The Courier. Community Church in Harrington Park. The Live Nativity A Family Christmas Afternoon

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1 The Courier Community Church in Harrington Park One Spring Street, PO Box 185, Harrington Park NJ The Live Nativity A Family Christmas Afternoon The Courier, published by the Community Church in Harrington Park The Rev. Steve Sayer, Pastor, Office ; Cell ; Home Community Church cchp@verizon.net The Rev. Charles P. Johnson, Pastor Emeritus The Rev. George V. Kaden, Pastor Emeritus On December 15, our Live Nativity brought together over 200 people from the church and other communities in celebration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This event is intended to bring Christ to our community, and to bring the community to our church, so as to get folks to think about Jesus during the Christmas season. Casting Call, a Christmas drama and the Live Nativity performance, complete with sheep, donkey, and even a camel, were performed by CCHP members along with children, from the church and beyond, who participated as angels and shepherds. We sang carols and enjoyed visiting with friends and neighbors over cookies and hot chocolate. It was a wonderful afternoon, rekindling that precious moment when God's love for us shown through with the birth of Jesus. We give a heartfelt thank you to committee chair, Stephanie Budinich and drama director, Neal Bennington as well as all those who helped with planning, creating, building, acting, playing music, sewing, baking, publicizing and photographing.

2 The Story continues... We will start the next series of THE STORY sermons and small group discussions with Chapter 7 The Battle Begins on January 13, In this section of The Story, we ll be covering how God builds the nation of Israel and how the people of Israel have their ups and downs, show faithfulness and unfaithfulness, and have a colossal, unfortunate surprise. Small groups will meet to talk about each step of this scriptural journey on Sunday after worship at 11:30, Tuesday morning at 10:00, Wednesday evening at 7:30 and Saturday at 8:30 AM. These groups are helpful in driving home the themes and events of each chapter of God s story. Even if you have not yet participated, please join us. If you need a book, see Sandy Bennington or Jane Marshall. Financial Update.. Please pick up your 2019 envelopes which are located in the Narthex. If you don t see a set with your name on it but would like offering envelopes, please speak to Lori Anders, put a note on her desk, or her at cchp@verizon.net Bob Carr, Finance Committee Attention Men! The men of our church meet each month. We talk about life, what God s looking for from us, explore a little Scripture, and eat a little breakfast. These times have been very helpful and well attended. We invite you to our next gathering on Saturday, January 12 at 8:30 AM. Youth Ministry News As part of our new events in 2019, we will be exploring a midweek prayer gathering and potluck and Sunday Alpha sessions with potluck as we look to grow and expand and explore a new vision for a worshipping community. We will stay with our mission of sharing the love of Jesus with young people through sports, the arts, social justice and service, but we want to offer senior high and middle-schoolers the chance to build community, prayer and to seek the answers to their questions through Alpha. Our first event will be on Monday, January 21 from 6:30-8:30 PM at Trinity Reformed Church in Old Tappan. This will be a prayer gathering and potluck. Please bring a dish to share along with prayer requests and praise reports. Invite all your friends ages 12 to 18. RSVP to Returning to Youth Alpha we will explore the real questions and true meaning of what it means to be a Christian today. Through a series of 8 Sunday Alpha sessions and one weekend away, we will explore the true meaning of life together. Volunteers are also needed parents, guardians, college students anyone looking for work experience or volunteer opportunities, please let us know. It will begin on Sunday, January 27 from 4:30 to 6:30 PM. RSVP to freenfit.org/events/free-fit-youth-sunday-alpha-sessions-training-testimony. Tim Chew Our puppets are gearing up for the next skit in front of the congregation. Please come join us on January 13 at 9:15 in our puppet room. We have lots of puppets and fun learning new skits. It is a great way for children to express themselves, especially if they are shy. Open to children 3 years old and up. Any questions, please call Joan Hoerauf (201) or jhoerauf@naihanson.com

