BLUE CHRISTMAS: The holiday season, despite all its merriment and joy, can be a time of struggle for many. We may find ourselves sadly separated from those we love for a variety of reasons including distance, estrangement, or death – losses occurring both as recently as this year or as long ago as decades. There may be depression, ill health, job uncertainty or other pressures coincidentally occurring at this Christmas time. Our spirits sink as the days grow shorter. We feel the darkness growing deeper around us. We need encouragement to live the days ahead of us.
We need the space and time to acknowledge these feelings sadness; we need to know that we are not alone. We need encouragement to live the days ahead of us. A Service of Light or, as it is sometimes referred to, ”A Blue Christmas Service,” gives us an opportunity to gather in community to recognize our losses and to move from despair to the hope provided to us by the light of Christ coming into the world. All are invited to attend, pray, listen to song and scripture, reflect in silence and remember that we are never separated from God’s love.
For these reasons, we are offering a service this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Join with others in sharing prayers, scripture, and music that acknowledges that God’s presence is for those who mourn, for those who struggle - and that God’s Word comes to shines light into our darkness and that we are never separated from God’s love. Everyone, regardless of church background (or lack of it) is welcome.
The short service will be followed by a brief time for light refreshments and fellowship.
DAY OF INTERFAITH SERVICE will be sponsored by Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries on Monday, January 16. Youth and adults are invited to gather at Brandeis University to put faith in action with an afternoon of service work in Boston. Rev. Liz Walker (WCVB––Boston) will be the featured speaker at the closing celebration. Register online at www.coopmet.org to reserve your spot. We will meet at the East Woodstock Church at noon to carpool. Friends and college kids are welcome to join us as we honor the ML King holiday with a ‘‘day on, not a day off.’’ Speak to Debby Kirk if you would like to participate and pick up a flyer today. If you would like to participate, but can’t attend, we will be collecting gently used children’s winter wear and boots to take to the work site, Cradles to Crayons.
Everybody can be great because everybody can serve. ~Martin Luther King, Jr
OUR SEARCH COMMITTEE asks that you watch for a congregational letter soon. It will be sent via email to those who have indicated a preference for receiving communication from the church that way, or by snail mail to those who have not. We want you to have this important communication now, despite the multitude of other joys in this busy season. The letter will be repeated in the January SHARE. Thanks!
POINSETTIAS that were ordered can be picked up in Harrison Hall. Thank you for leaving them for our Messiah Sing, it created a beautiful setting.
VOLUNTEERS: We are looking for people who would like to participate in our worship service. We need volunteer Ushers and Lay Readers for the next couple of months. Please speak to Dawn Hill regarding ushering and Ellen Holley regarding Lay readers. You can also sign up on the big calander in Harrison Hall. Thank you so much for your help.
SERRV items will be available at the Bethlehem Marketplace for all of your last minute Christmas Shopping needs!
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS
Christmas Pageant
We hope you enjoy today! The children have worked very hard preparing for this wonderful event. A very warm hearted, special thank you to Leslie and Eva for all of their efforts and organization of this year’s pageant. We are so happy to have you lead the children once again.
Please remember to sign the census in the Narthex and to pay your taxes (canned goods for Community Kitchen) at the entrance!
Visiting Bethlehem
Immediately following the pageant, join us as we “Visit Bethlehem”. This will be a delightful experience for all to see how Bethlehem was in historic times. We will feature various learning stations as well as our special Market Place food table.
Thank you to all of you who offered your talents, skills, and baking/cooking to help make today a success. These events wouldn’t be possible without the support of our church family! Thank you!
Weekly Advent Stations
Our weekly Advent stations continue in Harrison Hall. The purposes of these displays are to help us reflect upon the season of Advent in new ways. Today’s table features: Hope~Joy~Peace~Love. Each Sunday of Advent we have focused on one of those themed words as a reminder of the gifts Christ will bring to the world. At this table you will be asked to ponder which of these four elements...Hope, Joy, Peace or Love you most need in your life right now. Which do you feel you are most called by God to share with others in your life at this moment in time?
Feel free to visit the other three stations as you make your way around Bethlehem . They include: a Nativity Table, the Distraction Box, and a Baby Clothes display. At the Nativity Table you are asked to stop and think about which character in the Nativity story you seem to identify with most at this very moment in your life. While at the Distraction Box, you are asked to "Name Distractions" in your lives which may be preventing you from focusing fully on your faith at this time of year...worries, stress related to school or family, relationship issues, or everyday things like TV and electronic gadgets. We encourage you to "name" (by writing or drawing) your distractions on a slip of paper and then place it in the Distraction Box as a gesture of letting go of those distractions so you can focus on God. The Baby Clothes table was set up in honor of Jesus’ birth. Sometimes at Christmas we tend to think of Jesus in abstract terms. We know that God became a baby, but we forget that He was a baby like any other. The idea is too allow us to think of Jesus as an ordinary baby, wearing something so tiny, so small. He was a real infant...not a ceramic figure in a nativity scene. He needed care and love like all children. How amazing our Savior came to us as a baby!
Heifer Gift Cards
Heifer Gift Cards are available in Harrison Hall each week for holiday gift giving. Supporting Heifer touches many lives and brings hope to all. Please consider this special gift giving tradition. See Lisa Veach or Ginny Viteri for more information.
Children's Offering for the month of December will go to support the Community Kitchen and Daily Bread. Kindly send your children in with offering if you can! Items in need include: fruit cocktail, greens beans, pasta, tomato paste, and stewed tomatoes or any other non-perishable food items.
The Nursery
The Nursery will be open, but not staffed for the next three weekends. Please feel free to use the nursery if you feel your little ones require a break. There will be a basket of small books and coloring materials located in one of the back pews for your convenience. Today, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day are days of Family Worship. Please know that we welcome the littlest in our midst. There is nothing more hopeful than the sweet sounds of a child. And if you are not aware, there is a newly donated rocking chair in the balcony for your comfort!
Best Wishes for a Joyous Christmas from the Sunday School.
Calendar of the Week
Today
9:30 a.m. Bell Choir warm-up
11:15 a.m. “Visiting Bethlehem”
Monday
7:30 p.m. Sr. Bells
7:30 p.m. AA
Tuesday - Woodstock Academy using kitchen all day
6:30 p.m. Trustees
7:30 p.m. Hillbillies
Wednesday - Woodstock Academy using kitchen all day
7:30 p.m. Boy Scouts
Saturday
6:30 p.m. Bell Choir warm-up
7:30 p.m. Candlelight aervice
Next Sunday
10:00 a.m. Family worship service
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