Good Friday morning Church Requel family!
Sunday will be one of the CR events I most look forward to every year: the day we decorate our church for Christmas. Our very first service at our current location was on Christmas Eve 2012. Believe it or not this will be our 4th Christmas here. Wow! Time flies when you're having fun.
And fun is what we will have on this particular decorating Sunday. After church yours truly will go buy pizza pies for everyone who sticks around to decorate. Decorating + Pizza. Now a Church Requel tradition!
How is this organized? Not at all! Ha! Seriously. We open up all our decorative ornaments, wreaths and trees. Some folks bring in decorations they would like to add. We all go to work. Somehow it all works out. With many hands the decorating usually gets done in about an hour. By that time the food has arrived and we're all ready to enjoy eating pizza together. This is a great event for the entire family. Kids love to decorate too. I hope many of you will stick around for the festivities.
Two Final Rehearsals - Star Trip. Speaking of our children, this Sunday will be the next-to-last rehearsal for Star Trip - our children's Christmas program scheduled for next Sunday, December 13th. The final rehearsal will be Saturday morning December 12th from 10am - noon. We hope most of our kiddos will be able to make both rehearsals.
We also need to be praying for Tamira, our children's ministry director, and the one with the vision for this event. Tamira is experiencing some serious back pains. She was forced to leave church (and rehearsal) last Sunday morning, because her back was causing her so much discomfort. Let's pray that she (and her doctors) can get this health issue figured out. Not only for our sake, of course. Tamira will be the mother of the bride in four weeks! Lots happening for the Barnes family right now.
Parents, the best way you can assist is to help your children review their parts and - if at all possible - get them to the two final rehearsals and early on the morning of the performance next Sunday, December 13th.
This should be a lot of fun for our entire church family. I've been working on the tech side of things this week (and next) and I'm really impressed with how Tamira has tied in a popular cultural event (Star Wars movie) with THE event of history. Our children will never forget this Christmas at Church Requel. I hope that's true for our big kids (you and me) too! Sunday our kiddos will be passing out invitations for you to pass out to all your friends and family. This should be a great opportunity to invite new folks to Church Requel.
Potluck Next Sunday. Big events are always better when they are accompanied by food, don't you think? Next Sunday, after the big Star Trip Christmas production by our children, we'll all head downstairs to the kitchen for a celebratory potluck meal. The church will provide one main meat dish (a couple boneless hams... thank you Sheri!) along with paper plates, eating utensils, lemonade and coffee. Families should bring two dishes of any kind to share. Single folks bring one dish to share. We always end up with more than enough food.
I'm sitting here thinking about the dessert table. What a great temptation that will be for this pastor, who has just finished preaching a sermon series on God's plan for our fitness and health! Ha!
Women's Christmas Social Gathering. Ladies, you are all invited to Tamira's home this Sunday evening from 6 - 8pm. Yes, this is the same Tamira with back problems, who is organizing our kids' Christmas program. However, in my conversation with her earlier this week, she insisted that she should still be good for this event. She's looking forward to it! She said that it would be easier at her home - she wouldn't have to go anywhere. She added that the ladies should be bringing hors d'oeuvres with them - so not too much work on her part. What a great attitude! How blessed are we? Sounds like a great time for all the ladies in our church. Plan on coming and enjoying an encouraging time together.
Neighborhood Meal Sunday December 19th. We will be serving our neighborhood with a free meal on Saturday evening, December 19th. What a fantastic opportunity to be Jesus' hands and feet on the weekend before Jesus' birthday! Most of you know the drill by now, but for those who haven't done it yet (or in a while):
- show up at 4pm to help us get everything ready. The meal actually begins at 5pm;
- bring desserts to the church with you if you're going to serve, or drop them off anytime after 2pm;
- plan on serving until 6:30pm. We usually are done by then.
- Between now and then, if you would like to donate food, bring in large cans of fruits or vegetables with you to church on Sunday mornings.
Sheri Nichols is our coordinator for the Neighborhood Meal, so talk to her if you have any questions.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 5pm. As I mentioned at the top of this week's newsletter, this Christmas Eve will be our 4th one since coming to Saint Luke's Point Of Grace. Each one has been special. It's a great way to start the actual Christmas celebration - with a birthday party for Jesus at church with your church family.
This year Christmas Eve is on a Friday night. We'll begin the evening with one service only at 5pm. It should last about an hour and will conclude with a candle lighting ceremony, a favorite for kids of all ages.
If you or someone in your family would like to participate with some kind of special song, music or reading, please contact Brandi Walker this week. She is planning out our worship time. If a special someone in your life has been practicing something good for Christmas, please share it with your church family!
This is such a special time of year. So many great events are happening within our church. Let's not ever forget the reason for the season. The Son of God came as a little baby in a manger so that we might have a personal relationship with God the Father. How amazing!
Love you all much! Pastor Mark
