Worship with Us This Sunday at 10am

Third Sunday of Advent: Joy...more joy, less worry!

Join us as we light three Advent candles - hope, peace, joy - and we hear the story of the nativity in Lessons & Carols.

Our scripture passages will be shared by eight PUCCers -

Gabriel, Lisa, Bill, Sally, Kathleen, Evelyn, Joan and Jackie.

The music includes: Gathered Here; Jesus, the Light of the World;

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; God Walked in Eden’s Garden Fair; Advent Verse; As A Fire is Meant for Burning; The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came; Song of Mary (Magnificat); Only a Baby Came; Jesus, Jesus, O What a Wonderful Child; In The Judean Hills; Angels We Have Heard on High; Still, Still. Still;

I Look From Afar; and Go Now in Peace

The Second Mile Advent Mission Moment will be about The Christmas Fund of our United Church of Christ.

The worship bulletin can be found here:

December 17 - Joy ... Lessons & Carols

Please consider Christmas Caroling with us this Sunday before you head home or off to other activities. This is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone. See invitation below ...

Please participate in worship virtually via our livestream on Facebook if that is convenient for you and/or if you have health concerns. Masks are available and respected here.

FROM GABRIEL REQUADT ~

OUR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION & YOUTH DIRECTOR!

We are looking for two additional volunteers to join the team and help teach Children's Ministry in 2024. It's excellent way to serve in this church, and we have a vibrant Children's Ministry program. So, if you have a joy teaching children from PreK to 3rd Grade, we'd love to have ya! It's pretty low commitment, so not too demanding, so if you feel you'd have a couple weeks out of the month free, or even just one week a month, then this could be the right fit for you.

If interested, please reach out to Gabriel Requadt, our Director of Christian Education, for more information.

[email protected]

Christmas Caroling: Share the Spirit of the Season

Help us spread the hope, peace, joy and love of the season to our PUCC friends who can use an infusion of the Spirit right now.

Come to the Gathering Space for a warm-up and then head out for a festive time.

This is one of the most important things we can do.

Attend one or both opportunities:

Sunday, December 17 right very soon after worship;

Monday, December 18 from 9:30am-12:30pm

Please RSVP to [email protected]; 314-872-9330

AWOL - Adventurous Women Out Late - THIS SUNDAY

When’s the last time you braved the Mall at Christmas time? 

Meet at church at 4:30pm this Sunday, December 17 to carpool down the street to West County Mall.

We’ll have dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and then do some window shopping. 

Please RSVP by Friday, December 15 to Carmen Bumgarner [email protected]; 314-330-0813

Hope, Peace, Joy and Love in the Prayer Corner of the Sanctuary: Come for conversation and prayer

Join Kevin in the Prayer Corner of the Sanctuary anytime during these open hours for individual conversation and prayer about hope, peace, joy and love. If none of these dates work for you or you just prefer it, we can settle on a time for a phone call or Zoom during this season of Advent.

If you arrive and the Prayer Corner is occupied, feel free to wait a few minutes in the Gathering Space and text so Kevin knows you are waiting (314-330-0629)

Remaining opportunity:

Tuesday, December 19 between 3-5pm

SECOND MILE ADVENT GIFTS

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 below 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 does not have any real needs right now. We - and so many other - are grateful for your generosity.

Circle of Concern

circleofconcern.org/

Each day, Circle of Concern feeds families from the food pantry, shares financial assistance, and distribute school supplies, Thanksgiving turkeys or holiday gifts.

Mission: Circle of Concern feeds the hungry and provides assistance to low-income families living in west St. Louis County.

Our Vision: Improving every life in the community by reducing hunger and poverty

Our 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 so 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

emmaushomes.org/

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. EH believes everyone deserves the resources needed to live independently.

EH understands it’s tough to manage life alone, which is why for over 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

pbucc.org/index.php/christmas-fund-home

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 last few years with COVID-19 pandemic and inflations of all kinds, 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.

Prayer List Updates as of December 15

All the acts of kindness, justice and equity near and far.

Seasonal beauty.

Families and individuals celebrating the holidays together.

Nancy and Jack Litzinger - relocating right now to The Willows at Brooking Park 207 S. Woods Mill Rd, #1211; Chesterfield, MO 63017.

Judy Waddell - as she continues to settle in at McKnight Place.

Coree Mix - also experiencing a fresh start - 8649 North Ave, StL 63114.

Rebecca Ray - that her book on suicide prevention will be published for a wide audience so her wisdom, gentleness, compassion will help others.

Students, families, faculty and staff - at the close of a semester. 

Don Wandless - strengthening and getting medications aligned.

Bill Hilgeman - continued healing after serious injuries.

Jackie - loving and supporting her ailing mom (102) and her step-father (103) as he nears the end of his life (Larson).

Family/friends of Clare Chapman - grieving/giving thanks for her.

The people of Tennessee - in the aftermath of lethal tornadoes.

The University of Nevada at Las Vegas Community - grieving.

Grieving/struggling families or individuals as the holidays unfold.

The continuing war in Ukraine.

War in the Mideast - Israel and Hamas….Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen

Because of you, our church changes lives….

This is a reminder from our PUCC Stewardship Commission:

If you haven’t pledged for 2024 and intend to, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. We are nearing the end of the campaign and your pledge is important for us to complete the budgeting process and planning for 2024. Blank cards are in the Gathering Space or contact either Amy Yakel ([email protected]) or Harold Cobb ([email protected])Thank you!

