What’s New At Incarnation?

Friends of Church of the Incarnation, This is the week for the music of Christmas.   The women of New Beginnings will present one more concert tonight, Dec. 18, at 8 p.m. with Songs of the Season to definitely brighten your life.  Thanks to all Incarnation women who bring us this gift of joy.

 

The Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 20, at 10:15 a.m. we “Celebrate the Season!” with a Cantata by Joel Rainey directed by James Brownold, Music Director and presented by our Chancel Choir.  The music of Amy Leach and the Incarnation Sound, led by Frank Lee, with Joel and Jody Hartland, Eloise Brittain and Wade Lee will lift our spirits as we prepare for Christmas. There are solos by Mary Tris and Dottie Bissell, and our young liturgical dancers will give glory to God.

 

Bring a friend, and bring a sweater.  The missions committee is collecting sweaters up until Christmas Eve to send with Pam Rasmussen to the children and youth of the Gaza Strip in Palestine.  Immediately following the refreshment time on Sunday, Penny Bailey will lead an educational with a 15 minute DVD on Israel and Bethlehem.   Come and learn what is happening in modern day Bethlehem and how we can help.

 

Note, there is no Sunday School this week for children or adults. Nursery care is available, and young children will have activities during worship.  I thank the youth and children for an amazing worship experience last Sunday!  We have so much talent!

Finally, we are sending a note from our Lay Leader, Nancy Bavisotto, in response to the visit of Bishop Hee Soo Jung to Incarnation last week.

 

The Longest Night Service, Monday, December 21 (Winter Solstice) will be at 7 p.m. (not 7:30).

 

If you need the list to send cards to the homebound of our congregation, let me know. Keep these words close to your heart this time of expecting a new birth of God in your life and our world: “Every time a hand reaches out to help another…  that is Christmas. Every time someone puts anger aside and strives for understanding… that is Christmas. Every time people forget their differences and realize their love for each other… that is Christmas.”

Peace,   Pastor B.J.

 

From Nancy Bavisotto:

Hi fellow Eskimos,

 Thank-you!  Thank-you!  Thank-you!  Thanks for braving the cold and coming to our Cluster Meeting with Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Elgin District Superintendent Rev. Oscar Carrasco and Conference Foundation President Harry Nichols.  Wasn’t it a wonderful hour?  Our Bishop highlighted three missions of the Methodist Church. One, we are among half of the conference churches who are engaged in missions in other states and countries.  Some churches have members who are personally present in other countries.  Two, we are rebuilding our churches so we can better reach out to others.  One example is making them accessible.  We are part-way there, but need to work on sheltered access.  Three, new churches are being started and meet in places such as Starbucks, McDonalds, and Community Centers.  We are rethinking how to best use our facility.

The second part of our gathering centered on our joys and celebration.  There was not enough time to share all of them.  Those included were the monies received from the Creative Hands Boutique, Soup Kitchen, and Christmas Tree Sales which help support  Habitat for Humanities, PADS and other charities.  We collected Child Serve gifts.  Ann  thanked Bishop Hee-Soo for the inspiration which he gave us.  Frank told how he has been inspired at the Annual Conference.  There he has seen how the Methodist Church has  a presence in the world.  We belong to a strong ecumenical youth program.  We also have an ecumenical Bible Camp.  Bishop Hee-Soo affirmed the ecumenical effort.  He suggested that we might consider sponsoring one or two youth to go overseas to help them become global leaders.  He was very impressed with our artistic, creative sanctuary which are gifts of Art and Marian with the help of others.  Our strong, inspiring music program was also highlighted. 

 We were asked what we would like Bishop Hee-Soo to include as he prays for us. Our prayer requests included growth with young families and youth, growth in spirituality and growth as we determine what to hold on to and what to let go of.  Pastor B.J. was affirmed and the Bishop expressed his desire for a ten year partnership with her.  We have so much to be grateful for as we look forward with great desire and anticipation for the future of our beloved church.

A special thanks to Jill Wingett for preparing the hospitality table.  The cookies were not only beautiful, but delicious!

Thanks to all of you who were able to participate!  It was a warm gathering on a cold day!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 14:42 and is filed under Pastor's Word. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.