Dear Friend and Members of the Ark and Dove Community,

Don’t touch those lights! Christmas still lives. On the church calendar, Epiphany does not come until January 6, the day that celebrates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem. This Sunday we will continue our Christmas worship at our 10:00 am livestream.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and we can’t close out the secular year without giving thanks to all our church leader innovations in the face of COVID. Amazing ministry was continued and discovered online by our elders, deacons and team leaders, and so we offer them our gratitude – particularly to our worship and Christian education leaders who provided ministry every week.

We will celebrate 2020 at our Annual Congregation Meeting on January 29 by ZOOM, where we will break out into small groups, at least twice during the meeting, so we can talk with other people in the congregation.

Two milestones in 2020 were Ark and Dove becoming a Matthew 25 Church and joining More Light Presbyterians, who advocate for and support the LGBTQ+ community. In both of these instances, we strengthened our bond with the larger Presbyterian Church USA community. This reminds me that January is Per Capita offering month. $37.00 per person is the request. Just visit pcusa.org for 15 minutes, and you will see that our denominational family is worth every bit of the $37.00, which supports the Presbytery of Baltimore, The Synod of the Mid Atlantic and the national church.

May God bless you in the New Year,

tstern@arkanddove.org

PRAYERS OF HEALING AND SUPPORT for Patty Plander; Krista Klohr; Gary Myers; Wren Suggs; Merlin Berry; Dick Paronto; Bob Johns; Camille Dubois; John Mikeska; Richard and Edie Budd; Vaughn Brown; Frances Keyes; Brooks Emrick and her sister, Susan; Dotty Kaufman, her son, Bill, daughter-in-law, Carol, granddaughter, Sarah, and grandson Nathan; Lewis Shorter and Lewis Shorter’s niece, Jennifer Schwandt-Gayle; Bob Fuller’s brother, Joe Fuller; Dot Forloines’ family and her great-grandson Luke; Quentin Crose; Amanda Crose's grandmother, Betty Davis; Donna Anderson's brother-in-law, Tom Brown; Debbie and Bruce Arey’s family in Connecticut and daughter, Allison; Linda Taylor’s mother, Izola; Grant Kirby’s mother, Caroline, and Julia Kirby's mother, Margaret Floyd; Clarke Beaudry’s mother, Judy LaMarque; Kennon Bauman’s uncle, Dan Johnston; Amy Goldberg’s grandmother, Ruth Cooper; Christy Yeager’s mother, Linda Jordan; Diane Johnson's Uncle Ed, Aunt Janet, and cousin Richard; Shelley Franklin's father; Hollis Butterworth’s daughter, Rachel Mershont and brother-in-law, Brian Smith; Amanda Wehage’s mother, sister and father, Dave; Laurie Barrow’s nephew, Gunther Kurtz; Sabonna Keeney’s mother; Bernabe and Griselda Solano, and Griselda's sister, Irma; Laura Doughty’s brother-in-law, Carl Hahn, and Paul Doughty’s uncle, Wes; Cindy Knott’s mother, Madeline; Laura Willoughby's father, Norman; Bill Ruble’s mother, Mary Jane Weathers; Ann Hirschy’s aunt, Cindy, and brother; Christina Nelson’s grandmother, Pat Dole; Kelly Burnett’s nephew, Justin; Patriceo Green’s cousin, Philip Brown; Lou Kareha’s aunt, Judy Kochis, and cousin, Thomas; Cheryl Walcutt’s mother, nephew, and sisters; Erika Sealing's son, Trip, and grandmother, Margaret Schade; Kathy Miller’s friend, Sandee Dickson; Sue Hanburger's friends, Barb, Phyllis, Martha and Craig; Linnie Girdner and Jan Hof’s friend, Grace Ligon; Ylonda Fauntleroy's friend Tanya; Rob Yeager’s friends, Lisa and Kearston; Amy Hagemann’s friend, Marie Canaday’s mother; and Kathy Emmert's friend, Patty.

PRAYERS OF HEALING for those with COVID-19 including: Robeya, Terrance and Ariana Johnson; Michelle Schoonmaker's Auntie Bernice; Josephine Girdner; Rob Yeager’s friends, David Palombo, and Jeff and Ana Siegel; Paul Doughty’s uncle, Dan, and cousin, Elizabeth; Emily Crose's grandmother, Lois Echhorn; Doug Walcutt’s father, Chuck Walcutt, and stepmother, Linda Walcutt; Diane Johnson’s grandson, Avery Woods; Ed Barrett's friend, Joe Bogner; Julia Kirby’s great niece, nephew, his wife, and friends, the Speer family, the Coffey family, and April and Sam; Robert and Marissa Lyle; Lisa Marino, Jay Mulholland, and their 4-month-old daughter Lily; Ylonda Fauntleroy's family, Annette and Leah Turner, and friends, Sandra and Elijah Williams; Margaret’s neighbor, Wayne; Michelle Schoonmaker's colleague, Ajita Robinson and friend Rusty; Stephanie; Andrew; Yeni, her husband and their six children; and Jennifer Roman's aunt, Laura Clay, and grandmother, Louise Nothdurft.

PRAYERS OF LOVE, SUPPORT AND PROTECTION for all essential workers workers around the world, including: Bill Gaurin; Tricia Gray’s mother; Becca Distad; Jack Burnett; Caitlyn Bussey; Emily Sanders; Audrey Miller; Linda Jordan’s nephew, Russell; the Ralston’s family members and friends; Simone Stiegler’s friend, Jean Marie; Mike Stiegler; Amy Grimm’s mother; Jeff Grimm; Amy Goldberg’s brother, Joseph Alexander, and parents, Michael and Maryann Cooper; Judy Cooper’s daughter; John Mikeska’s son, Jonathan; and Hollis Butterworth’s sister-in-law, Cyndie