From the Pastor: Jim. The First Press. December Inside This Issue

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1 The First Press December 2017 From the Pastor: As I write this thousands of shoeboxes are being loaded into trailers. Our participation in Operation Christmas Child gets us thinking about Christmas relatively early, and I mean that in a good way, not the Christmas decorations up in October way. OCC also helps us maintain a proper perspective on Christmas presents. It reminds us that often the most cherished and appreciated gifts are the simple gifts not always the ones we anticipate or expect. Two thousand years ago God s people were expecting the Messiah, but they didn t expect him to come as He did. The whole circumstance was quite unexpected. OCC is a branch of Samaritans Purse. SP does much more than just shoeboxes; they help with relief efforts to storm victims and they are always helping people in impoverished lands around the world. Church World Service, we do Crop Walk through them, also has such ministries. Both organizations have opportunities to give a gift in honor of loved ones to people in need around the world. The King family has been doing this for years with my sister s family. I remember the first time we did this, my niece Molly was 6, a few days before Christmas my sister read the note that said that a goat had been given in their honor. On Christmas morning Molly was busy looking in the backyard for their goat. She was quite disappointed when things were clarified for her. As you are thinking about gifts and presents this year I hope you and your family will consider giving a gift through one of these Christian organizations to help bring hope and relief to people who are in need. Let us remember that God s perfect gift to us came in a most unexpected way. I look forward to seeing you on Christmas Eve, at 10:30 in the morning, then 7:00 and 9:00 that night. Jim Inside This Issue Birthdays And Anniversaries News Operation Christmas First Presby Kids Church Calendar Volunteers 8 Volunteers 10

2 December Birthdays and Anniversaries 1-Maggie Storm 3-Peggie Ulp, Erik Temple 4-David Han, Addison Weaver 5 - Marcia Aikey 6-Cole Temple 5 - Ellis & Jane Harley celebrating their 58th 8-Jim & Pauline King celebrating their 22nd 12-Kirk & Paige Kerstetter celebrating their 18th 13-Brad & Heidi Zimmerman celebrating their 16th 28 - Drew & Anna Griffith celebrating their 4th 8-Jackie Wottrich 9-Hannah Jones 10-Katie Young 12 - Kirsten Winner 18-Don Dobbs, Mike Redding, Calvin Reif, Nate Fox 19-Naomi Gartzke, Kathy Davies 20-Amy Tirpak 21-Ally Weaver 22 - Reese Underkoffler 23 - Marguerite Santorine 24 - David McCord, Nancy Martin, Ed Dame 28-Betty Comerer 2018 Church Officers Session: Rick Gathman, Rob Guissanie, Gene Heid, John Jones, Steve Mebius, Mark Speake, Mark Temple, Bonnie Troxell, Marcia Thomas, Victor Vogel, and Jessie Walsh (Alternate: Paul Miller) Deacons: Lamar Bruckhart, Glenn Dobbs, Christopher Fisher, Marilyn Gaver, Jessica Heid, Richelle Jones, Barb Light, Amber Lind, Ann Miller, Connie Moore, Sharon Pearce, Mary Lou Rich, Pat Samuelson, Jan Temple, and Chris Zellmann (Alternate: Jeannie Lepley) Trustees: Katie Cavanagh, Dave Grill, Craig Harley, Mark Heid, Jeff Jones, Wayne Samuelson, Eric Schmidt, Bill Snyder, and Sally Vogel (Alternate: Dan Wagner)

3 All Church Christmas Dinner and Program Dec. 3 rd at 5:00 All are welcome to join us for: An All-Church Christmas Dinner at 5:00. Ham, beverage, table setting and dessert will be provided. Please bring the following to feed ten: A-M vegetable or main dish or N-Z salad and rolls Volunteers Needed: Dinner by the River has been a church ministry for eleven years. We have done this because we care about those who need a healthy meal. God has graced us with so many volunteers. We now have ten teams. A team cooks 5 times a year. We are in need of a new team from our church. Training will be provided. Please pray and consider if God is leading you to help feed those in need. Please contact Mary Kay Torretti at if you are interested.

4 OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD Praise the Lord for another wonderful season of collecting and sending on their way many thousand Gospel Opportunities! I believe it is always good to remind ourselves that we do this to further God s kingdom around the world. Samaritan s Purse, the parent organization of Operation Christmas Child, tells us that there are BILLIONS (with a B ) of children around the world that have not heard about Jesus. When each child receives a box, through a local church or mission, it includes a small booklet entitled, The Greatest Gift of All with stories about Jesus in their own language. Numbers: 19,846 Susquehanna Valley Area (on the trucks); Lewisburg Collection Center 6,090; First Presbyterian Church 261. We were blessed with many, many fine, hard-working volunteers this year. A huge thank you to each and every one. John and Marcia Aikey and Mark and Amie Reif marched along side giving moral support as well as physical support. It would not have happened without them. Please thank them when you see them. I really like John s comment to folks when he is telling them about his Operation Christmas Child background -- I ve been doing this project since I still had hair! The day the Old Dominion trucks pulled in (and what an experience it is to see them maneuver those four big trailers into the parking lot!), I overheard one driver telling the other that he had been driving for the OCC season for several years and had created a Sunday School lesson for his class about the journey of a shoebox. We were even blessed with a Christian truck driver. If you didn t quite get that box packed in time, you can still send one year-round by using the Build-A-Box feature on the Samaritans Purse website then click What We Do and then choose Operation Christmas Child. It costs $25.00 and is fun to do. I see they also have Gift Cards you can buy on line this year. In His Service, Alice Marquart This is Ben, the cutest shoebox of them all. He is a sixth grade student from Sunbury Christian Academy, one of the schools that came to volunteer.

