Pastor's December Newsletter Article

Here is my December Newsletter Article.  The one big event that I failed to mention was the resurrection of our Choir.  Starting this weekend we will have one hymn each week sung by our newly reorganized choir.  Laura Kuhlers and Kathryn Myers are responsible for taking the bull by the horns and making this happen. It's been a goal that the Christian Council has been talking about for many months and now it's happening!  Praise God!

Thank you, Laura and Kathryn.

And with that here's my article....

In Christ,
Roy

December Newsletter Article:
Pastor's Ponderings

Our December Newsletter is coming out a bit early, with the way that the holidays and Sundays are falling this year, we simply either have to get it out early or late this month. So, we've opted to go with early.

Mark your calendars because Advent starts on December 3rd. Advent gets off to a bit of a late start this year due to Christmas falling on a Monday, and so this year our final Sunday of Advent is on Christmas Eve. Advent is such a wonderful time of year and a time when we really need to pull ourselves together and think about just why we do what we do here. It's a time to re-invite friends and family to come with us to Church events and Church services, and it's a time to focus on the 'Reason for the Season'... JESUS!

Last Sunday, we had 18 children in Sunday School. Just think how wonderful it would be if all of those children's families chose to come be with us in worship after Sunday School, and to be involved and active in the other Church functions and events as well. Please extend invitations to these families, you all know them better than I and it always means more coming from friends and family. Let's work together to keep the attendance at Sunday School growing and to keep growing the numbers for worship.

I've been very pleased that worship service attendance has slowly been moving up and if we all work together we can continue this great trend into 2018! Don't wait until January, invite a friend or family member to Church sometime this month, however, don't just invite them to the Christmas Eve Program (though by all means, PLEASE DO INVITE them to that too) but, try your best to get them to come to an actual worship service.

If you haven't heard yet, the “God's Portion Sale” was a raging success!!! We raised over $ 12,000 for the Church's operating expenses and ministries. It was a great turn out and we extend a tremendous “THANK YOU” to all those who so generously contributed to the auction either by purchasing items, donating items, working at the sale, or by doing all of the above! Leon Hendricks, Bill Hungate, Clyde Westcott, Jess Gorden, and I were the committee that worked on getting the corporate and business sponsors donations. There's a list of these donors included in the newsletter and please make sure you thank any and all of these generous individuals and businesses.

The “Thanksgiving Dinner” this past Sunday was wonderful and a big thank you to Brenda and Barb and their entire “crew” for all of their hard work in cooking and serving the delicious meal! Thank you all! After the meal, a group of us went up and decorated the Sanctuary in our annual “Hanging of the Greens”. It's all Christmas in there now! Thank you to all those that helped with the decorating, it's always a great time.

Bill Hungate and Clyde Westcott are getting closer and closer to having the Chapel all set up and ready to be used again. Bill especially has spent many hours up here cutting, sanding, puttying, and staining the old pews. They're going to look great! Clyde has the speaker box mounted in the wall and should have the trim completed about the time you all get this newsletter. Let both of them know how much you appreciate their hard work on this project! Thanks, guys! Also, thank you to Stephanie and William (Laura & Jared Kuhlers two oldest) for helping Bill out with the pews.

We've been working through a short sermon series on some of our favorite Hymns. I'll be stopping this series for Advent but if you'd like for me to return to this concept in the future, please let me know. It's been interesting learning about some of the hymns and it does bring a new level of appreciation and awareness to these lovely songs.

Our Sunday Night Bible Group will start a study over the birth stories in Luke and Matthew, this study begins on December 3rd.  The Sunday Night Group meets each Sunday evening at 6 pm. There is a communal meal, a time of prayer, some singing, and then a study of some form or another. If you'd like to learn more about the comparison of the two birth stories, plan to start attending the gathering.  Thank you and I look forward to seeing you all then!

I hope this Newsletter finds everyone having had a wonderful and enjoyable (and safe) Thanksgiving. May you all be blessed!

Be a blessing to someone today!

Pastor Roy

As I've mentioned before many of the photos I use were taken by Christian Begeman.  Check him out at:
Christian Begeman "Prairie Sanctuaries" Facebook Page