Newsletter December 23

Please join us this Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. for our annual Festival of Lessons and Carols. This beautiful traditional service celebrates the Christmas story with Scripture readings, carol-singing by the congregation, and music from our choirs, organ and a brass quintet. This is a wonderful way to usher in Christmas. Bring your family and friends to this music-filled celebration!

Our special offering this Sunday will be given to the UCC's Christmas Fund. The proceeds from the Christmas Fund are used to help meet the needs of retired and low-income clergy and lay employees of the UCC. In 1902, special Christmas gifts were sent to ten older ministers. In 2006, almost 1500 families were assisted. Also, in 2007, 24 persons over the age of 100 will receive a Christmas check!

Please bring Grinder making assignments. For Grab gift PLEASE use your imagination, Take the time; Make the time to make it FUN! No candy, no makeup, no sports stuff, too easy! Suggestions; Gift cards from Dollar store, McDonald's, Movies or CVS.

On Sunday the Women's Circle (formerly the Women' Discussion Group) will have their annual cookie walk after the worship service in Fellowship Hall.

Rev. Sue Prichard will be with us through Sunday, January 6, 2008, her last day as our Interim Minister at First Church. She will conduct our worship service, serve communion and preach her last sermon on that day.

There will be a special farewell tea in Rev. Sue's honor in Fellowship Hall following the worship service on January 6, where people will have a chance to express their appreciation and say good-bye to Rev. Sue. At that time we will present her with a monetary gift that she may use as she sees fit as a token of our gratitude and best wishes as she begins a new adventure, as she often says, "working for Jesus."

We encourage those of you who would like to contribute to this gift to mail your donation to First Church or drop it off at the church office by Friday, December 28, 2007. Please make it payable to First Church of Christ and include "Rev. Sue" in the Memo area.

Over the past several months a group of people have been working hard to understand the job that Diane Rubacha held for more than nine years. Diane's retirement gave us an opportunity to take a close look at the job and make decisions in the best interests of our church. As a result, we decided to divide the job into two parts: administrative and financial. Job descriptions were written and recruitment was initiated.

We are very happy to announce that two highly qualified people have been hired to be the church Office Manager and Financial Clerk.

Many of you already know Kristine Clough-Lewko, a New Britain resident who is assuming the post of Office Manager. Kristine already does a great job of coordinating the First Church Gallery. She is a graduate of Trinity College and has a daughter who attends the First Church Nursery School, and a ten year old son in elementary school. Kristine will work approximately 10 hours per week through the first half of 2008 and will go to 20 hours once her daughter begins full day kindergarten in the fall.

Bernadette "Bernie" Prue comes to us from Haddam. She graduated from Connecticut College, received a Masters from Wesleyan University and worked for well over two decades at Aetna. She has been the volunteer bookkeeper at the Haddam Congregational Church and currently does the books for St. James Episcopal Church in Glastonbury. She has a thorough knowledge of Church Windows and every aspect of church bookkeeping. In her spare time she is a tireless volunteer and artisan.

And it did?along with ice and sleet and freezing rain! I had been planning to rehearse our Christmas Eve program last Sunday during church school. Since we missed that opportunity, we will have to be very efficient this week. When you arrive at church, children should go directly to the Fireside Room.

After worship this week there is a special Christmas Coffee Hour. If you are expecting any hungry reindeer at your house on Christmas Eve, be sure and stop by the "reindeer food" table. We will be mixing up the special recipe so that families can take home a bag for Rudolph and his friends!

Thank you to everyone who helped collect money for UNICEF this fall. Because of your efforts we are able to mail a check for $125 to this very important organization! Wishing you all a joyous holiday season,

Do you have home repairs, maintenance or yard work that desperately needs to be done? Perhaps Rebuilding Together New Britain can help.

Rebuilding Together is a volunteer-based provider of home repair services. Their goal is to assist local, low-income homeowners with necessary home repairs that they can't do because of physical and /or financial limitations. These repairs are done by community volunteers, free of charge to selected homeowners. Services range from yard work and general cleaning, to light carpentry, painting, electrical and plumbing jobs.

