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SUNDAY SCHEDULE 9:00 AM - Sunday School Classes for all ages - click here for more information  10:30 AM - Worship, Sanctuary THIS SUNDAY IN WORSHIP November 24, 2019 SCRIPTURE LESSON: Jeremiah 23:1-6   Colossians 1:11-20                                   MESSAGE:    “Days are Coming”

Contents :  This Week Upcoming Events Children's Ministry Schedule J.A.M. Choir News Online Giving Thank You Notes from the Console   Last Week Contacting the Pastor

Happening This Week IN-GATHERING - Sunday, November 24 At this time of the year we pause to give thanks for our blessings and all that we have. We also think of those who may not have everything they need. Our Food Pantry could use your donations so we can continue to provide food to those who may struggle to feed their families. Your monetary donations and grocery gift cards are always welcome. We can also use donations of cereal, canned soup, chili, fruit and vegetables, peanut butter, canned ham and beef stew. Plan to bring these items to worship on November 24th. Thank you from the York 1st Food Pantry Team. ORDER POINSETTIAS - Sundays - November 24 & December 1 (in the narthex) Order your poinsettias in honor or in memory of friends or loved ones. $10.00 for a 6 ½ inch pot with 5+ red blooms.  DECORATE THE NARTHEX AND SANCTUARY - Saturday, November 30 - 9:00 AM to noon - Volunteers are needed to help decorate the narthex and sanctuary for the Advent and Christmas seasons. Come and lend a hand! THE DALLASTOWN STRINGS AND VOCAL ENSEMBLE, Sunday, Dec. 1 - 7:00pm - The Dallastown High School Strings and Vocal Ensemble will start off our Advent Season with their annual Christmas program.

Click on button to access the complete list of Holiday Happenings!

Holiday Happenings

The following resources are available on the table in the Gathering Area: This week's e-news and the November calendar, which can also be viewed here November Church of the Brethren Newsline Digest

Events, Prayer Requests, and Classes

Click for Calendar of Events, Friends to Remember in Prayer, & Sunday School

Upcoming Events

Advent Breakfast., Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 , 9:00 am - Start off your day at the annual Advent Breakfast. Food is being provided. Activities for the children and crafts for all ages are being planned. No sign-up needed. Just come and enjoy!

Soup Kitchen - Friday, Dec. 13, 2019 -  Sign up in the narthex to make a casserole or to work at the Soup Kitchen on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019 (10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) PLEASE add your name and number of casseroles, to the SIGN-UP sheet, so we can let the Soup Kitchen know how many casseroles to expect.

9th ANNUAL CAMP EDER CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL A Celebration of the Birth of Jesus, Friday - Dec. 6th and Saturday - Dec. 7th , Daily 5 PM to 8 PM ➤ Christmas Lights & Music ➤ Horse Carriage Rides Friday Night ➤ Hayrides Saturday Night ➤ Tree Decorating Contest ➤ Delicious Turkey Dinner & Soup (per donation) ➤ Luminary Garden (honoring our loved ones) ➤ Decorated Trees ➤ Warm Drinks and Lots of Cookies (free) ➤ Bake Sale ➤ Kid's Activities ➤ Cozy Fires "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." John 1:5-11 Come join us for an evening of family festive fun! The woods will be illuminated with lots and lots of Christmas lights, warm Fires, hot cocoa and children activities will be happening each night. This is a beautiful festival you most certainly will not want to miss!

Click on tab for the Sponsorship Form for this event. This form is also on the bulletin board.

Sponsorship Form

Children's Ministry Schedule

Thank you to all who assist with Children's Ministry. Your time, energy, and dedication are appreciated. If you need to make a schedule change or would like to serve as a teacher or in the nursery, please contact Michele Gibbel (717)318-5442 or mgibbel@yahoo.com

Nursery Caregivers Needed! In the recent weeks we have experienced a boom of young ones in the nursery during both Sunday School and Worship. This is so exciting! But to care for these little ones, we need more help. There are between 16-20 volunteer slots to fill each month. How can you help out?           Qualifications:           * A love for children          * A desire to support and encourage parents of young children          * An interest in seeing our congregation grow           * Background checks are required.   Please contact Michele Gibbel ( mgibbel@yahoo.com ) to be added to the rotation or with any questions. Thank you.

