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In the spirit of the season, please join in the Holiday Gift Program...
First Church's holiday gift program is underway and you can pick up gift giving information at both coffee hours on Sunday, November 29. The program benefits children and adults at four different organizations:
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Heading Home - serving homeless adults through housing and support services that lead to self-sufficiency
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Bristol Lodge - serving homeless in various sites
| | Mary's House - serving homeless families with children | | Grow Clinic - serving failure to thrive kids and their families at Boston Medical Center. |
Gift-giving information will also be available on December 6, with the gifts due on Sunday, December 13. Don't miss this chance to involve your kids in giving to other kids!
For more information, contact Joan Stoddard at 617-484-5778 or joanstoddard99@gmail.com, or Sherry Mulloy at symulloy71@aol.com.
We look forward to your participation and seeing those gifts piled high! Happy Holidays!
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The most current information about upcoming events is on our Facebook page - no account needed!
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Sunday Worship - November 29
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Sermon: "Thanksgiving"
Let us celebrate all of the gifts we have been given (life!)
- Rev. David Bryce
Prelude: Adagio in Eb Major, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Berlin, 1755); Dylan Sauerwald, organ
Senior Choir Anthem: Canticle of Thanksgiving (Finnish Folk Melody), arr. Edward Wetherill
Offertory: Priez pour paix, Francis Poulenc (1938)
Livia Racz, soprano
Francis Poulenc found this medieval poem reprinted in Le Figaro of 29 September 1938, and composed this song exactly at the time of the Munich crisis, when the whole world feared imminent war.
Postlude: Allegro in G minor, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach; Dylan Sauerwald, organ
Welcome and Announcements:
9 a.m.: Ana Hammock
11 a.m. Deveaux Duckworth - Services at 9 & 11 a.m.; childcare is provided.
- Sunday, December 6: Rev. David Bryce
- Sermon archive
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From the Senior Minister,
Rev. David Bryce
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Lay Pastoral Care
In a congregation of our size (nearly 400 members) it is impossible for the minister to provide all of the pastoral care needed. There are just too many people and too many needs.
But people come to us for healing-spiritual and emotional healing. That is one of the purposes of religious community.
No doubt some of that happens in our services as people's hearts are touched by what we do and say. And no doubt some of it happens at coffee hour as people reach out to one another and welcome each other into community.
But sometimes that is not enough. Sometimes people need a listening ear that goes beyond what coffee hour can provide.
It is for that reason that the Lay Pastoral Care team exists.
The members of the team fulfill important functions-helping with the candles on Sunday mornings, talking with people at coffee hour, calling people during the week and also keeping in touch with some who cannot get to services here. They do great work.
Right now there are seven members of the team.
And that is not enough.
Sometime during the New Year I will again offer a training program for those interested in joining the Lay Pastoral Care team.
I hope that you will consider being part of that training.
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Words cannot even begin to express how grateful I am to all of the parents, friends, and family members who helped out with the musical this year. The show was a smashing success, and it would not have been possible without the help of the entire community ...
Now that the musical is over, it's time to focus on the next few things that are coming up for the music program ... { click here for more }
I recently attended an excellent workshop titled "Pre-emptive Radical Inclusion." The main assumption that participants worked with during the workshop -- and around which their individual or team next steps centered -- is that everyone is already in the room. What does that mean? ... { click here for more }
Enjoy a date night out or power through your holiday preparations and help our youth go on their biennial Service Learning trip:
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Fabulous! Nearly There!
This generous, music-loving, social action-oriented, and very special church family had purchased 50 Second Friday Coffeehouse Season Tickets as of November 18 - getting very close to our 30th-season-ending supergoal of 65! BRAVISSIMI! Thank you, First Church! And our ten highly worthy beneficiaries and their deserving clients thank you from the bottoms of their hearts, as do your First Church colleagues on the Coffeehouse Committee!
Please join in the final push and purchase of one of the last fifteen tickets we need to sell. We really do try hard to complete our major sales drive in the fall season. We know there are still a number of former and new friends who plan get a ticket. So here is your reminder: NOW is the time to get on board! Send your $99 check made out to First Church in Belmont, memo line marked Coffeehouse, to First Church in Belmont, 404 Concord Ave., P.O. Box 113, Belmont 02478. Or hand your check or cash to Jim Staton, Anne Selman, or Janice Zazinski.
Your becoming part of this exciting and deeply important social action commitment guarantees that the clients of all the causes we support will get the full benefit of your help, making it a real time for Thanksgiving for them all! And again ... MANY, MANY THANKS! You are the greatest!
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Prequel to Major Music with Ian Garvie
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., Parish Hall
- Join First Church Music Director Ian Garvie as he helps us understand and appreciate the complexity of our Christmastime Major Music Service: The Magnificat, Wq 215, by C.P.E. Bach.
- Caring for Older Adults
Thursday, Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m., Conference Room
Social Action - Holiday Fair
- Sunday, Dec. 6, 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., Parish Hall
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Ongoing Programs, Events & Announcements
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Welcoming ushers are needed to welcome our church community to the winter Sunday services and to light the way into the holidays. Find out more during Coffee Hour!
| | In the spirit of the season, please join in the Holiday Gift Program ... find our table and select a recipient at the next Coffee Hour. |
"Start the Day Strong" at the Grow Clinic by picking up some hot and cold cereals or vitamins.
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