The Sermon in the Song

Transcription

1 MEETING HOUSE CHIMES First Congregational Church, PO Box 350, Wiscasset, ME (207) Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 8:45am-12:30pm Minister: Rev. Josh Fitterling Organist/Choir Director: Linda Adams Church School Teacher & Coordinator: Colleen Crowley December 2018 The Sermon in the Song This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing. Haste, haste to bring him praise, the babe, the son of Mary Refrain of What Child is This? As Advent begins and so does our journey toward Christmas, I find myself lost in Christmas carols already. I listen to them in my car, they are readily available on my phone, and if you stop by the office, there is a pretty good chance that you will hear some carols coming from my computer! I even had to play a few before Thanksgiving when the first snowfall arrived. (I know, I shouldn t have but I couldn t resist!) At this time of year, I find myself longing to hear the sermon in these familiar songs once more. Granted, the message hasn t changed. We are still singing of the same wonderful birth and of the glories to come. Yet these words have a holy truth which speaks to a spectrum of reality, feeling both new and exciting, but also timeless and calming. At the same time as I am clamoring for more carols, I also feel the need to not rush the season but cherish these days. For the overall sermon in these songs is one of love. A love which our world needs. And so, this Advent and Christmas season, may we hear these sermons of love and let them transform our hearts once more, carrying the blessings of this season with us all year long. Peace, Josh Rev. Josh Fitterling

2 Holiday Marketfest Craft Show Dec. 7-8 The Wiscasset Chamber of Commerce s Holiday Marketfest craft vendor venue will again be in Fellowship Hall on December 7th and 8th. This is our last Revenue Raiser of the year. We will be offering church-baked muffins in the morning, chili and soup and cornbread for lunch, and cookies in the afternoon. All supplies and recipes will be provided for baking/cooking on-site during those two days. Volunteers are needed for two to three hour shifts on both Friday and Saturday to help bake and cook and serve. Please sign up in Fellowship Hall, or contact Beth Maxwell for further information if you are interested in helping but are not sure of your baking skills. (phone , emaxwell@myfairpoint.net) The Maine Conference United Church of Christ has a new address! 337 State Street Suite 3 Augusta, ME 04330

3 Advent Calendars, many of which contain little Bible verses and sweet treats, have long been used to accompany us on the journey of waiting as we head toward Christmas! This year, you are invited to participate in a special Virtual Advent Calendar which will focus on giving rather than receiving. If you sign up, you will receive a special message each day from Rev. Josh, between Dec. 1st to Dec. 24th, with a little note and a suggestion of something to do that day as we seek to share the hope, peace, joy, and love that we celebrate each Advent season! Sign up at the link below to receive daily s: If you with to receive a paper copy of the calendar to follow along offline, please be in touch with the church office. December Cookie Sale! The date for the Organ Society s Annual Cookie Sale will be a few weeks later than usual due to other activities on the church calendar. So please plan to buy your delicious Christmas cookies in Fellowship Hall, on Sunday, December 16. To make this year s sale as successful as past years, we need your help. Please bring your donation of cookies to the church by 9:30am on Saturday, December 15th. That day a group of Organ Society ladies will package the goodies for easy distribution on Sunday. We hope to offer plates of cookies for $5.00 each. Hope you will include these delicious treats at your holiday gatherings! Thank you in advance for your help. Please call Joan Shea, , with any questions. Bible Study Update With the busyness of this time of year, weekly Bible Study will continue to take a break until the New Year. We will resume in January. Keep your eye out for updates as we approach!

4 December 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Town Tree Lighting 4:30pm Family Worship & Communion Hanging of the Greens Advent Wkshop 9 Game Night 6pm 10 Garden Club Board Mtg 1:30 (upstairs) Healthy Kids Playgroup Organ Society 9:30am 12 Garden Club 10am-3pm Holiday Marketfest Set up 3pm- 7pm 13 Holiday Marketfest Craft Fair Holiday Marketfest Craft Fair Family Worship Christmas Fund Offering Game Night 6pm HK 10am-12pm Organ Society 9:30 am Chase Point Service 10:30am Choir Rehearsal 4pm Organ Society cookie prep Worship & Church School Choir Sunday Organ Society Cookie Sale 23 CIS 4pm Trustees 5pm Game Night 6pm 24 HK 10am-12pm Organ Society Holiday Lunch Blue Christmas Service 6pm (FH) Choir Rehearsal 4pm Council 7pm Worship & Church School Christmas Eve Worship 7pm and 11:30pm No Organ Society No Choir Rehearsal Worship 10am Lessons & Carols Wiscasset Green Coffee 9am Game Night 6pm

