Our finance team is working hard on our 2023 budget! We are still just three pledges away from this year's stewardship goal. If you haven't pledged yet please consider filling out the covenant card below or visiting our stewardship page to learn more about sharing your perfect gift!

TONIGHT following our Soul Feast Christmas Party, come hear a word about how we can help our neighbors living in homelessness! Jennifer Phillips from Willing Helpers Clinic will be speaking in the Adult Sunday School Room at 6:15pm on December 7th.

Children & teens are encouraged to join our Christmas Pageant!

Speaking & non-speaking parts available.

Practices: Dec. 11 at 9:45am

Dec. 14 at 4:00pm

See Erin for more details and to sign up

Youth Lunch and Caroling

Dec. 11 after Lessons and Carols for 5th grade and up

Lunch at Your Pie

$5 per person

RSVP to Erin by Dec. 8th

After eating pizza, we will bring some youthful joy to our home-bound friends with some Christmas Carols!

The Longest Night

December 21st

5:30pm

We will honor our weary hearts in a weary season in a weary world and travel the road of Advent together as honestly as we can on a quest for encouragement, hope, and strength in the places we are currently living - emotionally, spiritually, and physically. We are holding you in the light of God's love and peace this Advent Season. 

Christmas Day Worship

Everyone is invited to join us for a short and sweet Christmastide service on Sunday, December 25th at 11:00am! There will not be childcare available in the nursery but children of all ages are invited to wear their jammies to worship!

There will be no Sunday School on Christmas Day or on January 1st.

"Grace Notes & Gospel Gab" is a new email offering from our Director of Music and Worship Arts, Alicia Taylor. Subscribe to learn about FPC’s music ministry and the history behind special worship services.

Read an excerpt on Lessons and Carols below. Then click to subscribe and get the full thing in your inbox this week!

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the Christmas Eve service held in King's College Chapel, Oxford, England. The festival was introduced in 1918 to bring a more imaginative approach to worship. It was first broadcast in 1928 and is now broadcast to millions of people around the world. 

[ ... ] Almost immediately other churches adapted the service for their own use. A wider frame began to grow when the service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, it has been broadcast annually, even during the Second World War, when the ancient glass (and also all heat) had been removed from the Chapel and the name of King’s could not be broadcast for security reasons. Sometime in the early 1930s, the BBC began broadcasting the service on overseas programs. It is estimated that there are millions of listeners worldwide, including those to Radio Four in the United Kingdom. In recent years, it has become the practice to broadcast a digital recording on Christmas Day on Radio Three, and, since 1963, a shorter service has been filmed periodically for television. Recordings of carols by Decca and EMI have also served to spread its fame. [ ... ]

Wherever the service is heard and however it is adapted, whether the music is provided by choir or congregation, the pattern and strength of the service, as Dean Milner-White pointed out, derive from the lessons and not the music. “The main theme is the development of the loving purposes of God …” seen “through the windows and words of the Bible.” Local interests appear, as they do here, in the bidding prayer, and personal circumstances give point to different parts of the service.

The Chancel Choir has begun rehearsing music for Advent and Christmas, and we would love to have you join us! Currently, a portion of the rehearsal from 7:20 to 7:50 is dedicated to rehearsing Lessons & Carols, which will be accompanied by a string quartet and percussion on Sunday, December 11th. 

Children 3 years old through 1st grade are invited to Joyful Noise at 4:30pm to ring bells, sing praise, participate in a rhythm band, and puppetry arts.

Hallelujah Kids! meets at 5:00pm for 2nd through 8th graders to learn to ring tone chimes and handbells, sing praise, participate in a drumming circle, and puppetry arts.

Childcare will be available from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM each Wednesday at the church for parents who are involved in the church music ministry.

Please contact Alicia Taylor at 770-656-6848 or at alicia@fpccov.org with any questions

All of the Angel Trees have been claimed!

Remember that the gifts must be returned to the narthex no later than

NEXT WEEK

by Tuesday, December 13th

It is very important that the tags be returned attached to the gifts so it can reach its Angel!

