Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I mispoke on Sunday morning about what's happening this evening.  Sorry!  We will not have our regularly scheduled Wednesday Evening activities as the annual Hingham Community Thanksgiving Service is at 7:00 PM.  Everyone is invited to come and be thankful together.  The service is at the Old Ship Church at 107 Main Street, Hingham. 

Did you know that that crazy word we use to refer to communion ("Eucharist") actually means "to give thanks"?  Remember that when Jesus first celebrated at the Table with the disciples on that Holy Thursday, it says that it was only "after he had given thanks" that he shared the cup and the bread. 

We sure have a lot to be thankful for this week, don't we?  But our greatest gift is God himself, in Christ.  While we'll celebrate this gift "officially" in exactly one month from today, we can for sure be thankful each and every day for Christ.

May he be with you as you give thanks this week.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Greetings in Christ!

First off, don't forget our Wednesday activities tonight: community dinner at 6:00 and Bible study at 7:00.  Tonight we'll look at the Colossian hymn as we head for Christ the King Sunday.

Speaking of Christ the King Sunday (November 22), this is the last Sunday of the church year!  That means that the Sunday after (November 29th) brings the beginning of Advent.  Can you believe it?!

This will be a special Sunday for a number of reasons:

• In the morning (10:30 AM), we will celebrate Christ as King together with a gathering around His table.  Come prepared for a bit of a different gathering of worship than we're used to on Sunday morning, as the team from The Remembrance will be leading us.  We will also be handing out our next Community Scripture Way, as the readings begin on Monday for the first week of Advent.
• In the evening (6:00 PM), we will have a "Hymn-Sing."  Come prepared to sing and don't forget to think about what hymn you'd like to "request."  We haven't done this in a while; should be fun.  Pastor Jeremy will also be bringing a little bit of history of hymnology.
• After the hymn-sing, we'll eat some ice cream together and then "Hang the Greens" in our church building (AKA decorating for Advent).  We need some volunteers to bring a tub of ice cream and everyone else to bring one topping (e-mail Pastor Jeremy to volunteer to bring the ice cream).

The church board met on Monday, and we began our meeting with the Serenity Prayer.   Make it your prayer today:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

See you soon!