Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church Spring Run, Pennsylvania December 2017 Newsletter Dear Covenant Partners, Active Supporters, and Friends, Advent is a time of waiting and preparing for Christmas. From the Latin adventus, meaning coming, Advent proclaims the coming of Christ in two ways: it celebrates His long-awaited arrival as Messiah, and it anticipates His return as King of kings and Lord of lords. Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, the Sunday closest to November 30, and lasts through Christmas Eve. That s why we don t place the baby in the manger in the sanctuary until the evening of Christmas Eve we wait until the time has come. Common practices associated with Advent include lighting candles in corporate worship as a reminder that the Light has come to our dark world, keeping an Advent calendar (focused on Jesus birth), and following prescribed Scripture readings. I challenge each of us this year to follow the Scripture reading schedule below. It is a wonderful way to remember individually and as a family that Jesus coming was not a last-minute gift idea for God s people. No! From the beginning of time, Jesus was not just part of the plan Jesus was the plan to bring us back to our Father in heaven. Every day starting with the first Sunday of Advent, read the passages listed. Whether you are reading 10 verses or two verses, I suggest the following. 1. Pray before you read thanking God for his Word, and asking God to help you understand the passage in a new way. 2. Read the passage out loud. 3. Read the passage silently. 4. Think about the passage while you remain still. Listen. 5. Read the passage again (out loud or silently). 6. Pray again thanking God for sending Jesus to save us. December 3 John 1:1-5 December 14 Luke 2:1-7 December 4 Isaiah 9:2-7 December 15 Luke 2:8-12 December 5 Isaiah 11:1-10 December 16 Luke 2:13-14 December 6 Jeremiah 33:14-16 December 17 Luke 2:15-18 December 7 Luke 1:5-10 December 18 Luke 2:19-20 December 8 Luke 1:11-17 December 19 Matthew 2:1-2 December 9 Luke 1:18-25 December 20 Matthew 2:3-6 December 10 Luke 1:26-38 December 21 Matthew 2:7-8 December 11 Matthew 1:18-25 December 22 Matthew 2:9-12 December 12 Luke 1:39-56 December 23 Matthew 2:19-23 December 13 Micah 5:2-5 December 24 John 1:14 A.W. Tozer wrote, I am struck with the wonder and the significance of the limitless meaning of these two words, He came. Within them the whole scope of divine mercy and redeeming love is outlined. My prayers are that during this Advent and Christmas season each one of us will be struck with the wonder and the significance of the limitless meaning of those two words: He came. God came to us. He came as a baby in a lowly cattle stall. It is a wonderful, mysterious, hard-to-grasp, and beyond the scope of our normal reasoning story. But when you get it, when you come to fully understand the purpose and implications of this story, it completely changes how you look at Christmas. It completely changes how you look at your life! God came to you. He came for you and He remains with us through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit! May the mission & ministry of our congregation tell the story to all who have ears to hear. Shopping is not the answer, folks. Jesus is the answer for all people for all eternity. With love, Rev. Meagan
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES! The Annual Turkey Supper & Bazaar Thanks to so, so many people, we made it through another supper! This year we served 931 meals (take-out and eat-in) with rain pouring down for the first few hours. Thank you to everyone who donated anything (time, energy, food, money, etc.) to help make it all happen! It is always a privilege to welcome so many guests into our building on Turkey Supper day and they all have a story as to how they came to be with us. One man, William Curry from Shippensburg, has been coming to our supper since 1957! Wow! That s a lot of turkey! One family gathers annually at our supper from all over the country Reno, Nevada, North Carolina, and Riverside, California! And then there s Paul Kriner from Chambersburg. Paul is 101 years old and still takes the stairs! What a blessing to serve so many lovely people who truly appreciate all our hard work. Special thanks to Ruth Frazier, Tammy Adams, Wanda Harry, and Dawn Johnson for their leadership and commitment to this important ministry in the life of our congregation. Now on to Community Meals! COMMUNITY MEALS ARE BACK FOR THE 10 TH YEAR IN A ROW BEGINNING MONDAY, DECEMBER 4th Meals are FREE and are served from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. every Monday evening from December through March. How can you help? 1. You can help prep food on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. (It is assumed you would have worshiped with the congregation at 8:30 a.m.) 2. You can help prep and serve and clean up if you come on Mondays after 4. 3. You can make cakes and bring them to the church on Sundays or Mondays before 4:30. 4. You can help with deliveries. 5. You can join the prayer team. 6. You can come to eat and enjoy fellowship with our guests! Speak with Rev. Meagan or Joni Frey for more information! We will not have meals on Christmas Day or New Year s Day. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing over each person/couple as their special day arrives: Birthdays Savannah Harris December 1 Cheryl Trueax December 2 Marina Fester December 2 Zac Hall December 2 Laurie Ruby December 4 Camden Woodward December 5 Jonathan Parsons December 6 Liza Smith December 8 Sarah Smith December 8 Dawn Beaumont December 11 Robert Parsons December 21 Laurie Shoop December 22 Macileigh Martin December 24 Kenny Wenger December 25 April Robinson December 29 Anniversaries Chuck & Johanna Grove December 11 Norman & Mary Jane Coons December 17 James & Melissa Bannister December 18 Bill & Kriste Shoop December 23 Jeff & Barb Burkholder December 29 Bob & Betty Myers December 31 ********************* Ways to Journey through Grief at Christmastime (adapted from CareNotes) When a loved one has died, the holiday season can be a painful reminder of your loss. First of all, please remember that your church family is here to help you. But here are several other practical ways that may help: Give yourself grace. Don t expect to be able to do all the things you ve done before in fact, don t expect to even want to. Give yourself time to process what you re feeling. Decide what is most important to you and scratch the rest off the list this year.
