Weekly Newsletter - December 4, 2025

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News of the Church

Christmas Bake Sale This Sunday

The Mulberry United Women in Faith are having their Christmas Bake Sale this Sunday, December 7th! From 9:30 am - 1:00 pm in the Church Conference Room, you can purchase a large variety of home made goodies perfect for gift-giving this holiday season. Help support the United Women in Faith and their fundraising by

Donating home-made goodies - cookies, cakes, pies, candy, jams, etc.
Bring them to the church Saturday, December 6 from 10 am - 12 noon, or early Sunday, December
Shopping on Sunday for holiday gifts & goodies!

Christmas Caroling

Let’s spread some holiday cheer! We will meet after Worship this Sunday, December 7 and go over to PruittHealth Lakeside Nursing Home to sing our favorite traditional carols with the residents. We hope you’ll join us for this fun annual tradition! Carolers, we will gather in the atrium before heading out.

Carols & Keyboards with the Ainsworth Choir

On Sunday, December 14 you are invited to join us in this special worship service featuring our Ainsworth Choir. Come celebrate the season with beloved Christmas Carols sung around the piano!

Second Sunday Lunch

On Sunday, December 14 following Worship we will meet in the Fellowship Hall for our monthly potluck lunch! Bring a side dish or dessert to share and enjoy great food, laughter, and fellowship around the table! This monthly potluck is a great opportunity to connect with each other and with God while sharing a delicious meal. There’s a spot at the table just for you - come and experience the joy of the Lord that is created when we gather together to share a meal!

Family Ministries Christmas Sponsorship

The Mulberry Family Ministries team is sponsoring 3 youth & 1 infant from the Methodist Home for Children & Youth this Christmas. If you would like to help fill out their wish lists, you can either donate gifts cards (Google Play, Target, Ulta, Amazon, McDonald’s), or donate to our "Christmas Sponsorship" Fund to help purchase gifts. Donations can be dropped off with Elisa or in the church office. Please write Christmas Sponsorship on your check, or choose the "Christmas Sponsorship" fund on the drop-down menu of the online giving form. Please make donations by December 15.

Donate Online Here

The Longest Night Labyrinth Walk

While Christmas often brings great joy, it can also bring sorrow, difficult memories, and melancholy - and that's ok! We will mark the longest night of the year - Sunday, December 21 from 4-7 pm - with a special self-guided prayer walk through the labyrinth in the Mulberry courtyard. We will have lighted luminaries and options for guided prayers for pilgrims walking through the path.

A place to share happenings in Macon & what the Mulberry community is up to!

Something you'd like highlighted? Email to Millie Thompson.

The Milledgeville Singers Guild, under the direction of Lyman Hinson, is presenting their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, December 7 at 7 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Milledgeville (210 S Wayne Street). The program will feature John Rutter’s musical tale Brother Heinrich’s Christmas accompanied by a short program of well-loved and brand new holiday favorites.

Hinda Ramsay (pen name Hinda-jonathan) has published a book entitled Spirits of Macon: a Yankee in the South. This book is a poetic memoir of the four+ years lived in Macon, Georgia: energies from the heart and perspective of an aged Hippie and Lover of Life. Congrats to Hinda on this publication! You can find Spirits of Macon on Amazon here.

Macon Outreach

In memory of Mickey Pope by Waverly and Beth Golson

In memory of Mickey Pope by Carol and Jack Head

In memory of Mickey Pope by Larry King

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Carol and Jack Head

In memory of Lowell Belk by Carol and Jack Head

In memory of Lowell Belk by Lawrence Drinkard

In memory of Bob Waters by Carol and Jack Head

In memory of Margaret Dunstan by Frances Speer

In memory of Ann Kite Hall by John and Sandy Barrow

In memory of Ann Kite Hall by Stephens Lamb

Memorial Fund

In memory of Mickey Pope by Matt and Carol Woodbery

In memory of Mickey Pope by Jeff and Delia Bridges

In memory of Mickey Pope by Chuck and Pam Huber

In memory of Mickey Pope by Elizabeth B. Butler

In memory of Susan R. Middlebrooks by William and Charlene Baxley

In memory of Susan R. Middlebrooks by Rick and Sue Whitten

Music Fund

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Bill and Cindy Jarrard

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Marc and Wimberly Treadwell

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Carla and Peter Dennis

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by David and Lynn Priester

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Vaughan and Beth Smith

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Matt and Carol Woodbery

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Patsy and Steve Knott

In memory of Jim and Betsy Abbott by Chuck and Pam Huber

Sunday Worship

December 7, 2025

Second Sunday of Advent

Rev. Jack Varnell, preaching

“The Gift of Jesus”

Matthew 4:12-17

Assisting with Worship

Ushers

Gary Dunn, Vaughan Smith, Emory Dunn, Jim Manley, Stuart Walker

Acolytes

Will Magda, Crucifer

Emily Stansfield & Ruth Stansfield, Candle Lighters

Communion Servers

Spencer & Megan Smith

11 a.m. Worship Service will be Live-Streamed and available on Facebook and YouTube.

