Newsy Notes
A Weekly Update from your Children's Choir Directors
THIS WEEK (week of November 1) Giving Thanks and Planning for Advent
Online Choir Fall 2020 - Week #8
Shorter Rehearsals - Quicker Pace
It's NEVER too late to join us!
To REGISTER, please visit www.peopleofgrace.org/register
If you did NOT receive an At-Home Music-Making Kit, let your director know. We are out of the drawstring bags, but still have instruments to share.
Director Sections updated below!
**NEW NEWS!!!
CHORISTERS NEEDED TO HELP! Watch for sign-up coming soon!
The Noisy Offering IS ON!! (See more info below)
SAVE THE DATE: Sunday before Thanksgiving (as always) November 22nd
Hope you've been saving your change!
Details below.
AT-HOME ADVENT DRIVE-THRU Details below - Register TODAY!
NEW HYMN OF THE MONTH below
Watch for the Zoom Links in a separate email.
Reminder of the NEW CHOIR TIMES:
Treble Tikes - ONLINE - Mondays 9:30am and/or Thursdays at 12:30pm
Children's Bell Ensemble - IN-PERSON - 4:00-4:30pm Wednesdays
Cherub Choir - ONLINE - 4:30-5:00pm Wednesdays
Junior Singers - ONLINE - 5:15-6:00pm Wednesdays
Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends, family, neighbors, and classmates. You do not need to be a member of Grace Church to register for any of our choirs.
THIS NEWSLETTER is also posted weekly on the Children's Music Ministry page of the church website - peopleofgrace.org
Advent: The Journey to the Manger Begins...
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Getting Ready for Christmas Drive-Thru
Advent (which means "arrival") is a season of expectant waiting and preparation. During the four weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas, we remember the generations of Israelites who waited for the arrival of their Messiah. As followers of Jesus Christ, we now wait and prepare for the fulfillment of God's Kingdom - "on earth, as it is in heaven."
But we do not wait idly.
This Advent and Christmas season will be unlike any other in our lifetimes. It will be different, and it will be difficult, as we wait for the pandemic to end and to be able to gather openly together again. But even now, we do not wait idly. During this season, we prepare ourselves through prayer, fellowship, study, and worship to be the active hands and feet of Christ in a world waiting for healing, for compassion, for peace.
To help us actively prepare for Christmas during the season of Advent, the staff of Grace UMC has prepared a drive-thru event. All are invited to come by the church on Sunday, November 22, anytime between 11:30 and 1:30, to pick up an Advent Wreath-Making Kit.
The kit will include: all of the materials you need to make a beautiful Advent wreath for your home, a liturgy for you to use when lighting your candles alongside our digital worship services, a Reverse Advent Calendar to benefit Aurora Interfaith Food Pantry, and information about this year's churchwide book study: "Incarnation" by Adam Hamilton. We encourage adults to join a small group, but we will also provide information on how you can access the study material on your own.
For those with children or youth, we will provide age-appropriate packets with "Incarnation" activities and study materials that will be incorporated into our weekly Children's and Youth Programming.
Register Now, so that we can be sure to provide the appropriate materials on November 22. Please indicate if you desire a children's and/or youth packet along with the wreath-making kit.
Noisy Offering
Advent is a season of waiting and preparation, but it's also a season of giving thanks for what God has already done through Jesus Christ. As a way of expressing our gratitude to God and loving our neighbor, we will also be collecting your loose change (and bills) for this year's Noisy Offering, which will benefit Feed My Starving Children. You can also donate online by clicking here.
Yes, this Advent and Christmas season will be different. But through the Holy Spirit, we can be the church even when we are apart. Together we can actively wait and prepare for God's arrival in Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of that heavenly kingdom. Let us together "prepare the way of the Lord!" (Isaiah 40:3).
Choir Parent Advisory Group
Fall Meeting Scheduled - Nov 8th @ 7:30pm
The current CHOIR PARENT ADVISORY GROUP
(any choir parent welcome any time)
All are welcome!
Shelly Drescher
Dan Wagner
Lynn Leitzen
Sue Riedinger
Maggie Schnute
Matthew & Shannon Sprunger
Traci Weilemann
AND NEW MEMBERS:
Bonnie Lewan
Robin Watkins-Mitchell
Watch for the email requesting our first meeting date.
Thanks for serving!
Junior Singers
From Ms. Lynn....GIVING THANKS!
Please continue to encourage attendance each week!
There is good engagement and lots of smiles! It's so good to be together!
General Rehearsal Order:
Welcome/Gathering Hellos
Opening Prayer
Warm-ups
Song Study I - Thankful (Mark Burrows)
Hymn of the Month (November - NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD)
Song Study II - Doxology
Kahoot!
