The Visitor December 2017 St. John UCC Mission Statement: As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to worship, to serve our community in Christian love, and to nurture our members along their spiritual journey. From the Pastor 2017 Advent Schedule November 26 Hanging of the Greens - Decorate the church for Advent and Christmas, immediately after worship December 3, 1 st Sunday of Advent Cantata Sunday. Christmas Cookie Exchange in the Cozy Corner immediately after worship. December 7, Short-term Mission Trip to Hope Emergency Program in Fayetteville to help sort Christmas presents. 9:00am 4:00pm 1
December 10, 2 nd Sunday of Advent. The Christmas Extravaganza will be held immediately after worship. December 17, 3 rd Sunday of Advent. Christmas Caroling to our Homebound members will immediately follow worship and a pizza lunch. December 21, Blue Christmas Worship Service for those that struggle with the holidays. 6:15pm December 24, 4 th Sunday of Advent. Worship at 10:00am. There is no afternoon Christmas Eve worship this year. December 24, Christmas Eve Traditional Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols, 10:45pm. May the Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love of the season be with you. I look forward to seeing you at our worship services, mission trip, and fellowship Extravaganza! -Rev. Torie Front 2
As A Baby, Jesus Came As a baby, Jesus came From His home above He left His throne, and who He was, To teach us how to love As a baby, Jesus came, Wrapped in swaddling cloth; Willingly took on humanity, Though He was one with God As a baby, Jesus came To one day grow to be The saviour of the human race, People like you and me As a baby, Jesus came As God's eternal light That will never be extinguished, But forever shine out bright As a baby, Jesus came The hope of eternal life, Reconciling us back to God, Giving meaning to our lives As a man, Jesus died, His blood poured out for all, Cleansing and forgiving us, For to this, He was called We thank Him that He came a babe And grew to be a man And for His sacrificial love, His nailed scarred feet and hands Through it all we can live on With Jesus Christ our Lord The babe that came that first Christmas Is what we thank Him for. By M.S.Lowndes 3
Board of Christian Nurture Our December Lunch Bunch will be on Sunday, December 10th, at the church, immediately after worship. WHAT?! Yes, this is the date for our annual Christmas Extravaganza! Bring a wrapped Christmas ornament for the exchange, your singing voice for some Christmas Carols, your appetite for a wonderful meal catered by Raffel s Catering, and your Christmas Spirit as we enjoy some special Christmas-time with our Family of Faith. Our children, and others who are young at heart, will be presenting the Christmas Story, and everyone is invited to a viewing of the movie The Star at a time and location yet to be determined. This event is provided by the Board of Christian Nurture as a gift to the congregation. A free-will donation will be taken to help defray the cost of the meal, thus allowing our funds to be used for retreat scholarships. And, if you are willing, we d like to ask for a few donations of home-made desserts. Just sign up outside the Cozy Corner for the Christmas Extravaganza and indicate if you ll be bringing a dessert. Euchre join us for some fun and fellowship on the 3 rd Tuesday of the month December 19 st. We will playing at the church for the time being. 4
There will be no Bible Study on Tuesday, December 26 th Merry Christmas! Our second annual Christmas Cookie Exchange will take place on Sunday, December 3 rd, immediately after worship. Please bring 3 dozen home-made cookies and plan on leaving with 3 dozen different cookies! If you ll be participating in the Christmas Cookie Exchange, please sign up outside the Cozy Corner so we know how many boxes to provide. Christmas Cookies are also needed later in the month, December 17, as we go Christmas Caroling to some of our home-bound members. We will have two routes this year, and we hope that you can make time to bring the love of this church to some of our members that many will only see once a year. Please make your cookies small, almost bite-sized, so they fit in the containers we have. There is a sign-up sheet for these cookies (including what kind you will be bringing) and the Christmas Caroling outside the Cozy Corner. Pizza will be provided after worship and before we go Caroling for all who are going to make a joyful noise unto the Lord! 5
Another new tradition we d like to keep going is the St. John UCC Family of Faith Christmas Card Tree. Instead of mailing Christmas Cards to all members, just bring in one signed card and place it on the tree outside the Sanctuary. Did you know that St. John UCC has a special group of people known as The Bread of Angels? When one of our members passes from this life to their eternal home in heaven, The Bread of Angels provides a meal after the Celebration of Life service. If you d like to be part of the Bread of Angels, please contact Shirley Waddell. If you'd like to be part of the group known as the St. John UCC Prayer Chain, please send an email to Judy Patterson at judith_patterson@trihealth.com or call the Church Office at 821-1740, and join us in prayer. 6
