 |
A Personal Christmas Eve Moment
Thursday thru Saturday
Christmas Cs Continue! Creches, Cookies, Carols, Candy Canes
Who doesn’t love the things on the list!?
Don’t delay – physical distancing is honored!
|
Please sign up and wear masks upon entering the main doors. |
|
|
|
St Louis Children's Choir Concert
A special presentation of the annual Holiday Concert will air Saturday, December 19th. Tickets on sale now.
|
|
|
|
Join us this Sunday for worship at 10am on Facebook Live – or watch it later.
It’s the Fourth Sunday of Advent. We will light the LOVE candle. We will hear some kid quotes and scripture passages about love. We will also experience Psalm 23 (King James Version) and Matthew 1:1-18a where we learn about Jesus’ lineage. Who is this Jesus? What can we learn from his family of origin? How do you connect with the name Emmanuel (one of the names for Jesus meaning ‘God with us’)?
|
|
|
|
Livestream worship on designated Sundays. Look under videos for previous livestreamed services. |
|
|
|
All our worship service videos in one place! |
|
|
|
All Mid~Week Meditations that have been recorded on YouTube. |
|
|
|
Order of worship, announcements, prayer list, birthdays and anniversaries. |
|
|
|
Year End Contributions
As year-end quickly approaches, a reminder that if you are making a Contribution via PayPal, it will need to be made by December 21 in order to be included in the 2020 Contributions. Please remember that Parkway UCC does not receive your full contribution if it is made through PayPal. PayPal keeps up to 3% as their fee.
|
|
We continue to receive your gifts for 2nd Mile Advent – an opportunity to stretch our hope, peace, joy and love across the area and the wider church. All gifts are shared evenly among the three mission partners in January. Please clearly mark your financial gift ‘2nd Mile Advent’. You may want to honor someone in your life with a 2nd Mile Gift – perhaps that person who is hard to buy for and/or who doesn’t have any real needs right now. We are grateful for your generosity.
Circle of Concern is guided by some lofty ideals. Each day, as they feed families from the food pantry, share financial assistance, distribute school supplies, Thanksgiving turkeys or holiday gifts, they are led by commitment to their Vision, Mission and Values.
Mission: Circle of Concern feeds the hungry and provides assistance to low-income families living in west St. Louis County.
Vision: Improving every life in the community by reducing hunger and poverty
Values:
- integrity in all they do;
- respecting the innate worth of every Circle stakeholder, including clients, volunteers, donors, staff and community partners, and striving to reflect that respect in every interaction.
- collaborating with many partners that the work of Circle is successfully accomplished;
-
being responsible stewards of the time stakeholders donate, the talents they share and the funds they invest;
-
committing to excellence which ensures the highest quality services for clients today and the resources to sustain them in the future.
Emmaus Homes knows that adults with disabilities want to be independent.
In order to do that, they need a home and a community that embraces their unique abilities.
The problem is it’s hard to live without support, which makes EH clients feel frustrated, excluded, and powerless. EH believes everyone deserves the resources needed to live independently.
EH understands it’s tough to manage life alone, which is why for 125 years, as a faith-based organization, they have provided high-quality service caring for the whole person for their whole life – including the individual’s spiritual life.
The Christmas Fund has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the United Church of Christ for over 100 years, providing emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums, and Christmas “Thank You” gift checks each December to our lower-income retirees.
Over the past nine months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergency financial needs of many who serve the church have increased dramatically.
In such a time as this, the need for the Christmas Fund is more urgent than ever.
|
|
Join us for Pre-recorded Christmas Eve Worship
Thursday, December 24 | 4:30 & 7:00pm | YouTube
[Links will be sent in a separate email early next week]
While a number of the pieces of the two worship services will mirror each other (e.g. Silent Night by candlelight), the 4:30pm service will feature several object lessons woven within the Christmas Gospel Story. We will celebrate the sacrament of communion at our open table at 7:30pm—remember to have your bread/crackers and wine/grape juice or whatever for this simple, sacred meal.
