alone. If you are fired up, you are not alone. If your employment is threatened as a result of the national election, you are not alone.
God is with you – and your Blaine Memorial family is here for you today and in the weeks and months to come. Through worship, youth group, Church School and classes, small groups, fellowship time, prayer, sports ministries, and support of neighbors through our care and social justice ministries, your Blaine Memorial UMC community is here.
Again and again, our call is to love God and love our neighbors. Kin-dom building is a marathon, not a sprint. Countering bigotry, oppression, and injustice is a marathon, not a sprint. There was going to be a lot of work to do no matter who won the election. We have witnessed an election cycle of demonizing and scapegoating, particularly of trans people and immigrants. Misogyny, racism, and cruelty have run rampant. Jesus embodied sacred resistance to an empire mindset, and as followers of Jesus we will do the same. Together we will continue to advocate for policies that protect the beautiful diversity of the human family and advance the common good.
- We are called by our United Methodist baptismal vows “to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves”.
- We denounce the use of violence and threats of violence as tools for political gain.
- We denounce fear-mongering and scapegoating.
- We denounce Christian nationalism.
- We denounce willful untruth and slander.
- We seek to support peacemakers and a culture of empathy and resilience that does not look to violence for answers.
- We seek to uphold the inherent dignity of all people.
- We seek to collaborate with ecumenical and interfaith partners in respecting each other’s traditions and working together for the common good.
- We will continue to support one another and our time to be the community is more important than ever before. God will always be with us and we will continue to do the good work for the common good and for our community.
If you need to talk, please reach out to me.
October Celebrations!
This year’s Trunk or Treat was a HUGE success! On Sunday, October 27, after church, our parking lot was bustling with excitement with many spooky and fun decorated trunks. Many from our church came out to serve our community by decorating their cars, our BYG served hot dogs, and we welcomed families from the neighborhood.
The result was a safe, welcoming and fabulously fun party! At this year’s event we had 12 creatively decorated cars for our guests (big and small) to visit. Most cars included a game or activity for the guests to play, and every car had candy or treats. Themes included Scooby-Doo, Cats, Hot Dogs, Hello Kitty, Cookie Monster, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to name a few themes.
Thank you so much to Jennifer Lew for organizing this year’s Trunk-or-Treat and for all those who gave their time, energy and talents to this event. Your warm hospitality and service is making a difference.
Thanksgiving and Stewardship: A Future With Hope
This year’s Stewardship theme is “A Future With Hope”. During November, we’re thinking and praying together about how Christian life includes cycles of exile and return. There is exile, there is return, and then there is a third movement: being sent back out into the world for the sake of our neighbors and creation as a whole. It’s being commissioned, sent for the sake of God’s love and justice, God’s future of hope.
Blaine Memorial UMC is a community of return, a place of homecoming. And it’s also a community of sending, a place that commissions us as agents of God’s love and grace, so that all may experience a sense of homecoming into God’s new world of compassion, dignity, and joy. Giving Sunday is on Sunday, November 24, 2024. I’ve encouraged you to pray on your Pledge Cards that you should have received earlier this month (if you misplaced it, just let us know and we’ll email you another!), and plan on joining us online or in person on Sunday, November 24, 2024. With a past so full of grace, our future is full of hope.
Your pledge commitment to Blaine Memorial UMC helps sustain our current ministries and create new ministries as we continue to discern the needs of our members, our community, and our neighborhood. May the Holy Spirit guide you as you pray on what you’ll commit to in 2025.
Advent Words for the Beginning
As we talk about themes of exile and return during the month of November, in December, we’ll talk more about Advent. Advent is a season of endings and beginnings. As the calendar year comes to a close, a new church year rushes in. Christ’s birth ushers us into new ways of living and loving — and yet, we feel the weight of many things coming to an end. The world as we know it spins madly onward and there is constant change and the shifting of life that continues. What are the reminders we will need in order to move faithfully through this threshold?
This year’s Advent series is filled with blessings, with the words we need to hear again and again as we begin a new season. We imagined the words Mary would speak to her newborn son. What scriptures and stories would she impart to him? What lessons would she teach him as he grew? And so, our weekly themes may feel like the lessons we teach to children, but in reality, these are lessons we continue to learn and relearn as adults. I invite you to enter this Advent season as if you are entering a sacred new chapter, holding fast to the reminders that will bolster you for the journey ahead.
In many ways, pregnant Mary was surrounded by endings—large and small, personal and political. And yet, Mary proclaimed hope in a God who was and is making all things new. As we also move through new personal and political chapters, may these words for the beginning renew us and remind us of the ways we are called to live out our faith. No matter what you are facing, no matter what this new day brings, let love be your beginning.
