Current Happenings

Men and women are invited. The topic is "Social Media - How We Can Protect Our Children." We will learn the facts and discuss the protections.The group meets in Glen Mar's Youth Lounge. George Dohner will prepare dinner. So George knows how many dinners to prepare, RSVP here. Contact Dan to sign up TGIW@glenmarumc.org

Invite your friends and neighbors to this sale of donated jewelry and slightly used scarves bargains. Proceeds benefit HopeWorks of Howard County, formerly called the Domestic Violence Center. You can also support with a donation made out to HopeWorks. For more information, email hopeworks@glenmarumc.org.

The Singles Social Network will hold an early Thanksgiving dinner for all singles. For more information, contact Mary Maxey singles@glenmarumc.org

All women ages 19 - 99 are invited attend our monthly meetings in Room 149. Check the monitor when you enter to verify the room number. At this meeting, we will be be doing the mission work of making gifts for children around the world with Eloise Labram. We can use all the help we can get. Please bring scissors and any old, clean t-shirts you don't wear anymore.

The Mission Board oversees Glen Mar’s mission trips and activities. Everyone is invited to Glen Mar’s Mission Board meeting, but only members can vote. It will be held in Room 121. The Board meets the third Monday of each month.

One of 50 churches supporting this Grassroots outreach, Glen Mar provides lunch the 4th Saturday of every month. To contribute to the potluck menu or help serve on site, RSVP here.

The Singles Social Network will go to see "The Miracle of Christmas" at Sight & Sound in Lancaster, PA. For more information, contact Mary Maxey singles@glenmarumc.org

Packages will be assembled to send to college youth in Room 147. If you have a college student, either away at school or living at home whom you would like to receive these goodie bags, please email the student's name and school address to youvegotmail@glenmarumc.org. Donated candy/snack items for college students will be appreciated.

Walk to Bethlehem is a free indoor/outdoor theatrical Christmas adventure for the whole family. Meet Mary, Joseph, shepherds and angels as well as see live animals. We re-enact the story of Jesus' birth and a Temple scene. In addition, you will visit a marketplace that is brimming with activities. The community is invited. Click here for more information

Serve a hot breakfast to a homeless population at Manna House in Baltimore. Glen Mar’s team works on the second Sunday of the month. Leave the church at 7:15 a.m. and carpool to the site. Adults and youth 14 and older can participate. Contact Ellen Burns at 410.913.5772 or mannahouse@glenmarumc.org if interested.

Glen Mar will offer this opportunity to receive Safe Sanctuaries training in Room 121. Anyone who works with or comes into contact with children, youth or vulnerable adults in Glen Mar's ministry settings is required to complete Safe Sanctuaries training prior to serving. Training takes about one hour. Participants in this training are asked to provide references and information for a background check. Click here for more information.

Are you interested in learning how to become more connected at Glen Mar? Join the Glen Mar pastors for an informal lunch where questions are welcome and the pathway to membership is shared. Childcare is available by request. RSVP to kyara.kelley@glenmarumc.org

The holiday season can be a painful time as memories of the past are remembered. We might be struggling with or grieving a difficult loss - whether it is the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a career, a hope or health. If this describes you, we invite you to join us in the Spirit Center for a service of candlelighting, Communion and healing prayers.

More than 60 singers and a chamber orchestra will perform John Rutter's Magnificat in the Spirit Center. Please note that Glen Mar's regular 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m services will not be held on Dec. 15.

Youth can drop in to pack gift boxes for children around the world. Some items to be packed are from things created at last year's Day of Service. Operation Christmas Child can still use school supplies and monetary donations for the cost of shipping ($9 per box).

Volunteers are needed to assemble packages to send to college youth in Room 147. Candy/snack items can also be donated. This is an opportunity to meet fellow parents of college students. For more information or to provide the name of a college student away at school or living at home whom you would like to receive goodie bags, please email the student's name and school address to youvegotmail@glenmarumc.org.

