Reaching out to neighbors in need has been an Advent and Christmas tradition at Mount Olivet throughout our history. Each year, the Outreach and Missions team chooses ministries at home and abroad for a special offering above and beyond our regular giving. Your gifts to the Advent offerings will truly make a difference.

View the organizations we're giving to this year and make a contribution by visiting the link below.

Four-Week Study | Begins Wednesday, December 1 at 7 PM

Join Pastor Teer for a Wednesday evening Advent Study, titled Embodied Light starting on December 1 at 7 PM online. Embodied Light invites you to ponder our Creator's daring adventure of becoming human and coming to earth to live among us. During this 4-week study, you will explore the meaning of incarnation—the miracle of our Creator choosing to become human and live among us. The Incarnation also says something to us about our own lives, about what being human means. We will use Embodied Light by Melissa Tidwell as a guide. Books are available from the church office and online at the link below. Please note you can fully participate in the study without reading the book. 

Contact: Pastor Teer | thardy@mtolivet-umc.org

Saturday, December 4 at 9 AM via Zoom

Mount Olivet will hold a called Charge Conference to vote on a bankruptcy proposal by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA.) This will not affect our relationship with Troop 167 but instead relates to the parent organization BSA. A Zoom link will be sent to all Church Council members and is available upon request from Tina Marcus in the church office.

Contact: tmarcus@mtolivet-umc.org | (703) 527-3934

Always wondered what Church Council discusses in their monthly meetings? Now you can read all about it. 

Our God is a generous, giving God. And everything that we have, indeed everything that is, is a gift from God. Since we are God's creation, we are wired to reflect this generosity. It is in our DNA as humans.

A study made by sociologists in 2014 concluded that generosity leads to greater personal happiness, physical health, a sense of life purpose, avoidance of depression, and personal growth. This is true for us and I suspect, it is what we would want for those who look to us as role models, as well. The key is instilling generosity through our actions. I call this generous living.

I invite you to consider being generous to the ministry and mission of Mount Olivet in 2022. By doing so, not only are you being generous, but you share in God's mission work. God is about the work of building the kingdom of God and because we are created to be generous, we are partners in God's mission. Supporting the good work of Mount Olivet is a means of growing as disciples of Jesus and transforming the world.

You can make a pledge at the link below or mail your pledge card to the church.

— Pastor Ed Walker

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or you want to dive into something new at Mount Olivet, we invite you to join our team of Sunday morning greeters. Every week at Mount Olivet, worshipers are greeted as they enter the building. Greeters answer questions, share a smile, and serve as the first face many see when they arrive at Mount Olivet.

Contact: Pastor Teer | thardy@mtolivet-umc.org

This week we will begin an examination of Black abolitionists. Learn about the person for whom a major highway in Arlington was just renamed (Langston), watch an entertaining discussion between author David Blight and Ta-Nehisi Coates on a biography of Frederick Douglas, watch Douglass's descendants deliver his "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July speech, find out about a Black businessman who helped finance a Garrison's newsletter, and explore some Black abolitionists whose names may be unfamiliar.

Our Community Assistance program is sponsoring a Kid’s Winter Coat Drive to benefit the Clothesline. The Clothesline is Arlington’s first free clothing store dedicated to school-aged children. With generous donations of new clothing from Arlington residents and businesses, The Clothesline provides a welcoming, fun, retail-like environment for low-income families to shop for and select a season’s worth of quality clothing – twice a year – completely free. Please help our neighbors by donating new winter coats in sizes 4T – Youth/Adult (Teen styles only), grades (K-12). All size coats are needed but the need for larger sizes (Youth 10/12 and 14/16) is great. Bring your coats to church on Sundays from November 14 – December 5 and put them in the bins in the Gathering Space or the Fellowship Hall lobby downstairs. 

Want to help but aren't able to donate coats in person? You can make a financial contribution online by visiting the link below and selecting "Coat Drive" from the menu.

La Cocina VA is making delicious meals every Wednesday for pick-up! 

1. Place your order through our website at mountolivetumc.com/soup 

2. Pick-up your order at La Cocina’s Café on Wednesdays between 7 AM– 4 PM 

Menu for December 1: Beef or Bean Chili, Bread and Brownies

You can make the holiday season a little happier for some of Arlington’s most vulnerable residents by taking part in the Department of Human Services’ Secret Santa/Holiday Giving Program. Make your donations online by choosing "Secret Santa" from the menu.

This year, the Virginia United Methodist Refugee Response Team (RRT) would like to invite you to join them in thanking another group for their service to our country. Afghans stood alongside U.S. soldiers as translators, worked on U.S. bases in the country, or served at the U.S. embassy alongside diplomats. In the words of Bishop Sharma Lewis, “Many of them have sacrificed and risked more than most of us will ever be asked to do.”

The hope of the RRT is that you will join in a Veteran’s Day weekend of shopping for these Afghan Allies and their families. The RRT has tried to make this as simple as possible. For example, by shopping via these pre-populated and continuously updated lists, your gift will be sent directly to the requesting organization-and there is no need to worry if it is a needed item or if the clothing is culturally appropriate. Items on the list range from $6 to several hundred dollars, which the team hopes will make participation feasible for anyone who wants to contribute. See the shopping lists at the link below.

If you watch television commercials, you may have seen one from the major soft drink manufacturers touting a new program that recycles their bottles and caps. As someone already recycling soft drink bottles, you may wonder what this is about. The “Every Bottle Back” initiative is to have four parts, with the goal of giving every bottle a chance to be turned into additional bottles or other products, thereby reducing the amount of fossil fuels that would make new bottles. The program will work with nonprofit The Recycling Program to improve collection, sorting and processing of bottles. Let’s hope that this will begin to make a dent in plastic waste. See the link below for more information.