Holiday Happenings 2024
Mark your calendars for upcoming holiday happenings and advent celebrations and services! Updates will be made here as information becomes available:
Alternative Gift Market
Mark a few things off your Christmas list at our Alternative Gift Market on Sunday, Nov. 24, 9:30-10:45 am, and immediately following our 11:00 am services in the Chapel. While shopping for unique and thoughtful items, you also are learning about and supporting our local and international missions partners! A few of our partners include: Oasis to shelter women from domestic violence, Casting Bread to increase food security, Blizzard Bundles of the High Country to keep local children warm, and Dreaming for Change to promote human dignity and social development in Burundi. Others are: Boone United Methodist Preschool (BUMP), Guatemala Mission Team, Scout Pack/Troop 109, BUMC Creation Care Team, QuadW Tarime, and Sunrise Rotary. Our Market is the perfect opportunity to shop for meaningful gifts while also helping others!
Advent Worship in the Meadow
As we enter the Advent season, we are gathering on Sunday evenings, Dec. 1, 8, 15, & 22, 5:00 pm, by the campfire in Firewood Lot at the foot of the Boone United Trail, for a special outdoor worship service with worship music and a time of reflection from one of our pastors. Let’s lift our Advent praises to God in the beauty of His great creation! Hot chocolate will be provided. Restroom facilities are available.
Angel Tree
Boone UMC is providing Christmas presents to 200 local children. Choose an “Angel” tag from a tree in the Family Life Center or Chapel. Each tag gives the age of a child and the Christmas gifts they are requesting. (Angel’s wish list items are divided across two tags so that their requests can be divided between two shoppers.) Simply choose a tag from the tree and record your name and tag number on the sign-up sheet, located near the tree. Please return unwrapped gifts to the church NO LATER than Sunday, Dec. 1, by 12:00 pm. Please place gifts under the Angel Tree in the Chapel or in Crossroads on Sunday mornings or Monday through Thursday, 9:00 am-4:00 pm. Please attach your Angel Tree card to your gifts with your Angel Tree number clearly displayed so that we can deliver it to the right angel. Gifts can be 1) placed in gift bags or 2) placed in a shopping bag with a roll of Christmas paper and bow. If you prefer to donate money toward Angel Tree gifts, please make check payable to BUMC with “Angel Tree” in the memo. We also are providing holiday meals to 15 Angel Tree families. To help provide a meal, click here.
Christmas Cantata
Our Music Ministry presents this year’s Christmas Cantata on Sunday, Dec. 8, during our Combined Worship Service in the Sanctuary at 11:00 am. Have You Heard? by Joel Raney with orchestration by Ed Hogan delivers the Christmas story using the captivating style of Celtic music in a wonderfully compelling way. Beginning with the ethereal underscoring of the familiar Scripture from John 1:1-5, the story then breaks into exuberant renditions of several familiar carols with distinctive Celtic sounds. This is a glorious, musical way to share the story of Christmas!
Christmas Eve Worship Services
Candlelight, carols, and communion will be part of each of the following services on Tuesday evening, Dec. 24:
• Family Service at 4:00 pm, in the Sanctuary, presented by children and youth
• Crossroads Christmas Eve service at 6:00 pm, in the Family Life Center
• Traditional Service at 8:00 pm, at Blackburns’ Chapel in Todd, NC
• Lessons & Carols Service at 8:00 pm, in the Sanctuary, presented by the Chancel Choir
Family Advent Festival
Sunday, Dec. 8, 5:30 pm, in the Family Life Center. More details to come.
Hanging of the Greens
Join us on Sunday, Dec. 1, at 8:30 am, in the Sanctuary for a special time of worship as we kick off the Advent Season with our Hanging of the Greens service. Our hearts are centered during this service by special readings and musical presentations as wreaths are hung, garlands are strung, the tree is decorated, and the Nativity is presented. Come back on Dec. 24 when the Nativity is completed with the arrival of Jesus.
Thanksgiving Meal
Invite your family and friends to our Thanksgiving Meal, open to all, on Nov. 24, 5:30 pm, in our Family Life Center. This annual dinner is a special time of breaking bread together and giving God thanks for the blessings in our lives. Traditional Thanksgiving dishes, including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and rolls, are being provided. Bring a side dish or two and dessert to share. A few ideas of dishes to bring include: fruit salad, salad, macaroni & cheese, sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, pies, cakes, and cookies.
*We regret not being able to offer Holiday Bells this year due to hurricane-related issues, but we look forward to returning with Spring Ring next year!