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Week of December 23,
2018
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INTERSECTIONS CLASS
This Sunday, December 23, the class will consider Joy, and how we do (or don't) show it (or share it) amid the seasonal holiday observances around us. Heidi Bullock will lead the class.
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DiGG CLASS
On Sunday, December 23, the DiGG Class will talk about the work of Kate Bowler, a professor at Duke Divinity School who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at the age of 35, shortly after the birth of her son. As a result of her realization that even her faith could not protect her from suffering and loss, but could remain central to her life, she wrote Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved. The class will watch videos of Kate speaking on how her faith has been challenged and transformed since her diagnosis, and we will discuss how we are affected and how we can respond in faith to experiences like this. Robert McKeown and Kimberly Dunbar will lead the class.
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CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP SCHEDULE
5:00 p.m
. Festival Worship with Holy Communion. The Sanctuary Choir and Children's Choir will provide special music in the service. Gathering music begins at 4:45 p.m.
11:00 p.m. Contemplative Worship with Holy Communion. We celebrate the wonder of the Incarnation with silence, carols, word and sacrament.
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CHRISTMAS COOKIE SUNDAY
On
December 23, after the 10:30 a.m. service, we will be celebrating Christmas with a Christmas Cookie Sunday coffee hour! We would love for everyone who is able to bring a dozen of your favorite Christmas cookies to share. Thank you!
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POINSETTIAS
If you would like to sponso
r a poinsettia to help decorate the sanctuary for Christmas Eve, please sign up on the bulletin board or call the church office. The cost per plant is $4.00, which you can place in the offering plate or turn in to office staff. If you wish, you can take your poinsettias home any time after the Christmas Eve worship services. Thank you.
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| CHILDREN'S MINISTRY NEWS
Advent Rocks - Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love
You may have seen painted rocks on social media, or you may have seen them around town.
Painted rocks? The idea is simple: get a rock, paint it, and hide it so others can find it. It's a trend that is popping up all across the country.
This Sunday, the elementary class will paint rocks based on Advent themes: hope, peace, joy, and love. As we are painting, we will have an opportunity to pray that people finding the rocks will also find hope, peace, joy, and love.
We hope all ages will be able to join us as we paint during fellowship time as well.
We will then hide the rocks around Brevard.
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GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER
There is still time to sign up for this fun fellowship activity! The deadline to sign up has been extended to
December 30.
Additional information and a sign-up sheet are on the bulletin board.
If you have any questions, please contact Donna Brim (884-5055,
[email protected]
) or Marilyn Carlson (
[email protected],
884-2756
).
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2019 COFFEE HOUR
Due to a low response to the possible new way of handling Coffee Hour, we have decided to continue to do Coffee Hour as we have in the recent past. If you would like to help, a new 2019 signup sheet has been put on the bulletin board and some names have already been added. Please check to see what dates you may already have on the sheet. If you need to switch with someone or you are unable to serve that Sunday please contact De Carlson (885-5206 or
[email protected]). Thank you to everyone who has helped serve Coffee Hour this past year!
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COMING SOON AT GOOD SHEPHERD . . .
Sunday, December 23
8:00 a.m. Worship Service
(Sanctuary)
9:00 a.m. Coffee Hour
(Fellowship Hall)
9:10 a.m. DiGG Class
(Conference Room)
9:10 a.m. Intersections Class (Room 6)
9:10 a.m. Confirmation Class
(Pastor's Office)
9:10 a.m. Elementary Children's Sunday School Class
(Rooms 3 & 4)
9:10 a.m. Nursery/Preschool Class
(Room 1)
10:30 a.m. Worship Service
(Sanctuary)
11:30 a.m. Coffee Hour
(Fellowship Hall)
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AN ADVENT REFLECTION
Advent is one of the busiest times of the year. It is usually dark and cold. Parents are very busy and little children can hardly wait for Santa Claus to come. I remember buying too many gifts and trying to hide them where little fingers couldn't find them.
(My granddaughter, Joy, was the one who, with her husband, Andres, went to Mexico where he was formally pastor. Their children, a daughter and the quintuplets went along. Joy was leading the summer Bible school and had brought along everything needed. Andres taught the adults. As Joy was teaching, she became ill with typhoid fever and almost died before returning to The States.)
Joy told her children that they celebrate their birthdays but Christmas is Jesus's birthday. They gave gifts to Jesus by taking their gifts to poor families. That hit me hard and changed the way I felt about Christmas.