5 A total of 163 Shoeboxes were packed by the kids and youth for Sunday's Packing Party! A huge thank you goes out to all those who contributed their time and donations to make this effort possible. Each of those boxes will touch a special child's life and will tell them of God's never stopping, forever unchanging love in Jesus, as will all those boxes that we also dedicate today-- and that's something to celebrate. THANK YOU! Christmas Program All kids and youth are invited to be part of this year's Christmas program, "Christmas Presents: the Pageant That's Never the Same." There's one rehearsal--the day of the performance! Meet in the Great Hall at 3:00 p.m. on December 3rd for practice, then stay for the all-church Christmas Fellowship Dinner at 5:00 when we'll perform the Pageant for dinner guests. (Don't forget to make your dinner reservation by filling out the bulletin insert or by calling the church office.) See you December 3rd for the fun! It's A Birthday Party for Jesus! Hey Kids - hope you can come to the Sunday School's party for Jesus! And you don't need to be a regular Sunday School attender to join us--just come to the Great Hall at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 17 for games, food and other fun stuff to celebrate the Savior's birth together. You can even bring Him a gift. It could be a song you play on the piano, a special drawing, a poem you recite, or anything else you want to do in His honor. Adult and youth Sunday School classes are coming to the party, too! Don't miss it! Cherub Choir Sings Christmas Eve Singers in the Cherub Choir will be part of this year's 7:00 Christmas Eve service. Plan to be in the Sanctuary at 6:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve to run through our songs. The Cherub Choir, for Preschoolers through 2nd Graders, meets every Sunday morning in the Wing from 9:00-9:15 a.m. to sing joyful praises to God. If you haven't tried Cherub Choir and want to be part of this special service, join us Sunday mornings. Coming Soon If you're a 3rd, 4th or 5th Grader then there's a new group starting up just for you. More details are on the way! Look for more information in next month's Newsletter about this fun new gathering, which will be happening Wednesdays. Adults and youth who are interested in volunteering, please see Carolyn McSween or get in touch with her by , text or phone - carolynmcsween@gmail.com or (570) Children s Ministry Dates to Remember: December 3:00 p.m. in the Great Hall - Christmas Program rehearsal followed by dinner and performance at 5:00 p.m. December 9:00 a.m. in the Great Hall - Joint Sunday School to celebrate Jesus Birthday with a party! December 6:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary - Cherub Choir meets to practice songs for the 7:00 Christmas Eve service NO SUNDAY SCHOOL on DECEMBER 24 and DECEMBER 31. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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7 10 9:00 Sunday School 17 9:00 Sunday School December 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 3 9:00 Sunday School 10:30 Worship 5:00 Christmas Dinner 10:30 Worship/Communion 5:00 Fuel 7:00 Refuge 10:30 Worship 5:00 Fuel 7:00 Refuge 24 No Sunday School 7:00p.m. Worship 9:00p.m. Worship 31 10:30 Worship 4 9:15 Trainers 11 9:15 Trainers 18 9:15 Trainers 25 Office Closed Christmas Day Office Closed 27 10:00 LAMBS 6:00 Bells 7:30 Choir 10:00 LAMBS 6:00 Bells 7:30 Choir 10:00 LAMBS 6:00 Bells 7:30 Choir 10:00 LAMBS/Taking down the greens 6:00 Bells 7:30 Choir :45 DBR :45 DBR No DBR 28 No DBR

8 Living fully in Christ, through His Word, community and mission Pastor: Dr. James C. King Children Ministries: Carolyn McSween Ushers: Clint Shurtliffe, Dave Nicholson, Mike Pursley, Mark Reif, Peg Bouton, Sharon Pearce Nursery: Coffee Social: Greeters: 3 Bedell Mark & Liz Speake Dave & Mary Campbell 10 Troxell D. Reid & N. Lesher Seth & Vickie Ziegler 17 Lynn Berg Connie Moore Mark & Jessica Heid 24 10:30 a.m. None Bill & Beth Shutt 7:00 p.m. McSween Family 9:00 p.m. Lesher Family 25 None None 31 Volunteers None Alice Marquart/Linda Cox Needed Dinner By the River Teams (and Devotion Leaders) : 7 - Bruce/Ringcamp/Ishii 14 Zellman As you begin your planning for Christmas, please remember the Supplemental Food Bank and the Clothing Program that is sponsored by your Council of Churches. As usual, the Clothing Program will be giving each child -- newborn to 18 years -- a pair of warm pajamas, a hooded sweatshirt, and a hat and gloves. We have about 120 children this year, and are very much in need of new clothing for gifts. Now, we know that everyone loves to buy cute baby clothing. But we just do not have any babies this year! Most of our kids are in the year age range, and many of them are adult sizes. If you love to pick out clothing, please think "larger sizes." We are also really thrilled to receive monetary gifts or gift cards to WalMart so we can shop for whatever sizes are needed. All gifts need to be collected by Sunday, December 10 for distribution on the 15th. They can be given to your Council of Churches representative or dropped off at First Baptist Church during morning office hours from Monday to Friday. If you have no way to deliver gifts, please call Gayle Pepper ( ) or Lisa Bernard ( ). We will make sure the gifts are picked up. Thank you for helping to make this a warm and bright Christmas for the children!