J.A.M. Choir News Children ages 4 to 6th grade J.A.M. (Jesus And Me) Choir is practicing Sundays from 9:50 am to 10:10 am in the basement choir room. For those children in Sunday school you will be escorted to the choir room and return to the Sunday school room to meet your parents after practice each week. J.A.M. Choir is scheduled to sing in worship every 2nd Sunday of the month. We will be singing, moving, using puppets, and playing musical instruments. Join us every Sunday as we make music for our Lord!

COOKIE BAKERS NEEDED - The Carlisle Truck Stop Ministry REMINDER - Homemade Cookies Needed Bring your homemade cookies to the lounge on Sunday morning, December 1, and place on the table. Thank you for sharing the love of Christ with others.

LADIES BIBLE STUDY INFORMATION  December 3 - Class will meet at 9:30 a.m., in Lounge for a short lesson by Judy Yingling. We will transfer to the Homebuilders room (time to be announced later) to bag cookies for the Carlisle Truck Stop Ministry. December 10 - Will be our last lesson for the 2019 year. December 17 - Will be our Christmas Luncheon at the Eagles Nest Restaurant. We will meet at the restaurant at 11:45 a.m.  SIGN UP SHEET will be on snack table next Tuesday if you wish to attend. We will need to place reservations.   DEADLINE FOR SIGN UP is December 10 . January 7 - We will reconvene for Ladies Bible Study for the 2020 Winter session.

A WISH LIST for Heather Gibson and her 5 children that have been displaced due to a failed electrical inspection where they were told to leave quickly and was only able to take a few things from the house. These are the children that come to church with Diane Gibble.  If you have any of the small items new or used you can give them to Diane. Thank you so much for helping and showing God's love. Pray they will find affordable housing. Please click on the tab for what they will need once they get housing.

Wish List

If you wish to begin contributing to the church using online giving, please visit our website at: yorkfirst.org and click on the Online Giving link or go directly to the Online Giving website at:  www.acionlinegiving.com/4706 . For assistance setting up your account, call Donor Support at:  800-348-2886 – Option 2 – Online Giving Questions? Contact Sheryl Leaman if necessary, and thank you for your support!

Church Website

Online Giving

Dear YFCoB Family and Friends, Spencer and I wish to ask God's blessing on our congregation, because we have been so very blessed by your prayers, cards, and love. I awake each morning feeling the love of God in my mind, body, and soul. It is truly amazing how strong and healthy I am feeling. Last Saturday, we had a huge party for 60 of our Artistic Children's Theatre members. It was a covered dish, so we only needed to provide the paper ware, drinks, and fun Frozen decorations. Spencer was concerned I'd get sick with all the germs. However, no sickness for me! With Love, Spencer and Chris Ginder

