We hope Christmas day was special for you and that the hope, joy, love, and peace of the season reamains with you still!

Tomorrow, we will be gathering for worship in the parlor. We are giving our musicians, sound, camera, AV, and support staff the week off this week - so we will come together to sing some hymns, share some refreshments, and discuss Matthew 2:1-23 and how we might "Let Our Fear Fuel a Fire for Justice." Our "sermon" will be a conversation together about the passage.

We will NOT be broadcasting the service this week. If you can't join us in person this week, consider catching a previous service from the series here.

One of the many sources for the content of this series is the book Hope: A User's Manual by MaryAnn McKibben Dana. You can see a summary of her explanation of "What Hope Is Not" here and her thoughts on "What Hope Is" here.

If you would like to chat about the series between Sundays, you can join the discussion group here.

There is a devotional booklet that goes along with the series. You can pick up a hard copy on Sunday. Our friends at A Sanctified Art have provided a special e-reader version of this year’s Advent devotional, which you can access on your computer and mobile devices: online.flippingbook.com/view/361593675/ (In order to protect their work, please refrain from sharing this link or posting it on social media.)

For our Advent and Christmas offering this year, we are supporting the Guatemalan Maya Center, an organization that is doing amazing work in caring for and protecting the immigrant community in Palm Beach County. Among the many ways they are doing this is educating the community about how to respond and protect themselves when approached by ICE agents and reuniting children with parents who have been deported. You can join Lake Worth UCC in giving here. Every dollar collected will be matched by the church with the total amount being given to GMC in January. You can give securely online here.

Resources for Staying Centered, Grounded, and Connected

Our friends over at Sojourners magazine have published a fantastic Holiday Survival Guide - a collection of their articles on the holidays from a faith and justice perspective. You can find it here.

The Hope Circle Book Club

Lake Worth UCC Member Johanna Castillo is facilitating a new group, The Hope Circle Book Club. They meet every other Thursday evening in person in our office and online. They are currently discussing The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall. You can find more information here.

Together: Hope: A User's Manual

Our Together group which meets on Wednesday nights at 6:30 will be taking one more week off and begin meeting again on Wednesday, January 6th when we will spend a few weeks discussing MaryAnn McKibben Dana's book, Hope: A User's Manual.

How do we cultivate hope to face each day? How do we find the energy to persevere, knowing things don't always work out OK, no matter what the platitudes say? How do we pursue the work of justice, knowing that the task is too big for any of us?
 
This book addresses these questions. It's MaryAnn's attempt to write herself back into a sense of hope after a grueling few years of life and world events.

We will meet in person at 1415 North K ST and on Zoom here. 

Spiritual Direction 

Lake Worth UCC member Stacey Harter is a seminary student focusing on spiritual direction. She is currently open to taking new directees. You can learn more about her and spiritual direction at Nautilus Spiritual Direction.

It is easy to give online at our website lakeworthucc.org/give.

Our app is now back up and running on all of your favorite app stores. You can watch services, keep up with what we are doing, and connect with one another. Go to our app page to find the links to download.

Join us at 10:00 on Thursday morning as we gather to catch up with one another! Currently we meet only on Zoom - you can join us here. We will resume in person meetings later in the year.