Music Kit Clean-up
Closing Prayer
Closing Song
BE SURE TO BRING YOUR KITS TO REHEARSAL EVERY WEDNESDAY!! (including your hymnal)
HOW DO I GET THE ZOOM LINK?
- ZOOM LINKS for Juniors Singers will be shared in a separate email to registered participants only. Watch for the link at the beginning of each new week - JRS Zoom Link with the rehearsal date. It will be a recurring meeting, so the link will not change.
MUSIC KIT DONATIONS - Can You Help Cover Our Costs?
- The kits are being provided to all participants thanks to the Foundation's Children's Music Fund that is graciously supported by memorials and donations. It is used for everything choir related except music, which is covered by the budget. So, if you'd be willing to help defray the cost of your chorister's kit, please use this link to do so with our sincerest appreciation. The price listed is the approximate price of the kit and the contents vary by choir. Thank You!
https://peopleofgrace.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/188/responses/new
JUNIORS PLAY KAHOOT! (Parents PLEASE READ)
- We are having a great time playing Kahoot at the close of our rehearsals! Questions will be both fun and purposeful.
- It requires a 2nd device to play or the tech knowledge of a split computer screen.
- If your chorister does not have their own cellphone/tablet, and cannot borrow a parent/sibling phone for 10 mins at the conclusion of our Wednesday rehearsal, they can still play along by answering questions in the chat feature.
CHERUB CHOIR
From Miss Sue and Miss Shelly...
We enjoyed seeing and hearing about everyone’s costumes on Wednesday, and hope that you all enjoyed celebrating Halloween!
And now, on to November!
For this week’s rehearsal, please bring a spoon and a small ball or marble that fits on the spoon. We are planning to use it during one of our music games/activities.
Miss Shelly and Miss Sue look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday!
Hymn of the Month - November
V1 - Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voic-es,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world re-joic-es;
who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way
with count-less gifts of love, and still is ours to-day.
V2 - O may this boun-teous God
through all our life be near us,
with ev-er joy-ful hearts and bless-ed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace, and guide us when per-plexed;
and free us from our ills, in this world and the next.
V3 - All praise and thanks to God
the Fa-ther now be giv-en;
the Son, and him who reigns with them in high-est heav-en;
the one e-ter-nal God, whom earth and heaven a-dore;
for thus it was, is now, and shall be ev-er-more.
Rinkhart/Cruger
TREBLE TIKES
From Ms. Lynn...
We continue to celebrate all things FALL! It was fun to hear all about their Halloween fun!
We will spend November talking/singing about things we're THANKFUL for.
Remember, if you have to miss your "regular" day, you can ALWAYS join us for the other class offering that week!
PLEASE BRING A FAVORITE STUFFED SNUGGLY TO CLASSES!
No classes held the week of Thanksgiving (Nov 22-29)
https://peopleofgrace.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/190/responses/new
Please use this link to share your class preference.
https://peopleofgrace.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/190/responses/new
AT-HOME MUSIC KITS - Please be sure your child has their music kit handy for every class!
If you did not receive one yet, please email me
ZOOM LINKS for registered participants will be shared to the provided email on (or before) Monday and Thursday mornings.
Please share this info with friends, neighbors, family! New Tikes welcome any time!
The more the merrier!
Children's Bell Ensemble
From Ms. Debbie...
If anyone is interested in learning more about our children’s Bell Ensemble, please contact Miss Debbie (Debbie.john@peopleofgrace.org).
Current Ringers:
Please remember to contact Ms. Debbie if you are going to miss rehearsal, so the room can be setup appropriately. Unfortunately, anyone who has a cold or other covid-like symptoms must stay home. This also applies to anyone who has been exposed to someone who has tested positively for Covid-19. Just let me know!
Grace Children's Music Ministry Directors, Staff and Assistants
Lynn Leitzen, Junior Singers & Treble Tikes Director
5:15-6:00pm
Tikes- Online Mondays or Thursdays (starting 9/14)
9:30-10am or 12:30-1pm (respectively)
Contact Lynn at: lynn.leitzen@peopleofgrace.org
Sue Riedinger, Cherub Choir Co-Director
Shelly Drescher, Cherub Choir Co-Director
(starting September 16)
4:30-5:00pm
Contact Shelly at: shelly.drescher@peopleofgrace.org
Debbie John, Children's Bell Ensemble Director
Sherri Nagy, Junior Singers Accompanist
Barb McCarthy, Children's Bells Assistant
Grace United Methodist Church
Email: hello@peopleofgrace.org
Website: peopleofgrace.org
Location: 300 East Gartner Road, Naperville, IL, USA
Phone: (630)355-1748
Facebook: facebook.com/gracenaperville