Echoes from the Hills

Conklin Forks and Hawleyton Methodist Churches

901 Hawleyton Rd., Binghamton, NY 13903
Rev. Mary Jean Simonin, Pastor • 607-669-4373 • msimonin@stny.rr.com
December 2023 Attention Women of Hawleyton & Conklin Forks!
Issue #278 Come to UMW’s Christmas Party on Wednesday,
Sunday Worship Dec. 13th at 6:30 pm at the Hattala’s. Please park
in the Hawleyton lot, where you will be greeted by a
Conklin Forks handsome chauffeur! There will be plenty of food
United Methodist Church
and fellowship for all. Feel free to bring a snack to
9:00 AM
share. There will also be a $10 gift exchange for
4420 Brady Hill Rd. those interested. See you there!
Binghamton, NY
607-773-0360
Christmas Cantata
Hawleyton
There will be a Christmas Cantata Dec. 17th at the Hawleyton Church
United Methodist Church
10:30 AM at 7 pm. Come hear the Christmas story through scripture readings,
carols sung by the congregation and music presented by the choir. We
901 Hawleyton Rd. welcome anyone from both churches who is interested in singing in the
Binghamton, NY choir or doing readings. Contact Mary Gilda if interested.
607-669-4520

Mission Statement Sing Around the Christmas Tree

To Know, Love, Live, Serve & Everyone is invited to Sing Around the Christmas
Share Christ!
Tree on Saturday, December 23rd at 6:30 pm
at the ball diamond. We hope to see you there!

Christmas Eve Service

A Candlelight Christmas Eve service will be held on Sunday,
December 24th at 7 pm at Hawleyton Church. Come and invite
family and friends to what is always a beautiful and inspirational
service as we rejoice in the birth of Christ!
 PASTOR PONDERINGS
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord: make straight in the
desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40:3).”
Greetings friends! It is hard to believe that the season of Advent is upon us. We will
celebrate Christmas in a few short weeks. 2023 is almost over.
How are you preparing for Advent and Christmas? Here at the two churches, we prepare the
building by putting up the nativity set and decorating a tree. It always looks so pretty and
festive. We also prepare by lighting the Advent wreath. The choirs are meeting and
preparing to sing some glorious music in celebration of our Lord’s birth. At our homes we
are preparing special baking projects, setting up our own nativity sets, decorating the tree,
buying, and wrapping presents and many other fun activities.
These activities are all fine and fun but the preparation is so much more. How are you
preparing your heart and mind to experience Jesus perhaps in a new way? Do you have a
special Advent devotional? Do you read the Scriptures more? Perhaps you have a family
Advent wreath? It is a busy time but it is also an important time. It is a time to think about
Jesus’ first coming. As we prepare to celebrate his coming, we also need to think about why
he came and what he came to do. As I have said many times, you cannot have Christmas
without Easter and you cannot have Easter without Christmas.
Not only do we need to prepare for the different seasons in the Christian year but we also
need to prepare our hearts and minds for weekly worship. It is wonderful to see and talk to
our friends and family at church but we need some time to listen to God as we prepare to
learn more about him. Perhaps this happens through praise music, Scripture reading or
prayers. It is an individual and important time.
As we enter into the season of Advent and then Christmas, I want to encourage all of us to
set aside some time to truly prepare our hearts and minds to experience Jesus perhaps in a
new way.
Have a blessed Advent and Merry Christmas!
Pastor Mary Jean

SERMON SERIES OPEN HOUSE

For the month of December through Epiphany Once again Pastor Mary Jean is inviting everyone
I will be looking at the history behind some of to an Open House at the parsonage. This will take
our beloved carols of this time period. My main place on Sunday January 7 from 4-? Please feel
th

source of information will come from author free to stop in for fun, food, and fellowship. There
Ace Collins. I hope you will find this uplifting will be coffee this year as well as tea and soda.
and interesting.

Joan Burdick Cookie Main

Russ Cole Todd Marbaker
Dean DuBois Paul McDuffy
Chuck Gabriel Sue Swartwood
Anna Gorman Hannah Victor
Gray Heath Jagger Zopp
Norman Johnson John Zurenda
John Kosic Unspoken Requests
 We Are So Thankful for our Church Family!!!!
Jared and I are so grateful for the
outpouring of love and generosity for our
mission trip to Guinea Bissau West Africa.
We thank the UMM, UMW, the church
council, Conklin Forks, all the individual
and anonymous donations. We will take a
part of all of you to share Christ’s love to
another part of the world. Jesus says to
go into all the world to spread his love
and Word. We will be able to take you
with us as we go on January 4th. Thank
you so very much for being the hands
and feet of Jesus. -Ray Haskell
Linda and Todd Marbaker would like to
thank everyone that took the time to send
Todd a card of prayer & encouragement.
They were very appreciated. Todd was
surprised that so many of you are thinking
of him and praying for him. I am so glad to
belong to a church family that cares so
much! Thank you all for caring and
praying for both of us!
In God’s love,
Linda and Todd
Thank you to all at Conklin Forks who
participated in our Shoebox and supply
collection for Redbird Missions! We
collected 68 shoeboxes full of blessings for
adults and children at Redbird. In addition
to the shoeboxes we received school
supplies, several pillows, blankets, many
sheets and sets of towels! Your generosity
will be shared with those in great need and
God will bless you in return. A special
thank you to Jerry Russell and Bob Palmer
for delivering our collection to the
warehouse at Endwell UMC for
transportation to Beverly, Kentucky just in
time for Christmas! Thank you!!
Thank you to our Church Family who
have been praying, sending cards,
phones calls, visiting, or helping out
with a meal or treat. We very much
appreciate your thoughts and concerns
during our time of need.
Blessings to All.
Love,
Joan and Richard Burdick
Thank you from the Hawleyton Kids’
Sunday School program for helping
collect shoeboxes for Operation
Christmas Child. They were very
appreciative of your support in their
mission that they believe in and feel
strongly about sending the
shoeboxes to other children around the
world. We were able to send 77
shoeboxes filled with toys, school
supplies, personal care items, shoes
and more. Thanks to your generosity,
the children had a great time putting
them all together. Thank you to
Amanda, Brooklyn, Charles, Declan,
Emagene, Henry and Makayla for your
hard work!
 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2

