Newletter December 2

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people for their hard work raking leaves:

Mike Duncan; Mike Chamberlain; Douglas Anderson, Steve and Eric Csinsi; and Lynne Furman for setting up pizza and drinks for us to enjoy. Thanks for a great job!

P.S. We are hoping to have another leaf raking day on December 9^th (weather permitting). Hope you can make it!

Each year, South Church hosts a Christmas Day dinner. It is truly a community event in that they rely entirely on donations of food, time, and support from area businesses, churches and individuals. This year, they have asked us to join with them in collecting coats, hats, mittens and warm socks that they can give out to their guests at dinner.

The Sunday School will provide these items for children, and the rest of the congregation is being asked to provide these items for adults. The hats, mittens and socks should be new, but "gently used" coats will be accepted.

The "Thanks for Giving" dinner on November 18^th was great fun. If you missed it, you missed a great learning opportunity! Thanks to Sharon Chamberlain who got into her character as she waited on the people from Africa. Thanks also to Gina Ohanesian for getting into character as well- she served those ticket holders from Peru. Many of the attendees noticed differences not only in the food of these countries but the lack of water or lack of CLEAN water, which we take for granted! People also noticed the difference in the quality of service depending on what country you were from. All together a very informative and fun evening.

12/2- 4-7 pm-Advent workshop/Soup and Sandwich supper. Youth need to be at FC by 4 pm please!

12/8-12/9- 7 pm- overnight Guys ONLY Retreat. Sign up Fast!! ?BAD' BOYS OF THE BIBLE Pick up 9 am Sunday

Bring a $5.00 grab bag gift for a boy or girl. At 6 pm we all go to Sunday Light for a special Christmas service. Pick up at FC at 7pm!

Old Saybrook artist, Phil Wescott, is our December artist featured at First Church Gallery. His exhibit of photographs is titled "Shoreline Photos". The exhibit dates are December 9th-30th, with an opening reception on Sunday, December 9, 2007, from 11:00 am-12:30 pm. Please note that the opening reception for our December artist will be on the second Sunday of the month, not the first.

Chuck has been the Sr. Pastor at the Bolton Congregational Church for 17 years; he also is the conference's teacher for the ACE program, training future Christian educators!

In his spare time, Chuck has just released a CD: "Pause"  -- a collection of original songs that are inspired by the images, people , and events of Christmas.

Social and Service will meet on December 4, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. for their annual Christmas Party. Joey Belanger and Charlie Mangan will be the chefs! Please join us for a delicious dinner (free) and bring a $5.00 gift exchange - Joan Belanger has a unique way for this happening. We invite all to come join us for this fun evening. The entertainment will be a game or two of Trivial Pursuit, with prizes to the winners (we are all winners!). Please call me at 223-7517 or let the church office know if you can attend, so Joey and Charlie can plan to feed us all.

?And a busy day it will be! Children will go to church with their parent(s) and leave for Chapel with me when indicated in the bulletin. We have a special guest coming to talk to us about Advent and the birth of baby Jesus. We will dismiss from the Chapel when the worship service is over.

Later in the day, I hope you will plan to come to the Advent Workshop. It will be from 4 - 6 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. There will be Christmas music, crafts to make, design your own gingerbread houses and delicious soups and sandwiches.

Our Christmas Mission Project this season is to collect NEW hats, gloves, mittens, scarves and gently worn coats for the children in our community. We will need sizes from infant to high school age. There will be a collection box as well as a tree to hang them on in the narthex. What a beautiful tree we will create?a tree of WARMTH!

Please remember to bring back the response portion of the letter that your parents received in the mail. We will collect them in Chapel this Sunday.

Sunday starts the new liturgical year, Year A. That means that most of the gospel readings for this coming year will be from the Gospel of Matthew. Sunday is also the first Sunday of Advent.

One of the much beloved traditions of Advent is the making and lighting of the candles in Advent wreaths. This tradition focuses on the coming of the Christ Child at Bethlehem. Each week one of the purple or blue candles are lit to mark the weeks before Christmas and to focus on one of the themes of Advent. The themes we will celebrate are Hope, Peace, Love and Joy.

The theme of light is often used in the northern hemisphere because Advent is experienced at the darkest time of the year. Jesus is the Light of the World and thus brings God's hope. Many of our Advent and Christmas hymns also speak of the coming of the Light of the World. We will be incorporating these and other themes of Jesus' life and ministry into our Advent worship this season.

One of the best ways I know of for getting into the spirit of the season is by participating in an Advent workshop. If you can, why don't you join us this Sunday afternoon and start your own Advent traditions.

Since the present building was completed, First Church has had many distinguished and well-known visitors. In the next few weeks, I will be telling you about some of them.

One such visitor, about 20 years ago, was a Presbyterian minister from Pittsburgh, the Rev. Dr. Frederick Rogers, a distinguished clergyman and preacher. His sweater now hangs in the Smithsonian, for he was also "Mr. Rogers" of television fame! Many might not know that he was also a war hero and a Navy Seal with more than 25 confirmed kills. His wartime experiences led him to change his life, turn to God, and preach His message.