ROCKY HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

ROCKY HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST Established 1727 ~ An Open and Affirming Community December 20, 2015 ~ 10:00 a.m. Fourth Sunday of Advent

~ORDER OF WORSHIP~ We welcome all and extend a special greeting to our guests; our service is enriched by your presence! Please join us in Chapin Hall for fellowship time after worship. The Welcome Table in Chapin Hall offers information about the church and members who can answer your questions. Hearing devices and large-print bulletins are available for worship ask an usher. Nursery care is always available down the hall in Room 4. WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Please include your full address and phone number as you sign our friendship registration pads, and please wear your nametags. All announcements should be written down and given to the ushers or pastors prior to worship. If you have a prayer request you would like read aloud for today s prayers, please fill out one of the prayer cards found in the friendship registration pads (your name is optional). Be prepared to pass it to the aisles at the time of the offering, when the cards will be collected. PRELUDE Wexford Carol arr. H. Dean Wagner The Jubilate Handbell Choir CALL TO WORSHIP We look for an extraordinary sign of hope for our world but God s sign is most ordinary of all: The gift of a child. We look to power for strength in our world but God points to the most vulnerable: A mother gives birth. We look far and wide for a key to God s mystery, but God points us home: She calls this child Immanuel: God-with-us! Let us rejoice, and worship our God in our ordinary, vulnerable lives: God-with-us! * P l e a s e r i s e i n b o d y o r i n s p i r i t. * B o l d t y p e d e n o t e s c o l l e c t i v e r e s p o n s e.

*HYMN O Come, All Ye Faithful Pilgrim (red) 132 *PRAYER OF INVOCATION AND THE LORD S PRAYER Surprising God, you make your presence known in unexpected ways, and challenge our comfortable assumptions about how you work. Meet us here today and open our hearts to recognize you in our midst calling us to live into your new thing: a world where your love takes shape in justice and peace. In the name of the One who is coming, we pray: Amen! Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. LIGHTING OF THE THIRD ADVENT CANDLE: LOVE Marge Murk and Stephanie Heneghan *SUNG RESPONSE: MESSAGE FOR ALL AGES THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

CHILDREN S RECESSIONAL (Children are invited to depart for S.P.I.R.I.T. Church School) ANTHEM Breath of Heaven Amy Grant The Choir with Jillian Maynard, soloist arr. Craig Courtney SCRIPTURE READING Luke 1:39-55 N.T. p. 49 pew Bible SERMON My Soul Magnifies the Lord The Rev. Craig L. Cowing *HYMN My Soul Gives Glory to My God New Century (black) 119 OFFERING OF GIFTS During the time of offering, your prayers can be offered using the blue prayer request cards and placed in the offering plate. The pastor will read the prayers aloud during the Joys and Concerns. Invitation to the Offering For those who have already given their offering, Giving Cards are available in your pew so that all may participate in the act of the offering. Offertory Solo Ave Maria Bach/Gounod Dave Hall, cellist

*Doxology Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below; Praise God for all that love has done; Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One. Amen *Prayer of Dedication PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH Joys & Concerns Sung Call to Prayer Pastoral and Silent Prayer *HYMN O Little Town of Bethlehem New Century (black) 133 *BENEDICTION *POSTLUDE Old Polish Carol arr. Don McKeever LITURGIST USHERS HOSPITALITY Deb Copes Steph Heneghan, Bay Tran, Don and Polly Pagnucco Jean Goff and Sue Monaghan

TODAY at 2:00pm Join the Music Committee for an afternoon of singing your favorite Christmas carols. We will be visiting several nursing houses and our church family shut-ins and sharing our gifts. All ages welcome. We will meet at the church and car pool and come back to the church afterward for light refreshments. C H R I S T M A S E V E T H U R S D A Y, D e c e m b e r 2 4 5 : 0 0 p m I n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l S e r v i c e w i t h c a n d l e l i g h t 1 1 : 0 0 p m C a n d l e l i g h t a n d C o m m u n i o n WEATHER CANCELLATION POLICY In the event of winter weather on a Sunday morning, our first priority is to ensure the safety of church members. Some winters the snow and ice are a real danger, and so worship is cancelled for the day. If such a storm happens, please know that a system is in place to make as many of our members and friends aware as possible. If and when worship is canceled, notice will be posted on Channel 3 WFSB-TV, and the voice mail greeting on the church phone will be updated with the cancellation if you choose to phone the main number. Additionally, an email and phone tree will alert church leaders to the same information. It takes a real storm to disrupt our worship, but if that happens, we want to be ready. Cancellations will also be posted on the church website: www.rhccucc.org. On weekdays, if schools are closed in Rocky Hill, the church office will also be closed.

