Blessings and warm wishes for your health and wholeness this holiday and always
—Revs. Rodger and Laurie
December 4 Worship: The second Sunday in the season of Advent, including the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
FOR YOU DURING ADVENT
The season of Advent, when we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus, runs from November 27 to December 24 this year. We have a variety of Advent daily devotional booklets displayed on the table in the hallway, and invite you to take your pick! There are also online daily devotionals, at pts.edu/devotional and pcusa.info/celticadvent.
2022 Christmas Joy Offering
It has been the Presbyterian tradition to give a special offering during the Advent season for over 70 years. This offering is one of the four special offerings designated by the General Assembly of the PC (USA) to provide congregations direct ways of supporting specific causes that help those in need. Those who are helped by the offering:
1) Retired pastors and church workers and surviving spouses through the Board of Pensions receive 50% of this offering. The Board recognizes that some church workers don’t make enough to save adequately for retirement. By offering them income supplements, they can live modestly and independently.
2) The PC (USA) has long promoted education through establishing and supporting racial/ethnic colleges and schools. They receive the other 50% of this offering. The Christmas Joy Offering provides much needed scholarships to racial/ethnic colleges including schools like Cook College and Theological School in Tempe, AZ and Knoxville College in Knoxville, TN.
You can give by using the envelopes provided in the Sunday bulletins December 11 and 18, or the envelopes on the big table in the hallway, or by marking any envelope “Christmas Joy Offering.” Please make out your check to Paris Presbyterian Church, and write “Joy Offering” on the memo line.
The Christian calendar
December brings two of the most well-known and treasured seasons of the Christian worship year:
ADVENT begins on November 27 and runs until December 24. In this season before Christmas, we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ anew into our lives.
Favorite Scripture texts include Isaiah 7:14: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, God is with us;” and John the Baptist’s words in Luke 3: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”
We remind ourselves that “getting ready for Christmas” doesn’t mean only shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking and sending cards; but also examining our hearts and lives to make sure we are prepared to greet the Lord when he arrives. In worship the main feature of this season is the lighting of an Advent Wreath.
CHRISTMAS is also a season, not just a day, in the worship calendar, running from December 25 until January 6.
Now we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child and the beginning of God’s saving activity in Jesus of Nazareth.
The Bible stories we concentrate on are Luke 2:1-20, Matthew 2:1-12, and John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” Or as one of the favorite carols puts it, “Christ was born to save!”
Once again we will have our church doors and a Christmas message of hope at the: Holiday in the park (Twin Lakes Park) yearly light festival. Don’t miss out on warming your heart for the holidays. Each year more and more lights are added.
December 24 at 11 P.M.
Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols service is so meaningful. It features wonderful special music and the telling of the Christmas Story through a series of lessons read from the Bible, as well as a candle lighting ceremony sung to “Silent Night.” What a way to bring in Christmas day as we finish at midnight If you are willing to take a reading, please tell
Rev. Rodger. All ages are welcome to read.
GREETINGS
Please remember, as you send your Christmas cards this year, members and friends of the Paris Presbyterian Church who are at least temporarily unable to join us for worship:.
Bob and Alice Sprague
Horizon Health, Room 124
721 E. Court St. Paris
John O’Bannon
Marshall Rehab & Nursing Center
410 N. 2nd St., Marshall, IL 62441
Camille Foley
403 Grandview, Paris
Mary (“Mike”) Craun
109 Janice Ave., Paris
CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS – 2022:
Deacons Fundraiser
Deadline: December 11
______I/We will give $ ________ to the
Deacon’s Fund with the understanding
that the poinsettia will be delivered to a
special person.
______I/We will give $ ________ to the Deacon’s Fund and would like to take a poinsettia to a special person following the Christmas service.
The poinsettias cost $15.00 each; any gift above that goes to the work of the Deacons.
If your gift is a memorial or in honor of a loved one, please list the person(s) below for inclusion in the Christmas bulletin.
Memorial/In Honor:
______________________________________
______________________________________
Signed: ______________________________________
DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS:
1 Charles Ruff
2 Ryan Clawson
3 Jane Asher
4 Debbie Benefiel
5 Serena (Hoff) Rush
Jillian Hebermehl
14 Caitlin Blair
Zane Blair
17 Isaac McVicker
18 Christie Russell
21 Morgan Jipp
22 Jane Blair
Brad Boland
Kathryn Franklin
24 Ken Gough
25 JESUS
26 Carol Collier
27 Kathy Smilie
Fred Kreckman
29 Michael Hebermehl
DECEMBER ANNIVERSARIES:
24 Alvin & Juanita Kimball
27 Robert & Jani Howrey
SANCTUARY CHOIR NEWS
That busiest—and most joyful—of all months has arrived! Music fills the air, it seems, no matter our location – and that can be very good for our often-tired spirits.