SUSTAINABILITY CORNER

Along with our theme of being environmentally responsible and reducing single use plastic bottles, the Sustainability Team would like to promote more usage of reusable water bottles or thermoses. To do this we encourage you to bring your personal reusable bottle (be sure and put your name on the bottle) to church with you each Sunday. We will have a larger container of ice water that you can use to fill up your bottle with the water or lemonade provided. Or you can choose to fill up your thermos with coffee and take it into the sanctuary for worship. Glasses and mugs will, of course, still be available if you prefer. 

Here are a couple of Christmas tips and reminders: Most Recycling and Trash companies will allow you to place your real Christmas tree by the curb for yard waste pickup (whether you subscribe to the yard waste or not). In addition, most communities provide a place to drop off your Christmas tree. Just pay attention to where these opportunities will be held in your community. Also, any wrapping paper other than foil backed, is recyclable. No need to add these to the landfill. 

A New Year’s Resolution and goal for Sustainability Seekers will be to work harder at promoting ways to lower our carbon footprint - at home, at church and in the community.



Thank you,

Your Sustainability Seekers

Christmas Eve this year is a Sunday!

We will worship in the morning at 10am as it is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. We will light the fourth candle in the Advent Wreath and continue to prepare ourselves for Christ's birth!

Later we will have our Christmas Eve services:

4:30pm Family Friendly Worship—A lively and spirited service with Nativity scriptures, carols and contemporary reflections. We will sing Silent Night by candlelight as we prepare to go out into this holy night.

7:30pm Candlelight & Communion—This traditional service includes the Christmas Gospel, choir and carols as we ponder what this love story means for us today. We will share Communion at our open table and sing Silent Night by candlelight.

~ All three services will be in the Sanctuary and on Facebook Live ~

Christmas Dinner Pot Luck

Monday, December 25

2-4pm in the Heritage Room

at PUCC

Please join us for a fun, festive Christmas potluck dinner. Ham and rolls provided… together we will do the rest!

Please contact Gerry and Mike Rogers with RSVP, questions and/or comments at [email protected];

314-434-7122 

Annual TWELFTH-NIGHT FEAST & FESTIVAL 2024

Featuring Visiting Choirs and other Musicians



Mark your calendars now for our annual TWELFTH-NIGHT FEAST & FESTIVAL here at PUCC on Friday, January 5th, 2024 -- the 12th Night of Christmas.

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC at 6pm, with the festivities beginning at 6:30pm. Featuring several visiting Choirs and other Musicians presenting their best (and last) of this Christmas Season’s music PLUS . . . good feasting after!

Any questions, please contact [email protected]; (636) 485-5378

Come to the Quiet is a silent retreat, January 5-7, at Mercy Conference and Retreat Center just down the street from church off Clayton Road. 

The retreat opens with 5:30pm supper Friday and concludes at 11am on Sunday. The cost is $165 for a private room with a private bath. The retreat has minimal structure with optional sessions and informal spiritual companioning to help participants connect with the silence within.

Dawn Stringfield, Executive Director of Mercy Conference and Retreat Center will lead the retreat. Dawn was one of the founders of Lydia's House here in St Louis.

Register at www.mercycenterstl.org by January 1.

Parkway Adventurers - Open to All!

Join us for a Dutch Brunch & 2024 Planning on Tuesday, January 16 at 9:30am at Sunny Street Cafe in Des Peres - 11692 Manchester Road, 63131.

We will plan interesting outings for 2024 with different PUCCers coordinating each outing. We usually go somewhere for lunch at a nearby restaurant too. Being with church members and learning something new about the St. Louis community is fun and educational.

Past adventures have included The Magic Chef Mansion; The History Museum; The Holocaust Museum and The La Salle Retreat Center.

RSVP to Carol and Harold Cobb at [email protected]; 314-640-8166

Ponder

From Rev Mike Piazza, UCC pastor in Florida

On Sunday, we will light the pink candle on the Advent wreath. Although I know the history of why we do this, I still don’t like it. Frankly, I don’t like pink. The blue or purple of Advent is wonderful, but pink?!? Who thought this was a good idea? Some churches even change the paraments and vestments for the third Sunday of Advent.

Someone wrote in their blog that they are convinced this expanding pink phenomenon is because so many priests are gay men. Excuse me, but, if that were the case, I don’t think we’d have picked a color that clashes so badly with everything else this season.

The clash of color, however, may be the most "Advent-y" thing about this Sunday. You see, Advent is a counter-cultural effort by the church. While the whole world rushes directly to the manger the minute the turkey has been sealed safely in its Tupperware home, the church still insists it is Advent, not Christmas. The third Sunday was designed to give us a hint of the joy to come. I guess that is why it is pink (rose) and not red.

If we begin singing carols full throated on the day after Thanksgiving, then, by the time the event itself finally arrives, most people already are over it. Christmas is sure to be anticlimactic if you have been celebrating it for a month, but if you have been preparing … 

Well, it is not too late to do a little preparation. John the Baptist was sent "to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord." John’s message is repentance. So, what is it you need to turn around in your life as a way of getting ready for Christmas?



* Do you need to stop thinking of yourself as a "victim" and consider your role in your life?

* Do you need a change of attitude that recovers what really is of great value?

* Do you need to repent of letting external circumstances determine your mood and your mood determine how you treat others?

Maybe I’m the only one who needs to hang in here with Advent a little longer, but I have a feeling if we all spent more time preparing, we actually might experience the One for whom we are getting prepared.

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