SUGGESTIONS FROM THE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN STEERING COMMITTEE “Catch the Spirit, Build for the Future” has been chosen as the theme for our Capital Fund Campaign. As we prepare to launch the campaign, we want to share with you two tax saving options that may be available to you as you consider your pledge to the campaign. You will need to complete these transactions prior to December 31 st for the 2019 tax year. These options are qualified charitable distributions and donation of appreciated securities. Qualified Charitable Distribution If you are age 70½ or older, IRS rules require you to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) each year from your tax-deferred IRA’s. This additional taxable income may push you into a higher tax bracket and may also reduce your eligibility for certain tax credits and deductions. For example, your taxable income helps determine the amount of your Social Security benefits that are subject to taxes. Keeping your taxable income level lower may also help reduce your potential exposure to higher Medicare premiums. To eliminate or reduce the impact of RMD income, you may want to consider making a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from an IRA custodian, payable to a qualified charity. Amounts distributed as a QCD can be counted toward satisfying your RMD for the year and can also be excluded from your taxable income. This is not the case with a regular withdrawal from an IRA, even if you use the money to make a charitable contribution later on. In this scenario, the withdrawal would be counted as taxable income. You must be at least 70½ years old at the time you request a QCD. If you process a distribution prior to reaching age 70½, the distribution will be treated as taxable income. Funds must be transferred directly from your IRA custodian to the qualified charity. This is accomplished by requesting your IRA custodian issue a check from your IRA payable to the charity. You can then request that the check be mailed to the charity, or forward the check to the charity yourself. Donation of Appreciated Securities With the stock market setting all-time record highs, many investors are holding securities in their taxable accounts that have appreciated in value. Appreciated securities are investments that have increased in value from the time they were purchased, and can take the form of publicly traded stock, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closely held stock, or mutual funds. For example, if a stock was purchased for $30 per share and sold for $50 per share, the stock has appreciated by $20 per share. When appreciated stock is sold, the owner generally realizes capital gains equal to the appreciation and may be liable for either short-term or long-term capital gains taxes. With a charitable gift of appreciated securities, the donation you make and the deduction you get are greater than they would be if you were to sell the shares and donate the cash proceeds instead. That is because when you donate shares, you avoid paying the capital gains tax. The church will receive the full market value of the securities donated. We encourage you to take advantage of these tax saving measures as you finalize your year-end giving.

"Notes from the Console," Article 18, By Mike Frock "What are all those little numbers?" Part 8-"Non-Considerations" The last two articles covered considerations that one should keep in mind when interchanging hymn texts and tunes. This article covers two issues which do not necessarily need to be considered, a “non-consideration,” if you will. The first is time signatures. This seems a bit counter intuitive. At first blush, one would think that the time signatures need to be the same. But one must keep in mind that poetic meter is completely different than musical meter. So, e.g. Common Meter piece #143 "Amazing Grace!" in 3/4 time signature can be interchanged with Common Meter piece #306 "In Christ there is no East or West" or Common Meter piece #328 “O God, our help in ages past,” both in 4/4 time signature. The other big elephant in the room is the issue of “can we” and/or “should we?” The issue of “can we” asks whether we are allowed to interchange hymns. The church paid for the hymnals, so it can use them as they wish. Also, many older hymns are now in the public domain, which means you can use those hymns however you want, even if you did not pay for the hymnal. The issue of “should we” asks whether it is appropriate to interchange hymns. An objection that might come to mind is “That’s not what so-and-so composer would have wanted.” That may be true, especially if it is the same person that is both the author of the text and the composer of the music. But the argument against this objection is that a large percentage of the hymns in the hymnal have a separate author of the text and a separate composer of the music. Many times, the text and tune were paired together by a hymnal editor. Sometimes some not-so-great pairs make it into a published hymnal, and who is to say that your combination is not just as good as some editor’s combination? Pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote the text of #366 “God of grace and God of glory” in 1930. It was well known that he despised the tune CWM RHONDDA, composed more than twenty years earlier. However, some editor somewhere along the way thought that would make a great combination, and it is now a very popular hymn. I’m sure that Mr. Fosdick would not mind if you paired his text with another tune. 

LAST SUNDAY IN WORSHIP

Scripture Lesson:      Isaiah 65:17-25 Message:     “Rejoice Forever”     Worship Attendance: 107

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CONTACTING THE PASTOR Pastor Joel Gibbel can be reached most mornings in the church office Monday - Thursday from 9:00 AM to noon. Afternoons and evenings are often set aside for visiting those in need, for meetings, and for other pastoral duties. Pastor Joel is also available for Pastoral Counseling by appointment.

If you need to reach the pastor outside of office hours, his home phone number is (717)318-5442, and his cell number is (717)271-4888 . You can also email him at pastor@yorkfirst.org. Note that laws prevent hospitals from contacting a pastor without your permission when you are admitted, so you will need to let hospital staff know that you would like the hospital to contact your pastor.

Our Mission Statement: “People dedicated to Spiritual Growth, Loving Relationship, and Sacrificial Service” Our Vision Statement: “To become a community of committed Christians who Love God, Share Christ, and Serve the World”