North St. News: November 2012

November 29, 2012

This Sunday - This Sunday is the first of Advent. Can you believe it? We're just weeks away from Christmas. With all that this means, it's exciting to so many of us. And yet, Advent continues to serve as a season prior to Christmas reminding us of the period of waiting for Israel before Christ came and the period we the Church are in as we wait for Christ's return. Each week we will once again worship around a theme. This week's is Hope. Join us as we worship together in this season building up to Christmas. Pastor Jeremy will be preaching out of the Lectionary passages this week: Psalm 25:1-10, Jeremiah 33:14-16, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, and Luke 21:25-36. You can read them here.

Also, be sure to mark your calendars now for our Christmas Eve: Gathering of Lights service on December 24 at 4:16 PM (sundown).

Faith Promise Update - As of this past Sunday (11/25), we are up to almost 60% of our goal. We're getting there!

Spanish Word of the Week - advenimiento, which means "advent"

Parking - A note on our parking situation: As of now, we should not park in the parking lot next to the chapel anymore (AKA "The Hersey House"). In addition, you may have noticed that a new driveway will be installed along the property that will take out all of the available street parking. For now, those who are able should park up Thaxter Street in the dirt lot by "Hersey Field". We will be working on firmer options with the Town of Hingham. As always, please save the spots directly behind the chapel for the mobile-challenged, guests, and those who come late. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information.

A great way to support Friends of the Homeless - As a fund-raiser for Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore, a trial run of Stop & Shop gift cards will be available by pre-order. 5% of the proceeds of these gift cards will be donated to the Shelter. If you are interested in helping out, check your budget for what you spend at grocery stores in a month (or two, if possible), or check your bank/credit card statements and find an average of what you might expect to spend in that time period. Once you have a figure that works in your budget that you can afford to pay upfront, send an email to Nathan Scott or call (781) 964-6084 and your pledge will be noted. Once the gift cards are in, Nathan will be in touch with you to arrange pick up and gather your pledged funds. At that point just use your gift cards to make purchases at Stop & Shop as you would your credit card over the space you had budgeted out. (By the by, these are a great way to keep track of when you are tending over budget for groceries). The cards should be here in time for Christmas as well, if you want to give a very useful gift card to someone as a gift. All this with the knowledge that 5% of your purchase goes to help a good cause. If things go smoothly staff at Friends of the Homeless would be interested in placing orders with Stop & Shop's Cash for Causes program on a recurring basis as interest dictates. Thank you.

Ktizo Gallery - One of the beauties of a community is that we each bring various ways of worshiping. Though we most often worship communally through scripture, prayer, and song, many of us also worship through the visual arts. We want to remind you that our Ktizo Nook/Gallery is an open space for exactly that purpose! So please bring in your visual and written arts to display: photography, paintings, drawings, poetry, etc. to share in that gallery space. If you have questions about it, ask Sarah!

Handel's Messiah at ENC - Eastern Nazarene College's Choral Union will proudly present music from the G.F. Handel's oratorio Messiah on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7pm and Sunday, Dec. 2 at 3pm. The choral union, comprised of college students and community members (including several from the North St. community), will be joined by professional orchestra and soloists to present the beloved work of classical music. All are invited to this FREE concert!

Other Reminders:

Sunday, December 2nd

Gathering to Worship (9:30 AM)
Sunday School (10:30 AM~)

Wednesday, December 5th
Community Dinner (6:00 PM)
Bible Study (7:00 PM)- Psalmist's Cry

Upcoming Dates:

The Remembrance: Advent Edition - Dec. 14th at 6:30 PM
Christmas Eve Gathering of Lights Service - Dec. 24th at 4:16 PM
Wesley Covenant Service - Dec. 30th at 9:30 AM
Annual Retreat- Feb. 15th-18th

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Use our online calendar for these and other dates/events as well as our other online sites below! (If you would like to add the church calendar to your Google Calendar, just search for "communication@northst.org" where it says "Add a friend's calendar".)

November 15, 2012

November 15, 2012

This Sunday - It's hard to believe, but we are wrapping up Galatians this week. Next week is Christ the King Sunday and then we're into Advent! After worship and Sunday School this week, please join us for our annual Thanksgiving potluck. There is a Facebook event page for you to see what is still needed if you were unable to sign-up this past Sunday. You could also email Christina.