LOOKING AHEAD Sun. Dec.20 10:00am 4 th Sunday of Advent worship 2:00pm Christmas Caroling Thurs. Dec. 24 5:00pm Christmas Eve Intergenerational Service 11:00pm Candlelight and Communion Service Sun. Jan 10 10:00am Epiphany Pageant WELCOME OUR NEW OFFICE MANAGER The Personnel Committee and Church Council are pleased to welcome Theresa Eldredge Cleary as our church s new Office Manager. Theresa will begin in January. She lives in Portland, and has most recently worked as the parish administrator at St. Luke s Episcopal Church in South Glastonbury. She has a significant background in church office administration and communications. Theresa is committed to being a warm and welcoming presence to all who have contact with our church. As many of you are already aware, Office Manager Mitsey Baker will leave the church staff by the end of December. Mitsey joined our staff in April 2013 but had helped cover the church office responsibilities on a temporary basis many times before. Mitsey agreed to remain on staff much longer than she had intended. We are all grateful to Mitsey for her excellent and dedicated support of the ministry and mission of our congregation throughout many seasons of transition and change. Bob Inderbitzen, Chair, Personnel Committee Personnel Committee Representatives: Holli Bacon, Music Committee; Rev. Craig Cowing, Pastor; Gail Hall, Diaconate; Bob Inderbitzen, Missions; Marge Murk, Acting Moderator; Dave Sageman, Trustees; Kristy Solie-Fuller, Faith Formation

CHRISTMAS CARD DISPLAY Please take a moment to view the new exhibit in the cabinet on the wall opposite the office. Joan Tennyson and Nancy Edwards have artfully displayed a collection of Christmas cards created by Nancy through the years. They are truly beautiful to view. From the Financial Secretary: Please contact me, Deb Copes, either by phone (860-257- 1099) or email (deb.copes@gmail.com) if you need pledging envelopes for our 2016 pledge year. I can leave them for you down in Chapin Hall or another place in the church convenient for you to pick them up. If you are interested in signing up for Vanco/electronic funds transfer for your pledge, I would be happy to help you do that. I do contribute via Vanco for everything pledge, Scrip payment, Missions/Diaconate offerings and it is very convenient. And I m all about convenience! If you already use Vanco and need assistance changing your current pledge, I would be happy to assist you with that as well. DIAPER DRIVE DURING THE EPIPHANY PAGEANT SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 10:00AM We are collecting diapers to be donated to The Diaper Bank who distributes free diapers to poor families, food pantries, soup kitchens, day care centers and shelters throughout CT. In poor and low-income families, a baby can spend a day or longer in one diaper, leading to potential health and abuse risks. The greatest need for diapers is size 5 & 6.

SCRIP-SURE What is it? Scrip-sure is a fundraising program for our church, which allows the regular shopping we do at a variety of retailers to generate income for the church. How? Participating retailers sell gift certificates or gift cards to our church at a discount. Church members buy the certificates for full face value and redeem them for full face value, and our church keeps the difference as revenue. Everybody wins! The retailers get our business, and our church gets a regular source of revenue that involves nothing other than what we would all be doing anyway shopping/spending at grocery stores, drugstores, restaurants, gas stations, and many other businesses, including online retailers. If you placed an order last weekend, please pick up your cards at the scrip table in Chapin Hall this morning. Did you know that you can donate to the Rocky Hill Food Pantry and "Covenant-to-Care for Children" through our scrip program? Your cash/check donations are used to buy gift cards to local groceries (food pantry) or other retail stores (CC). For these donations, we do not retain any profit, so a $1.00 donation effectively buys about $1.07 in groceries or clothing. You may donate at the scrip table in Chapin Hall. We have most of the usual cards in inventory for immediate purchase this morning. Here is a partial list of cards typically available: Coffee: Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks Fast food: Boston Market, Chipotle, McDonalds, Panera, Subway, Wendy s Gas: Exxon/Mobil, Shell, Sunoco Grocery: Big Y, Stop & Shop, Trader Joe's, Westside Marketplace, Whole Foods Pharmacy: CVS, Walgreens Restaurants: Bertucci's, Bonefish Grill, Buffalo Wild Wings, Denny s On the Border, TGI Fridays, Outback Steakhouse Shopping: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, Kohl's, itunes, L. L. Bean, Lowes, Payless Shoes, Target, Toys R Us, Walmart See Gail Hall at the scrip table in Chapin Hall this morning for a complete listing of available cards, or to have all of your questions answered. THINK SCRIP

THIS WEEK AT RHCC D e c e m b e r 2 0 S u n d a y FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT 10:00am Worship Sanctuary 2:00Pm Christmas Caroling 4:00pm Siragu Tamil School Rm 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 6:00pm Middle School Youth Group Chapin Hall D e c e m b e r 2 1 11:00am Memorial Service 12:00pm Reception 7:00pm Women s AA 7:30PM Bell Choir M o n d a y Sanctuary Chapin Hall Chapin Hall Loft D e c e m b e r 2 2 T u e s d a y 6:00pm Community Event Room 23 7:00pm Hearing Voices Room 25 D e c e m b e r 2 3 7:30pm Adult Choir D e c e m b e r 2 4 5:00pm Worship 7:30pm Men s AA 11:00pm Worship D e c e m b e r 2 5 OFFICE CLOSED W e d n e s d a y Choir Room T h u r s d a y Sanctuary Chapin Hall Sanctuary F r i d a y HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dec. 20 Nicholas Jokl 21 Holly Peterson 24 Nancy Edwards 26 Janet Kunzelman NEWSLETTER MAILING MONDAY DECEMBER 28 LESSONS & CAROLS Recordings are now posted on the church web site: http://rhccucc.org/new_design/build.php?_choir/lessons_and_carols_2015/index.html There is also a link on that page to a photo gallery on Facebook. Thanks to Steve Smith for taking most of the photos.