Children and youth are needed to be an active part of the services on Dec. 24 at 2:30 and 4 p.m. Team up with your favorite heroes as they work together to rescue earth from a villain bent on erasing Jesus from Christmas. These "A Super Christmas" services will be filled with carols, fun and a Christmas message for the whole family.

Contact Margaret Lang at margaret.lang@glenmarumc.org if interested in participating.

Youth will do the heavy lifting of moving the costumes. Others will organize the costumes to get them ready for Walk to Bethlehem volunteers to sign up for before Walk to Bethlehem is held on Dec. 6, 7 and 8. Unpacking work will be done in Room 146. Sign up to help with unpacking at Signupgenius or just drop by to help.

Glen Mar is recruiting singers in sixth grade through adults to perform in the church’s Christmas cantata, John Rutter's Magnificat. Rehearsals have started and are Thursdays at 7 p.m. in the Music Suite. Two performances will be held at the 9 and 11 a.m. services on Sun., Dec. 15. For more information, contact sophie.hong@glenmarumc.org

Walk to Bethlehem is an indoor/outdoor theatrical Christmas adventure for the whole family that will be held Dec. 6, 7, and 8, 5 - 8 p.m.

Adults and youth can help with the following:
Sat., Nov. 16, afternoon - outside building repairs and painting
Sun., Dec. 1, 1 - 6 p.m. - inside marketplace construction and set up
Mon., Dec. 2, 6 - 9 p.m. - inside marketplace decoration, lower level set up
Tue., Dec. 3, 6 - 9 p.m. - inside setup and decoration
Wed., Dec. 4, 6 - 9 p.m. - miscellaneous - to be determined

Contact Margaret Lang at margaret.lang@glenmarumc.org for more details.

Walk to Bethlehem is an indoor/outdoor theatrical Christmas adventure for the whole family. It will be held Dec. 6, 7, and 8, 5 - 8 p.m. During its 12 years, it has reached 22,000 visitors through our dedicated and strong volunteer staff. Families who have been blessed with babies (boys and girls) during the six months before Walk to Bethlehem are needed for the holy family scene. Volunteers are needed to portray Mary, Joseph, kings and shepherds. Kids are welcome to star in the angel scene while their parents help with costumes and support their children. Folks are also needed for the Market Place booth.

Contact Margaret Lang at margaret.lang@glenmarumc.org to volunteer or leave your name and contact information at the Walk to Bethlehem tent in the Gathering Place.

Glen Mar's Day of Service will be held Jan. 20, 2020. We will have dozens of service projects on- and off-site with community partners and family-friendly service opportunities. If your business, organization, church, Boy or Girl Scout troop would like to attend or partner with Day of Service, email dayofservice@glenmarumc.org. Click here for more information.

A small group skilled in construction is needed to work on a Family Survivor Network building that needs repair. FSN is a non-profit organization in the Sandtown area of Baltimore and is dedicated to helping families and communities impacted by fatal violence in Baltimore. Workers will use their own tools. If you think you can work on this, contact Adrienne Taylor, habitat@glenmarumc.org

Play dough is needed for the pottery booth at Walk to Bethlehem's marketplace. Make this recipe and drop off the play dough in a ziplock bag in the Walk to Bethlehem tent in the Gathering Place.

1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil.
Spices that can be used: cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg or one of your choice.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add small amounts of the spices you prepared to the mix until it smells great. Mix water and oil in a separate bowl, then mix together both bowls into a large pan. It needs to cook for two or three minutes or until it is dough-like.

Do not add food coloring. The pottery stall in the marketplace wants muted-colored play dough.

Glen Mar's Day of Service will be held Jan. 20, 2020. We will have dozens of service projects on- and off-site with community partners, family-friendly service opportunities and will assemble 100,000 meals in our Spirit Center. To help defray the expenses of this free community event, visit the Day of Service website page and press "Donate Today."