Please take a look at the series of announcements for the Advent Christmas season. This year, we are trying something new and we will have one Christmas Eve Service which will have our traditional Christmas music with lessons and carols at 4:00 PM on December 24, 2024. I really hope you can join us this year. I can’t wait to celebrate the Advent and Christmas season with you.
Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Advent, Merry Christmas and joy to you as we finish up 2024 together. May your faith walk be blessed with God’s guidance through whatever situations you face today. Be the hope!
The Rev. Karen Yokota Love serves as Senior Pastor of Blaine Memorial UMC.
Announcements
Sign-Up Now: Thanksgiving Meals and Giving Tree 2024!
| Kimball Elementary Food Delivery Tuesday, November 26, 2024, 10:00AM |
| Giving Tree Sunday, November 17- Sunday, December 1, 2024 |
| Giving Tree, Wrapped Gifts Due Sunday, December 8, 2024 |
Read more:
Sign-Up Now: Thanksgiving Meals and Giving Tree 2024!
By Terry Adolfo
BYG Update: Help us develop leaders this Thanksgiving!
By Kaylee Yokoyama
NJAUMC Caucus Advent Study Group • Tuesdays, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17 at 6:30pm-8:00pm
Members of the NJAUMC Caucus have put together an Advent study based on The Christmas Letters. All NJAUMC churches are invited to attend the study. The facilitators are US Navy Chaplain Rev. John M. Miyahara and Pastor Brian Lee from Simpson UMC in Denver, Colorado, Rev. Ki Choi from Centenary UMC and Rev. Karen Yokota Love from Blaine Memorial UMC. The meeting dates are Tuesdays 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17 from 6:30pm-8:00pm on Zoom. You don’t need to read the book to join the group.
Prayers and Coffee on Zoom • Wednesdays at 9am
Join the Rev. Karen Yokota Love for prayer and community on Wednesdays at 9:00 AM on Zoom. Our time together consists of brief check-ins, devotionals, and prayers. This is a great way to start your morning, clear and center your mind, all while connecting with God and your prayer community. Feel free to bring a cup of coffee, tea, and a bite to eat. Hope to see you on Wednesday.
More Aprons on the Way!
Recently, Blaine Memorial received three unexpected gifts of many rice bags. This means that our sewers are fortunate to have more apron kits that need to be sewn together! Unique Anniversary Aprons will become available in December, just in time for your holiday shopping. Stay tuned!
The Greening of Blaine • Saturday, November 30, 9am
The Greening of Blaine is one of the biggest half-day (with lunch provided) annual work parties of Blaine Memorial UMC. Join the Worship Committee in making wreaths, swags, and garlands for decorating the church’s campus through Advent and Christmas. Come learn how to craft the greenery and to grace the Sanctuary. Bring clippers or scissors to trim cedar fronds and ribbons.
We will also have a large paper art project where we will hang in the Sanctuary, calling for the shared work of many hands. Welcome, All! Let the Holidays begin!
Advent & Christmas Announcements
| Children and Youth Christmas Play Sunday, Dec. 15, at 10am. All are invited to come to the Lee Activity Center to witness our children and youth perform in a special Christmas Play. |
| Blue Christmas Service Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 7pm. Our Blue Christmas Service provides space for prayer, reflection, and remembrance for those grieving during this holiday season (Livestreamed) |
| Christmas Music Sunday Sunday, Dec. 22, at 10:00am. Christmas Music Sunday will feature jams from our Blaine Memorial Choir, B.U.G.S., young adults, and more. |
| Christmas Eve Service Tuesday, Dec. 24 at 4pm. We will have one Traditional Christmas Eve Lesson and Carols Candlelight Service. |
2024 Congregation Photograph
On December 15, 2024, we will be taking a 120th anniversary commemorative photo of our whole congregation in the Lee Activity Center after the children’s Christmas program. Please stay for this photograph which will be a snapshot of our present 2024 congregation in our 120th year as a church family. Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this Blaine Memorial UMC 120th Anniversary photo!
120th Anniversary Sunday Service and Potluck
On January 26, 2025, Blaine Memorial UMC will have a 120th anniversary Sunday service with special guests to celebrate and reflect on its 120-year history and look forward to its further growth and development into the next 120 years of service in love. There will be a potluck gathering and program following the service. There will also be ministry table exhibits of past and present ministries of the church such as music ministry, Sunday School ministry, Youth ministry, missions ministry, sports ministry, etc. Please join us for the culminating celebration of our 120th anniversary and start of our 121st year! We look forward to celebrating with all our members new and old and our many community friends. All are welcome.
Read the latest issue of the Beacon, now!
Our Story Continues
- Blaine Memorial UMC Benefit Bazaar Thank-Yous!
- Spiritual Formation Center: In Thanksgiving, We Celebrate
View the November and December 2024 Calendars