3 (H) Choir 4 5 6 7 6:30 pm (H) 8 (TBD) Building 9 (H) Cantata

Church Council Bridges Rehearsal

10 (H) Choir 11 12 13 10 am (CF) Soul 14 6:30 pm (CF) 15 16 (H) Cantata

Seekers Church Council Rehearsal
6:30 pm (Hattala’s) 11 am (CF) Willing
UMW Workers Breakfast Set
Up
17 (H) Choir 18 19 20 21 22 23
(CF) Pancake
Breakfast
7pm (H) Cantata
No Pie Happy Hour
24 25 26 27 10 am (CF) Soul 28 29 30
Seekers

7pm (H) Christmas

Eve Service
31

December Anniversaries December Birthdays

1- Stephen Haskell 13 - Melinda Kilmer

24 - Tony & Darah Torres Kathy Hattala Christopher Byce
30 - Rick & Renee' Henson 5- Jean Williams 17 - Cheryl Hoggard
Courtney Pease 23 - Bill Reynolds III
Kimberly Reynolds 25 - JESUS
Richard Burdick 26 - Connie Finney
8- Deborah Gill 28 - Chris Griggs
Aron Whiteman 29 - Ryan Manning
10 - Cody Smith 30 - Scott Hotchkiss
11 - Michael Grames, Jr. 31 - Nancy Byce
12 - Jason Opela Becky Smith

We Need Your Help!

We are always collecting items for our two churches, but the ones below do not cost a thing! Please send your items to
Chelsea at the Charge Office: hawleytoncharge@gmail.com or mail them in to the office. We are looking for:
• Your birthdays and anniversaries
• Recipes for future Newsletter Publications
• Pictures of different events happening in the Charge and Community
• Your favorite hymns (for Sundays when there is no special music planned)
• Your favorite Praise Songs for Hawleyton Praise Band (they can be songs we have not sung before)
 A Message from the Charge Office
Chelsea’s Open Office Hours are on Thursdays from 5:30-7:30 pm. Please feel free
to call or stop by! If she will not be in on a Thursday evening, there will be an
announcement in the bulletin ahead of time.

The Bulletin deadline is Thursdays at 5pm. The monthly Newsletter deadline is the
last Monday of the month (unless otherwise noted).

Chelsea will be out of the office from December 22nd 2023– January 8th 2024. Any
items for bulletins for the dates of 12/17, 12/24, 12/31 & 1/7, as well as January
Newsletter items are due no later than Thursday, December 14th at 5pm. Please call
or email with any questions. Thank you!!

SPPRC Committee Members Important Announcement about Sunday Announcements

Sally Williams & Jerry Russell
co-chairs, Linda Marbaker,
Connie Hart, Judy Zurenda, Betsy
Reynolds-Snigar.
If anyone has questions/
comments about any of our paid
staff please contact a member of
the SPPRC Committee.
Card Mailboxes
The CF and Hawleyton mailboxes
will be in their Narthexes if you'd
like to "deliver" your Christmas
cards to your church family.
Attention Conklin Forks Singers!
Who wants to sing?? The CF Choir needs
you! We've picked our songs– rehearsals
Will be 12/6, 12/13, 12/20 and we'll sing on
Sunday morning, 12/24! Please join us!
Dinner Diners will be going to Donolis in
Apalachin on December 20th at 6pm. If you
are interested in attending, please let Pastor
Mary Jean know by Dec. 14th so that
reservations can be made. All are welcome.
Attention Conklin Forks and Hawleyton Congregations:
Beginning Sunday, January 14th, we are trying something
new. We are going to be removing the announcement
portion of the Sunday Worship service, in an effort to keep our
focus on Worship throughout our time together. Please have
any announcements in to Chelsea for the bulletins by
Thursdays at 5pm. Thank you for trying this out with us, we
look forward to your feedback.
- The Joint Worship Committee of Conklin Forks
and Hawleyton
CF Bottle & Can Collection
CF folks can again bring soda cans/bottles for collection to the
church. Any cans/plastic should be removed from the bags you
bring them in and placed in the large trash can at the end door of
the education building (inside). Glass bottles should be placed in
the box on the floor. Glass and plastic must be separated!
PLEASE ONLY CLEAN, DRY, AND UNCRUSHED
cans/bottles should be brought for collection. Regular recycle
items should go in your receptacles at home. Money collected
will go toward Disaffiliation expenses. Thank you!
CHOW Collection for December
Make sure to check out the back page for our Reverse
Advent Calendar for CHOW! You can drop off any
items to either church to be donated.
Thank you!
Nurture and Promotion Meeting
There will be a Nurture and Promotion Meeting on Monday,
January 8th at 6:30pm at Hawleyton. Please attend so that
we can plan some fun activities for the upcoming months.

Christmas Card “Newsletter”

If you are interested in participating in the “Newsletter”, please send what you would like
shared as a note and (if desired) a picture of you/your family. Please note that the picture
provided will be distributed to the Charge email list, so the image must be able to be
published. If you do not send a picture, we will add a Christmas Card image to your note.
For anyone that wants to be included, please mail hawleytoncharge@gmail.com, call or
mail it to the Charge office. Please submit your “cards” no later than Friday, December 8th.
Thank you for participating in this fun opportunity!