First Presby’s Weekly News December 18, 2016

//First Presby’s Weekly News December 18, 2016

First Presby’s Weekly News December 18, 2016

 

Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m. 

Worship is broadcast at 11:00 a.m. on WCHS-580AM

304-343-8961

Next Week’s Sermon is “ANCIENT WORDS: God With Us/Carol Sing”, by Bill McCoy. Gospel Lesson is Galatians 4:1-7.

Sympathy of the Congregation is extended to:

  • Fred & Sara Joseph on the death of his brother, Ameen (Joe) Joseph on December 9.
  • Nancy McLaughlin on the death of her mother, Barbara Harold on December 10.

The Christmas Joy Offering is received Today: Promises Made, Promises Kept. Supporting past, present, and future leaders How is my gift used?  A gift to the Christmas Joy Offering helps provide financial assistance to current and former church workers and their families and also enables deserving students to attend Presbyterian-related racial ethnic colleges and schools.  Consider how you will give to this PC(USA) special offering.

Tableau Rehearsal is this afternoon from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the sanctuary for all participants. The Christmas Tableau is December 24, Christmas Eve, at 5:00 p.m.  All participants need to arrive at 4:00 p.m. and meet in the chapel on Christmas Eve.

Wee People Report: Mary and Joseph are very close to Bethlehem now.  The shepherds and sheep seem to have joined the congregation.  Look for the appearance of the star. It was not only the Jews who were looking for a great king, promised by God, the wise men are also on a journey to find the Christ child, the one who would rule the world in justice and peace.  They pause to rest in the main church hallway as they follow the star.

Hope Village: Today after worship is your last chance to shop in Hope Village.  Please visit and finish up your last minute gift shopping.  You will find items from many countries in the Village and the artisans receive a fair and just wage for their work. Help us clear the Village, so we don’t have to return any items.

Presbyterian Coffee Project: Coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolates, raisins, and nuts continue to be available for purchase after worship and during the week during church business hour. Baskets Are Needed to be used to create gift baskets for holiday gifts, using items from the Presbyterian Coffee Project. Also needed is tissue paper, all colors, new and used. Items can be left in church office.

 Sojourners’ Class continues to meet in room 411 in the Education Building, at 9:15 a.m. to study “Jesus and His Jewish Influences,” with lecture number 22 by Dr. Jodi Magness on “Rabbinic Judaism’s Traditions about Jesus.”  This class will not meet on December 25 and January 1.

This Week’s Food Pantry Needs:  Canned Soup and Crackers

Children’s Bible Study: Following Time with Young Disciples and the Passing of the Peace, all children in grades one-five are invited to join us for Bible Study in room E-113. Janet Chambers will walk the children to their classroom. If this is your child’s first time visiting Children’s Bible Study, please accompany them to the room so that you can sign them in and get acquainted with our teachers.

More About the Music: Below is an excerpt from Glory to God: A Companion about this morning’s Concluding Hymn, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”: “When the controversial revised edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern was published in 1904, the London newspapers released a barrage of negativity. The Daily Express, for example, complained that “an anonymous Committee of country clergymen has thought it fit to pervert Charles Wesley’s famous line ‘Hark! The herald angels sing’ to ‘Hark! How all the welkin rings.” Such outrage was misplaced, however, because that was indeed the original opening line to Wesley’s ten-quatrain “Hymn for Christmas Day.”  The hymn was shortened and the opening lines revised to their current form when George Whitefield published it fourteen years later. Even for Wesley’s contemporaries, “welkin” (meaning “the visible regions of the air”) was not a common word…Neither the original nor the revised versions of this hymn had a refrain…It should also be noted that Wesley’s original version of 1.2 (“Glory to the King of kings”) is a more faithful rendering of Luke 2:14 than Whitefield’s revision, [Glory to the newborn King].”For more tidbits about our music and hymn texts, visit a church copy of Glory to God: A Companion by Reverend Carl P. Daw, Jr. M.A., M.Div., Ph.D. in our church library, or look through the copy on the piano at the front of the sanctuary after worship.

