First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Disciples serving Middletown since 1912.
Our Annual Chili Bowl is Sunday, Feb. 8. Time to get your game on! Be ready to compete, ready to put your best pot forward. Bring your chili, bring your appetite and enjoy good fun with your church family. Muffin tins have proven to be a good way to sample the many, many pots of chili that are competing. If chili’s not your forte, bring a dessert to share. Desserts will not be judged, simply enjoyed. Donations will be received to support our CYF mission projects.
Week of Compassion
February 15 and 22 we will be collecting offerings for the Disciples strongest mission arm – Week of Compassion. For 70 years, Week of Compassion has made a difference in the lives of people and communities around the world by pooling resources, leveraging funds and serving through partnerships. Gifts given through this special offering empower people in poverty to learn a trade, raise their own food, and grow in faith. United in Christ, we help to provide access to healthy food, good education, excellent health care, and shelter after devastating storms. Each time a gift is given a connection is made that builds a bridge or tears down walls. Each resource shared answers God’s call to love our neighbor, because in Christ Jesus, we are one family. Please give generously. Want to know more go to www.weekofcompassion.org
We have so much to be thankful for and the giving within our congregation is a way of expressing our gratitude to God. With your help, we filled and distributed boxes of food at Thanksgiving. We began decorating our Hat and Mitten Tree and are in the mist of collecting food for families who are in need of a helping hand at Christmas. We are sharing our blessings by collecting gifts for children who reside at the Center of Hope for Women and Children (Hope House). As we become more aware of the challenges in the lives of these children, we want to take every opportunity to give them something they can call their own. Your continued generosity is making all of this possible. Thank You!!!
Our children’s Christmas program, Have a Very Hippie Christmas, was groovy, right-on, and far out! Thank you to all the children who participated:
Narrators: Renee Lyons & Tyler Hendricks
Mary: Stella Lyons
Joe: Ethan Otis
Heavenly Angel: Jillian Schatzley
Angels: Andie Andress, Navy Andress, Cassie Riley, Micah Wright & Kash Wright
Innkeepers: Angel Dearth, Daria Dearth & Travis Hendricks
Cool Cats: Nicholas Otis, Haley Adkins & Cayedinn Burggraf
Royal Dudes: Loren Burton, Mason Lyons, Owen Lyons & Owen Lyons
From making the cool VW bus to directing rehearsals, Lora Schueller and Mary Helen Shetter brought everything together. Their tireless efforts and giving spirits are a blessing to our children and youth. THANK YOU!!! The music rocked! Thanks to Rachel Eve Davis and Katherine Garringer for leading our youth choir. We also thank all those who helped with technical support, set up and clean up: Dave Schueller, Mark Roe, Larry Steele, Sidney Burton, Don Dixon, Mike Cockerham, Tim Powers, Larry Chamberlain, Angie Otis and Sarah Andress.
Shortly after Jesus was born, there were angels out in the fields telling shepherds about Jesus’ birth. The shepherds decide to go to Bethlehem to find Jesus. Imagine you were one of the shepherds going to Bethlehem. You don’t know Mary and Joseph. You don’t know Jesus. You just have a powerfully strange message from the angels. You were going to enter the stable and introduce yourself and share what you heard from the angels. Could Mary and Joseph possibly find the message ludicrous and throw you out. As a shepherd stranger, would you be rejected or welcomed?
The shepherds share with Mary and Joseph the Good News they heard from the angels. Luke 2:15-18 reads, 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.
With this message from the angels, the shepherds brought confirmation to Mary and Joseph that indeed their son was the Messiah. In a time that had to feel uncertain and scary, God brought to them strangers who believed, who Mary and Joseph could relate to, and people who would witness to others. They were unrelated witnesses bringing confirmation that Jesus was the Son of God, come to save all people.
What about the Wisemen? What did they want? Again, they brought confirmation. A little over a month had gone by, and God sent a message to Mary and Joseph through these strangers on their
doorstep. These strangers, these Magi, these Wisemen were from outside the Jewish faith. They were men of stature and they were there acknowledging Jesus as King. Again, confirmation.
As we journey in our faith, we have mountaintop moments when we are certain of our faith and all we are hearing from God. These moments move us forward with great passion and drive. As humans though, it doesn’t take us long to begin to doubt and wonder. Mary and Joseph were the same. So, God used strangers to reinforce the divine message.