Parking - A note on our parking situation: As of now, we should not park in the parking lot next to the chapel anymore (AKA "The Hersey House"). In addition, you may have noticed that a new driveway will be installed along the property that will take out all of the available street parking. For now, those who are able should park up Thaxter Street in the dirt lot by "Hersey Field". We will be working on firmer options with the Town of Hingham. As always, please save the spots directly behind the chapel for the mobile-challenged, guests, and those who come late. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information.

Fall Clean-up Day - We will be having a Fall cleanup day at the Chapel on Saturday. Come one, come all! Saturday Nov. 17. 8am to noon. Rake, rake, rake those leaves.

Guatemala Partnership - Faith Promise Results - We have a ways to go a bit to be able to support Vida Abundante Church in Guatemala City. Faith "promises" have come in to the amount of about $5745 (as of last Sunday, 11/11). To fulfill what the church board felt led to commit to both world evangelism and our Guatemala Partnership amounts to over $12,000.

As a Church of the Nazarene, North Street Community participates in the greater worldwide works and efforts of the denomination by giving to the World Evangelism Fund to the amount of 5.5% of our regular income. In years past, we have even overpaid this amount because we believe in the work of the CotN. In addition, we felt led to begin a partnership. We have seen this come to fruition with Vida Abundante CotN in Guatemala City. For now, the board desires to support the partnership with a monthly amount of $300. As an effort to fulfill these two things, we are practicing "Faith Promise," which in short, is a promise made in faith between an individual or family and God. Check out those links to read more about the WEF and Faith Promise.

Spanish Word of the Week - acción de gracias meaning Thanksgiving

Advent/Christmas Decorating-Yes, it is indeed that time of year already! We will decorate for the Advent season on Sunday afternoon, November 25th (Christ the King Sunday!). Please let Sarah know whether you can help!

Ktizo Gallery -One of the beauties of a community is that we each bring various ways of worshiping. Though we most often worship communally through scripture, prayer, and song, many of us also worship through the visual arts. We want to remind you that our Ktizo Nook/Gallery is an open space for exactly that purpose! So please bring in your visual and written arts to display: photography, paintings, drawings, poetry, etc. to share in that gallery space. If you have questions about it, ask Sarah!

Annual Hingham Community Thanksgiving Service @ Old Ship Church (90 Main St.), Wednesday Nov. 21, 7 PM - A tradition of 100+ years continues this Thanksgiving as friends from many congregations in Hingham and Hull gather to celebrate Thanksgiving at the annual Interfaith Community Thanksgiving Service, sponsored by the Hingham/Hull Religious Leaders Association. All are welcome to attend the service, followed by a time of fellowship across the street at the First Baptist Church. This year's preacher is Rev. Anne Emry, from the Episcopal Parish of St. John in Hingham. If you are interested in being part of the interfaith choir for the service, please contact Sarah for more details.
Handel's Messiah at ENC - Eastern Nazarene College's Choral Union will proudly present music from the G.F. Handel's oratorio Messiah on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7pm and Sunday, Dec. 2 at 3pm. The choral union, comprised of college students and community members (including several from the North St. community), will be joined by professional orchestra and soloists to present the beloved work of classical music. All are invited to this FREE concert!

Other Reminders:

Saturday, November 17th
Fall Clean-up (8:00 AM- 12:00PM)

Sunday, November 18th

Gathering to Worship (9:30 AM)
Sunday School (10:30 AM~)
Potluck (12:00 PM)

Upcoming Dates:

The Remembrance: Advent Edition - Dec. 14th at 6:30 PM
Wesley Covenant Service - Dec. 30th at 9:30 AM

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November 8, 2012

This Sunday - We have but two more weeks in Galatians! In many ways, we've been building up to this week's passage. We're rather clear by now of Paul's message that the law or rule-keeping systems are of no value to faith in Christ. Or, we understand that the result of keeping the rules of the law is fruitlessness. So the question becomes: just what is the fruit of faith in Christ and how do we grow such fruit? This week's passage (Galatians 5:16-26) is well-known to answer this question and will lead us on Sunday. I hope you can come. - Pastor Jeremy

