First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Disciples serving Middletown since 1912.
Tomorrow is the Fifth day of advent. Write a short “I beleive…” Manifesto and share it on facebook.
Here are some examples: “I beleive despair will give way to hope.” “I beleive being a vegetarian reduces suffering.” “I beleive everyone has a story worth telling.” “I beleive He was born.”
Tomorrow is the fourth day of Advent.
Subtract one thing from your day today – and use the extra quiet time to pray for better relationships between people, especially races, in our country, our city, and our neighborhoods.
Tomorrow is the third day of Advent.
Write “You are Beautiful” on a steamy bathroom mirror and watch it reapear for days(God loves writing with invisible ink!)
Look for other ways throughout the day that God is writing you messages.
Tomorow is the second day of Advent.
Deliver Sweets to a neighbor or bake a yummy casserole for a family with a new baby.
Tomorrow is the first day of Advent. Light one candle.
Meditate: Hope looked down and saw despair. “I will go there,” said Hope. Read Isaiah 2: 1-5.
Pray: God, open our eyes to despair all around us and fill us so full of hope that we can each be a light.
We will light the candle of hope during service tomorrow if you’d like fr that candle lighting to be your day’s devotion.
Thank you to the Salt Project for the printable advent calendar resource. Pick up your packet of cards in the narthex or follow the devtions here. A devotion will be posted at noon each day for the devotion of the next day.
Membership is hosting a
Christmas card shower for our special
needs friends. Boxes are in the narthex.
Please place a Christmas card in a box
for each individual.
This holiday season we adopted 10 families, including 19
children, to provide for on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had a
good response from our congregation on helping us. With
monetary donations and a gift card from Meijers, we were able to
purchase 10 turkeys and all of our perishable items. Families
picked up their food boxes on November 20th
.
On December 3rd, we will hand out food requests plus gift
requests for all of the children for Christmas. We will also dust off
our “Hat and Mitten Tree” which John Newby designed for us
many Christmases ago.
On November 8th, Dave and Linda Lombard, Linda Poynter
and Sharon Amburgey attended the city-wide SHALOM meeting. It
was uplifting to see so many churches represented in a unified
effort to help the homeless population in our community. We will
again partner with Christ United Methodist Church during our host
weeks. Our first week begins on Sunday, December 31st. Our
second week begins on January 28th. Representatives from both
churches met on November 13th to finalize our hosting
responsibilities. We will be asking for many volunteers to sign up
in December to help us in this very meaningful program.
In the mist of preparing to provide for our adopted
families, we were again blessed by a huge donation of clothes
from SanMar Corporation. We filled three trucks with wearing
apparel and with the help of Sally Williamson, SHALOM
representative from Christ United Methodist Church, we worked
for two days to sort items that could be used immediately by the
homeless. We will store part of the shipment for a later
distribution.
CWF Executive Board met on Oct. 15th after church and set
some dates for the following activities: Blanket Sunday will be Jan.
28, 2018 and the dedication of Blessing Boxes will be on Mothers’
Day – May 13th. We have set a tentative date for a Craft Show and
Luncheon to be held on March 17th of next year. On December 3rd
,
we will have a meeting of the Executive Board and any others who
may be interested in planning our Spring Craft Show and
Luncheon. We will meet in the Memorial Room after church that
day. On Nov. 25th, CWF will host a funeral meal for the family of
Pauline Ginter. Thanks go out to all who are able to help with the
luncheon or to bring in food items. We also thank Matt Thomas
for his help with the food preparation.
Sarah Circle has decided to move our meeting date to the
first Thursday evening of the month. Our first meeting on this
schedule will be on January 4th at 7:00 pm at the church.
A Christian’s calendar is complex. We have the Gregorian calendar of January through
December with reminders of full moons, the beginning of seasons and civic holidays. For the
(c)hurch, we have the fiscal year that runs July through June and time seasons based on
budgets and nominations. The Christian (C)hurch calendar runs Advent through Christ the
King Sunday which is late November to mid-November noting seasons of Holy days. On the
Christian (C)hurch calendar, the first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of the new year.
Advent is a season of hope – Advent is Latin for waiting. The image of pregnancy is often
thought of during Advent as we are preparing for the birth of a baby. Throughout the season,
the church reads Scripture about the hope of a Messiah and lights candles that express our
waiting for the hope, peace, joy and love that the Messiah will bring to the world. Advent is an
opportunity to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ child born anew each Christmas.
During Advent, it is a good practice to do something daily to prepare our hearts for Christ. A
recent addition to the observance of the season of Advent in the Christian church is the Advent
calendar. The observance of the Advent calendar to number the days in Advent began in the
19th century among the German Lutherans. You may think of calendars with chocolates for
each day when you think of an Advent calendar. You may have read books with ordered
devotions in the past.
I’d like to offer you a calendar to observe this year. The SALT project offered a set of Advent
calendar devotions last year that I think were helpful in observing the Advent calendar in a new
and different way. Several of us prepared packets of the SALT project Advent calendar for you
to pick up on this Sunday. You will find envelopes with the cards on the table in the Narthex.
(The SALT project is a donor-supported, not-for-profit production company. The suggested
donation for the calendar project is $25 / church. If you’d like to contribute to that donation,
please leave a dollar in the basket next to the calendars.)
The SALT project Advent calendar of notecards gives you a daily idea for doing something to
devote yourself to Christ and prepare for His coming. This calendar is designed for youth and
young adults and is easily adapted for people of all ages. This calendar can be followed as a
family, a couple or individuals. Mo Mo and I will be observing the calendar with you.
Some of the daily suggestions may be easier to fulfill than others. For instance, day 13
suggests you invite friends over for a vegetarian feast – that may not make sense for you.
Still, think of something else to do that day like no meat for dinner or taking a friend to lunch.
You may not do the days in order, either. Perhaps your schedule allows you to do day 5
(writing a faith statement) on day 7 and day 7 (leaving quarters in gumball machines) on
day 5. You can do what you need to do to make it easier to follow and still practice daily
devotion during the Advent season.
You may start your Advent calendar on the 1st Sunday and 1st day of Advent which is
Sunday, November 26th. For the candle lightings suggested on Sundays in the calendar,
you may consider lighting a candle at home or allow our candle lighting on Sunday morning
during worship to fulfill that practice as we will be lighting a candle each Sunday on our
Advent wreath.
If you follow the church’s Facebook page, there will be a daily post for the following day’s
devotion. For example, on Monday afternoon you will see a reminder for the devotion for
Tuesday. Feel free to post your progress in the comments on those posts to let us know
how you’re doing, what worked for you, or a faith statement you wrote on those days.
If you have any questions, want to share your progress, have any ideas, let me know. I’d
love to hear how this practice is working for you.