Prayer List

Scott and Wanda Fitzgerald

Jarrod Heggins

Jimmy Roach

Freeda Chapman

Thomas Marlow

Linda Sankey

Yetta Price

Eddings Smith

Sharon and Tony Marks, sister and brother-in-law of Kathy Welch

Mable Mashburn, Kathy Welch’s mother

Ashley and Mary Hurt

Frances Inzer

Charlotte Barker

Michael Downs, grandson of Harold Downs

Susan McIntosh, Daniel’s mother

Edith Smith, mother of Hinda Ramsay

Ray McIntosh, Daniel’s sister

Martin Magda

Jackie Holtzclaw, Katherine Holtzclaw’s mother.

Kay Harris

Elena Balkcom, Stephanie Henson’s daughter, and her grandson Reed

Kendra Triesenberg

Russell Sanderson, Wende Meyer von Bremen's brother,

Marguerite Pound

Jane Moore

Tommy Tucker

Deanna Webber

Luis Morales-Hill

Ruth Beeler, Daniel’s grandmother

Terry Golden, Elisa’s uncle

Joey Weaver

Jean Weatherford

Janet Stevens

Carol Pope and the family of Mickey Pope

Chris and Jay Abbott and the family of Jim and Betsy Abbott

Nancy Belk and the family of Lowell Belk

Dennis Kersey and the family of Dana Kersey

The family of Betty Cox

Luis and Janice Morales-Hill's great-granddaughter, Carter

Michael Slonecker

The United Methodist Church, Bishop Robin Dease

District Superintendent Jeff Cook

Our church, its clergy, and its members

Our community of Macon

Coming Up at Mulberry

December 7

UWF Bake Sale &

Christmas Caroling

December 14

Carols & Keyboards with the Ainsworth Choir

Full Calendar

On Call Line

478-219-9926

Check out what's going on in Realm!

Be sure to check out the News feature on Realm!

If you need help getting connected, contact the church office at

478-745-8601.

Ainsworth (Adult) Choir Rehearsal

Wednesdays at 7:15 pm in the Choir Room!

We welcome all who like to sing and want to be part of music ministry in worship. Come join us! Please contact Terre Johnson, Director of Music, for questions.

**Nursery is provided during Choir Rehearsal for any parents wanting to join!

Weekly Prayers & Scripture

Week 2: Peace

Day 1. Isaiah 9:6 (Morning); Luke 1:79 (Evening)

Day 2. Psalm 29:11 (Morning); John 14:27 (Evening)

Day 3. Psalm 85:10 (Morning); Isaiah 9:7 (Evening)

Day 4. Luke 2:14 (Morning); Psalm 122:6-7 (Evening)

Day 5. John 14:27 (Morning); Isaiah 55:12 (Evening)

Morning Prayer of Petition

Holy God, your son is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Today I pray for peace, plead for peace, and ask you to fill the places in my life and in our world that need your peace:

I pray for peace in my inner spirit where I am distracted and anxious.
I pray for peace in my relationships with family, friends, coworkers, neighbors.
I pray for peace in my community, city, and country where divisiveness seems to reign.
I pray for peace among people globally, especially where conflict and war are an expected ways of life.

As we prepare to celebrate the coming of your son into the world, may the peace He embodies and offers be made real on earth as it is in heave. Amen.

Evening Prayer of Gratitude

Gracious God, as I look back on this day, it is too easy to focus on places of discord and division. Instead, I give you thanks for the ways you are working in my life for peace and wholeness. Today, God, I thank you for:

the ways you are working to bring peace to my emotional and mental being,
the way you are working my relationships, especially those that are strained or fractured,
the ways you are offering a picture of peace in my church or community.

As I rest and look forward to a new day tomorrow, may I have the eyes to see where you are at work for peace in the world, and may I have the courage to join you in that work. Amen.

Taken from The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer

Donation Needs

Macon Outreach Needs

**Plastic Bags**

Cereal

Pop tarts

Canned peas

Canned black eye peas

Canned collards

Jelly

Cases of bottled water

Financial Donations

Cereal

Hamburger helper

Cornbread mix

Condiments

Cake/cookie/muffin mix

Snack items

Daybreak Needs

Volunteers!!!

Canned or fresh fruit,

fruit cups

Applesauce (individual containers)

Jelly

Vienna sausages (4.6 oz.)

1 min. Instant Grits

1 min Instant Oatmeal

Chips (individual bags)

Snack items (individually wrapped)

Gatorade (Powder)

Muscle Cream (Biofreeze, Icy Hot)

Disinfectant Spray/Air freshener

Women underwear (New) M,L,XL

Bug Spray

Aleve (Ibuprofen)

Pine-sol

Liquid Laundry Detergent

Hydrocortisone cream

Dish detergent

Paper towels

Resources & Links

South Georgia Advocate

The South Georgia Advocate, a twice monthly online news publication, is the official news source of the South Georgia Annual Conference and a ministry of the Office of Connectional Ministries.

Click here for the Georgia Advocate

New Creation Resource Toolkit

As part of this year's conference focus of "New Creation", the South Georgia Conference is providing monthly resources designed to empower each of us in our mission of making meaningful connections and living out transformative discipleship. Each toolkit presents a challenge questions & resources tailored to address that challenge.

Click here for the New Creation Toolkit

Have an addition to the newsletter?

Email Millie Thompson at mthompson@mulberrymethodist.org