Guatemala Partnership - Faith Promise Results - After our Faith Promise Weekend a couple of weekends ago, we have a ways to go a bit to be able to support Vida Abundante Church in Guatemala City. Faith "promises" have come in to the amount of about $4700. To fulfill what the church board felt led to commit to both world evangelism and our Guatemala Partnership amounts to over $12,000. We had a lengthy discussion at our Monday evening board meeting about how to be able to do this. The board feels as though the church community will still be able to cover the total amount through faith promises. But we're going to need help. So we want to be clearer about how this all works:

As a Church of the Nazarene, North Street Community gets to participate in the greater worldwide works and efforts of the denomination by giving to the World Evangelism Fund to the amount of 5.5% of our regular income. In years past, we have even overpaid this amount because we believe in the work of the CotN. In addition, we felt led to begin a partnership. We have seen this come to fruition with Vida Abundante CotN in Guatemala City. For now, the board desires to support the partnership with a monthly amount of $300. As an effort to fulfill these two things, we are practicing "Faith Promise," which in short, is a promise made in faith between an individual or family and God. Check out those links to read more about the WEF and Faith Promise.

We will have more cards and a time of prayer on Sunday to wrap up our Faith Promise for this year. Thanks for your faithfulness!

Spanish Word of the Week - ninos, which is the noun for children.

The Psalmist's Cry - With the bad weather last night, some could not make it to our regular Wednesday gatherings. As such, we've moved beginning our new series until next Wednesday. You can still get in! There are copies of the first chapter on the pulpit in the Newell Gathering Room, or you can check it out here. You can also watch a trailer of the series videos here.

Fall Clean-up Day - We will be having a Fall cleanup day at the Chapel. Come one, come all! Saturday Nov. 17. 8am to noon. Rake,rake,rake those leaves.

November Potluck - On Sunday, November 18th, we will have a Thanksgiving-themed potluck. There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer of the chapel.

Jennifer Colson is looking for a ride home from Logan Airport on Thursday, Nov. 15th at about 4:00 PM.

Other Reminders:

Sunday, November 11th

Gathering to Worship (9:30 AM)
Sunday School (10:30 AM~)

Wednesday, November 14th

Community Dinner (6:00 PM)
Corporate Study Discussion (7:00 PM~)

Upcoming Dates:

Fall Clean-up- Nov. 17th-8am-12
Thanksgiving Potluck - Nov. 18th
The Remembrance: Advent Edition - Dec. 14th at 6:30pm

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November 1, 2012

November 1, 2012

This Sunday - We will pick back up Galatians in chapter 5 for the homestretch (just three more weeks!). Hope to see you Sunday morning.

All Saints Day - The beginning of November has arrived! With All Saints Day being todayt, we will again recognize those who've come and gone before us this Sunday (Nov. 4). We celebrate light and life in the Church, so we remember people candles lit for each person. If you'd like to add a candle for someone who has died in Christ who meant a lot to you, send Pastor Jeremy an email and he'll add one (or more).

Election Day Communion - Mark your calendars now to plan on coming to receive communion together on Election Night (this coming Tuesday) at 7:00 PM. On perhaps the most divisive day in this nation, it'll be good to come together at Christ's table, the true King and our Lord. At the moment, 370 churches throughout the nation will also be celebrating at the table on Election Day.

Wednesday Nights - Beginning next Wednesday (Nov. 7) we will start going through a 5 week journey using the book the Psalmist's Cry. If you are interested in having a copy of this book please let Pastor Jeremy know so he can put in an order.

Spanish Word of the Week - We will have two words this week. The first being eleccion, which is the noun of election. The second: votar which is the verb vote.

Our annual retreat will take place February 15-18, 2013 at Windsor Hills Campgrounds.

Other Reminders:

Sunday, November 4th

Gathering to Worship (9:30 AM)
Sunday School (10:30 AM~)

Monday, November 5th
Board Meeting (5:30 PM)

Tuesday, November 6th
Election Day Communion (7:00 PM)

Wednesday, November 7th

Community Dinner (6:00 PM)
Corporate Study Discussion: Public Jesus (7:00 PM~)

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