The 44th annual Advent service will be Dec. 4 at 3 P.M. in our sanctuary. The numbers are small this year, but the sound is still large in the message and volume.
Our own choir numbers have been small as well – we have really been affected by illness this year in addition to travel absences. However—there will still be much joyful music coming from the loft, and we encourage you to be present at every service to absorb the beauty and meaning of the season.
Merry Christmas to each of our choir members – and Merry Christmas to all of you from the choir!
–Susan
NEWS FROM SESSION
Business at the last meeting of the church Session included:
- Finalizing the schedule for putting up the Christmas decorations
- Discussion of how to allocate a generous donation we received back from ECHO. When the shelter closed, the board decided to return any remaining funds to the organizations who had supported them over the years
- Initial discussion of where and when to have our Annual Congregational Meeting (to be finalized at January Session meeting)
- A report from Rodger on the presbytery’s “Big Conversations” (see November newsletter)
- Setting the next meeting for January 10, 5:00- 6:00
CHUANDAO
The latest letter from Jonathan and Emily Seitz, one of the mission families we support, is on the bulletin board in the Assembly Room. It discusses the Taiwanese word “chuandao,” often translated as “evangelist,” as its literal meaning is “share the way.”
There is also a Christmas card and new photo from them.
75 Things that Our Per Capita and
Mission Giving Supports:
The Lead Presbyter of our presbytery, Elder Dr. Rebecca Blair, is putting together a list of 75 things that get accomplished through the per capita and mission dollars we send to presbytery. The first 25 were in the email newsletter from the presbytery sent November 30; the other 50 will be in future issues. I realize you may not be fascinated by the details of all 75, but you may want to skim the list to get some idea of what our donations facilitate.
- Bridging the resources of the national church to the local congregation through the Presbytery leadership
- Resourcing congregations to collect information about congregational mission and ministry projects and events of regional interest for sharing with our congregations through the website, newsletter, and presbytery papers
- Providing for electronic participation, hardware, and tech expertise for virtual and hybrid gatherings to broaden access to participation in the life of the Presbytery
- Providing for a point person to serve as an advocate for emergency funds from the Board of Pensions and other agencies of the national church
- Publishing resources for proposed amendments to the Book of Order as we live out our call, “Once Reformed, Always Reformed, according to the Word of God”
- Providing emergency preaching and on-site response in the case of a traumatic emergency for a church
- Providing for the editing, printing, and distribution of our latest Book of Order and Book of Confessions, so our processes for inclusion are transparent and accessible to all to be able to participate in the life of the Church
- Sharing a weekly newsletter for regular communication with the Presbytery so opportunities are not missed
- Providing coaching or trouble shooting support for issues that arise under the “didn’t learn this in seminary” category
- Providing for a legal advocate in court in the event that the Presbytery would need to assist in representing any of our congregations
- Supporting the continuing development of the programming from the Church Leadership Connection system which connects pastors with congregations and congregations with pastors
- Providing for the creation and administration of Ordination Exams for preserving our tradition of raising qualified professional clergy
- Supporting travel for listening teams and Administrative Commissions to partner to assist congregations in crisis and major transition
- Funding contracts with licensed professionals and therapists to assess new leaders for strengths and vulnerabilities as a way to secure a healthy generation of new leaders in the church
- Providing Internet access to do our work in a highspeed, 21st century ministry landscape
- Funding postage for communication so we have the ability to communicate with the whole presbytery community, regardless of access to internet bandwidth
- Supporting modest honorariums for educational event speakers to inspire, educate, and encourage the work of our local ministries
- Supporting electronic subscriptions for programs like Zoom, Doodle, MailChimp, and others to allow instantaneous coordination across a geographically large Presbytery
- Supporting those gathering our annual denominational statistics so we can track demographic changes in the church landscape and make sure our resources are aligned accordingly
- Providing matching contributions to support the training of new commissioned pastors
- Sustaining the operations of the Presbyterian Historical Society, which collects historical records of congregations and the story of how the church has remained faithful through the centuries for current and future generations.
- Supporting fair compensation for a capable and responsive Presbytery staff to provide assistance in the role of coach, brainstorming partner, troubleshooter, or collaboration partner to folks across the Presbytery
- Providing emergency relief for congregations suffering disasters such as fires and floods
- Committed staff resourcing of our Commission on Ministry and other required bodies of the Presbytery for the direct interfacing with our congregations needs
- Providing financial support for Association of Mid Council Leaders and Association of Stated Clerks so our presbytery leadership have access to the national network of crowdsourcing, best practices, and effective policies