Please let others know about our Christmas Eve Worship that they can experience in their own home.
|
|
|
TED Book Group: This I Believe
2nd & 4th Tuesdays | 7:00pm | via Zoom
Please join us for some fun and inspiring discussion of the book This I Believe edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman. Volume 1.
|
|
|
|
Join Us for Tuesday Afternoon Dialogue (TAD)
1st & 3rd Tuesdays beginning 2:00-3:00pm | via ZOOM
|
|
|
|
Jim Winkelmann – in rehab hospital healing after stroke. He would welcome encouraging texts or cards. 314-610-3348… SSM Health Rehabilitation Hospital, 12380 DePaul Dr; Room #219; Bridgeton, MO 63044.
Cassie Rosenberger – healing from Covid-19.
Tom - neck surgery… fusion of vertebrae (Kathleen Tarrs’s nephew).
Anne Brodginski - nearing end of her life this week (Svenson).
Healthcare workers, homeless and many others at risk right now.
Physical Distancing… if anyone needs groceries, medicine and/or other support, please reach out to kevin@parkwayucc.org; 314-330-0629
People who are struggling with their mental health.
People who aren’t feeling safe at home but are remaining there.
Individuals in all levels of leadership as they make decisions today.
Healing of relationships between the public and the police.
Sue and Paul Stohr - settling into their new home…
Mason Pointe Independent Living
13198 S Outer 40 Rd; Apt 143; Town & Country MO 63017
Melissa - Master of Education Degree (Gerry/Mike Rogers’ daughter).
St Louis Assn UCC Covenant Partner
Week ending December 20 - Mt Tabor UCC, St Louis; mounttaborucc.org
Week ending December 27 - Calvary UCC, St Louis; calvaryucc.org
|
|
|
We Grieve the Many Thousands written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, sung by Rev Dr Ginny Brown Daniel, our Missouri Mid-South Conference Minister
We Grieve the Many Thousands
PASSION CHORALE 7.6.7.6 D ("O Sacred Head, Now Wounded")
We grieve the many thousands —
yet we can't understand;
we cannot grasp how many
have died throughout this land.
We cannot see their faces
or hear the stories told
of all the ways they blessed us —
the young ones and the old.
O God, we grieve the struggle of those who died alone —
so far from friends and neighbors, from all they'd ever known.
We grieve for precious people
who could not say good-bye;
we weep for those, now mourning, who sit alone and cry.
O God, we grieve for millions
who now are unemployed
who cannot feed their families — whose hope has been destroyed.
We grieve that needed workers must worry for their health
while some with lives of privilege stay home and build their wealth.
O God of love and mercy,
we cry to you, "How long?"
In troubled times remind us:
Your love is ever strong.
Now as we grieve the suffering, Lord, show us how to be
A healing, loving presence
in each community.
|
|
|
|
Who’s Rudolph’s favorite pop star?
Beyon-sleigh!
What do monkeys sing at Christmas?
Jungle bells!
|
Ponder
One of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along; that while we need to be reassured of God's arrival, or the arrival of our homecoming, we are already at home. While we wait, we have to trust, to have faith, but it is God's grace that gives us that faith. As with all spiritual knowledge, two things are true, and equally true, at once. The mind can't grasp paradox; it is the knowledge of the soul. ~Michelle Blake
|
|
|
|
We appreciate your submissions of jokes, quotes, videos, weekly opportunities, Mid~Week Meditation ideas, scriptures that are important to you, hymn/song suggestions, poetry, etc We would love to hear from you kevin@parkwayucc.org
|
|
Visit our social media for a mix of pix and to see what other PUCCers would like you to attend/experience/ponder/pray about with them.
Please post a picture of you/yours on our social media:
|
|
WORSHIP SUNDAYS at 10:00am
|
|
2841 N Ballas Road,
St. Louis, MO 63131
|
|
|
PUCC eNews is published weekly in order to broadcast Parkway UCC events and happenings - and items of interest to the Parkway UCC community of faith - for the upcoming week. Please submit all communications requests, via the button below, by noon Monday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