Missionary Sewing Rev. Torie and Shirley Waddell, representing Missionary Sewing, went to visit Rev. Karen Behm's 3 week old daughter Rosemary, taking with them presents from Missionary Sewing - booties made by Rosalie Byrd, bibs made by Ann Seebohm, and a quilted fleece receiving blanket made by Shirley Waddell. 7
The family of Charlene Bracker, Marty C., Karen Caudill and family on the loss of their father, Shelly, Lisa and John in the passing of their Dad, Mom, Dad, Cindy, June, LeRoy, Clara, our Military, the Stephens and Cotton families, Dave, Carol, Sue Meade and her family on the loss of their son, Charles Kee, Gary Tucker, Jack, Phillip, Mr. and Mrs. Kretschmar, grandma Dorie and Papa, Mike, Doug, Tracy and family, Lisa R. Henry G., Kathy B., Betty, Karen, Mason, Kyle, Mike Day, Jim, Dick Jones, Brad, Nick, Jeff, Nadine, Bethany, Dallas Paseh, everyone in Reading and around the world who needs to know Jesus, Michael, Eric, Tom, Bill and Diane. **The Board of Christian Nurture meets the 2 nd Thursday at 6:15pm** The Men s Group Our December meeting will be held on Sunday night, December 3rd from 6:00pm to 9:00pm hope to see you there! The date for the German Heritage Supper is confirmed for Saturday, March 24. Stay tuned for more details. 8
Board of Deacons The 2017 Stewardship Campaign is completed! Journey to Generosity: The Way of Jesus was our theme. Pledge cards were handed out starting on Sunday, October 29 th, and all were collected by Sunday, November 19 th. Thank you for prayerfully considering your pledge of your time, treasure, and talent to the ministries of St. John UCC in 2018. Our goal was to receive $95,000 in pledges and we received $89,704 as of Sunday, November 19. There is still time to turn in your pledge cards and help us meet our goal! 9
The Board of Deacons would like to thank Scott Neiman for making our 'Stewardship Drive Tracking Device' - it was wonderful to be able to see Jesus moving closer to us as we moved closer to our goal of $95,000! Is the holiday rush and stress getting to you? Would it help feed your soul to do something for someone else, someone in need? Join us on Thursday, December 7, as we travel to Fayettteville, Ohio and help out at the Hope Emergency Program. Their Christmas Store is an amazingly run outreach, and we ll be there the week before it opens, helping behind the scenes to get them ready to help make Christmas brighter for hundreds of families. Meet at the church at 9:00am lunch will be provided, and we ll be back at the church by 4:00pm. We hope you can join us in this Season of Giving in this wonderful opportunity to give to those in need. The Community Kitchen should be back at St. John UCC in December that means our kitchen remodel will be completed! If you haven t helped at the Community Kitchen for awhile, come on down we d love to see you and have you help in our biggest ministry outreach to our community. Thank you to St. Paul Lutheran Church for hosting the Community Kitchen these past two months! Thank you to all who donated food items for our Thanksgiving bags. Because of your generosity, we were able to put together 18 Thanksgiving meals. The Thanksgiving Bags were given out to our members in a raffle on November 19 after worship, and on Thursday, November 16 to the community. 10
The Board of Deacons would like to give a special shout-out to soonto-be member of the church, Laura White. Laura works at ScrogginsGrear Inc and one of her job duties is to be the Volunteer Coordinator. In October, the company did a food drive, with employees submitting their church names if they had a food pantry. In a random drawing, St. John UCC was chosen, and Laura was able to donate $50 and 3 boxes of food items to our Food Pantry! Does this make you think? Would your place of business be willing to do a food drive to help stock our Food Pantry? We have giant cardboard barrels that we can deliver to your business just let Rick Caudill, Chair of Deacons, or Judi Montrose, Food Pantry Coordinator, know. Thank you! Saucy Sunday On December 3 rd, please bring Macaroni & Cheese, Peanut Butter and Canned Vegetables. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 11
Our first community Trick or Treat outreach was a success! We had over 75 kids come by the church and get candy and the pencil with worship and Community Kitchen information! A good time was had by all - and we are looking forward to next year! **The Board of Deacons meets the 1 st Wednesday of the month at 5:00pm** 12