Thank you all for your purchase of poinsettias, both for our shut-ins and for the decoration of our lovely sanctuary. As always, special thanks to those who decorate and who deliver poinsettias. We are also grateful for our church school children and teachers who made cards to bring along with the flowers. May you know the joy of this Christmas season. The Flower Committee and the Diaconate IN LOVING MEMORY OR *IN HONOR OF: Ed Bacon, Jr. Ed & Frances Bacon and Bill & Helen Jensen Ethel Bacon, Jan Kelly and Harold Kelley Mom, Dad and King Our parents, Bette & Armand Benoit and Gladys & Ed Carberry and our friend, Mary Grace. Jennifer O Connor Chester J. Cole Domenic & Mildred Yacobucci and Irene Conte Angie Toce and Pat Howland Richard Boberg, Gail Hall s father *With gratitude My parents, William H and Elizabeth M. McKinney John & Phyllis Paholski Richard Courtney and all our babies in heaven Howard Griswold Jim Griswold Our parents, the Griswolds and the Clarks Gail s father, Richard Boberg Our Parents Susan Statkiewicz Charlotte Bacon Kim Burghoff GIVEN BY: Bob & Denise Carberry Julia O Connor and Bob & Denise Carberry Grace Cole and Jackie Little Deb Copes The Diaconate Nancy Edwards Judy McKinney Frascarelli with love Judy and the Graham Family Leona Griswold Lois Griswold Dave and Gail Hall David and Bobbie Hawkins

IN LOVING MEMORY OR *IN HONOR OF: Mike Heneghan My husband, Roger Hill My sister, Martha Gibson Pat Howland, Claire Roche, Paul Nelson, Julie Fallon, Diane Desmaris and Joan Murphy My parents, Mr. & Mrs. Provost, Mary & George Carpenter, Audrey Rose Hummel, dear friends & family, Elaine Purcaro, Kenny Purcaro and Candice Angela Dad and Grampa, Donald T. Thompson Jr, Fun-loving Uncle Bill Maley Bob & Dot Hunter and our first Christmas with neither with us. Our Grandparents Louis LaCava David Winton Gene Little Margaret Libera Mary Doris McNally Loved ones, Suzy Mary & Charlie Woods and Mildred Martin Paul Mosure and Harold Hartz Charles & Angeline Pawlich Sr. Norman & Edna Halliday and Norman, Helen & Bill Sageman William & Adrienne Cain Our son Daniel R. Somes Janet & Bill Ware and Hazel & Lester Opdyke Steph Heneghan Lily G. Hill GIVEN BY: Katie Hoffman-Fulda and Tom Fulda Cheryl Hummel and Mark Cindy, Maley and Thompson Hunt The Hunter Family The Inderbitzen and Bower family Janet LaCava Jackie Little and Grace Cole Jackson and Maya McNally Sue Monaghan Kathy and Chris Mosure and Family Rich, Mary & Rick Dave Sageman & Ruth Fitzgerald Candy and Louis Smith Dick and Thelma Somes Wendy and Steve Ware

Rocky Hill Congregational Church, United Church of Christ 805 Old Main Street Rocky Hill, CT 06067 Church Office: office@rhccucc.org / 860 529-4167 Church Website: rhccucc.org Visit us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/rhccucc Office Hours Monday Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Friday 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Open and Affirming Statement Because we believe that all people are created in God s image and thus are blessed and loved equally by God, and because love is a unifying and strengthening force within our Christian Faith, We, the members of the Rocky Hill Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, hereby declare ourselves an Open and Affirming Christian community, actively expressing Jesus inclusive embrace of all people. We welcome all who seek to follow Jesus, including persons of every age, gender, race, national origin, faith background, marital status and family structure, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, mental and physical ability, economic and social status, and educational background, to share in the life, leadership, ministry, fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities, blessings and joys of our church family. Jesus teaches us to welcome all God s children into God s covenantal community. As we grow together in faith and love, we will strive to celebrate the diversity in which God has created us. Approved by congregational vote June 2009 Ministry Team Ministers: All the members of the church Pastor: The Rev. Craig L. Cowing ccowing@rhccucc.org Minister for Children and Youth: Georgette L. Huie ghuie@rhccucc.org Minister of Music: Mary DeLibero mary@rhccucc.org Office Manager: Mitsey Baker office@rhccucc.org Webmaster: Dave Hall webmaster@rhccucc.org