Dear Folks,
As Advent marches on, how are
your preparations for the coming of Christ?
This Sunday is the Third Sunday
of Advent, December 16. We will be celebrating with our
annual Intergeneration Christmas Pageant. Come and enjoy!
There is still time to get your
poinsettia order in for Christmas Eve. Each plant is $15.
Please use the form in the Sunday bulletin or Belfry or contact
Judy Tucker.
THE CHRISTMAS FUND for the
Veterans of the Cross and Emergency Fund is the primary source of
annual income used to support and honor those who have served and
are serving the United Church of Christ. Your gift to the Christmas
Fund helps provide a lifeline of hope to many lower-income active
and retired clergy and lay employees of UCC. We will be taking your
offering on December 23. Donation envelopes can be found in the
pews. Please remember that your generous contribution can and will
make a difference in the lives of many.
Longest Night Service will be
held on Friday, December 21, 6:30 p.m. December 21 is the longest
night of the year. For many people, dark is symbolic of the
harsh things of life. Those harsh things become more evident
in the light of the "shoulds" of Christmas time: we should be
happy, we should be glad, we should be joyful. Sometimes our
life is not conducive to the shoulds: we have lost a loved
one, or a relationship, or a job, or whatever. We don't feel
happy and glad. The Longest Night Service is a time to realize
that for some, all is not goodness and light. We can
come, acknowledge the darkness, but also look to the Nativity for
our hope and our Light.
On Christmas Eve, we will have
our 4 P.M. Family Service and at 11 P.M., the Traditional Lessons
and Carols service. O Come, let us adore Him!
Women’s Fellowship is
offering Keep Christ in Christmas magnets for $4, located
on the table by the coat rack. Please leave your money with Sue
Lindley or Karen in the church office.
HCNS is accepting donations for
Toys 4 Tots. If you would like to donate, please drop them off in
the box in the hallway outside the nursery school rooms.
Please have your 2018 pledge
up-to-date by December 31, 2018. The church 2018 financial books
for accepting pledge contributions will close on January 1, 2019
– all checks must be dated December 31, 2018. PLEASE NOTE
2018 in the memo. Any contributions received after this date will
be credited to the year 2019. Also, if you have not returned your
2019 Faith Promise/Pledge Card, please do so as soon as
possible. Your generosity is vital to our continued ministry
here at HCCUCC.
Let us pray. O Holy God of
light and love, may you fill our hearts with joy this season that
we may know the power of your presence in our lives. May you
motivate us to live for your purposes and will. Amen.
In Christ's love,
Rev. Lucille
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