November 23, 2022
BAH HUMBUG!
Perhaps this is not the phrase you would expect to find upon opening your Midweek message this week. Yet, this is exactly where we will start our Advent journey this year, as we explore Dicken's classic story "A Christmas Carol." Some may think this Christmas ghost story is secular and not appropriate for an Advent worship series in church. It is true that this story is not explicitly about God or even a traditional Christian Christmas. It is however, a vibrant part of our larger culture's Christmas lexicon and has become ingrained even in a good Christian's heart as a part of the holiday season. We all know what it means to be labeled a Scrooge and whose heart doesn't melt when Tiny Tim speaks the closing line of this tale; "God bless us everyone." Author and pastor, Matt Rawle writes in the introduction to his book The Redemption of Scrooge "I truly believe [Christians] are called not to reject the culture we live in, but to re-narrate its meaning--to tell God's story in the midst of it. This is the goal of our Advent journey, to seek our God's story through the life and lessons of Ebenezer Scrooge, who transforms from bah humbug to the embodiment of Christmas peace, hope, love and joy.
Thus we like Mr. Scrooge start this week at bah humbug, and exploring what it means to live in God's economy. Rawle writes "God's economy is often not the same as the one we embrace, as evidenced by the life of Scrooge." And so we will begin by seeking to understand the currency of God's economy and what it is that God values. We will be guided this week by Luke's Gospel account of Lazarus and the Rich Man. A ghostly story in it's own right, which will help to illuminate to us the consequences of a Bah Humbug life, and offer instead a vision of God's economy. This vision will hopefully invite us to join Mr. Scrooge on a pathway to redemption in which we too will discover the true peace, hope, love and joy of this season--found only in God's story. The story of a miraculous birth, the story of a baby laid in a manger, the story of light shinning in darkness, the true story of Christmas!
Join us this Sunday for worship, as we witness Scrooge's first steps toward redemption, and begin our own redemption journey, waiting for our savior to come.
Click on the links below to see the following informational documents:
· Instruction on how to find the Sunday Worship service on Facebook
Thanksgiving Celebrations
This past Sunday in Pastor Drew's sermon he asked that we change up our Thanksgiving tradition just a tad. He suggested that instead of sharing things we are grateful for, that we instead express where we have seen God's Abundance in our lives. By focusing on God's abundance we will shift our gratitude toward that which is the source of the blessings in our life--God. Pastor Drew shared his list of God's abundance with some amazing numbers that he's seen at Calvary this year. Here was his list:
11-Baptisms
21-new members
30-cubic yards of clothing/material donated to rags to riches
36-registered children/youth in our family ministries
42-children attending Calvary 's Preschool
46- participants in 5 House Churches
100-years of ministry
150- people attending this year's trunk-or-treat
520-Christmas shoeboxes sent to Red Bird Mission
2883- recorder hours in service to our community
106,891- dollars collected for the gift of the century
and 1 - One small church living God's abundance!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and may you see God's abundance overflowing in your life each and everyday.
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
2022 Christmas Schedule
Click Here to see the full list of events happening this upcoming Christmas season at Calvary.
King's Kids Production of
A Christmas Carol
December 2nd & 3rd, 7pm.
Join us for this year's performance of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol." This classic story has inspired generations of people with its tale of Scrooge's transformation from Christmas curmudgeon to holiday hero. The King's Kids rendition promises to be exciting and fun filled for all ages. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door, seating is on first come first serve basis. All proceeds will go to Calvary's 100th Anniversary "Gift for the Century" fund.
Annual Christmas Cantata
December 11th at 10:00am
December 11th at 10:00am
This year our senior choir will offer their gifts in worship by performing J.W. Peterson's "Night of Miracles." Join us in worship for this creative and musical retelling of the Christmas Story, and Christ's miraculous birth.
Family Ministries'
Christmas Pageant & Advent Night
December 18th, 4pm-6pm
Join us December 18th at 4pm for our annual Children's Christmas Pageant! The pageant will start off our evening and will be followed by refreshments, crafts and a carol sing. Bring the whole family and join us for this fun-filled evening!
Blue Christmas Service
December 21st, at 7pm.
Every year as we approach Christmas some find there is no joy in their hearts and that it is hard to celebrate the season. Blue Christmas worship services, held on the longest night/shortest day of the year help us to re-focus on what Christmas is all about - the coming of the Christ into the world of humankind. Join us this year for a meaningful service Led by retired Pastor Carl Shepard, at 7:00 PM on December 21st .
Christmas Poinsettias
Calvary is once again selling Poinsettias for the holiday season. We are offering 6 1/2" Red or White Poinsettias at $12 each. Orders are due by Sunday, December 11th. Please leave forms in the church office basket or send it in by mail.
Click here for the Order form or find one on the round table in the Gathering Space.
Join a House Church!
Calvary’s House Church, ministry continues to grow and remain a vital competent of our worship life together. With five active house churches, forty participants we are seeing tremendous response. One participant has said “Joining house church was the best thing I’ve done for myself in a long time.”... See More
Virtual Prayer Request
If you have a prayer request that you would like lifted during Sunday services you can now submit them online at our website or by clicking the link below. We have also created this QR code, which can be found in the Sanctuary and round the building. It can be scanned at any time to send a request.