The Shepherds, The Wisemen… strangers reaching out to strangers bringing confirmation of God’s presence and love. You… Me… strangers called to bring confirmation of God’s presence and love to the strangers God brings into our lives. When we do so, we bring confirmation that the story of Christmas is more than mystery and myth, that it is more than a sweet nativity scene filled with a baby, cute animals, shepherds and wise men.
Bottom line… You’re strange. I’m strange. We are all strangers to someone. The love of God is our common denominator, and God calls us to be in the world.
Reaching out to someone you don’t know with kindness and love of is worth it. Who knows, maybe the stranger has a message for you. Remember Jesus said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt. 25:35). We live in this world as strangers with strangers. It is through God and Jesus Christ that we are connected. I pray we can all remember this as we find ourselves encountering strangers this Holy season. Extend a smile, an act of kindness and bring confirmation of God’s great love for ALL people.
with Christmas love, Laureen 🙂
On Thursday, December 18 we will be recipients of helpful hands from Central Academy (the school next door) from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Students will walk over to the church and help us with some final preparations for Christmas: cleaning, preparing candles, assembling luminaries, etc. We need a few extra adult hands to guide the students. Volunteers are needed 9:00-11:00 a.m. Please contact Laureen if you are available to help.
Candlelight Worship
Wednesday, December 24 at 7:00 p.m., you are invited to a special worship service to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We will enter the sanctuary as God’s family and hear again the sacred scriptures, sing our praises to God through song, remember the joy of salvation through communion, and celebrate the true LIGHT of the world through the lighting of candles. Make sure you are here for this very special night. Bring your family, friends and neighbors as we welcome the birth of a newborn King.
Invite Someone for Christmas
The Christmas season is here and it’s one of the best times of the year to reach the un-churched, the de-churched and those who have fallen away from church. Why? Because we are celebrating with joy, and we are celebrating a baby. These are things that open people’s hearts to the possibility of coming to church. It’s time to seize the season! Get out there and begin inviting.
As we celebrate this year, invite someone new to join you. Guiding someone into a relationship with God and Jesus Christ is the best gift you could ever give them. It is after all, a gift that gives into eternity.
Luminaries
One of our favored Christmas Eve traditions is the numerous luminaries that light the way into the church. We need volunteers to set these out during the day on Dec. 24, a few other volunteers to light them around 6:00p.m., and a few more volunteers to clean them up after our Candlelight Worship is over. The students from Central Academy will assemble them. Please contact Laureen if you can help with any of these luminary tasks.
Middletown schools have so many children that qualify for food assistance that all students receive free breakfast and lunch on school days. The children in our city need their neighbors to reach out. Central Academy is our church yard neighbor and they need our help. Did you know that Central Academy serves children from all over the Middletown area? They have students from more affluent neighborhoods and students from poverty stricken areas.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as we would love ourselves. Jesus calls us to reach out and care for the Central Academy children we have as neighbors. There are many ways you can reach out and help our neighbor – Central Academy. Volunteers are in high demand. Below is a list of ways you can plug in and help the students of Central Academy:
Reading to and with students
Practicing sight words through games
Practicing math facts
Helping students write
Making copies in the school office
Cutting and assembling kits for student use can be done at home and returned to school
Helping with Day of Giving at FCC during Dec. 15-19
Beautifying front entrance of Central Academy
If you would like to know more about being a Christ-like neighbor to Central Academy, please contact Pastor Roe. She will get you connected to the school. Pastor Roe, our Elders and Outreach Ministry Team are planning to help with a couple special events. We’ll have more information on these as it becomes available.
Thanksgiving
This is a very busy time for Outreach as we prepare to provide for families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. With your help, we will be providing turkey and trimmings for ten families in November. Thank you to all who have committed to help this month and please watch for more information on what will be happening in December.
Hat and Mitten Tree
Plans are to use the Hat and Mitten Tree again this year and provide much needed items to the children attending Rosa Parks Elementary School and the children at Hope House. Please help us start decorating the tree in the narthex on November 30.
SHALOM
SHALOM is very worthwhile program to house and feed the homeless in our community. We will again be partnering with Christ United Methodist Church for two weeks this winter. Mark your calendars for December 28 through January 3 and February 15 through February 21 and plan on sharing a blessing with someone by giving of your time or helping prepare a meal. Jerry Hall has again graciously volunteered to be our contact person and will be providing additional information.
