Christmas Celebrations
Our annual Charge Conference is scheduled for this Sunday, Dec. 5, 5:00 pm. We will meet in person this year. If you’d like to attend, but can’t make it to the building, reach out to me and I’ll send you a Zoom link. We’ll cover our usual items of business: approval of our slate of elected leaders for 2022, pastors’ salaries, continuance of our ministry candidate and lay servant. In addition, this year we have a few other agenda items. We’ll be considering the 2022 budget, a housing allowance resolution, and submission of our ballot in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy settlement. Our district superintendent, Rev. Connie Gibson, will preside and help us discuss and vote on the items before us. All are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion. Voting members of the Charge Conference are the members of our Administrative Council.
I’m excited for the special Advent and Christmas celebrations coming our way this year, Faith. We’ll be airing a special handbell concert on our livestream, Sunday, Dec. 12 at 7:00 pm. You can tune in on any of our three channels: website, Facebook Live, and YouTube. I’ve had a sneak peek at some of the pieces they’ve prepared for us and you will be amazed. I hope you’ll join us online next Sunday evening.
The following Sunday, Dec. 19, we’ll host a Blue Christmas service at 4:00 pm in the Chapel. If the Christmas season brings sadness to the fore in your life, this service is for you. It is not a sad service, let me be clear. It is a healing service. You can bring your longings, sometimes expressed as feelings of loss, to worship. Together, we’ll seek the hope brought by the Christ-child. If this has been a hard year for you or your family, or if you’d like a respite from all the busyness brought by the season, I know you’ll find this service to be a blessing.
As is our tradition, the Staff Parish Relations Committee places an ask before you, Faith, for the staff love offering. Through your generous gifts, we bless our staff each year right before Christmas. If you’d like to show your appreciation for our staff, we invite you to designate a gift to, “Staff Love Offering.” You may give by check (please designate on the memo line), cash (please place in an envelope with the designation on it), or online via credit card. We will need to receive your gift by 10:00 am, Dec. 20, in order to share it with the staff before Christmas.
Don’t forget to bring your gifts for the kids in Osage County to church on Sunday! The truck will be here from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. Our kids and youth will finish shopping for the gifts made possible by financial gifts to this effort at Sunday afternoon’s shop-a-thon.
There are many special celebrations waiting for us between now and Christmas. I hope you’ll find Advent blessing as we travel this road together.
See you Sunday,