3 Outreach Congregational Care Nursery Care Volunteers Needed Our January Women s Ministry Breakfast that was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 5 from 9 to 10 AM. Has been postponed. Please look for future announcements with the new date. As you know, these breakfasts have been a source of fellowship and spiritual encouragement for all who attend! Invite your friends and neighbors, too! Many thanks to all the folks who attended the Christmas Party on December 8th. Everyone brought such a wonderful assortment of delicious foods! It was a delightful time to chat, decorate the tree, enjoy the food and drinks, and sing old-time Christmas songs and favorite carols. Who knew Chuck Anders knows every verse of every song and a few of his own as well! Special thanks to Andrew Post, without whose help the tree would not have been possible, to Sharon Brahs for her lovely touch in decorating, to Chris Novak and Anne McBride for helping to clean up and to David McBride, Jeff Ciavaglia and Bob Carr for taking down and putting aaway all the tables. Thanks to Amy Duran for her wonderful piano playing. And most of all thanks to that Pixie who brought all those fun hats!@ Barbara Forsythe The Guild for Christian Service oversees nursery care each Sunday, but this very important ministry is not staffed solely by Guild members. The nursery team (12 people) is made up of anyone willing to cover the nursery three or four times a year. Presently, we have nine on the nursery team. Please prayerfully consider joining this group. Wouldn t it be a blessing if at the start of the new year we had more than 12 people on the nursery team? For information or to volunteer, contact Chris Novak at or cpn105@optonline.net. As Jesus said to his disciples in Mark 10:14, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. From the Worship Committee: In the Creation, God s vision was to be with us. Adam and Eve s decision in the garden interrupted that vision and brought sin into our nature. Graciously, however, God launched a plan to get us back. He made a covenant promise with Abraham and built the nation of Israel. God delivered his people from bondage again and again. He took Joseph through difficult circumstances into a life of blessing and reward as he went from slave in Egypt to second in command. Through Moses, The Lord kept his covenant promise and delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, giving them the ten commandments and providing for them as they wandered the desert for forty years. Please join us on January 13th, as we continue a series of sermons and our small groups centered around the next section of The Story. We will see God s plan in Joshua to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. We will also study some of the heroes of Israel: Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. We ll look at the stories of Ruth, Samuel, and Saul. It s bound to be a great time of biblical study and meditation. Won t you join us in worship at 10:00 a.m. in the sanctuary so that we can continue getting to the heart of God s story? Lynn Baker, Jeff Parma PLEASE PRAY FOR: Ernie Hepperle; Gloria Hoertel; Wini Kinkele; Janet Kosack; Nancy Lanzalotto; Natasha Sayer; John Schwarte; Robin Schwarte; Jeanne Serrano; Bill Simmons, Mary Simmons. Our sympathies are extended to the family of June Clarke who died on Christmas Day. The funeral will be in our sanctuary on Saturday, January 5, at 10 AM, with visitation at Moritz Funeral Home in Closter on Friday, January 4 from 2-4 and 6-8 PM. Praise God for... Page Brook Farms at 168 Tappan Road who generously delivered and set up our Sanctuary tree Sandy Bennington, Sharon Brahs, Tracy Ciavaglia and Lauren Brahs for decorating our sanctuary for Christmas and for trimming the Christmas tree in the Johnson Chapel. All who helped with the luminaries on Christmas Eve. All who baked cookies for the Live Nativity. Our music staff and musicians who gave us wonderful performances at the Musicale and for Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.

4 One Spring Street PO Box 185 Harrington Park NJ 07640

5 The Community Church in Harrington Park January, 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday December 30 December 31 January 1 January 2 January 3 January 4 January 5 10:00 Worship 10:00 Funeral Service for June Clarke January 6 January 7 January 8 January 9 January 10 January 11 January 12 10:00 Worship w/ Communion & 11:30 Club 60 in Founders Hall 8:30 Men s Breakfast 8:00 Bell 7:30 Consistory 7:00 Worship Mtg. January 13 January 14 January 15 January 16 January 17 January 18 January 19 11:15 Property Committee Mtg. 8:00 Bell 7:30 Deborah Circle 10:00 Outreach 1:30 Rachel Circle January 20 January 21 January 22 January 23 January 24 January 25 January 26 11:15 Finance Committee Mtg. 6:30-8:30 Youth Prayer Gathering and Potluck at Trinity Ref. 6:30 Cong. Care 8:00 Bell January 27 January 28 January 29 January 30 January 31 February 1 February 2 12:30 Youth 4:30 Youth Alpha and Potluck 8:00 Bell PDO = Parents Day Out, M,W,F, 8:30-1:00, unless otherwise noted FH = Founders Hall