St Paul’s UCC in Rio Rancho, NM is super intentional about building community. It currently has several groups that meet weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, including a book group and groups around knitting, gardening, poetry, short story writing, cooking, painting, science, and exercise.
During Advent, Pastor Len, short-term interim at Church of the Red Rocks, invites member questions... on faith, life, church/interim time, his journey... whatever is on one’s mind. Questions may be placed in the offering basket, mailed or emailed. He will respond in his sermon on Jan 2nd.
Asylum seeking immigrants who are making their homes in Phoenix need community support, from monthly bus passes, to the purchase of a bike, to legal assistance through the immigration courts. Sponsors provide housing and food on a temporary basis — they are not always able to pay for transportation or lawyers’ fees. At the last Immigration Task Force meeting at First Church Phoenix, it was decided to purchase monthly bus passes for several asylum seekers for transportation to English classes at a nearby community college.
This Christmas, the Care Ministry Team at Church of the Palms will be sponsoring a Christmas Card Shower for all of the members and friends who are homebound or who are otherwise unable to come to campus for worship and other activities. Folks can come either before or after worship to a designated area where they will find Christmas cards for each person. Each station will be labeled with their name and have a collection of Christmas cards that can be written out and signed to be sent to them.
It’s time for the Christmas Re- Gifting Table at First Congregational in Albuquerque. Folks bring gifts that just never fit in their household or very gently used items that seemed like a good idea at the time. Others can look for treasures to give or take from the table. Past gifts have included jewelry, scarves, hats, and decorative arts. No-guilt re-gifting!
First Congregational UCC Flagstaff’s contract with Pastor Jane has concluded, and they will miss her pastoral leadership. Until new pastoral leadership is in place, First Congregational will try different worshiping options, one of which is to participate in another UCC church’s online service by way of zoom. The congregation of Shadow Rock UCC church in Phoenix and its pastor, Rev. Ken Heintzelman, have extended a warm welcome to join them through zoom for their Sunday worship services.
Congregational Church of the Valley will participate in the Adopt-a-Senior through the Scottsdale Via Linda Senior Center and Vista del Camino’s Adopt-a-Family programs. The whole church family reached out to help, and as a result, a senior woman and a family of five will have a beautiful Christmas this year.
The National UCC’s “Tuesday’s for Nurture” programming has two upcoming seminars to join:
-Tuesday, December 7, 3:30pm ET - The History of Afro-Christian Churches in the UCC
-Tuesday, December 14, 3:30pm ET - The State of Rural Churches & Communities
Some Christmas humor shared by Church of the Palms:
Q: What do you call a snowman with a six pack?
A: An abdominal snowman
Q: How can Santa deliver presents during a thunderstorm?
A: His sleigh is flown by raindeer
Q: How does a snowman get to work?
A: By icicle
Q. What's St. Nicholas's favorite measurement in the metric system?
A. The Santameter!
Q: What do snowmen call their offspring?
A: Chill-dren
Q. How do Christmas angels greet each other?
A. "Halo!"
Q. Which of Santa's reindeer has the worst manners?
A. RUDE-olph, of course!
Q. What's a sheep's favorite Christmas song?
A. "Fleece Navidad"!
Q. What do sheep say to shepherds at Christmastime?
A. "Season's bleatings!"
People act like the North Pole and the South Pole are exactly the same, but really, there's a whole world of difference between them