New Year's Eve

Just a reminder that we're gathering to fellowship at the church building tonight at 7:00 for games and food and to countdown to the New Year together. Stay as short or as long as you want, but know that you're invited.

As for food, the plan is (for now) just to bring snacky-type stuff (chips, crackers, cheese, drinks, etc.). Some talked yesterday after worship about the possibility of those who want to pooling together to order something (pizza, chinese, etc.), so perhaps you want to bring some cash too.

Either way, we hope to see you tonight!

Shelter Cleaning

There were just two of us who worked yesterday on cleaning out the shelter space. We got a lot done, but there's so much more to do! Tomorrow morning we'll begin at 9:00. Lunch will be served. Hope to see some of you then.

Shelter Cleaning

We mentioned last week that the space in the church building set aside for transitional shelter housing through Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore would be vacant this week. Our former guests have moved out. So we want to use this window of time to clean and straighten up the space. This is your chance to be a part of a very important ministry of North Street. It's pretty easy to forget that we provide this space for families in need of shelter and now is the time for us to put what we can into the space to make for the best Christian hospitality that we can. Would you consider coming and helping out? We'll have two main times of cleaning:

Tomorrow, Thursday, December 20, 3:00
Some of the facilities committee will be in the space for cleaning and to make sure everything is working. While we'll begin at 3:00, feel free to come and help out even if you have time into the evening.

Saturday, December 22, 9:00 AM
For those who can't make it Thursday, we'll also be working on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

I know it's a very busy season, so I especially thank you for your help! (And if you want to help out but neither of these times work for you, let me know, I'm sure we can get you in!)

Book Club...Postponed

Due to the possibility of major freezing tonight, and the fact that there's no where to park near the parsonage at the moment, the meeting of the Book Club that was scheduled for tonight is postponed. Stay tuned for a date for the next meeting.

The weather outside is frightful...

...so please use your best judgment in traveling today. I've been watching Thaxter and North Streets since 6:00 AM and I think the DPW slept in or something, they haven't even tried to clear them. I imagine that they'd try and do something before 10:00, but who knows. So I am encouraging everyone to not go out and drive this morning.

I will be at the church building at 11:00 and any of us there together will spend some time in the scripture passages and prayer.

Perhaps those of you at home want to have your own little worship service. You can read the scripture passages (below), read a sermon (below), and pray together.

Here are the scripture passages for this week:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:5-10
Luke 1:46-55
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

You can read them by clicking here. Some of you who've been using the community scripture way may notice that verse 12 is added to the Matthew passage. That's because I'm giving you a link to a wonderful sermon by one of my favorite preachers: Barbara Brown Taylor that includes that verse. She preached this message three years ago this week in the Duke University Chapel. It has some of the same idea of where we were going to be headed together this morning. When your done reading it, ask yourself: "What expectations do I have about God and his Kingdom that might be wrong or just plain selfish??"
You can read the sermon here (it's a .pdf file which will require Adobe Reader...which most of you probably already have...just try clicking below, and if it doesn't work, then go and get the reader):
http://www.chapel.duke.edu/documents/sermons/sermon_135.pdf

As you pray, pray for one another and that we might know Christ better in this Advent season. And know that I'm praying for you on this day of worship.

Oh, and if you really miss music and maybe even need some comic relief, I've got a song I've been saving for a special occasion. Click here to hear a version of O Holy Night like you've never heard it before.

Immediate Help Needed

If you're not already helping the FHSS Christmas Shoppe with wrapping and such today, I just received a phone call asking for desperately needed help today for the Quincy Crisis Center. They are in need of drivers to take out deliveries of food and presents to families today. If you can help, please call the QCC at 617-847-6967.

North Street Update

As I sit here and type this, the snow is falling hard, we've got water warming up in the teapot for various hot drinks (I was just out in the cold taking some pictures of the church building), and we've already picked out a movie to watch tonight as the snow accumulates. Meghan and I have always loved snow...we were just trying to figure out why the majority of people talk of it with distaste. We think it's wonderful. I love that it breaks down the "normal" hustle and bustle of life. A good snowstorm tells me that everyone is going to have to slow down just a bit. I think it's good for us; as you've probably already noticed, this season is busy enough - use the time to relax!

Speaking of busyness of the season...there is a bunch to update you on. But before we get to the activities of December, let me tell you what's not happening this month. There will be no monthly third Sunday gathering to fellowship (AKA potluck) or men's breakfast fellowship. But there are plenty of opportunities to gather together in these Advent and Christmas seasons. We hope to see you soon.

