Connections: December 19, 2022
Merry Christmas
& Happy New Year

Join us to share the joy of Jesus’ birth at our Christmas Eve services at 5 pm for our families with special fun for the kiddos and our 11 pm candlelight service, with special seasonal music starting at 10:40 pm. We would love you to bring your friends and family to share our Christmas Eve celebrations.

We have graciously been invited to attend Christmas morning worship with the St. James AME congregation. (There will be no church service at CCSM on Sunday, December 25.) Come worship at St. James at 11am, 825 Monte Diablo Ave. (between N. Grant and N. Fremont) in San Mateo on Christmas morning! If you'd like to watch it online, you'll be able to do so at St. James' Facebook page, facebook.com/stjamessanmateo

Let’s bless our new beginnings together as we ring in the New Year with service on January 1, 2023 at CCSM. Rev. Jorge Bautista will be preaching. 

2023 is going to be an exciting year for personal and congregation renewal and invigoration. Let’s be our best selves and engage as a congregation with the foundation of hope and love.

I count my time here as a meaningful blessing and look forward to the next months with you as the Settled Minister position is posted; we meet and interview candidates and look to the future of CCSM. 


“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
—African Proverb


Rev. Melissa

PS Please note: there will be no Monday Connections next week. Look for links to the Christmas Eve services and bulletins this Saturday, and you'll find links for our January 1 service in the Saturday, December 31 email.
Click on the video above for Sunday's worship service,
or click HERE for Rev. Melissa's sermon, "Agape Love."
Pick-A-Party Lists are OUT!
Remember to download your Pick-A-Party list HERE, or type tinyurl.com/PAP-LIST-2022 into your browser, or contact one of the organizers below. Sign-ups will take place on January 8. And please note: Carol Henton's Chicken Marbella dinner is on Saturday, June 21, and Alison and Jim Schwandt are co-hosting the Bocce Ball party with the Gallos. Pick-A-Party management apologizes for any confusion :) 
Questions? Contact Sandy McNabb, sandra.j.mcnabb@gmail.com 650.678.5650
Michele Merfeld Hale, kaymerf@yahoo.com 206.612.6182 or
Diane Kalliam, dkalliam@gmail.com 415.279.1359
Christmas Eve
Services at CCSM

5:00pm Family Christmas Eve
Join us for a pageant, carols, and joy!

10:40pm Christmas Garland
A special time of Christmas music
11:00pm Candlelight Service
A mystical and magical candlelight Christmas Eve service... Beautiful music and inspirational readings

You may also view these services online in real time or later on, just like our Sunday morning services. Go to the church's YouTube page or to the church's Facebook page, or to the church website.
LAS POSADAS: Wed., December 21, 7:15 pm

This Advent Season CCSM will celebrate Las Posadas again! This event brings together people from all ages, both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking. It begins with the traditional candlelit, singing procession around the outside of the church. Joseph and Mary, accompanied by angels and shepherds—and by all of us, go from ‘inn’ to ‘inn,’ seeking a place to stay where Mary can give birth. When they are finally offered a manger in which to stay, we participants in the procession will enjoy cross-cultural games and activities. Then we will proceed to a traditional tamale dinner, prepared by Rev. Jorge’s mother and women from our Spanish-speaking congregation. The evening will end when our children strive to smash open a piñata.
Since we will not have a bulletin with Joys and Concerns this coming Sunday, we wanted to let people know that former CCSM member Fred Shaughnessy passed away on December 12. There will be a memorial reception for Fred on December 30 at CCSM; time is to be determined but you can check the CCSM calendar which will be updated when a time is known. This reception will follow a memorial service elsewhere, officiated by Rev. Jorge.
Youth and Family Events
All Sundays (except Dec 25 and Jan 1): Weekly Sunday kids' spiritual program at 10:45, led by Shannon (they/them) and Elaine (she/her) in the Community Room. Pre-K care is offered by Lily (she/her). Youth Group is led by Elijah (he/him) in the Fireplace Room. 
Wednesday, December 21: 7pm - Las Posadas! Kids and youth are invited to come wear an angel, shepherd, or animal costume and walk around the church as we tell the story of Mary and Joseph looking for a room at the inn. Afterward, we will share a meal together and a pinata!  
Saturday, December 24: special Christmas Eve services at church (5pm is the family service!). There will be some simple costumes, songs, and stories all geared towards kids. Candlelight service at 11pm.
Sunday, January 8: 11:45am Family Play Date! Please join us in the CE building's Community Room (2nd floor) for a fun time that will include pizza, music and singing, and a service project for LifeMoves where we will continue to decorate pillowcases to be used in family shelters. 
Monday, January 16: Peninsula Multifaith Council's Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Each year there are projects for all ages - families are welcome to participate in any but we will choose one to do together as a CCSM community! 
Sunday, January 22: 10:45am: 60 Minutes conversation for high school youth led by Mike (he/him) and Sheryl (she/her). Each month, high schoolers choose a discussion topic. This month the focus will be on the future of the church.  
Saturday February 18-Monday February 20: Mid-winter youth camp for those in grades 7-12 in Palo Alto - please note the date and location change. 
Advent Taizé
Join us for our final bilingual Advent Taizé service on December 23 at 7:30 pm here at CCSM to ground us in the season of love beyond the commercialism that attempts to own the Season. Light dessert and beverages after. 

If you can't make it in person, it will also be streamed on FaceBook Live on CCSM's facebook pate (FB.com/CCSM.UCC)
To watch the Christmas morning service online, go to
St. James' Facebook page at facebook.com/stjamessanmateo
FIRST SUNDAYS OF THE MONTH ARE COMMUNION SUNDAYS
If there’s a way you can be in person on the first Sundays of the month, communion is a meaningful time to be together.
If you’re not able to be with us in person, you’re invited to share in communion while online with us from wherever you are; just have some bread and juice ready and you can participate with us that way.
In January, we will celebrate communion on JANUARY 8
(instead of on the first Sunday, January 1).
To share in communion online during the service, click HERE or type tinyurl.com/Communion-Zoom into your browser.
BLESSING BOX - FIRST SUNDAYS!
Bring your offerings on January 1!
The "Blessing Box" outside of the entrance of CCSM is a project of the Ministry of Service and Justice, responding to the need for families in our neighborhood to access food and an expression of our call to be the "hands, feet, and face of God" in our community. Before the pandemic, CCSM collected food for Samaritan House on the first Sunday of each month. We are now reinstating a non-perishable food collection for each first Sunday, but it will be to supply our Blessing Box. Please take the opportunity to bring food (canned, dried and boxed, no fresh food please!) on the first Sunday of each month. There will be helpful reminders in the bulletin, Connections, and Pine Tree.
The Ministry of Service and Justice suggests adding a few non-perishables to your grocery list. If we make this a habit, we can keep the Blessing Box filled with nourishing food for the people of our neighborhood. Thank you for your continuing generosity!
Pray for Ukraine Every Tuesday at 7:30pm

CCSM held a powerful live Prayer Ritual for Ukraine on March 6th. We have decided to premier this ritual ONLINE every Tuesday until the war ends. We hope you will join us online weekly to continue our prayers and heal our hearts. These are challenging times and this offering is a way to bring our community together and magnify our prayers.

Please share this link with your friends and family so we can extend this offering to as many people as possible.

Link for Prayer Ritual on YouTube: tinyurl.com/CCSM-Ukraine-Prayer
225 Tilton Avenue • San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 343-3694
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