Last year I received an Advent book at Christmas written by Ann Voskamp entitled The Greatest Gift. Here are segments from the first chapter:
Your Invitation to Unwrap the Gift
He gave up the heavens that were not even large enough to contain Him and lets Himself be held in a hand. The mystery so large becomes the Baby so small, and infinite God becomes infant. The Giver becomes the Gift, this quiet offering. This heart beating in the chest cavity of a held child, a thrumming heart beating hope, beating change, beating love, beating the singular song you've been waiting for---that the whole dizzy planet's been spinning round waiting for. Waiting. Advent. It comes from the Latin. It means "coming." ....
In this day, this season, miracles will grow within, unfurl, bear fruit. And the heart that makes time and space for Him to come will be a glorious place. A place of sheer, radiant defiance in the face of a world careening mad and stressed.
Because each day of Advent, we will actively wait. We will wait knowing that the remaking of everything has already begun. We will linger over the lines of the Old Testament stories, tracing the branches of the family tree of Christ, the spreading pageantry of humankind, from Adam to the Messiah - each historical truth pointing to the coming, the already relief, the incarnation of God.
Enjoy the beauty, love and joyful season,
Rachel Kahl
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GRIEF DURING THE HOLIDAYS
Christmas carols, lights, decadent desserts, family, friends, celebrations, parties, gifts, stockings, eggnog, traditions and possible vacation time are all things I think about when it comes to celebrating Christmas and New Year's. Joy and laughter fill my mental picture of what the holidays bring. This year however, I am thinking of those who may be struggling with hurt, loss, or grief.
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COMMUNITY CARE CORNER
The "Community Care Corner" feature in the weekly newsletter allows us to update you on people for whom we are praying or to submit a new prayer request. If you have an update on someone or a new prayer request to share in the Corner, please email or call the church office ([email protected] or 883-3680) by noon on Thursday.
Roy Larson
is being treated for a pulmonary embolism at Carolina HealthCare hospital in Concord. He is doing well but will need to remain in the hospital for a few more days.
Tracey Propst, Sid Propst's daughter-in-law, is experiencing ongoing complications from diabetes.
Grace Rehme, Marci Kuhlman's mother, is continuing to recover from pneumonia.
Dan Bergen, long time college friend of Dave Kuhlman, is suffering from several serious ailments.
Hampton Schulz, grandson of friends of Robert and Jane McKeown, has kidney cancer. Hampton has had surgery to have the tumor and one kidney removed and is not undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Mark Glaeser, friend of Karen and Mike Anderson, has learned that his cancer has spread into his lymph nodes.
Carol Maquire, Arthur Raynolds' cousin, has been diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct which is considered inoperable.
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SERVING THIS SUNDAY
Ministers
.........................................................................
The People of Good Shepherd
Pastor.................................................................................................Mary Hinkle Shore
Minister of Music.....................................................................................David Gresham
Organist......................................................................................................Vance Reese
Coordinator of Outreach Ministries.......................................................Kimberly Dunbar
Children's Ministry Coordinator................................................................Heather Merritt
Assisting Minister............................................................Lauren Weed / Laurie Johnson
Reader.............................................................................Sandy Ostermeier / Sue Sena
Cantor.......................................................................................................Jack Gresham
Ushers........................
Bonnie Clark, Jody & Bob Schuld / Wayne Drake, Lamar Propst
Acolyte.................................................Lauren Weed / Carolyn Smith & Sophie Dunbar
Greeter........
Henry Dixon & Darrell Dixon /
Marilyn Carlson, Snookie Henson, & Victor Emaus
Child Care during Sunday School............................................................Zia McConnell
Elementary Sunday School Teacher........................................................Debbie Cooper
Elementary Sunday School Door Person................................................Heather Merritt
Child Care during Worship....................................................................Kimberly Dunbar
Altar Care.......................................................................Jody Schuld / Sheila Swancara
Communion Bread.......................................................................................Kate Reinke
Tellers..........................................................................Larry Fogdall & Nancy Cummins
Doorkeeper of the Day.................................................................................Don Rumph
Coffee Hour....................................Debbie & Paul Cooper / Christmas Cookie Sunday
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THANK YOU FOR SWEET POTATOES!!
Thank you to everyone who has signed up to bake sweet potatoes for the free 20th Annual Community Christmas Dinner that will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on
December 25
from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. Please deliver them to Sacred Heart by 11:00 a.m. on Christmas Day.
