The Good News. Northfield Presbyterian Church. December 2014

Transcription

1 Northfield Presbyterian Church The Good News December 2014 From the Pastor s Pen Dear friends and Church family, Calendars have a way to grab your attention. Our youth staff at the church I served in seminary once gave one of our team members a year old calendar as a gag gift so he could remember all the meetings and appointments he missed or was late for. Now, years later I find myself in the same predicament. Life just seems to sneak up and get by me and my calendar is always there to remind me. I found myself saying not long ago, Is it already Advent season? Where has the year gone? Well, this Sunday indeed marks the beginning of Advent, as it is cleverly found coming on the heels of Thanksgiving. There is no time to waste because Advent is the reminder that Jesus is coming! I say that most children will think that it is Santa who is coming, while most adults familiar with the story will say, Jesus has already come. We so often forget that the word advent means coming. That being so, we must not forget that while Jesus has come, He will certainly come again. As it has been said before, we must have our house in order when he arrives. Unlike Santa who has a list and checks it twice to see which boys and girls have been naughty or nice, Jesus has a book whose writing some might think is rather boring. It is not boring; rather if it is anything it is unnerving. You see, the Bible says it is the book of life full of names of people like you and me who heard the message of Jesus coming into this world to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. When he died for us, he purchased the rights for us to belong to Him. And when by faith we became his followers our names were written in that book. But there are still people out there whose names are not yet, but will be written alongside ours. That s why each time the calendar comes around to this time of year we rehearse the story of His birth once more. The story never changes, but we try to come at it in a fresh way each year so that some who haven t yet been written into that big book will be by the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus. During this Advent Season that reminds us of his second coming, take time to read the story again from Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2. Don t skip those genealogies because there are some important names found there, whose names are written in the big book. Read them slowly and as Luke tells us, become like Mary, the mother of Jesus, who treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 1:19). Why? Because in them are the words of life that will lead us to the big book. In His Grip! Art Helin

2 Special Christmas Musical Service Sunday, December 14th 10:15 a.m. THEMES: The Promise The Gift The Good News The Light of the World The King of Kings The Gift of Christmas Featuring our choir and musicians from the Cleveland Institute of Music! Under the direction of Robin Su You won t want to miss this. Invite a friend. Mission Updates From Lynn Anderson and the Leadership Development Team of the Presbytery of the Western Reserve: Dear Gary Anderson, Cheryl Emch, Carol Metz and Rev. Art Helin, Thank you all for sharing your Mission Outreach program and Rahab Ministries with the Presbytery of the Western Reserve. Your message was powerful. I personally hope that your work shop opened eyes and hearts and there will be more churches doing what they can to address the concern of Human Trafficking. Blessings on you for the ministry you do among the fragile ones in our society. From Stephen Groves, missionary in Nepal Things are going really well here. We are seeing real transformation happen, and trafficking actually being prevented in the areas where we work. It is an exciting and busy time as we are expanding in ministry researching more villages to work in, registering our NGO, and opening a coffee shop that will be used to provide employment and training for at risk women. People are also coming to recognize Jesus as the way to God and we are discipling several people who are coming out of Hinduism to follow Jesus. Per Capita Offerings At our November Session meeting it became apparent that we didn t make clear that the meaning and purpose of Per Capita or that the Initial Offering envelope is to be used for making that offering. Per Capita is not a mandated head tax, but like all offerings a voluntary one. It is used to support the operating expenses of the presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly of our denomination. Through several decades members from time to time have made it clear that they don t want to support the denomination because of theological and social differences, and thus did not make a Per Capita contribution. But it was still paid by the operating budget to fulfill the apportionment requested by the presbytery. Given the continued drift away from Biblical standards and actions taken at the 2011 General Assembly, our Session debated and prayerfully determined that we would not take away the voice of those in opposition to denominational actions and only forward to the presbytery the offerings received from our members. If you were confused by the lack of information about Per Capita and didn t submit a Per Capita offering and would like to do so, you may still do so by either using the initial offering envelope or designating on a pew envelope your desire and enclosing a check for $26 per person, before the end of the December.