Please pray for the members of the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee as they seek to identify the person God is preparing to serve as our new associate pastor.  Members of the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee are Mike Graney, Charlie Lorensen, Tom Marchio, Dave Nolan, Sarah Smith, Carol Susman, Sandy Zando, and Bill McCoy (ex-officio).

Youth Group: We will meet this evening for a Christmas Party and Christmas service from 6:30-8:30 p.m. If you want to be part of the gift exchange please bring a gift valued at $5. We will have heavy appetizers and drinks. We will also meet on Wednesday, December 21, from 5:00-7:30 p.m. There are no scheduled meetings from Christmas until New Years. Please pay attention to emails and texts for possible activities during that time.

Attention all College Students and families: We are looking for college age Church members to help with the passing of the light in both services on Christmas Eve. If you can help please contact Payne Warner, or meet in the Ruffner Room prior to both services.

LOGOS Begins the Winter/Spring semester on Wednesday, January 11, at 5:00 p.m. Registration forms are in the main hallway and online as firstpresby.com/the-logos-ministry, for pre-kindergarten through high school. Please call Janet Chambers or email janet@firstpresby.com.

Reminder: If you have placed flowers in the sanctuary in honor or memory of loved ones during 2016, please be sure to make your payment payable to First Presbyterian Church and deliver or mail to the church office by December 31, 2016.

 Urgent Needs Offering: December 24: During the Christmas Eve worship, you will have the opportunity to give to “Urgent Needs.” This offering goes directly to the Emergency Assistance Program. The Urgent Needs Offering is received just twice a year. Please give generously.

About the Advent Wreath: During the four weeks leading up to Christmas, we use our Advent wreath to help us celebrate a special season called “Advent.” We light a new candle on the wreath each week as we move from darkness into light. The four candles on the outside of the wreath remind us of the four thousand years from Adam to Jesus, when humanity was waiting for a Savior. Some Lutheran Christians call their candles the Prophecy Candle (Hope), the Bethlehem Candle (Preparation), the Shepherd Candle (Joy), the Angel Candle (Love). Some Reformed Christians use them to represent Faithfulness, Hope, Joy, and Love, or sometimes Prophets, Angels, Shepherds, and Magi. Some Catholic Christians use the candles to represent Hope, Faith, Joy, and Peace. If a fifth candle is placed in the center of the wreath, it represents the Light of Christ. At First Presby, our first four Advent wreath candles represent Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Last Sunday, “Gaudete Sunday” (“Gaudete” is the Latin word for “rejoice”), Dick and Kay Lamb and Lyle and Beth Sattes lit our Candle of Joy.  This morning, members of the Presbyterian Women light the last of the four candles on the outside of our wreath:  The Candle of Love.

Holiday Coverage: Although the church office is closed between Christmas and New Years, Rev. Doug Jenkins is available and on-call for pastoral needs. Contact talk/text 304-941-2376.

Christmas and New Year Holiday Schedule:

  • December 24 Christmas Tableau Worship at 5:00 p.m.
  • December 24 Candlelight Worship at 11:00 p.m.
  • December 25  Sunday Morning Worship at 10:30 a.m. (No Sunday School)
  • December 26 – December 30  Church office and buildings are closed.

This Week at First Presbyterian

 Sunday, December 18

9:15  Sunday School

10:00 Music Warm-up

10:30 Worship-Joy Gift Offering

11:45 Service of Healing

2:00 Tableau Rehearsal

6:00  Youth Group

Monday, December 19

No Activities scheduled

Tuesday, December 20

10:00  Knitting Group

5:30   Fellowship & Rec

Wednesday, December 21

8:00   Wednesday Work Crew

5:00   Youth Group

7:30   Worship Music Team

  Thursday, December 22

7:30   Shoney’s Group, Downtown

5:30   Capella Bells Rehearsal

7:30   Geneva Choir

  Friday, December 23

No activities scheduled

 Saturday, December 24

 4:00    Tableau Participants Arrive

5:00    Tableau Service-Candlelight

11P     Worship-Candlelight

By | 2016-12-16T09:49:44-05:00 December 16th, 2016|First Presby Weekly News|Comments Off on First Presby’s Weekly News December 18, 2016