Adapt cherished traditions. In other words, don t throw everything out because it s hard. Keep the most cherished traditions alive in ways that make sense in the new reality of your life. Give yourself permission to cry. Buy extra boxes of Kleenex. Try to remember all the great holiday moments shared with your loved one throughout the years. And here s a thought: Write down the gifts your loved one gave you in your lives together joy, laughter, affection, companionship, an appreciation for a special song, etc whatever comes to mind. Then figure out a way to display these gifts as conversation starters for other family members, or just to help you keep celebrating the gifts the person gave you. Finally, and most importantly, focus on what Christmas is all about. Focus on Jesus! Focus on the Greatest Gift given to humanity! And may the God of peace be with you. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Thank you from your Houston Mission Team! Presbyterian Church, just in time for worship at 11:15 a.m. We were so grateful to start our week in worship with brothers and sisters in Christ! After worship we checked in, got our air mattresses set up, then headed out for our only free time of the week to pick up some stuff from Wal-Mart and eat lunch at a good ole Texas barbeque spot. Each morning we were awakened at 5:45 a.m. We packed our lunches, ate breakfast, and headed out to the job sites. Our team was divided between 4 houses George & Arva s, Mary s, Margarite s, and Sue s. What a blessing to get to know these homeowners, hear their stories, and help them in whatever way we could. All of the houses needed to be gutted inside, treated for mold, and prepared for inspection before rebuilding could begin. Some on our team were worried that they wouldn t have the skills needed for the work. No worrying necessary! There was work for everyone - and then some! We arrived home in the wee hours of November 5 and the first people we got to tell th all about it was YOU our church family! What a blessing that was for us. Thank you to all who supported us financially and through prayer. Once our bills are all in and paid we will send the surplus (yes, there was a surplus raised) back to Samaritan s Purse to be used in whatever way it is most needed. If mission work is something you are called to do, keep your ears and eyes open for other ways to serve both here at home and beyond. On Sunday, October 29, 14 folks from th UPVPC traveled on a school bus in the wee hours of the morning to BWI. We had a fairly smooth flight to Houston, arriving there at approximately 9:30 a.m. After getting our luggage and rental vans we made it to our home base for the week, Christ Evangelical
Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church P.O. Box 128 Spring Run, PA 17262 www.upvpc.org 717-349-2603 ready to celebrate? Are you ready for some totals from this year's Collection Week in Path Valley? Well, have I got some numbers for you! God is so good and amazing to all of us - all the time God is good - and we should always be in celebration and worship of what He has done. Today - we are especially thankful for the total from all of Path Valley. Our combined efforts from the Path Valley Shoebox Project, the churches, and individuals all together sent out 3,732 of these precious gifts! That deserves a big WOO-HOO -- and sing Praises to the Lord! He has been so faithful to all of us - and we are returning a small portion to Him in these gifts for precious children all over the world. God Bless you - I stand in awe of what we can do together as the Body of Christ. OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD 2017! Thank you to everyone who packed a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. UPVPC donated 380 boxes this year! That s more than double what we gave last year! Thank you everyone and thank you to Jeff Beaumont for storing and transporting the boxes to the collection center in Chambersburg! (See picture above!) Here s a message from Ruth & John Mitchell about our efforts as a community: Are you The angels, as they sang their glory song that night, began the singing of a glory song that would never end. God s people have penned and sung glory songs about Jesus ever since. Whenever and wherever they gather, they sing together of the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, the promises, the presence, the power, and the grace of Jesus. Around the world hearts lift and hope comes rushing in as melodies carry the precious truths of God s most wonderful gift to us, the gift of his Son. Paul David Tripp