Blue Christmas Service

Blue Christmas is a gentle, contemplative worship service designed for anyone who finds the holiday season difficult. While the world celebrates with lights and laughter, many carry grief, stress, illness, loneliness, or memories that make this time of year heavy. Blue Christmas creates sacred space to acknowledge those feelings and meet God in the midst of them.

Our service will include quiet music, Scripture, honest prayers, and a candle-lighting ritual that names loss, pain, courage, and hope. You’ll also have the opportunity to light a personal candle in memory or prayer. The tone is warm, reflective, and deeply rooted in the compassion of Christ—the One who meets us in every shadow with unfailing light. All are welcome to breathe, rest, and simply be.

Join us on December 21 at 5pm in the Narthex, using Door #1 (Office) to enter.

December 24th Services

Epiphany Ring Celebration

On January 10th at 4:00 p.m., 6 hand bell choirs will join together in performance to ring in the new year! Featuring players from St. Mark's UMC, Belmont UMC, Forest Hills UMC, 1st UMCM, 1st UMCS, and Trinity UMC, this concert will take place at First United Methodist Church here in Murfreesboro, at 265 W. Thompson Ln.

Epiphany Sermon Series: Gifts That Keep on Giving

With the commercialized “gift giving season” behind us, let’s focus on some of God’s unexpected gifts that we can enjoy long after the Christmas tree has been hauled away—gifts that reveal themselves in new ways as time goes on. This sermon series is about recognizing the often-surprising gifts that are extended to humanity and are ours to receive if we are bold and loving enough to accept them.

January 4: The Gift of Unexpected Gifts (Matthew 2:1-12)

January 11: The Gift of Committed Community (Matthew 3:13-17)

January 18: The Gift of Unbridled Curiosity (John 1:29-42)

January 25: The Gift of Bold Action (Matthew 4:12-23)

February 1: The Gift of Poetic Challenge (Matthew 5:1-12)

February 8: The Gift of Public Witness (Matthew 5:13-20)

February 15: The Gift of the Unpredictable Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9)

Staff Christmas Fund

This Sunday, December 21st, is the last day to contribute to the Staff Christmas Fund. You can give in the following ways:

• Online Giving: To give online, open the Online Giving Form, choose "Other" as the fund, and then enter "Staff Gift" as a note.
• Check: Write "Staff Christmas Gifts" on the memo line and mail it to the church office or place it in the offering plate.
• Cash: Place your gift in an envelope marked "Staff Christmas Gifts" and drop it off at the church office or in the offering plate.

January Communion Rail Offering

Our January 4, 2026, our communion rail offering will go to The Journey Home.

The Journey Home is a Christian ministry whose primary focus is to serve the homeless and disadvantaged of Rutherford County. They provide practical resources and relationships that encourage faith, housing, and economic stability, wholeness, and reintegration into community life. 

Food, Fellowship, Faith,

and Fun for All Ages!

WNT is on Holiday Hiatus until January 21!

Merry Mission Marketplace

Thanks for making Shopping your Mission!

Thank you for shopping at the Merry Mission Marketplace!  We had a very successful sale, thanks to generous vendors and so many shoppers! Here are a few statistics:

• 25 vendors participated in the Market
• Sales from this year’s Market were almost $7000, nearly 40% above 2024!  
• Almost $3000, or 30% of total sales, was donated to 12 Missions, Ministries, and Non-Profits
• More than $1000 of the donations went to St. Mark’s Ministries

SAGES News

Merry Christmas from all our Sages Ministry Team.

The Sages had a wonderful outing to Christmas at Beersheba last week. Thanks to Roland Edwards for driving and for everyone who went. We are grateful for our Pastor, Tommy Ward, serving us communion during the chapel time.

The Alzheimer’s/Dementia Support Group will meet Thursday, December 18 in Room 503-505. If you are caring for someone for who has dementia, or if you just want to learn more about the disease, or to be supportive, you’re invited.

The Sages will be going to Cracker Barrell on Chaffin Place, January 19. Please meet there at 9:00 AM. If you need a ride please call Cindy Flippin. Please sign up in our gathering room or in the office to let us know you are going. Look for the book!

Our Sages are now sharing communion with our homebound members and others. On the first Sunday of December, ten teams spent time with our homebound friends. The feedback from this experience has been wonderful and appreciative. On January 4 our teams will again be going out in the name Christ and St. Mark’s. Thanks to all the teams and those who welcomed them into their homes or residences..

And remember, each Monday SAGES deliver the Sunday altar flowers to our homebound and nursing home residents.

The Sages Ministry Team will meet at 9:30 AM on January 12 in Room 503-505.

Again, Merry Christmas to all from The Sages.

Missions Updates

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

Because of your generosity, St. Mark’s UMC was able to reach out to our community and neighborhood during the month of December through the following Christmas Missions and Ministries:

• Giving 400 stamped Christmas cards to the inmates of the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention and the Bedford County Jail to send to their loved ones
• Preparing 25 Begin Again Boxes for persons who are starting over in a new home
• Giving 20 food bags for Reeves Rogers children to take home to supplement their meals over Christmas Break
• Giving 23 bags of playground toys, one for each classroom at Reeves Rogers
• Giving $20 gift cards to each teacher and staff member at Reeves Rogers
• Sponsoring one Reeves Rogers family with two children for Christmas
• Giving $3000 to Missions, Ministries, and Non-profits via the Merry Mission Marketplace
• Giving 15 food boxes from our Food Bank this month
• Providing Christmas gifts to 34 Preschool – Grade 3 children at Red Bird Mission
• Giving $200 to Reeves Rogers for the purchase of guitar straps for the music class
• And more!