Calvary Online Prayer Requests
Please keep in your prayers:
Calvary’s mission and ministry and for the mission and ministry of the church in the world, those who need the presence of God in their lives, those serving in armed forces and in ministry around the world and here,
& for those in need of God’s healing; Lisa Banta’s Mother Pat; Kyle Kendall; Lois Malatino; Marissa Malatino; Bob Dawson; Duane Belfance; Lou Murphy; The Jesep Family; Ellen Fredrickson; Jackie Meyer; Bonnie (Mike Danis' sister-in -law), Michael and Judy Quinn; Karen and Bud (Lisa Drake's Sister-in-Law & Brother); Wendy Tarricone; The Family of Alice Artini (Bill Artini's Mother- 11/14/22), Allison (Jill Holland's Cousin) .
& those members of Calvary who are no longer able to be active among us as they once were: John Connor, Bernice Schuster, Shirley Tschumi, Peg Witbeck, Barb Jones.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Advent Study
Wednesday Evenings at 7pm, November 30th - December 21st.
Join us through Advent as we explore Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" Together with Matt Rawle's Book "The Redemption of Scrooge," and we will discover the important lessons this epic tale has to offer us on our faith journey through this holiest of seasons.
For class on the 30th please read chapter one; Bah! Humbug!, and complete the materials on pages 1 & 2 of the study guide.
Join class in-person in Room 206 or virtually using this link:
Children's Choir
Children's Choir rehearsal will take place at 11:15 following worship.
Christmas Pageant & Advent Night
This year we will be hosting our annual Christmas Pageant and Advent Night on December 18th at 4pm to 6pm! The night will include the Pageant and will be followed by refreshments, crafts and family fun! If you are able to bring Christmas cookies, appetizers or refreshments for this community event, please sign up! We appreciate you and thank you for making this a great event!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E044CAEAF2CA5FA7-pageantadvent
For more information, and upcoming events check out our Family Ministries Page.
PASSIONATE SERVICE
Calvary Missional Partnerships
Calvary has long standing relationships with a number of mission organizations that impact people from the local area. For more information on the following organizations, please click here.
Rags to Riches
St. Ambrose Food Pantry
Lions Institute - Eye Glasses Collection
Equinox - Cell Phone/Chargers Collection
Street Soldiers
Street Soldiers is in desperate need of the following items. More and more individuals are looking for this organization to supplement their food needs. Over 180 individuals were served last Sunday alone. Thank you.
Holiday Collection
In celebration of all of the December holidays their Street Soldiers will be celebrating Winter Holiday, a collective celebration, on Sunday 12/18. Their hope is to collect new gifts in the $10 range for each of the friends who come. For them to be able to receive a gift or to be able to give a gift.
Street Soldiers has created an Amazon Wishlist of items in sizes and age ranges for those who come. They welcome any donations of new, unwrapped items from baby to adult gifts. Donations can be dropped off Sundays in the parking lot of the Zion Lutheran Church located at 153 Nott Terrace Schenectady between 3:00 and 4:00 pm. Items can also be put in the Street Soldier Box in the church entry way, and they will be delivered. Every item is a great help in making the holidays brighter.
Street Soldiers Schenectady Winter Holiday Wishlist: Check out my list on Amazon
**FRIENDLY REMINDER** Downsizing for winter
Street Soldiers share outside in a parking lot every Sunday, all year. As the days get colder, snowy, slushy, and darker sooner it becomes harder to share and we they have less volunteers to help. They focus on the essentials through winter including food, and hygiene items.
They are not accepting:
clothing including tops, pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts, dresses until spring.
housewares like pots and pans, mugs, plates, silverware until spring.
books until spring.
They are still accepting:
new and gently used socks and thermal socks.
winter hats, gloves, scarves.
Food for the pantry: soup, ramen, pasta, canned sauce, canned meats, cereal, protein bars, fruit cup
Personal health care products: soap, q-tips, hand warmers, tooth brushes, toothpaste, alcohol pads, menstrual items, band aids, chap stick, shampoo, laundry soap, etc.
If you have any questions about this mission or if something is appropriate for donation, please contact Connie Cutler at (518) 424-3264 or email: Constance.Cutler@verizon.net
Thank you for your donations and we welcome your prayers for this organization.
OPEN TO ALL
Preschool Update
Week of 11/23/22
Week of 11/23/22
This week in preschool! It’s definitely holiday time down in the preschool! We are learning about being thankful and grateful for our family and friends and everything that we have. To reinforce that, we coordinated a “sponsor a child in crisis” for 5 children ages 21 months to 7. Our families have been so generous and their piles of gifts are growing beyond what they asked for. Yesterday was the last collection day for this but we are still collecting for Christmas Pajama Promise, if anyone would like to help out. Information is found below.
Christmas Pajama Promise - We are collecting new pajamas in every shape, size & color and Christmas books to go with the pajamas. These should all be delivered (unwrapped) to the preschool by Thursday December 1st.
Here is our Pajama Promise Amazon wish list:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/238KZXLGA2IRP?ref=cm_sw_em_r_un_un_NZ7Jf3UJUQaxM
Calvary's Centennial
Click on the Calvary's Centennial logo to see more information.
Support Calvary
If you would like to Support the ministry of Calvary, you may do so using the link below. Thank you for your generosity. https://faithlife.com/cumc-2/give
For more ways to support Calvary, please click here.
Tellers Schedule
The Tellers for this Sunday November 27th, 2022
Dottie Norvik and Neil Francese
Click here to see the full Teller Schedule.