End of the Year Donations

As we approach the end of the fiscal year, some of you may be planning to make donations to the church for the 2022 tax year or to fulfill your pledge and giving for the year. If you wish your donations to be credited for this year they must reach the church no later than December 31st. Since the 31st is a Saturday, you will need to have them to the church by Friday the 30th. They also may be mailed but have to be postmarked by December 31st. If you are age 72 or older and have to make a Minimum Distribution from your IRA, now would be the time to use part of that for your church offering. Funds distributed from your IRA are not taxable if you have the payment made directly to the church. If your broker needs information about how to transmit the money to the church they can call at the number below. Thank you for your generous gifts to the church!

Peni Kehoe

Finance Administrator

770-786-7321, ext. 1011

Neeley’s Notions is an email offering that gives Neeley the chance to start a conversation about the inspirations and influences she thinks about while writing her weekly sermon. The email will be sent on Friday mornings when the Spirit leads, and you can reply to the email with your thoughts and stories for Neeley to read.

Click below to subscribe if you haven't already!

Greetings in the name of the Lord! What a joy it is to serve in ministry with you! As we walk on this journey of faith together, we will send out a monthly newsletter with ministry opportunities for Children and Families. Be on the lookout for ways to connect with one another! 

With joy,

Rev. Erin Morgan

Associate Pastor for Faith Formation

Office Holiday Hours:

December 23 - OPEN 9:00am-12:00pm

December 26 - CLOSED

December 27 - CLOSED

January 2 - CLOSED

January 16 - CLOSED

Dear Members and Friends of First Presbyterian Church, Covington:

Each year during the Christmas Season, we at FPC, Covington, like to show our appreciation and gratitude to our church staff members who give so much of themselves on our behalf throughout the course of each year.

We ask for your participation in this effort by making a contribution to a special fund that we establish annually for this purpose. You may contribute in several ways: leaving your contribution in the FPC offering plate, bringing it by the Church Office, or mailing it to the Church. Please ensure that you label your check and/or your envelope, “Staff Love Gift” so that it will end up in the right place. It would be helpful if your contribution were made in a separate check, rather than making it a part of your regular contributions to FPC. You may also give on-line through REALM or by texting to 73256, enter FPCCOV as your message, click to send. You can also give through REALM by clicking HERE. Follow the prompts and use “Love Gift” as the fund. If you aren’t able to enter a fund, please email admin@fpccov.org to notify us of your gift to the fund. 

Please make sure that your “Staff Love Gift” reaches the Church by Sunday, December 18, 2022. Your generosity is much appreciated, in helping us to show our love to our devoted Church Staff Members.

Sincerely, 

John McCarthy, Clerk of Session;

Billy Fortson, Personnel Elder;

Bob Tabb, Finance Elder

Please keep the following people and their families in your prayers this week:

Prayers:

• Hulda, friend of Judy Davis - breast cancer
• Jody Harris, friend of Chris, Barbara, and Alex Martin
• Dan Walden - recovering from knee surgery
• Richard, friend of Miriam and Jack Wheeler - chemo and raditation
• Joe Burns, brother of Cathy Dobbs
• Stephanie Fortson - broken hip
• Patrick Carmichael
• Beverly Beasley, friend of Jean Elder - caring for husband who has leukemia
• Larry Cox, brother-in-law of Randy Layton - cancer
• Bob Darby, friend of Jeff Mackenzie - leg amputated, kidney problems
• Bruce Hamilton, brother-in-law of Theodosia Wade - cancer
• Karen Lein Kaasa, sister-in-law of Julie MacKenzie - home health care
• Lonnie Lamb - chemotherapy
• Gary Lott, brother of Tricia Hinton - recovering at home following two brain surgeries
• Linea Lott, niece of Tricia Hinton - leukemia
• Tony Taylor, brother of Alicia Taylor - gradually gaining strength with physical therapy
• Donald Vining, brother of Danny Vining - vision loss
• Blair Weaver - health issues
• Joyce Williams, sister of Danny Vining - Alzheimer’s 

Independent and Assisted Living

• Penny Blakeney - The Oaks Assisted Living
• Julia Brubaker - Benton House
• Jean Elder - Florida with her daughter
• Dot Fincher - Merryvale
• Travis Moss - Westbury, Conyers
• Gene Wallace - Merryvale
• Louise White - Merryvale

Military Service

• Billy Scarborough - Marines
• Koen Ardis - Navy

Please click HERE to update your prayer requests or send new prayer requests.

You will be sent a check-in after three weeks.

In your email please indicate if you would like your request to be confidential or added to our prayer list.