- Jeremy

This Sunday in Worship
Have you ever waited very long for something? I'm not talking about the shopping lines in December or traffic in Boston. I mean, have you ever waited a long time for something? Perhaps you're still waiting for this something. You thought a long time ago that it was going to happen pretty soon, but here it is months, years, maybe even a lifetime later, and it still hasn't happened?

This Sunday, we're going to look at the time of the Incarnation, the coming of God to the world in Christ. What was it like for God's people to be waiting for a messiah? What did they expect? What did they find out? And as we're in Advent, a season of expectation, we'll consider a bit how we today are in a similar mode. We know that Christ came some two millenia ago, but we also know that there's more Kingdom work to be done. What should we be looking for? What should we be doing as we look forward to Christ's return, whatever that might look like? Join us as we consider these things.

I encourage you if you haven't yet to join us on our community scripture way. You can read the passages of scripture for this coming Sunday in worship and see the schedule here.

Update on Everett Pleyer
Everett has been moved out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation facility, where he will be for at least a couple of weeks. Please continue to be supportive to the whole family in prayer and action in these days.

Discussion Forum
We want to let you know about a new exciting portion of our website (www.northst.org). Part of our hope in traveling together as disciples of Jesus Christ is to learn from one another. Unfortunately, we only meet all together once a week. We would do better to connect "between the Sundays". One way that you might consider doing this is by participating in the new North Street Discussion Forum on the website. We're starting small, and we'll see how and if it'll take off, but for now, there is an area for discussion over the community scripture way, an area for Book Club discussions, and an area for more general community discussion. There is not yet a link from the discipleship page (there soon will be), but for now, use the following link:
http://www.northst.org/discipleship/discussion

You'll need to register to post (and some forums won't be viewable except by registered members), and please feel free to use your real name. "Talk" to you soon!

Book Club
The second meeting of the Book Club is this coming Sunday evening, December 16, at 7:00 PM. It will be hosted by Meghan Scott at the parsonage (click here for a map and directions). We'll be discussing Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. If you haven't read the novel, you can access it by clicking here (it's fairly short, so you may be able to finish it by Sunday evening). But don't think that you can't come if you haven't read the book!

Christmas Caroling & Parsonage Open House
Speaking of Christmas and carols, everyone is invited to come and join us as we go Christmas caroling around the immediate North Street and Thaxter Street neighborhoods at 5:00 PM this Saturday, December 15. After, everyone is invited to an open house at the parsonage (even if you didn't go caroling!).

Ladies Craft Night
Monday, December 17, 6:30 PM in the Newell Gathering Room.

Christmas Eve Eve Worship Gathering
We'll have a special Christmas worship gathering on Sunday, December 23, at 6:00 PM (please note that this is a time change from a previous announcement). This will be a family candlelight service.

New Year's Eve Gathering
Anyone and everyone is invited to join us for food and games on New Year's Eve (...just in case...that's December 31st). We'll gather at 7:00 PM and ring in the new calendar year together.

Shelter Cleaning
The space in the church building set aside for transitional shelter housing through Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore will be vacant briefly over the next week. We want to use this time to spruce up the living area for the next families to come in. If you have any time this coming week (after Sunday, December 16th) to clean the space, please let me (Jeremy) know. And then on Saturday, December 22nd, everyone's invited to come and help clean and organize at 9:00.

...on the calendar
As always, you can keep up-to-date with North Street happenings by using our on-line calendar (click here).

Some updates...

We just received word via Julie White a good report on Neal Estey:
I just got a call from Neal with his latest scan results. As many of you may know, he had a scan done this past Saturday and received the results today. The doctor said that the results are "unbelievably good." Apparently all of the tumors have shrunk to half of their original size and some of the smaller ones have shrunk to less than half their original size. The doctor also said that he was quite surprised because it is very rare to see results like this. :)

And Everett Pleyer continues to recover in the CCU at Jordan Hospital. In addition to watching over Everett, Tim & Ardie are in the midst of making preparations and decisions for day care for Arlene (for those who don't know, Everett has been his wife, Arlene's main care taker as she continues into Alzheimer's Disease). Please continue in prayer for all four of them.

...and may we be the answers to our own prayers.

Also, I referenced a commercial yesterday before we received communion together that I said I'd send out to you that I thought was pretty appropriate for our time together at the table. While the implications of the shoe commercial are implied for a sports team, it's the whole idea for the church as well. Here it is (you may need to visit the North St. News page to actually see it):