DATES TO REMEMBER

Nov 18:  Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Collection

Nov 20:  Thanksgiving Service

Dec 8:  Women's Christmas Brunch

AT APOSTLES

Worship Service at the

Vale Rd. Meeting Place

Sundays at 3:30pm

Vale Rd. Meeting Place

10922 Vale Rd.

Oakton, VA 22124

Office Location

10195 Main St., Suite T

Fairfax, VA  22031

at the corner of Main & Locust  Streets

Office Hours

Monday-Friday

9:00am-4:30pm

OFFICE CLOSED: 

Thurs, Nov 22 and

Friday, Nov 23 for Thanksgiving 

Contact Us

Phone:  703.591.1974

FAX:  703.591.1983

Info@ChurchoftheApostles.org 

www.ChurchoftheApostles.org 

  Find us on Facebook

Last Week's Bulletin

SERMONS

Follow the links to recent sermons and the companion study guides, when available.

If not listed, the most recent sermon will be available soon.

Tuesday, Nov 20, 7:30pm

Our generous congregation has scooped up the shoeboxes and is busy filling them in order to  provide a gift of love through Operation Christmas Child. If you haven't picked up your shoebox yet, you can use one of your own, and pack it with appropriate toys, candy and other useful items for a child in need.  All the details about packing a shoebox can be found at the Samaritan's Purse website. You can also print the labels that go on the shoebox from this website. It is important to remember that you need to enclose a check for $7.00 made out to Samaritan's Purse. This check helps to defray the cost of shipping.

You may bring your filled boxes to church this Sunday, Nov 18. The boxes will be prayed over during the worship service that afternoon, then our Children's Ministry Director will take them to the local collection center at Fairfax Circle Baptist Church on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. (If you would like to drop your box off earlier at the collection site, their address is 3110 Chichester Lane, Fairfax, VA 22031.) If you have any questions about the Operation Christmas Child project, please email Kristin Colligan.

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Knowing the importance of prayer for those in our church, our Rector plans to use the new church directory as his prayer list, to be praying for each of us and our families. We will also be having a "COAA Cycle of Prayer" --  during the Sunday worship service, we will pray for three families by name each week. The names will be listed under the "Our Prayers for" section of the bulletin.

When completing the informational form for the directory, please be sure to list all family members that you would like included in these prayers, even if they are not in the directory photo. This would include children that are away at college, a spouse that might not attend church regularly, or others in your household that might not be in the directory photo. If you need to make any changes to forms you have already completed, please contact the Church Office.

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Women's Christmas

Saturday, Dec 8

9:30am-12:00pn

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Devotionals available beginning Nov 25

Advent is a time of preparation in anticipation of Christmas, the celebration of our Lord's birth. This time of preparation can take many forms and has many different customs and traditions in different households. To get more information on the season of Advent, you may go to the website of the Christian Resource Institute. Advent begins the fourth Sunday prior to Christmas Day, this year falling on Dec 2.

Many individuals and families use the season of   Advent to begin or  re-commit to a daily devotion time. COAA will be offering an individual devotional for Advent penned by Henri J.M. Nouwen, called Jesus: Beloved Son. The daily readings are gleaned from many of Nouwen's books. You can learn more about Nouwen at www.henrinouwen.org. These devotionals will be available at the Sunday service on November 25 and December 2. The devotionals will also be available in the Church Office beginning November 26. We hope many in our congregation will make use of this devotional as we prepare ourselves for the celebration of our Lord's birth.

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Christmas Services 

Christmas Eve Services: 4:30 and 9:00pm

We have several opportunities here at COAA to celebrate  the Christmas season. We hope you can be with us for these services and take the opportunity to invite family, friends and neighbors to come with you to celebrate the coming of our Savior. All of these services will be held at the Vale Road Meeting Place.

Service of Light:  Tuesday, Dec 18, 7:30pm.

We will celebrate the Christmas season with a candlelight service that will include music, dance and scripture. Bring your neighbors and celebrate the coming of the light!

Christmas Eve: Monday, Dec 24

Family Service at 4:30pm - A child-friendly (and adult-friendly!) service celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Evening Service at 9:00pm - A traditional Christmas Eve worship service filled with the wonder and awe of Christmas.

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 Facing Life's Losses

  Thursday evenings, Nov 29,

  Dec 6 and Dec 13

Holidays can be painful for those who are facing the many facets of loss -- from the loss of a home, job, friendship, marriage, or loved one. Join us for this interactive workshop on grief where we will explore what we grieve, what we experience in grief and how, when ready, to let it go. The class will be taught from a Christian perspective but is open to people of all faiths. Facing Life's Losses will be held on three consecutive Thursday evenings, Nov 29, Dec 6 and Dec 13, from 7:00-9:00pm at the City of Fairfax Regional Library, Room A. The Library is located at 10360 North Street, Fairfax. There is free parking available in an underground garage, accessible from University Drive. This class is offered through COAA's Healing Center and you may sign up for the class from the Healing Center's website.