5 Advent Craft Workshop Dec. 2 Our annual Advent Craft Workshop will be held on Sunday, December 2nd, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. and we would love to have you join our team! We will be making Christmas cards, gingerbread houses, tree ornaments, table decorations, and holiday hours d oeuvres, as well as decorating cookies. Again this year, we are delighted that Dr. Jeff Grosser will be playing Christmas carols for us while we work! This is for all ages. To our Coffee Hosts for December Trustees Emily Adler Art Ballard Carol Bradford Jeffrey Grosser Sue Lewis Jon McKinney Michelle Peele Chris Sieracki David Sieracki Cindy Wright

6 Thanks from these Summerfest Recipients (Letters are posted on the CWS bulletin board.) Midcoast Humane Healthy Kids Habitat for Humanity Mobius MaineHealth Care at Home (Sussman House, Lifeline in the Midcoast) Carpenter s Boat Shop Feed Our Scholars ElderCare Tedford Housing Deadline for Poinsettia Orders is Tuesday, Dec. 4!! With Christmas on the way, now is the time to order poinsettias if you would like to help decorate our sanctuary on Dec. 16, 23, 24, and 30. Each 6.5 poinsettia is $12.00, and can be ordered in red, white, or pink. You are welcome to take them home after the service of Lessons and Carols on Dec. 30. Any remaining flowers will be delivered to individuals who serve our community, home-bound members of the congregation or anyone else in need of some Christmas cheer. The church school would like to thank the thoughtful and kind person who left us the book The Blessings Jar. We are spending the second Sunday of the month telling each other what we have put in our blessings or gratitude jar. I have kept a daily gratitude journal for 16 years. I planned to make gratitude the focus of the church school year. I was delighted to find Blessings Jar in the church mailbox. We are grateful to you, kind and anonymous friend, for the gift. Colleen Crowley

7 Special UCC Offering for the Christmas Fund for the Veterans of the Cross and the Emergency Fund Our church will be collecting the special offering for the UCC Christmas Fund during worship on Dec. 9th. This offering has been collected in the UCC for over a century and is designed to provide retiree health premium supplementation, emergency grants and Christmas Thank you gift checks to individuals who have served the church for many years and now face unexpected financial needs. We received a lovely card from Dan Harris (now hung on the bulletin board outside the church office) Rev. Fitterling and members of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset, Thank you so much for the boxes of snacks. They were unexpected and very much appreciated! On behalf of myself and my co-workers [who added their signatures to the card], thanks for thinking of us! Sincerely, Dan Harris From the Diaconate. As you prepare for Christmas, are you also preparing for the birth of Jesus? The Board of Deacons invites you to join us in worship as we move through the Season of Advent, one of the most beautiful and meaningful seasons of our church. It begins this Sunday with "The Hanging of the Greens" and wraps up on December 30 with our service of lessons and carols. In between, the children will perform for us, the choir will present a cantata and we will hold our Christmas Eve services. As usual on Christmas Eve, we will have our family service at 7 pm. This year we are adding another service on Christmas Eve. This one will be held at 11:30 pm. It will not be a traditional church service but rather a quiet period of reflection. We hope you will join us for all these services as we once again celebrate Christ's birth. A special thank you to Phyllis Soule for the wreaths, Green Acre Christmas Tree Farm for the tree and all of you for supplying the poinsettias that beautify our sanctuary.

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9 Church World Service Holiday Family Wishes Program Facilitated by the CWS Committee, our church has again participated in the Holiday Family Wishes program to provide needs and wishes for Christmas gifts for Wiscasset children. Wish tags were on a Christmas tree in Fellowship Hall during coffee hour on November 18th and 25th. All unwrapped gits with the tag attached should be returned to the church by Sunday, December 2nd; or they can be returned to the Wiscasset Town Office, Wiscasset Community Center, or Ames True Value by Monday Dec. 3rd. Thank you all for your generosity and eagerness to fulfill these wishes so our children know that their community cares about them. Feed Our Scholars Bake Sale at Ames, Saturday, Dec. 8th, 7am to 1pm Feed Our Scholars will be holding a Bake Sale at Ames on Saturday, Dec. 8th, from 7am to 1pm. Baked goods would be greatly appreciated. The baked goods can be brought to Ames after 7am on Saturday or left at St. Philip s on Friday. Please call Nancy Roby with any questions (phone , cell ). Donations of Children s Hats/Mittens Feed Our Scholars would also appreciate donations of hats and/or mittins for the children. And another Paint Night Party on the Way Mark your calendars now: Feed Our Scholars will be holding another Paint Night Party on Friday, February 8th. It will be a fun night to chase away the winter blues! Please plan to come!! Again thank you all so much for all you do all year to help others!! Noisy Offering for October raised $ for the St. Philip s Food Pantry! Thanks for all your help with this very important service to our community.

10 Meeting House Chimes First Congregational Church, U.C.C. P.O. Box 350, 28 High Street Wiscasset, ME December 2018 First Congregational Church United Church of Christ 28 High Street, PO Box 350 Wiscasset, Maine We welcome you to the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset. We are an open and affirming congregation and are open theologically, growing spiritually, and concerned socially.