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Calendar
December 2:
10:00 a.m. to 5: p.m.
This Time We Mean It - Carolina's Last Mayan Show (see article below)
December 2:
at
Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints
23185 Summit Road
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First Sunday of Advent: HOPE
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December 10
Second Sunday of Advent: PEACE
Blanket Sunday (Special Collection)
December 17:
Third Sunday of Advent: LOVE
Christmas Pageant--Come, children of all ages!
Christmas Potluck sponsored by Deacons. Bring salads, side dishes, desserts.
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December 24:
10:30
a.m.
Fourth Sunday of Advent: JOY
8:00 p.m.
Christmas Eve Service
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The
Giving
Tree
:
Holiday
Help
for
Mountain Families, Children
The Skyland Women's Group
will
once again sponsor local families at CT English and Loma Prieta Schools for this holiday season. We will give Target gift cards to the children and Safeway cards to the families for food.
Update 11/26: We have raised enough for the presents for each child; now we are working on groceries for the families.
The felt Giving Tree in Whitaker Hall is our way of showing the generosity of our church community and our neighbors. Add a felt ball to symbolize your gift. We will collect money during and after church during Advent.
If you want to give and can't make it to church on Sunday, please email Shannon Edwards at:
or email Deana Arnold at:
[email protected] and we'll include your contribution.
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Altar Flowers
The sanctuary is now decorated for Advent and Christmas.
Altar flowers will add more color and beauty, so please consider signing up in Whitaker for a Sunday in December.
Open dates are the
3rd, 17th, 24th, and 31st.
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MEDITATION MOMENT
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen thine heart;
wait I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 27:14
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This Time We Mean It
Carolina's Last Mayan Show
See Carolina's oil paintings this Saturday, Dec. 2, at the 17th Ave. Studios Holiday sale, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. .
Many 17th Ave. artists will participate in this huge sale. Carolina will show the final three oils in her Mayan series, as well as giclée reproductions of the rest of the series, plus original abstracts in oil and works in pastel and crayon, and hand-made greeting cards. Many small works, suitable as gifts, will be available at affordable prices.
And for a special preview, her final work, a 4x5-foot oil commissioned by the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, in progress, will be on display.
So come on down for Carolina's final show. The address is 980 17th Avenue, Santa Cruz, Building 1; she is in Studio #13.
See you Saturday!
Carolina
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Minister's Reflection
Dear Skyland Friends,
I have been talking a lot about Advent in other places so in this column I want to highlight something you may not know but I think you will be proud of: namely that I heard from Church World Service (sponsors of Blanket Sunday) that since 1982 we have contributed ...drum roll, please.... $48,751.97 to their organization! So on our upcoming Blanket Sunday on the 10th of this month we will (almost certainly) go over the $50,000. mark! That's a lot of money! And it gets used for people in need all over the world. They write that as part of their hurricane response they shipped almost one thousand blankets to Florida and Texas, in addition to thousands of hygiene kits, clean-up buckets, and ceramic cookers to Cuba and Puerto Rico. So as we see disasters and sometimes feel powerless to help, please know that we have been working on assistance very generously for many years and all those contributions make a difference. Thank you for all your gifts to various needs both near and far. When Moira O'Deady was our intern, she and I used to call Skyland, "The Little Church that Could". That name seems more and more apt as we go along. Thank you!
Wedding Announcement from the GT's
Carolyn and I are delighted to announce that our daughter Annalise will be married to her beloved fiancé, Surjya Banks, on the 10th at her grandmother's home in Palo Alto, the same setting where Carolyn and I were married 41 years ago.
ReVision Update
As you know from sermons and my column here last month, our Church Council is exploring the ReVision program designed by the Center for Progressive Renewal for churches who want to minister more effectively to the needs of their community in the 21st Century. I am pleased to let you know that our conference ministers are being trained to be coaches and will be using the ReVision program in churches in our conference so we will have the chance to work with them. This means that it may take longer before we are back to you for a vote to see if you want to use this program, but we will have more strength in working together with other churches in our area who feel the same needs.
Stay tuned...
Stephen
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After rain and sun,
"Gaiety Girl," our tea tree,
bestows radiant blooms.
--haiku by John Heyes
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Missions Board Spotlight
On Sunday, October 15th, the Skyland community welcomed two staff members from the Davenport Resource Service Center: program director Isai Ambrosio and program co-ordinator Lizette Ponce. During the service, they spoke about the social, educational, and outreach initiatives that the Center provides for low-income families on Santa Cruz County's north coast. They also expressed gratitude for Skyland's long-standing support of the Center. During potluck lunch, Isai and Lizette answered questions about their vital work.
Just before Thanksgiving
, Stephen informed Skylanders about the ongoing recovery work for North Bay residents who lost homes and jobs in the recent fires. As several churches in our association had proposed a jacket drive, Stephen invited Skylanders to bring warm winter clothing to the November 26th service. The response was impressive, a large mound of coats, jackets, and sweaters stretching the entire width of the altar. These items were delivered on November 29th to the Reverend Curran Reichert, pastor of First Congregational Church of Sonoma, UCC.
To sustain our commitment to overseas students on four continents, the Missions Board will take a special collection on Sunday, January 21st.
Thank you for your generosity,
The Missions Board
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Report for November and
First Half of our Fiscal Year.
Thanks to your generous giving $1,348 has been donated for our Giving Tree outreach to local families.
You also donated an additional $330 to help North Bay fire victims.
Pledge income for November almost met your commitments. We are $1,161 behind our anticipated 6 month pledge income.
Offerings received continue below our financial plan expectation by $-5,305 total for these 6 months. Offerings are donations from members and visitors who have not made a pledge. Our financial planning was over optimistic on this item.
I need to remind everyone that the approved June-2017 through May-2018 fiscal year financial plan included using last year's surplus but still had a shortfall of $6,618. Again we will need special Christmas donations to balance our finances. This can be either an increase in your pledge or a special offering donation.
Expenses for October are essentially on target.
We are now able to accept credit card payments for pledge, general and special offerings if that is more convenient than check or cash. See either Jan or myself after service for these transactions.
Here is our operating finances as of November 27 for our 2017-18 fiscal year:
Summary of Operating Finances
November 2017 | Jun 1,2017 to Nov 27
Actual Planned | Actual Planned
Income $ 9,922 $ 11,300 | $ 95,017 $ 96,634
Expenses $ 17,420 $ 17,567 | $ 94,793 $ 95,385
Net $ (-7,498) $(-6,267) | $ 224 $ 1,249
Gerald J. Alonzo, Treasurer
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NOTE from the editors (Brian and Patricia Wood):
In the near future we will introduce a mobile-friendly format for
Go Tell It On the Mountain.
This new format will automatically adjust to the format of any device, making reading our newsletter more accessible.
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