This Week at FCCLW 12/25/16

Published: Thu, 12/22/16

 
December 25, 2016                                                                 
 

Christmas Eve Worship


















We will gather together on Christmas Eve at 7:00 PM for a service of song, scripture, and candlelight. If you are in town, we invite you and your family to join us to await the Christ light!
 
Faithful Response
 As Advent draws to a close, we focus on the birth of Jesus. Joseph’s role in the birth and life of Jesus is often speculated, but one thing is sure – he trusted God’s will and stood by Mary during a difficult time in her life. Joseph provides a home and family for Jesus, an example that all of us can learn from today. And Joseph’s trust in God’s message from a dream shows us how God can communicate with us and give us direction and guidance. As we welcome our Savior into the world, may we also welcome God’s guidance in our lives. You can watch the sermon on our website and watch the whole service on our Facebook page.
This week, as your to-do list grows longer in the lead-up to Christmas, pause for 10 minutes each day to read the focus scripture and think of the ways God is present in your life and even in your dreams.



Love and Compassion
This week on the radio program On Being, teachers Susan Salzberg and Robert Thurman speak about compassion from the Buddhist perspective. You can listen here


Thank You!
Thank you to everyone who has helped out over the past several weeks:
 
To our Men's Fellowship along with Barbara Derryberry and Brenda Chappell for providing a tasty lunch this Sunday.
 
To Nelson and Marilyn Stone for organizing our kid's outing.
 
To Ginny Somerville and Janet Lisle who created our new "Gaudette" paraments.
 
To Mary Ellen Bryner, Janet Lisle, Gary Sitler who have been working on our financial records the past three weeks.
 
Meredith Button, along with Bobbi Marsh and Grace Lipman for leading our kids in singing this Sunday.
 
To Cathy Austen, who organizes our worship participants and Vickie Grimes, who creates our visuals, along with Harvey Littlefield and Betty Rigdon who work in the audio visual booth.
 
Richmond Schmidt, Allan Herbst, and Janet Lisle for organizing our "Beer and Hymns: Christmas Carol Edition." We had a great time and over $1500 was raised for North Grade Elementary families.


 
Enneagram Journey

We will begin a new session of The Enneagram Journey on January 25th. You can find out more information on the website.
 

Facebook Live



As much as we love gathering together on Sunday mornings, there are times when we are out of town or otherwise unable to be there in person. You can now watch our worship service live on Facebook right on your computer, tablet, or smart phone. At 10:30 on Sunday just head over to our Facebook page and join us!
 
 
 


 

 

 


 

 
 
Great time at the Parade
Thank you to everyone that worked on our float and walked in the parade.  A great time was had by all!  Here's a picture of Barry as the Grinch.

Online Giving

Have you explored the opportunity of electronic giving? You can choose to have a set amount taken from your bank account on a regular basis or you can make a one (or more) time gift by checking account or credit card on our website. Your regular electronic giving means that your gift is available for ministry even when you are away (or forgot your checkbook!). Thank you for your continued support of the ministry of First Congregational Church!
 
 
 
Hey, Thanks!

You're sharing this newsletter with your friends! More people read (or at least opened) our newsletter than we send out. 

If there is something here that interests you, it may interest someone else.

If a friend sent this to you and you would like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe on our website.
 

Facebook

First, go to our page and "Like" us. However, just liking us does not mean that you will see everything we post. Each of our Facebook posts only goes to about 2% of the people who like our page. To make sure you see everything, after you like us, go to the pull-down menu on the "Like" button and click "Get Notifications." This way everything that we post will show up on your own Facebook wall.  If you are on Facebook, you can keep up with what is happening "between Sundays" on our Facebook page.