Board of Elders We will be taking in new members in December, so if you are interested in making St. John UCC your family of faith, or if you are one of our members who has been away for awhile and is ready to re-commit to the church, please see Rev. Torie. The traditional candlelight Christmas Eve worship of Lessons and Carols will feature guest harpist Lindsey Duncan, the singing of Silent Night in German, hand-held candles, and an opportunity after worship to sing Silent Night again in the courtyard. If you d like to join in singing outside at midnight, just proceed to the courtyard immediately after worship! Holy Communion is an important part of our service and in our member s lives on a monthly and special occasion basis. To help that part of our Sunday morning Worship Service flow as smoothly as possible for everyone, the Board of Elders, along with input from Rev. Torie, has decided on the following policy: After the elements are blessed by Rev. Torie (or guest ordained minister), the bread and juice are handed out to the servers. Communion is served by two groups of two 13
individuals. One group consists of two Ushers; the other, one Usher and Rev. Torie (or guest minister or Usher). One group will serve individuals in the front half of the sanctuary, while the other group serves the congregation seated in the back half of the sanctuary. Rev. Torie typically serves the front half of the sanctuary, including the choir, partly because she is comfortable navigating the stairs. Our standard form of serving is through intinction where individuals come down the center aisle to receive the elements. For those individuals who cannot easily navigate the aisle to receive communion, the respective Usher group will serve the elements to the individual in their seat. Our Ushers and Rev. Torie consider it a privilege and honor to serve communion. We believe by having the two Communion Serving groups focus on their respective section of the sanctuary that the time of communion will continue to be meaningful and time efficient for all. Steve Culver Board of Elders Chairperson Children s Faith Formation will be led by Judi Hiatt on December 10; Karen Caudill and Judi Montrose on December 17; Whitney Reardon on December 24; and Shirley Waddell on December 31. Be sure to bring your kids to church for their special time to learn more about Jesus, his birth, and His love for them! 14
The Children s Chats in December will be led by Haven Reardon on December 3 and 17; Rev. Torie on December 10 and 31; and Whitney Reardon on December 24. Please consider how you can contribute your time/talent in 2018! We need Liturgists, Greeters and Ushers! Please discuss with Steve Culver or an Elder member. Sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board. Advent Begins Sunday Dec. 3 rd with the Choir Cantata The Living Light! A fantastic day of celebration and music, Music Director Debbie Cummins has put together soloists, costumed actors, and a 6 piece orchestra, and of course, our very own Chancel Choir. Plan to be in worship this day and hear the Christmas story told in a beautiful, musical way! A Blue Christmas Service will be offered at 6:15 PM on Thurs. Dec. 21 st. This heartfelt service provides a safe and worshipful space to focuses on the struggles we encounter such as loss and loneliness, especially during the holiday season. 15
Lectionary Schedule Scripture Bible Study Preached On November 28: Advent Study #1 God Has a Face December 3 1 st Sunday of Advent - Cantata Sunday December 5: December 10 Advent Study #2 Worship Works Wonders December 12: December 17 Advent Study #3 God Guides the Wise December 19: Advent Study #4 Every Heart a Manger December 24 Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 Psalm 8 Revelation 21:1-6a Matthew 25:31-46 December 26 no Bible Study December 31 You will find the Christmas Story in Luke 2:1-20 and are encouraged to read through this story throughout the Advent season, as you prepare your heart to welcome the new-born King! **The Board of Elders meets on the 1 st Thursday of the month at 6:00pm** 16
Board of Property and Finance October offerings: $216 Under Year-to-date: $1653 over Did you know that we as a church need to give $9,167 in tithes and offerings each month to meet our budget? And, that s with a cushion of $55,000 that we can draw from the Memorial Endowment. We are pleased to report that so far in 2017, we ve only had to take $40,000 from the Endowment, and hope to end the year without taking any more. 17
The Kitchen Remodel is progressing! The kitchen equipment is here and being installed. The electric work is nearly complete and ready for inspection. The ceiling, flooring and lighting is installed. There have been several challenges as work has progressed and there will be several more before it is complete. The stove, ovens and serving station all need a good cleaning before being used again, if anyone has any spare time. We are hoping to be complete by the first full week of December. Here is the newest addition to our Courtyard a Little Free Library! We hope to have this installed before the snow flies, so when you see it up in the courtyard, please stop by and drop off a few books and borrow one for your own reading pleasure! **The Board of Property and Finance meets on the 2 nd Tuesday at 7:30pm 18
11 - Sue Meyer 10 - Jeanette & Bob Wiley 12 - Marlin Fuchs 26 - Delores & Joe Osborne 31 - Melissa & Rob Harman DECEMBER 25TH 19
From the Staff: Rev. Torie Debbie Cummins JoAnn Douglas Betty Steinkoenig 20
Kid s Corner Coloring Page 21
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