If you need help getting your sweet potatoes to Sacred Heart, please put your prepared and baked sweet potatoes in the refrigerator at Good Shepherd on Christmas Eve, and Kimberly and Sophie Dunbar will deliver them to Sacred Heart on Christmas Day. Thank you!!
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GOOD SHEPHERD'S GIVING TREE
Good Shepherd's Giving Tree will be in the
commons for one more week.
You can still s
ponsor a gift to benefit ELCA World Hunger. Stop by the tree for more information and to pick out an ornament. Thank you!
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GOOD SHEPHERD AND LIVING WATERS PARTNERSHIP
The women at Good Shepherd (WELCA) are partnering with the women from Living Waters
Lutheran Church in Cherokee to meet some of the needs of families in the
Cherokee community, and they invite the congregation to participate. Coats and clothing were collected and shipped to Living Waters earlier this month. School supplies will be collected through December 23:
- Sharpie markers
- black permanent markers
- spiral notebooks
- glue sticks
- tissue
- pencil sharpeners
- notebook paper
Please bring items to church and place them in the bin in the commons. Thank you!
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GETTING AHEAD SERIES AT SHARING HOUSE
Sharing House is offering another Getting Ahead series beginning on Wednesday, January 16. The class is designed to help people imagine and create a more stable financial future for themselves and their children, and will meet on Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Brevard Wesleyan Church. If you are willing to provide snacks for the class, please see the bulletin board for more information and to sign up. Questions? Contact Kimberly Dunbar in the church office ([email protected] or 883-3680). Thank you!
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HURRICANE RECOVERY
The ELCA's Lutheran Disaster Response continues to collect donations to help with
hurricane recovery efforts
in the southeast.
Thrivent will match your donations up to $1 million
or until December 31.
You can make a donation online through Good Shepherd's website
(choose ELCA Disaster Relief and indicate Hurricane's Florence and Michael)
or place your check in the offering plate
on Sunday, made out to LCGS with "Lutheran Disaster Response - Hurricanes Florence and Michael" indicated on the memo line.
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HLAA RESCHEDULED HOLIDAY LUNCHEON
Our annual December holiday luncheon was snowed out as were so many activities in the area. Our next meeting will be the rescheduled luncheon to celebrate the Holidays and completion of another successful year for the Brevard Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. This luncheon is a social event and will not have a formal program.
The luncheon will be Saturday, January 12, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. in the Carlson Room at the Transylvania Regional Hospital in Brevard. The room will open at 12:30 p.m. so people can sign in, browse the free literature available, and meet others interested in discussing hearing problems and solutions.
Chapter members, hearing professionals, persons who have attended a meeting in the past, and anyone interested in learning about hearing loss and hearing solutions are welcome. However, we do need a head count so we can adequately prepare. If you plan to attend, please confirm
your attendance and the number of attendees with Kathy Borzell at 828-743-0150 or
[email protected]
no later than Monday, January 7.
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SUPPORT THE BAND GOING TO PLAY AT CARNEGIE HALL
The Brevard High School Band has been invited to perform at the 2019 New York Invitational Music Festival next spring. This festival offers young musicians the opportunity to play in one of the world's greatest music venues, the Isaac Stern Auditorium/Ronald O. Perelman Main Stage in the famed Carnegie Hall.
In order for every band member to be able to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience, the band needs to raise $150,000. This can only happen with considerable support from the community. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation payable to "Brevard Band Association" and mailing it to BHS-Bands, P.O. Box 1491, Brevard, NC 28712. Thank you!
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ELCA, NC Synod, and LWF News
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CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM ELCA BISHOP
Christmas comes at a descending time. The old year is coming to an end, the new year is not yet here. It is too late to accomplish goals set on the previous New Year's Day, and just enough time to realize that whatever shape or state you are in will be the shape or state in which you end the year. There is a hefty dose of "what-might-have-been."
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2018 LWF CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
The good news of yet another season of celebrating the birth of Jesus should inspire Christians to be more committed to serving humanity even when confronted with fear over dangerous situations. This is the message of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) during this year's Christmas.
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LIVING LUTHERAN READER CALL
Living Lutheran magazine is seeking submissions from readers for an upcoming article. They want to know:
What draws you into God daily? Where do you see glimmers of God's presence in ordinary moments? By January 7, send your 300-word reflection to
[email protected]
, subject line: God.
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