Friends in Faith—
We will be celebrating the fourth Sunday of Advent this coming Sunday, December 18. The fourth candle of the Advent wreath represents love. Our scripture passage will be from Luke 1:39-56, when Mary and Elizabeth visit and John leaps in Elizabeth's womb when hearing the good news about Jesus. Mary then sings "The Magnificat"—her hope for a just world.
As our Advent journey of anticipation continues, we'll worship and pray together, and Marilee Keane, Trisha Uhrhammer, Peter Baird, and Rowena Frick will be sharing with us some beautiful Christmas music.
Don't forget to bring your creche scene this Sunday, too! If you have one that you'd like displayed in our sanctuary, please bring it by 10 a.m. so we can get it all set up for worship. You can then take it home with you after worship or when the Christmas season ends.
Dear Friends,
For many years “The Gathering” at Bethany has offered a “Write Christmas” workshop in December. We have shared our memories and thoughts of Christmas with each other in person. For the past two years we have met on Zoom to share.
This December we are inviting each of you to write about Christmas with a memory, a prayer, a poem, or any form you choose. Write something new or share something written in the past. Send this writing to Cathy Sapunor and we will publish the writings that you send on the Bethany Presbyterian Church website.
We wish each of you a very blessed Christmas holiday. As we keep our “Write Christmas” tradition alive this December by offering this opportunity to share your memories on the website, we look forward to hearing from each of you.
With love and blessing,
Rev. Judy Davis
"40 Days of Prayer" continues! This is part of our participation in Project Regeneration—a Presbyterian Foundation project. 40 Days of Prayer promises to be a powerful faith experience. Click here for details.
NOTES & HAPPENINGS:
On December 24, Christmas Eve, our worship service will begin at 5 p.m. Immediately following our service, we'll have a gathering in our fellowship hall to sing carols together!
On January 8, we'll be having our workshop and congregational meeting with the Presbyterian Foundation immediately following worship. This event will be four hours long, so we hope you can clear the day! A delicious lunch will be provided!
As winter begins, many of us are hearing about more and more folks getting sick: COVID, the flu, RSV, etc. In fact, we currently have two members who have COVID, and Office Manager Maria Mar is home sick. It would be advisable to begin wearing a mask again when inside of our building. It's not mandatory, but it should reduce the risk of catching and spreading COVID and other bugs. Also, you are encouraged to stay at home if you are feeling ill or running a fever.
Our custodians, Robert and Lety Lopez, are traveling to Mexico; they haven't been home in nearly 5 years. They'll be away for two weeks; you may see their substitutes cleaning around the building: Manuela and Francisco. We wish Lety and Robert a wonderful reunion with their family and friends.
As a church family, we are a community that is committed to caring for one another. One of the ways that we can support one another, loved ones and strangers, near and far, is to offer our prayers on their behalf. We share our prayers because we care for one another, and we know that God listens and cares for all of God's children. If you have a joy or concern to share, please let Maria or Jesse know; and if it is a confidential matter, please be sure to let them know.
Our prayers are with you—God's peace to all.
—Jesse