Rebuilding Together New Britain is currently accepting applications from New Britain homeowners in need of a helping hand. The 2008 Rebuilding Day event will be held April 26, 2008. Applications may be obtained by calling Kathi Brummett at Rebuilding Together New Britain at (860) 832-4389, or may be picked up at First Church.

Wow! Wasn't that an awful storm on Sunday? We must be making up for our relative lack of storms last winter. I hope you all stayed home where it was safe and warm. Several people commented that it would be nice if we could leave a message on the church answering machine to let everyone know when church is cancelled or the building is closed. We don't have that capability. However, we do list all closings on WFSB Channel 3. The closing for this past Sunday was listed on Channel 3 along with many other area churches.

As most of you know by now, my last Sunday with you will be January 6^th. I have enjoyed my time with you. So much has changed in these two years. When I came things here were in turmoil. But over these 24 months we've gotten a lot done. The Safe Church policies, by-laws, job descriptions, updated personnel manual, Capital Campaign and such are the outward and visible accomplishments. The inward and invisible ones are much more important. First Church is in a much better place than when I came. We've had time to sort through our priorities, mend fences and friendships, and learned how to be happy and laugh again. Worship has become joy-filled again and Church meetings are quick and efficient. I do love working for Jesus.

In the next few months, I will continue to work on my doctoral program at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine. I will need to be on campus two days a month February through May, and then for a week in June. The rest of the work gets transmitted by email with professors and classmates. It looks like I will be at the Ellington Congregational Church from February to June, providing sabbatical coverage for a friend. I served at this church eighteen years ago, so this will be fun, re-getting to know folks in a community I already know. It's also close to home.

If you're planning to be at the church during the week, stop by to say "hi" while I'm busy packing boxes. Part of my Advent time of preparation is getting ready to move on to another assignment, to another faith community and to another place to ?love working for Jesus'.

Have you enjoyed our public library lately? You might be surprised to learn that the first library in New Britain wasn't open to everybody and free. Sometime in the 1770's, a library was established and maintained by Rev. John Smalley, Col. Isaac Lee and others of First Church. To join the library association, a person had to pay an initial fee of three shillings and then two more shillings annually.

David Camp's "History of New Britain" says: "Though this library was not a church library in the sense of being the property of the church, it was considered an aid to parish work. Nearly all ?were members of the church and the library was kept at the meeting-house, or at Deacon Anthony Judd's."

One of the most popular early additions to this library was the six volume Henry's Commentary which contained line-by-line comments on every verse in the Bible. Anyone interested in reading that? There's something quite like that at our church now!

CHRISTMAS IQ TEST ANSWERS

1. False

2. A (though he traveled from Nazareth)

3. F. The Bible doesn't name their mode of transport.

4. False

5. False

6. False - scientifically. According to some faiths - true.

7. E. No mention of an innkeeper, much less what he said.

8. E. He was placed in a manger

9. C.

10. No animals are specifically mentioned.

11. E. See answer to #20

12. A. Only one spoke directly to them; the multitude of angels

spoke to God.

13. F. It is not E. because the sign was a baby in a "manger",

not a stable.

14. D.

15. E.

16. C

17. C. The Bible doesn't say that he cried at his birth, but we do

know that he could cry, and did later in life - remember

the shortest verse, "Jesus wept".

18. C.

19. B.

20. Who knows? There were three gifts, but were there three

Magi, or two, or four, or ??

21. C. Primarily

22. C. and he could have been as old as two years old by the

time the Magi got there!

23. B.

24. Everyone gets this one right! The editor made a mistake

when typing up the answers (she needs a proofreader).

The answer should have been the books of Matthew & Luke.

25. B. According to the account in Matthew.

26. B. According to Matthew's version or D. Per Luke, they went

to Bethlehem because of Caesar Augustus' decree.

27. D.

FINAL QUESTION

28. I think that this test was:

A.. Super B. Great

C. Fantastic D. All of the Above!