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Young Adult Community

 Thursdays, 5:30-8:00pm

All young adults* of the church, and your friends, are invited to a weekly community group that meets on Thursday evenings. We're just starting this gathering and we'd love your input to what it should look like. We meet at Andrew and Sharon Blounts home (13620 White Stone Court, Clifton) and share dinner together. Evenings may include Bible study, prayer, time to get to know each other better, support and encourage each other -- and maybe a game or two of ping-pong! We're also thinking of activities and events we can do at other times. For more information, you may text John Kirby at 703-599-5243.

*So, just who are "young adults"? We're targeting this group to adults 18-35 years of age, both single and married.

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College Care Packages

The Young Adult Ministry plans to send care packages to our students away at college, just in time for exams. This is a great way to show them God's love and let them know we look forward to seeing them over their Christmas break. We'd love to have donations of cookies and muffins to include in these packages. If you'd like to share some of your delicious baked goods with our college students, please bring them to church on Sunday, Nov 25, and place them in the labeled bin in the lobby. We'll be mailing out the care packages the next day. Please put the baked goods in sandwich or snack size baggies, with 2-6 items per baggie. Thanks so much for helping us minister to our college students (and their friends with whom they share these goodies!)

College Addresses:  We'd like to update our list of college addresses. If you have a student away at college, please send us their address so we can send them a care package. Addresses may be sent to JKirby@ChurchoftheApostles.org.

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Altared will not meet this Sunday, Nov 18 (retreat weekend) or Nov 25 (Thanksgiving weekend). 

Bible Study:  Bible Study will not meet on Wednesday, Nov 21, due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Fall Retreat: Nov 16-18. Please keep our students and leaders in prayer as they are away on retreat this weekend. We pray for God to continue His good work in each of them, and for all to be open to His mighty love. 

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 by Beth Acanfora

Driving

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?" Luke 15:3

It is really rather amusing to me that the folks at Apostles and Christ Church, Gilbertsville over the past few weeks have been interested in hearing about our transition to Virginia and our new home in Fairfax. I guess it makes sense, because you could hardly imagine two more opposite places to live in this great land of ours. From mountainous dirt roads to four lane highways and everything in between, it has been challenging at best and downright scary at times as well. I have written three short stories, which will be included in the newsletter over the next three weeks, to characterize a bit of of our transition for you. My further writings will introduce a monthly article that I call A Journey of Faith, in which I will interview a different parishioner each month and share a bit of their faith walk with all of you. I have found it to be a wonderful way to get to know each other better and very often have experienced it to be a healing tool as well. As we share our lives with one another we often begin to realize we are not alone in facing the realities and challenges of this life. Now, back to driving....

You will laugh, but our first day here in our new home on Bevan Drive found us unpacking box after box as we searched for the coffee maker. Joe finally gave up and asked me to run around the corner to the 7-11 for coffee. Immediately I felt my stomach flip-flop because I am not a great "city driver." Joe says I am a wonderful driver as long as there are no other cars on the road! So, I talked myself into going and fussed around with the new iPhone GPS he had gotten for me just before we moved, and off I went. As the woman barked her directions at me, I tried to listen and do what she said, but I could not keep my eyes on the road and look for the one strip mall out of 5,000 that housed the 7-11. Of course, when I realized I had gone past it, I knew I was going to have to make a U-turn which completely flipped me out. I worked my way over to the proper lane, and literally prayed no one would hit me, but after making that u-turn, of course I had to make another one to get back over on the proper side of the road! By the time I actually got into the 7-11 I was shaking like a leaf, but I didn't want Joe to know how scary it was. My 5 minute jaunt had turned into 30 minutes and I still had to get home!! I was a block away according to my calculations, but I had to make another U-turn! I steeled myself for the journey, and prayed, "Oh Lord please get me home with the coffee and the car intact!" To be sure I looked unfrazzled when I got home, I freshened my lipstick in the rearview mirror and walked in the house like it was no big deal...but soon I found myself in complete panic mode as I realized if I could not make it around the corner to the 7-11, I was never going to get anywhere in this maze of people and traffic!

The Lord has been really gracious to me as I have ventured out these past few weeks. He has gently replaced the panic with a sense that I may find myself lost at times on the roads of Virginia, but He has given me the gentle realization that He always knows where I am. He always knows how to get home and that will never change. Yes, I may get physically lost, but in Him I am always found.

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Time to Update Our

If you haven't already scheduled an appointment to have your picture taken for our Church Pictorial Directory, there's still time. Photo sitting dates remaining are Friday, Dec 7 and Saturday, Dec 8. Pictures will be taken at the Church Office (10195 Main St, Suite T, Fairfax). Easy, online scheduling is available at the Life Touch Studio's scheduling website. If you do not have internet access, please call the Church Office on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and ask for Sue (703-591-1974, ext 101) who can help you schedule an appointment.

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Peter and Sheri Edman had their fourth child recently and Kimberly Maher is organizing meals for their family. If you would like to provide a meal for the Edmans, you can sign up online at Meal Train, a website set up to help organize meal calendars. 

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We are Family!       

Franklin Godwin on Nov 16,

Jon Musser on Nov 17,

and Bobbie Zickel on Nov 21.     

Happy Anniversary to

David and Valerie Smith on Nov 17.

We'd love to include your birthday, anniversary, graduation, birth, or other significant life event to share with our congregation. Please let us know about them and give us permission to share them by contacting COAA.News@gmail.com. 

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