Midweek: Wednesday, November 30th, 2022.

Midweek 11/30/22

In This Issue:                

  •          Reminders & Music Notes                                
  •          Advent Devotional
  •          Candle Lighting for Advent
  •          Summary of General Assembly Actions
  •          Website! & Celebrations
  •          Congregational Meeting
  •          Christmas Concert
  •          Toy Drive
  •          Live and Learn on Saturdays!
  •          PPM Christmas Program!
  •          Poetry Corner
  •          The Christmas Attic, part1: Hope for Hopeless?

“. . . that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:12


Reminders: This Sunday the greeters will be the Brannons. The treat will be provided by Phyllis Duff. There is still opportunity to bring a treat for December 11th. Whether you’re here to greet or to share a treat, the real treat we enjoy is you! 

Music Notes: Presbyterian Ringers, Thursday at 6pm. Chancel choir, Thursday at 7pm. Flute ensemble, Sunday at noon. Extra Chancel Choir rehearsal: Saturday December 3rd, 10:30-noon.

Advent Devotional: Beautiful, thoughtful, and inspiring reflection, there is an advent devotional we would like to share with you. It is attached to the email this Midweek is sent out on. If you prefer a printed copy, please contact Gretel in the office and she will print a copy of this devotional for you. This devotional spans the entire season of Advent, with a devotional thought and prayer for each day.

Candle Lighting for Advent: The following are the people currently signed up to light the Advent candles:     December 4th: Goodnight family    ~    December 11th: Hutcheson family                                   December 18th: open    ~     December 24th: Piper family
Please note the change from December 25 to 24! The Christ candle is typically lit on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. We are blessed as the body of Christ this year to enjoy Christmas Day on a Sunday. We hope you will be able to join us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day worship this year. Thank you for your involvement, whether it is by helping light a candle or quietly worshipping in your heart. If you would like to add your name to the sign-up sheet for December 18th, please do so when you are in the building or contact Gretel in the office.

Summary of General Assembly Actions: Copies of the General Assembly Actions are still available. Contact Gretel in the office if you would like a copy and have not received one.

Website! Our website is up and running! It looks great! Pastor Je and Neal have put in super work on this. You can find a calendar of events, Midweek newsletters, sermons – both written form and video form, and more. Hop on to the internet and check it out at www.lebanonfpc.org


“Congratulations to you! We celebrate with you! Know that we love you, and God loves you too!”   Happy birthday to: Mary Piper, 12/2;  Lisa Erwin, 12/5!

Congregational Meeting: The Congregational Meeting to Elect the Elders to serve in the Session will be right after the worship service in the sanctuary on Sunday, December 18th.

Christmas Concert!  Christmas Concert Reception food is needed for our celebration reception after our joint concert with Central Christian Church on Sunday, December 11th at CCC. They are providing fresh cider, water, coffee, decaf, and hot appetizers. We have been asked to provide 2 medium sized fresh fruit trays and 10 dz. homemade cookies, brownies, or bar cookies. Please let Jennie Woods know if you want to do some baking - nothing store-bought please - and just bring your goodies when you come to the concert. Thank you for helping our gracious hosts at CCC. A beautiful flyer for this program is an attachment to the email in which this newsletter is sent out. It is also posted on our bulletin board and you may see it around town. The program is on the 11th , at Central Christian at 3pm; it looks to be a splendid celebration and we hope you can join us! 

Toy Drive! We are collecting for the Myrtle Bailey Boone County Toy Drive. Their greatest need is         items for teens; puzzles and games are always popular. They will bring gifts to over 800 children in Boone Co. There is a needs list on the big wrapped box in the entryway. The drive ends Sunday Dec. 18.

Live and Learn on Saturdays: The Saturday activities resume December 3rd, with the Psalms study led by Gretel, finishing up lesson 1 from the study book with a look at Psalms 25 and 37. Both of these are long psalms, so please take a look at them if you have time before Saturday. We pray that our time in God’s Word will be for our growth and His glory. Amen.

PPM Christmas Program! PPM Christmas program this Friday December 2nd at 10:30am! We invite you to come and enjoy these sweet children and the fantastic work their teachers are doing. The actual performance (for the parents/PPM families only) is Sunday December 4th at 5:30pm.

Poetry Corner: There is a reference in the Advent Devotional to a particular Robert Frost winter-themed poem, so I am including that poem here. Enjoy. (And personally I will enjoy the wintry reference is, as of this writing, reserved for the poem and not appearing out my window!)

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know. / His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here/ To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake / The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake / To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep./ But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep, /And miles to go before I sleep.

Christmas Attic, part 1: Hope for the Hopeless?

Have you ever felt forgotten, discarded, overlooked? Have you questioned if hope can be found? Has joy ever felt just beyond your reach? Have peace and promise looked like fairy tales? I have a story to tell of someone else who also wrestled with each of those. Let me introduce you to her. She is a ragdoll and she lives in an attic.

Amidst the dust and clutter of an attic deep and tall

Was a quiet little someone, a forgotten rag doll.

She had no joints or sinews, she was only made of fluff,

So though tossed, as if discarded, she was made of tougher stuff –

Or so she tried to tell herself as she waited day by day;

To be cast aside should not bother, should not hurt in any way. 

So what was this aching that she felt within?

“I know the fluff is wearing, and my dress is patched and thin.

My hair was once yarn red but now is faded rust.

My eyes once bright and shiny are clouded with this dust. 

But none of that explains this . . . hole . . .right in my middle.
It’s silly. I should not be bothered. But I muddle over this riddle!” 

She looked about her family gathered there beneath the eaves,
The rocking horse and tin dollhouse, old Teddy leaking at the seams.

Her button eyes then settled on the little red swing
She used to ride when she was young, it was her very favorite thing.

 But the swing hung limply now, it had lost a hinge.

And the basket seat once woven smooth poked spokes out now like fringe.

 “We both have been forgotten? Neglected in this space?

Is there no hope for rescue? Can we find joy in this place?”

Stay tuned for more from the attic and find out if the ragdoll finds hope and joy, and if so, how.                                                                                   


Interested in joining the prayer chain? Contact Phyllis Duff at (765)482-1485/ raduff2@att.net.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for this church family, that You would grant them, according to the riches of Your glory, that they would be strengthened with might by Your Spirit; that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith; that they would be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, length, depth, and height of the love of Christ. (Eph.3:16-8). Amen.

 

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