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6 – Paula Costanzo11 – Linda Bourbeau14 – Amber Ritter Daniel Williams Sr.26 – Mary Close
ANNIVESARIES3 - Sue & Lou Cantarella26 – Betty & Everett Fitch
SPECIAL DATES Dec. 3 1st Sunday of
Advent Dec. 4 2nd Sunday of
Advent, Dec. 11 3rd Sunday of Advent
Dec. 18 4th Sunday of Advent
New Year’s Eve/Watch Night, December 31
D E C E M B E R
31 10:30 AM Worship
Jean Biggar, Worship Leader
1 2Hanging of the Greens
310:30 AM Worship
Communion Sunday
4Cub Scouts
5Boy Scouts
6Bell Choir
TBA
7Girl Scouts
8 9 12:30 PM
ChristmasCarol to shut-ins
10 10:30 AM Worship
Church Family Christmas Party after
worship
11Cub Scouts
12 Boy Scouts
136:30 Bell Choir7:30 Choir
14Girl Scouts
15 16
1710:30 AM Worship
OrdinationInstallation of
Elders & Deacons
18Cub Scouts
19Boy Scouts
7:00 PMDeacons/Session
meet in chapel
20
Bell Choir TBA
21
6:00 PMGirlScouts
22 23
24
7:00 PM
25 26 27 28
Office Closed
29
Office Closed
3010:30 AM Worship
Pastor Ken on Continuing Education leave December 28
thru December 31
DEC. 24TH MORNING WORSHIP NEW MEMBERS JOIN
Church Family Christmas Party Sunday, December 10th
following worship.A sign-up sheet is posted to help plan the meal.
We will again collect gifts for the children of Dunmore Head Start and if you would like to give a gift to the children, please take a tag . Tags can be found on the bulletin board in the vestibule and in the Fellowship Hall. We ask your gift be a doll(girl) or truck(boy)appropriate for age 3 to 5 yrs.
The following have been approved at the November Congregational meeting and begin in January 2018:Elder: Linda Bourbeau 2nd term
Connie Richards 2nd term Frank Stieler 2nd termDeacon : Myrna Watkins 1st term
Howard Miller 2nd term Danny Clark 2nd term
The Ordination and Installation of Elders and Deacons will take place during worship on Sunday,
December 17, 2017.
On Sunday, December 24th Patty Miller and Daniel Williams Jr. will be received as new members of our
congregation. Come and welcome them into our church family.
SESSION CLASS OF 2017 CLASS OF 2018 CLASS OF 2019 Linda Bourbeau Dick Loessy John Frank Connie Richards Ralph Metzgar Frank Stieler
Joseph Price Session/Deacon joint meeting is
Tuesday, December 19 at 7 PM BOARD OF DEACONS CLASS of 2017 CLASS of 2018 CLASS of 2019 Danny Clark Mary Grace Donati Sue Cantarella Bobbi Goldberg Krista Frank Nancy Walsh Howard Miller
Deacon/Session joint meeting is Tuesday, December 19, at 7:00
PM
The Board of Deacons continues to collect canned goods and non-perishable food items for the Safety
Net in Scranton.
The Board of Deacons continue an on-going fundraiser collecting glass, plastic, and aluminum items with a NY recyclable label –pictured. Check your water bottles, soda
can/bottles. Each one helps. A box is designated for these items in the Fellowship Hall.
Overcoming Despair It can be hard to remember why Christmas
should be so merry.
In “O Holy Night,” we sing, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” Grieving people around you feel the weariness of life and death in this world and wonder how anyone around them can rejoice. They are in desperate need of the reality of Christ to break through their loneliness and despair. While we don’t want to preach at them, we do look for the opportunity to share with them the comfort and joy to be found in the coming of God himself in Christ to rescue us.
The life of Jesus that began in a wooden cradle will culminate in death on a wooden cross. But it will not be a senseless, meaningless death. It will be a death-conquering death, followed by new resurrection life. The writer of Hebrews explains, “The Son became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14 NLT). The power death has now, to bring so much sorrow, will not be the way it is forever. What Christ set in motion when he defeated death at his first coming will come to its full fruition when he comes again.
This is our great hope at Christmas, and the hope we have to share with those who are grieving at Christmas — that Monday thru Friday
9:00 AM to 12:30 PM Pastor Forbes is in the office Tuesday thru Thursday most weeks.
Office phone: 570-343-6807
Church website: dunmorepresby.org Church email: [email protected]
[email protected] Pastor Ken: [email protected]
Pastor Ken will be on Continuing Education Leave December 28th thru December 31st. Lay
Leader, Jean Biggar, will lead our worship service on Sunday, December 31st .
The church office will be closed December 28 and 29th.
If you have any type of prayer need request for a friend or family member, please contact Pastor Ken at 570-344-3145, Sue Cantarella at 570-343-6807 (or after hours) 570-383-9298 or let a prayer chain member know. Our chain:
Georgie Levy Danny ClarkLisa Price Betty LammJean Biggar Doris Keller Nancy Walsh
Our Annual Congregational and Corporation Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 28, 2017
following worshipAny church organization who has any acitivity and/or financial information to report in the year end booklet, should have the information into the church office by Sunday, January 14th. Reports maybe emailed to:
Pledge information, along with the budget, has been sent out and if you haven’t done so, please return the card in the offering plate or mail to:
Connie Richards, Financial Secretary 302 Sibley Ave, Old Forge, 18518
2018 PER CAPITA ASSESSMENT
Presbyterian Church USA $ 7.73 Synod of the Trinity $ 2.30 Presbytery of Lackawanna $22.97
$33.00
Congregations are asked to pay an annual amount of money per church member - a per capita apportionment. The annual per capita amount is a combined request from a congregation’s presbytery, synod, and the General Assembly - based on their respective budgets for the coming year. It is calculated on the membership numbers that congregations are asked to submit annually to the PCUSA.
“yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.” The Christ who came as a baby and died as our substitute will one day return to consummate his kingdom. And when he does, “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” (Revelation 21:4).
“Tears do not reflect a lack of faith. Tears are a gift from that help to wash away the
deep pain of loss.”
The Presbyterian Women of Dunmore recently sponsored a Fall Craft Fair
to support their missions.
A portion of the proceeds was given to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance for hurricane relief. In November a check was presented to Margaret Zeigler, Administrative Coordinator for the Presbytery of Lackawanna and forwarded to the PDA.
The women also served a dinner for 45 guests at the Keystone Mission, Scranton and will be preparing Christmas gift boxes/bags for residents of Clarks Summit State Hospital.
Kathy Williams, Moderator Jean Biggar, Secretary Bonnie Forbes, Vice Modrtr Nancy Walsh, treasurer
According to the elite of the 1st Century, shepherding was the worst job you could have. Shepherds were described as lazy, dishonest people who lived on land belonging to others. Finding rest in a stable was better than sleeping out among the sheep.
But Jesus birth in a feeding trough is a very humble circumstance too, as is almost everything in the Christmas story. God enters into human history completely helpless, as a new born. Jesus’ parents have few posessions and little experience. Mary is probably in her early teens.
Then the first to know about the birth are the lowly and outcast shepherds. God says in Luke 2: “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this this
day in the city of David a Savior,who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
The shepherds are not accustomed to being the first to get such good news. When the angel of God showed up, surrounded in glory, the shepherds were naturally afraid.
Once they understood the message, the shepherds knew what to do next: They went to check this news out for themselves. All were amazed, but Mary kept the words and pondered them in her heart. In the midst of the rejoicing, Mary quietly considered the meaning of all these wonderful events.
Once again, God enters human history through the poor and the homeless, those without social standing or power. God chooses to favor the disfavored and lifts up the humble, the lowly.
Among such as these, God is with us, Emmanuel. And may God help us to find the presence of Jesus Christ in surprising places and humble people.
Love and Peace,
Pastor Ken
Prayers Concerns and News Thinking of those who are not able to get out as they use to and have a more difficult with health issues each day. Remember them with a Christmas greeting.
The Presbyterian Church of Dunmore137 Chestnut StreetDunmore, PA 18512Rev. Kenneth Forbes, Pastordunmorepresby.org
Marilyn Casal Betty Fitch Ruth Giorgio Doris Keller Sarah Palermo Norma Mecca Sara Martinelli Helen Weaver Joan Cross
Saturday, December 9 Help to spread some cheer during
this holiday season and join the group for an afternoon of Christmas Caroling to our shut-ins. The group will meet at the church and leave from the church parking lot.
Welcome to baby Emmett Joshua Fenton! Congratulations to new parents, Nicole and Eric, Grandpa Ken and Aunt Kerri and Great Grandparents, Bev and Jack Solsman. Wishing you all love, health,
laughter and happiness in the years to come!
“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas
Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.”
—Andy Rooney
Gift-Giving SolutionsTrying to find gifts for certain people — or letting others know what you want — can be quite
challenging. After all, most of us don’t need anything. Realizing that the best gifts aren’t material items offers a new perspective on giving and receiving. Consider these insights from author Charles Swindoll: “Some gifts you can give this Christmas are beyond monetary value:
Mend a quarrel, tell someone ‘I love you.’ Give something away — anonymously. Forgive someone who has treated you wrong. Visit someone in a nursing home. Apologize if you were wrong. Be especially kind to someone with whom you
work. Give as God gave to you in Christ, without obligation, or announcement, or reservation, or hypocrisy.”
Christmas Is ProofChristmas is a time to be happy!
… a time for celebrating and sharing. For God stoops down to be one of us, born as a poor
baby so that we can be rich. He does not leave us to get along as best we can. He joins us
where we are. God is committed to us. Christmas is proof that God cares.
That is why we celebrate — and show our care in turn to those who need it.
—F. Hebart Celebrate Christmas
Always Doing A New ThingIn 2015, scientists discovered more than 18,000 new species — some ancient and extinct, others contemporary. They include a
cartwheeling spider; fossils of a “feathered dinosaur”; a beautiful sea slug that photographs in brilliant blues, reds and golds; a Christmas-colored plant that grows in near isolation in Mexico; and a pufferfish whose males make intricate seafloor “crop circles” as spawning nests.
Such discoveries — regardless of how old or new the species are — demonstrate the ongoing creativity of God, who both does new things and gives people new abilities to discover them. We begin a new church year with Advent, and we launch into a new calendar year, in which scientists will surely discover more new creatures. The newness all around us reminds us that God is always doing a new thing in our lives, too
The Matter Of ConscienceA Sunday school teacher asked her class, “What happens when someone’s
conscience bothers them?” A boy spoke up and said, “It makes you tell your mother what you did
before your sister tells on you.”
An Advent calendar “ Let Love Speak” is now available to read and follow through the season
of Advent.
The new regular and large print editions of “Our Daily Bread” are also available.
They can be found in the vestibule or church Fellowship Hall.
December 24th Morning Worship at 10:30 AM
Christmas Eve Communion &
Candlelight Service at 7 PM
Decorate your Christmas tree. Ring a Christmas bell.
Sing a joyful carol with a jubilant noel!
Light your Advent candle wreath. Rejoice with friends on Earth. Give thanks to God for sending Christ In this, His Christmas
birth.
Share your joy of Christmas And God’s blessings from above. Celebrate God’s Graciousness!
Celebrate God’s Love! —Peggy Ferrell, Prayers and Poems