3 Prayer Chain Thank you to all who send us prayers and those who are praying on the prayer chain. We would also appreciate updates on those prayer requests as possible. Cookies Needed For Sunday, December 21st, 2014, the Deacons would like members of the congregation to supply Christmas cookies for the coffee hour. Bring them in that morning. If you have any questions contact Patti Maholm or any of the Deacons. Baby News Congratulation to Sharon and Jonathan Oliver on the birth of Zachary David on November 20th. He was 8 lb. 10 oz. He joins sister Kathryn at home. Welcome New Members At the November Session meeting 6 new members were received into (or returned to) the NPC family. They will be welcomed officially at the December 8th service. We are pleased to have the following join our congregation (3 in choir!) Nancy Damon Alan Gruber Ann Luketic (Unavailable for photo) Renell Noack Robin Su Donna Patz A new directory will be available in early January with their contact information. Tuesday Night Bible Study On December 9th we will begin an 18 week study of the book of Revelation. New members are welcome to join. Please contact Keith or Ellen Miller for information or to sign up and receive the study materials (cost $12.00 for booklet). The class meets Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. in room 201. There will be a break for the holidays. Stewardship Update Dear Members and Friends, Thank you for sending in your pledge cards. If you still have yours, bring it in soon so we can finish the budget process for We hope to finish the year strong! Your 2015 Offering Envelopes will be available soon in the Narthex. (Does not include 11/30/14 deposit) November Income: $ 14,917 Expenses: $ 15,062 Year-to-date Income: $ 172,200 Expenses: $ 179,147 Pastor s Special Fund: $1, Received $ in recent offering. Thank You Margaret Anderson Phyllis Davies Zach Brooks Debbie Langford Beverly Redpath Helen Rutledge Kitty Kerner Carol Fenn Joe Geshke Ron Maxhimer Wesley Czech Christopher Russo Deanna Williams 5-Dec 9-Dec 10-Dec 11-Dec 16-Dec 16-Dec 17-Dec 19-Dec 19-Dec 22-Dec 29-Dec 30-Dec 30-Dec

4 Once again members and friends of Northfield Presbyterian Church and Day Care families went above and beyond for our Christmas Collections. We sent 65 boxes to Samaritan s Purse Christmas Child collection. We collected 68+ toys and other items for the Emergency Relief Center s Christmas collection so far; collection continues through Dec. 8th. See info sheets in Narthex for details. We collected $ for our Special Fund to help members and friends in need throughout the year. The day care school age kids collected 207 items for the Emergency Center Thanksgiving food drive. The Thanksgiving Meal free will offering raised $ which will be donated to the Emergency Relief center also. Clip and carry with you Groceries Needed The Women s Association continues to collect Food and other products (soap, toiletries) for the Macedonia Emergency Relief Center. There is a container in the narthex where church families can drop off their donations on Sundays or any other day they are in the building. We will continue to collect them as long as they are being donated. Suggested List of Items for December Fruit pie filling Cheesecake mix to fill a pie shell Bread mixes Biscuit mixes Canned/jar Gravy or a mix for gravy Jiffy cornbread mix THANK YOU! All Ladies of Northfield Presbyterian Church and Victory Baptist Church of junior high age and up are invited to attend our annual Ladies Christmas Tea Northfield Presbyterian Church Saturday, December 6 10:00 a.m. Speaker: Becky Moreland of RAHAB Ministries, offering help and hope to women caught in the evils of human trafficking. Please invite your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers to join us Registration forms will be on the church website, or on a table in the narthex. For more information see Margaret Anderson or Jan Helin. Men - if you d like to help with serving, clean up, etc. let them know

5 December 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 7pm Boy Scouts 2 7pm Evening Bible Study 3 9:45 am Day Care Chapel Time 6:30 pm Cub Scouts 7pm Choir 4 7:30 pm Christian Career Group 5 6pm Tea Set Up 6 8:00 am 6:30 am Men s Bible Study at Chick-Fil-A 10:00 am Ladies Christmas Tea 7 9am Adult Sun. School 10 :15 am Worship 8 7pm Boy Scouts 9 7pm Evening Bible Study 10 6:30 am Men s Bible Study at Chick-Fil-A 6:30 pm Cub Scouts 7pm Choir am Adult Sun. School 10 :15 am Worship Musical 11:30 am Deacons 15 7pm Session 7pm Boy Scouts 16 7pm Bible Study 7pm Day Care Board Meeting 17 9:45 am Day Care Chapel Time 6:30 pm Cub Scouts 7pm Choir 18 7pm Building & Grounds :00 am 6:30 am Men s Bible Study at Chick-Fil-A 21 9am Adult Sun. School 10 :15 am Worship 11:30 am AntiTraff.mtg 7pm Mission Committee Christmas Eve Services 6:30 pm Family 9:00 pm Communion 25 Merry Christmas 26 Day Care Closed :15 am Worship

6 Youth Update Operation Santa s Helpers SPECIAL ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES December 14th 10:15 a.m. Christmas Season Musical Service featuring Choir and guest musicians. December 24th 6:30 p.m. Family Candlelight Service December 24th 9:00 p.m. Candlelight Communion Service Northfield Presbyterian Church 7755 South Boyden Road Northfield Ohio Phone: npc7755@roadrunner.com