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 “Moving On” by Doug Jenkins. Gospel Lesson is Matthew 2:13-23.
Wee People Report: The shepherds and sheep have spread out to the fields (beyond the sanctuary) with their sheep to tell the good news of Jesus’ birth!
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).
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 hours.
Many ways to support our ministries: In addition to traditional cash and checks in the offering plate, you can give on our website firstpresby.com via your computer or smart phone, through our mobile app “Church Life” (you must first set up a user profile on our website to use the Church Life app.) or by texting 73256 and typing “firstpresby” in the message line. Use the QE code card in your pew rack to go directly to our giving page. God loves a Cheerful Giver!
Offering Envelopes for those who requested them can be picked up on Sunday mornings on the table near the church office. They can also be picked up in the office during regular church office hours. Call the church office if you have questions or wish to get a box.
About the Advent Wreath – During the four weeks leading up to Christmas, our Advent wreath helped us celebrate a special season called “Advent.” We lit a new candle on the wreath each Sunday as we moved 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, our Presbyterian Women lit the Candle of Love. Last night, Pastor Bill McCoy lit the center candle, the Light of Christ, and we all passed this light to one another at the end of our Christmas Eve worship services. Today, all our candles remain lit for Christmas Day.
Youth Group: There are no scheduled meetings from Christmas until New Years.
This Week’s Food Pantry Needs: Toilet Tissue & Cereal
More about the music: Below is an excerpt from Glory to God: A Companion about this morning’s response, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”: “Though he was famed during his lifetime as a great preacher, no sermon Phillips Brooks ever preached has been heard or read by as many people as have sung his Christmas carol. He wrote it in 1868 for the children of the Sunday School at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, where he was then rector. In writing it, he may well have had in mind his own visit to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve 1865. Traveling there from Jerusalem by horseback, he and his companion made a point of visiting the fields outside town where, according to tradition, the shepherds heard “the Christmas angels/the great glad tidings tell. “The text also gains great immediacy because all its verbs are in the present tense, giving the singers and hearers a keener sense of being able to see and hear everything as it is described. It is clear that Brooks’s rhetorical gifts did not desert him when he turned to poetry.” 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.
Thanks to Our Child Care Volunteers in our nursery, toddler and preschool rooms. All child care rooms are equipped with live video feeds of the worship service. Do you love children and babies? Call the church office, 304-343-8961, to volunteer in this special ministry.
Holiday Coverage: Although the church office is closed between Christmas and New Year’s, Rev. Doug Jenkins is available and on-call for pastoral needs. Contact talk/text 304-941-2376.
CHURCH OFFICE AND BUILDINGS CLOSED DECEMBER 26-DECEMBER 30 NO ACTIVITIES
Daily Scripture Schedule for January 2017
Sunday, January 1
Matt 1:18-25
Monday, January 2
John 6:35-42, 48-51
Tuesday, January 3
John 10:7-17
Wednesday, January 4
John 14:6-14
Thursday, January 5
John 15:1-16
Friday, January 6
Matt 12:14-21
Saturday, January 7
John 2:1-11
Sunday, January 8
John 1:1-7, 19-20, 29-34
Monday, January 9
Mark 1:1-13
Tuesday, January 10
Mark 1:14-28
Wednesday, January 11
Mark 1:29-45
Thursday, January 12
Mark 2:1-12
Friday, January 13
Mark 2:13-22
Saturday, January 14
Mark 2:23-3:6
Sunday, January 15
John 4:27-42
Monday, January 16
Mark 3:7-19a
Tuesday, January 17
Mark 3:19b-35
Wednesday, January 18
Mark 4:1-20
Thursday, January 19
Mark 4:21-34
Friday, January 20
Mark 4:35-41
Saturday, January 21
Mark 5:1-20
Sunday, January 22
John 5:2-18
Monday, January 23
Mark 5:21-43
Tuesday, January 24
Mark 6:1-13
Wednesday, January 25
Mark 6:13-29
Thursday, January 26
Mark 6:30-46
Friday, January 27
Mark 6:47-56
Saturday, January 28
Mark 7:1-23
Sunday, January 29
John 7:14-31
Monday, January 30
Mark 7:24-37
Tuesday, January 31
Mark 8:1-10