Hi, Everybody. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.
This Sunday, December 1, is the 1st Sunday of Advent and Nacho Name Tag Sunday. Advent is the beginning of the church year. It’s a season of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Jesus – both at Christmas and at some unknown time in the future (so you’d better watch out, you’d better not cry…). We have some lovely Advent Study Devotional Booklets available from ELCA World Hunger on the Media Table.
It’s also the perfect time to start the annual Reverse Advent Calendar. What is a Reverse Advent Calendar, I hear you ask? (that was you, wasn’t it?) It’s like a regular Advent calendar, but instead of getting something each day, you get to give something each day to our Food Barrel or the Winter Relief Program (our Cause of the Month – more on this later). The Reverse Advent Calendar is available on the Media Table. It has suggestions for an appropriate items to give for each day. Collect them during the week and bring them in on Sundays. Involve the kids!
So what is the Winter Relief Program, I hear you ask? (you’re full of questions today!) Started by our own Marielle Miedema when she was just a tyke, it’s an annual effort to collect items for snack bags and personal care bags, to be distributed by Abode Services in Fremont, which helps Bay Area folks who don’t have a place to live. The care bags are distributed at camps from San Jose to Marin. Please consider donating water bottles, small soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste, granola or protein bars, canned pop-top soups, fruit or applesauce cups or pouches, and/or new white crew socks. We are also happy to accept gift cards and cash to help us buy supplies. We will put the bags together with Sunday School members in January and bring them to Abode for distribution.
You can sign up to provide poinsettias for Christmas Eve! The sign-up sheet is at the Media Table. The plants can be given in memory or honor of someone special to you and your family, and the dedications will appear in the Christmas Eve bulletin if you sign up by December 15. As always, any color or size of poinsettia will do. They can be delivered to the Activity Room between Sunday, December 22 and Tuesday, December 24 at 10 am. Craft sticks will be available to write your name on and place inside the pot. Plants can be picked up after the 8 pm Christmas Eve service.
Notable Upcoming Services:
Dec 8: Christmas Pageant during 9:30 am worship
Dec 15: Choir Performance during 9:30 am worship
Dec 24: Christmas Eve services at 4pm and 8 pm
Here’s a report from Cheryl on what we did for Adopt an Angel this year! Some foster kids are going to have a great Christmas because of the generosity of our congregation:
- 5 bikes and helmets,
- 2 trikes and helmets
- More than 30 toys
- Over 60 items of clothing
- 14 pairs of shoes
- 10 miscellaneous gifts like makeup and stuff
- 6 blankets, and bedding
- 4 requested gift cards
- 2 craft items
- 2 doll houses
- 1 desk
- 14 rolls of gift wrap
- 30 Christmas stockings
- $872 cash
- $190 in gift cards, not designated to a particular child
- 1 partridge in a pear tree [sorry, I couldn’t resist – Keith]
A huge huge thank you to everyone who participated. You’re the best congregation ever!
– Cheryl.
And I would add the best looking congregation ever! (I may be biased)
-Keith
your friendly (and handsome) Parish Life Coordinator