Things I Learned from My Dad
I had a “Leave It to Beaver” childhood. We had a nuclear family in the best sense of that word. It was a wonderful, stable, happy family setting. It wasn’t perfect, but it was very, very good. I will always be grateful to God for my parents.
My Dad didn’t talk all that much while I was growing up. If you wanted to talk out a problem, you went to Mom. Dad was an engineer. He’d tell you a joke and buy you an ice cream cone, and he’d carry you to bed when you fell asleep in the back of the car. But you had your long conversations with Mom.
That changed after Mom went to Heaven. We had a lot more in-depth conversations with Dad in the ten years after Mom died. It was good. Up until that time, Dad would talk to you, and you could talk to him, but the conversations tended to be of the “here’s the problem, here’s the solution” variety. Beyond that, he didn’t say a lot.
But Dad modeled some wonderful things for us. Here are a few things I learned from my Dad:
Weekly Update for Sunday, December 30, 2018
New Year’s/praising Jesus celebration: Monday, Dec. 31, 8:00 pm to 12:00 am. Friends, family, kids are welcome. Bring finger foods and a two liter bottle of pop. Tea, coffee, and lemonade will be provided. There will be games and activities for all ages. Please sign up at the Welcome Center.
There will be a Special Business Meeting held on Jan. 13 in the sanctuary immediately after the morning service. The sole purpose of this meeting is to decide what to do with money collected for the roof debt which exceeded the amount we owed.
If you would like a record of your 2018 giving, please sign up on the east bulletin board.
One year Bible reading plans are available at the Welcome Center.
Weekly Update for Sunday, December 23, 2018
Merry Christmas!
We will not have an evening service next Sunday, Dec. 30.
New Year’s/praising Jesus celebration: Monday, Dec. 31, 8:00 pm to 12:00 am. Friends, family, kids are welcome. Bring finger foods and a two liter bottle of pop. Tea, coffee, and lemonade will be provided. There will be games and activities for all ages.
Weekly Update for Sunday, December 16, 2018
Trustee meeting: this Sunday, following the morning service.
If you participated in small groups last year or want to be a part of one this year, the CE board has a survey you can complete and place in the container on the Welcome Center. Thank you for your time and input.
Special Christmas Offering: Dec. 23, for our roof debt, over and above our regular offering. The special envelopes are available at the pews; please be sure to include your name and/or number if you want it recorded in your giving records.
New Year’s celebration: Monday, December 31 starting at 8 PM through January 1 at 12:15 AM. Friends, family, kids are welcome. Bring finger foods and a two liter bottle of pop. Tea, coffee, and lemonade will be provided. There will be games and activities for all ages.
Weekly Update for Sunday, December 8, 2018
Deacons meeting: Dec. 11, 6:30 PM.
Journey to Bethlehem: Dec. 14. We’ll take the van (cars if needed) at 4:30 PM for New Hope Christian Church in Washington. Wear warm clothes and eat a snack before, as we’ll eat there afterward. We should be back around 10:00 PM.
Trustee meeting: Dec. 16, following the morning service.
Nursery sign-up sheet: (Welcome Center) If your name was on the schedule last year, it is there for this year.
If you participated in small groups last year or want to be a part of one this year, the CE board has a survey you can complete and place in the container on the Welcome Center. Thank you for your time and input.
The Blessing of Christmas
As I write this, Christmas 2018 is hurtling at us at high speed. But aside from all the scheduling conflicts and budgetary juggling, I still anticipate it keenly. The little boy in me still delights in the lights and the presents. The grown-up part of me looks forward to family gathered and young ones all excitedabout the festivities.
Someone wrote an article once in which they stated, “Christmas time is to churches what Black Friday is to retail stores.” Honestly, that is true more often than not. That’s why a few years ago our leadership decided to purposely steer our church away from show business-like extravaganzas and toward simpler, more scaled-back ways of celebrating Christmas. If we have to act in an un-Christ-like manner in order to prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth, I’m not sure that really honors Jesus. So we’ve tried in recent years to celebrate Christmas as a church in ways that don’t add more hurry and stress to people’s lives.
But I do love Christmas. And I love Christmas at our church.
Read More »Weekly Update for Sunday, December 2, 2018
Annual Business meeting: this Sunday after the morning service. We will have dinner first, the meeting will follow. There will be no evening service.
Journey to Bethlehem: Dec. 14. The ROC club invites you to join them. We’ll take the van (cars if needed) at 4:30 PM for New Hope Christian Church in Washington. Wear warm clothes and eat a snack before, as we’ll eat there afterward. We should be back around 10:00 PM.
There is a nursery sign-up sheet on the Welcome Center. Kim Collins has coordinated schedules with Tree House, Greeters and Nursery so there should be no double duty on the same day. If your name was on the schedule last year, it is there for this year. If you want to be taken off, let her know or cross off your name. We still need 4 spots filled.
Weekly Update for Sunday, November 25, 2018
Tis the Season for a church dinner! We’re having a dinner after the morning service on Dec. 2. Vegetable beef soup will be served, and anyone who would like to is welcome to bring a side dish or dessert. Following the meal we’ll have our annual business meeting.
There will be no evening service on Sunday, Dec. 2.
Special Christmas Offering: Sunday, Dec. 23, for our roof debt, over and above our regular offering. Plus: we have two $10,000.00 matching gifts!