It is a beautiful wet January morning on Grand Manan. Today is the day when Carolyn and Company will “un-decorate” the church. They plan to meet at 1:00pm and need as many hands on deck as possible. If you have a free hour or two, your help would be so much appreciated.
As far as details go, contact Carolyn and she can give you any further information. Thanks in advance for your help.
Like most of us, I think, Christmas becomes increasingly more about family as we age. It is a time where every demographic is celebrated around the table. We don’t have a special serving for children, Seniors or youth. There is something sacred about the generations that assemble and irreplaceable memories are made at those times.
I think church is at its best when we are more like family and less like an organization.
Our Christmas Eve Candlelight service will begin at 6:00pm. We are aiming for 45 minutes together to be grateful for heaven’s greatest gift of love, come to earth as a helpless baby … Immanuel, God still with us today. This will be in lieu of our normal Sunday morning gathering.
My heart is full in this season. For some it will mark the first Christmas with out a loved one. For others there may be memories that dampen the spirit rather than enliven it. We understand and honour whatever you bring on Christmas Eve with prayer that God would be most present in our midst and in each of our homes this holiday season.
Hope to see you on Christmas Eve.
Pastor Karl
From week to week, Gayla, Dalton, Margaret, Carolyn and others, minister to our children. From personal experience, I can tell you that there are many weeks when these folks would like to have a chance just to come to a church gathering without responsibility. It doesn’t matter how passionate a person is about anything, there are times when all of us need to disconnect. As you pray for these folks, pray that God would supply a back up for each worker so that we could provide a break for them on a regular basis.
That being said, Gayla is digging deep into her energy and time reserve again this year. She is wanting to put a float in the Christmas parade. She needs help and financial resources. As if she had loads of discretionary time, she is also trying to put a Christmas play/musical together. The theme for the play centres around super heroes and she is looking for costumes that we might borrow for the event. What we cannot find as donations we will have to purchase. If you have any we are asking that you might bring them to church tomorrow (November 27th).
Gayla Dalton, Margaret, Carolyn … on behalf of your church family, I’d like to inadequately express our appreciation for all that you do so unassumingly. Your quiet, consistent dedication is powerful. This kind of effort is what God blesses in ways that we often cannot measure at the time. Thanks so much. (If I have forgotten anyone, I am so sorry.)
Karl
I so appreciate Kirby and those who are so faithful to rally to her when she calls for help geared toward our children. She was unable to do a Young Lifers program this Fall and has decided to have a one-night event. I am posting the following note on her behalf and asking you to share this on your timelines in order to get the word around and to find the help that she is looking for.
Thanks in advance.
Hey everyone! I am getting things organized for our fun night with the kids, which is just around the corner. I am in need of the following items:
- 100 unfrosted cupcakes (any flavour)
- 6-8 cans of white frosting
- 100 mini candy canes
- 100 regular sized candy canes (red and white striped only)
If you can help me out with any of this, let me know
We need everything for Tuesday, December 6th.
Thanks so much!!!
Kirby
Good Thursday afternoon folks. I am in my office this afternoon feeling simultaneously grateful and brain dead. Sometimes sermons are a matter of inspiration and others a matter of perspiration. That’s what is occupying my thoughts today and I am having difficulty generating anything that I personally would rush to church to hear. Fortunately I do not preach alone. I am hoping I feel better when I stand before you on Sunday than I do just now.
There are a few things that I’d like to highlight.
Next week we are decorating the church. This falls most of the time to those who have done it faithfully over the years. They need help. On Monday afternoon, the decorations which are stored in the church basement, need to be brought up to the sanctuary. I’ll begin this task around 1:30pm in case any of you have energy that you’d like to burn off.
The decorating will begin at 10:00am on Tuesday the 29th. This is a big job. One of the most challenging aspects of this is the tree decoration. We can make short work of it with enough hands.
Sonya Tate is doing some “tile painting” on Tuesday evening. She has a limited number of tiles. Please let her know if you are interested in giving this a try. I believe that some of these may find their way into our Christmas baskets … ?
Our Roundtable next Thursday evening (December 1, 7:00pm) will be given to assembling seven Christmas baskets. At the last Roundtable we decided to reach out to specific people in need and identified seven local families or individuals. We would love to have you join us for this task and a great time of fellowship at Roundtable. If you have anything that you would like to donate for these baskets, we would be happy to receive money, crafts, … anything that you would offer as encouragement to these families. Our thoughts were that we would love to fill the baskets with items that were uniquely CLC. In the future we hope to continue this tradition discovering the hidden gifts and talents of our church folk and passing them along at a very special time of year. If you have questions regarding inclusions in these baskets, you can comment on this post or email me at karl.ingersoll@gmail.com.
A reminder that we will be having a Christmas Eve service this year in lieu of a Sunday gathering since Christmas falls on a Sunday.
I have this haunting feeling that I am forgetting something just now but I’ll wrap up anyway. Please pray for our community at this time of 
year. We should be able to experience the “Good news of great joy which shall be to ALL people“. I desperately want this myself in a new and fresh way. One way or the other I will walk through it by faith and gratitude but I know that God would have more of Himself for each of us if we would seek Him first and foremost.
Let’s give it a shot!
Karl
