Consider yourself in a new career.  You welcome weary travelers, wash dishes, distribute underwear and toiletries, and listen patiently to the stories of difficult journeys.  Is this the kind of work that appeals to you?  Why not join us this Friday night at APMUMC and see if you have a future in inn keeping. You might be able to get in on the ground floor of a growing and challenging field.  The work isn’t that hard, your co-workers will show you the ropes, and the benefits are out of this world!

Call Judy or Emalie if you are interested in an inn keeping internship. 615-403-8455

Gritty sand
Help me move this rock.
Tasting the salt of the earth.
Thirsty, but thirsty for what?
Cool breeze washes away sadness.
More light, but where is that star?

A clock set for Kabul time
Already tomorrow morning there.
Cold and snowy in Kabul now.
I carry a soldier, now,
In my pocket,
But also in my heart.

A map with notes and prayer requests
Asking for Peace,
For people and places
With no sacred spaces.

Where is that star?

by Katelyn

Join us on Super Bowl Sunday for soup, salad, and all the fixings.  We are going to have several more meals on Sundays to raise money for Mountain T.O.P. and other mission work.  Many thanks for the support our congregation always shows our UMYF.

Purchase your Flamingo Insurance Now!  Join Club 52!

Friends, you do not want to be caught without this important protection.  These flamingos can strike without warning, and if this happens to you, you will need the professional services of the UMYF to remove these pesky, plastic pests. For $1.oo a week, or $52.00 a year, you can purchase this important piece of mind. We offer a complete package of flamingo removal services including removing the flamingos and, well, just that. If these terrible hot pink birds invade your yard, call the UMYF Flamingo Removal Professionals at 615-403-8455.  For our especially environmentally conscious customers, we will remove the flock to the ecosystem of your choice.

AWAKEN TO AN

Come to Hickory Bend UMC
605 Stewarts Ferry Pike
Nashville, TN 37214

Walk through a Sacred Space and into your own Epiphany.

Youth, children, babies, and adults are most welcome.

January 8-15, 2012
6:00-8:00 each evening

Spend a few minutes, an hour, a lifetime, or an eternity.
For more information call 615-403-8455.

This Christmas Eve, Summit Hospital will be almost empty.  The only people there will be patients in ICU, their families, a few families in maternity, and the faithful staff who work so hard to make sure they are given care. For several years, Hickory Bend has taken a holiday meal to Summit Hospital ICU on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Easter.  If you would like to be part of this ministry, speak to Jeannie, Gabby, or any of the Youth.  For more information, call 615-403-8455.

Please join us for congregational singing, special music as the children act out the Christmas Story from Luke.

We had a visitor Sunday who was hitch hiking to Knoxville from Michigan. Michael is a disabled vet, recovering from PTSD. He had a job he loved working twenty hours a week in a furniture store.  It was his favorite job, but he had just lost his job at a furniture store, because he hurt his back. So now he is physically and mentally disabled.  His father died in June.  Michael’s dad was a rock. His mother didn’t mind him living with her until recently.  He calls her often, but she is busy. Michael is a history buff, and the Civil War is his area of particular interest. There is a Civil War course at the University of Tennessee he would really like to take. In the course, the class travels to several Civil War battlegrounds, and the professor is a good story teller. Michael had his military disability check sent to Knoxville. Knoxville is close to Gatlinburg. Michael’s family had a wonderful time in Gatlinburg when he was a child, and he would like to go back.

Michael hitch hiked as far as Exit 219, and he got out of a car in the pouring rain. From the Interstate, he could see the steeple, and he thought that he might be able to get out of the rain for a while at the church.  Michael was christened as a child in the Catholic Church, went to catechism, was confirmed, but then they moved. Their family never reconnected with a church.  When Michael saw that our church was a United Methodist church, he was hopeful. Michael’s platoon sergeant in Somalia was a Methodist, and he used to talk to Michael all the time. “He really talked to us. He was a really cool guy.  He took great care of everybody.  He cared about all of us, and he cared about the Somalians, too.  He had a really different way of talking to people. He talked about people, you know, like he really cared. He cared about our families and if we were writing to them all the time and letting them know what we were doing. That we were okay.  He took great care of his own family, too.  That guy was a Methodist. He told me I had to get back home and get into a church. I told him I was Catholic, but he said I should just go to any church. It didn’t have to be Methodist or Catholic, but everybody has to go be with a church.”

So Michael saw the steeple, saw that he was at a United Methodist Church, and stood under the front porch for a few minutes before people started arriving, making coffee, making a breakfast burrito, (where did that sausage come from?) warming up pastry, pouring apple juice, and introducing themselves.

Ethel asked him where he ate last night.  ”I didn’t eat last night.”

“Where did you eat lunch yesterday?”

“I didn’t eat yesterday.”

He ate Sunday, though.  attended Sunday School, sat with new friends in the worship service, and went to lunch with new friends.

And people gave him money.

He came to lunch with more new friends. He couldn’t eat all of his lunch, because “People gave me so much breakfast, I can’t eat all of this.”  He asked for a box.

Michael said, “I might have enough money to get a bus ticket to Knoxville!” Robbie hopped on the phone to find out how much a bus ticket to Knoxville was.  She couldn’t hear in the restaurant, so she went outside to be able to hear the ticket agent.

I asked Michael how much money he had.

“Forty-seven dollars.”

Robbie returned to the noisy restaurant.  ”A bus ticket to Knoxville is forty-seven dollars.”