Wish Upon a Star will assist about 28 families this Christmas. "Stars" for clothing, gifts and toys will be available for people to purchase. Food gift certificates can also be donated.

Pick up stars in the Gathering Place after services beginning Nov. 9. Write "Wish Upon a Star" in the memo line of checks. Items should not be wrapped. Return all gifts with stars taped or stapled to the outside of the bag for identification. All "stars" and checks should be returned to the Gathering Place no later than noon on Dec. 8.

Lots of firewood is needed for outside scenes during Walk to Bethlehem. If you have any to add to our pile please contact margaret.lang@glenmarumc.org about drop off.

SHP seeks new twin-size bedding sets, sheet sets and comforters. Everything collected will be delivered with brand new beds to a child who does not have his/her own bed. You can leave items in the SHP bin on the lower level at Glen Mar. Requests for beds or bedding can be made directly to SHP www.shpbeds.org/request-free-twin-bunk-bed/.

Pack a shoebox to share the love of God with a child as part of Samaritan Purse's Operation Christmas Child. Boxes are available outside the youth office on the lower level. Return filled boxes between Nov. 2 - 10. You can also donate items to be packed by our youth by Nov. 17. A list of items to donate is available outside the youth office or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoebox-suggestions/. For more information on the boxes or to volunteer at the regional center, contact Eloise occ@glenmarumc.org

The United Methodist Women at Glen Mar will see that pocket calendars are distributed to women at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup. Drop them in a labeled tub near Youth World downstairs at Glen Mar by Nov. 24.

Honor a loved one this Christmas by ordering a poinsettia from Homestead Gardens. Poinsettias come in 7-inch pots.They have 8 to 10 blooms in red or white and will help beautify the Spirit Center for our Christmas services. Cost is $20 per plant. Envelopes are available on the cafe in the Gathering Place. Order deadline is Dec. 8. For more information contact kyara.kelley@glenmarumc.org.

A group of seven dedicated volunteers from Glen Mar Church went on a mission trip to Craigsville, West Virginia from Oct. 20 to 26. They served with Charles, the homeowner and his adult daughter, Christy, to make his house drier, safer, and warmer. The volunteers installed a sub-floor, three new windows, an exterior door, new tin roof, and a front deck with steps. They also insulated the exterior walls and ran hot and cold water lines for the bathroom and kitchen. Charles’ previous house had been totally damaged by the flood.

On the morning of our last day, Buck, the local mission coordinator, told Glen Mar's volunteers how important Glen Mar's team was to the community and especially Charles and his extended family. The volunteers and homeowner grew closer to God through daily devotions, prayers, and service with each other.

View a photo of the Glen Mar volunteers who worked in Craigsville, West Virginia.

Glen Mar Church collected more than $7,400 from parishioners in September to send to the Bahamas Hurricane Relief through The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). All of it will go to Bahamas Hurricane disaster relief.

Glen Mar is in its fifth year of College and Career Prep, our partnership ministry to improve the future for youth living in Baltimore. This ministry has been successful because our volunteers maintain an ongoing relationship ministry with tutoring on the side. We are currently working with 20 youth.

Three of our youth graduated from high school this year. One needed us to help pay for seven twilight classes that she needed to graduate. Her school suggested it would be wasted money because if she missed a class twice she would be dropped. We expect God to give us second chances, so we ought to do the same. We paid the course fees. She passed them all.

Terrance is starting eighth grade. He attended robotics nationals and NASA space camp, and this summer he volunteered to go on his first Hurley mission trip.

A fifth grader joined us about a year ago. His teachers had given up on him because of how disruptive he can be in class. We got to know him and realized that he would rather get suspended than show his weakness - he can’t read. We’re working with him privately, and during the year he’s improved two grade levels. He is quite the gentleman when he is confident.

They’re God’s kids, and our kids. They seek our companionship, our willingness to walk with them, to learn from our mistakes and theirs, to learn their world. We believe in them as a way of showing that God believes in us.