December Newsletter 2014

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1 Bradford Woods Community Church December 2014 Issue MONTHLY NEWSLETTER An Epistle from Ed By Ed Cadwallader, Pastor By the time you read this the Thanksgiving dinner leftovers will be running out and we will officially be inside the season of Advent. Black Friday will have passed and the mad rush toward the merriment of Christmas will have begun in full force. By the time you read this you will already have begun planning holiday strategies to allow for the completing of decorating, shopping, baking, card sending and cleaning - all prior to the ‘must finish’ date & time associated with each of these categories of frustration and delight. Sleep will be shortened, emotions may become raw, moods could become cranky and our patience will tend to falter as we join in the mad rush toward the merriment of Christmas in full force. As I was considering our participation, as the people of God, in this seasonal test of both endurance and tenacity, I was thrilled to discover something that might just be a ‘positive’ about what is usually painted as a kind of ‘end of the year rat-race’ that ruins the holiday for many people. It occurred to me that all the cleaning, mailing, cooking and wrapping are just various acts of ‘getting ourselves ready’ for the coming of Christmas. Similar to getting ourselves ready for the day ahead or a trip to a friend’s home for dinner, the extra activities of November and December are merely a larger scale of ‘getting things ready.’ This season of the Church, Advent, takes it name from a Latin word that is usually translated as ‘approach,’ or ‘come near.’ There is, however, an aspect to the ancient word that is related to ‘anticipation.’ That is, not just waiting and expecting something, but ‘anticipating, preparing for and even taking events into hand ahead of time to ensure success in the coming event.’ It pleased me to consider that all the flurry of the season is NOT a bad thing – depending on why we’re doing it. Keeping up with the lighting display of the neighbors across the street, outdoing our baking rivals by creating the most cutting edge cookies, posted on Pinterest, seeking out the gaudiest of holiday sweaters to feign a complete lack of concern for the holidays, and spending to prove the depth of our emotions are NOT the work of anticipation to which I was referring. Rather than struggling to do everything for a ‘rat-race’ that will leave us feeling empty, we can be about the happy work of preparing for the advent of our Lord. Rather than arriving at 12/25 ‘bitter and burned out,’ we can feel the joy of having planned and prepared for a festival celebrating a child that we welcome and love. Like the fun we have planning and preparing for someone’s ‘surprise birthday party,’ that fills us with anticipation and glee, Advent can be a time that fills us with joy, peace and wonder – while we do all the things we decide we want to do – to welcome the birth of our Lord in our hearts anew! Think about it……. Live Nativity By John Liebenguth Please join us on Sunday, Dec. 14 for our annual Live Nativity. Continuous programs run from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Stop by the front lawn for five minutes, or the entire two hours! Cookies and hot chocolate will be served, free of charge, in between the shows. I’m pleased to say that without any phone calling, the cast is mostly filled-up! We still need two kings for the late show and singers for both shows. Please give me a call at (724) 934-0731 if you can participate. Crèche Construction By John Liebenguth, Property Chair The crèche and sanctuary tree will be constructed on Saturday, December 6 at 10:00 a.m. Any helpers are welcome.

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Take a look at some of our fun upcoming events for December!

Transcript of December Newsletter 2014

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An Epistle from Ed By Ed Cadwallader, Pastor

By the time you read this the Thanksgiving dinner leftovers will be running out and we will officially

be inside the season of Advent. Black Friday will have passed and the mad rush toward the merriment

of Christmas will have begun in full force. By the time you read this you will already have begun

planning holiday strategies to allow for the completing of decorating, shopping, baking, card sending

and cleaning - all prior to the ‘must finish’ date & time associated with each of these categories of

frustration and delight. Sleep will be shortened, emotions may become raw, moods could become

cranky and our patience will tend to falter as we join in the mad rush toward the merriment of

Christmas in full force.

As I was considering our participation, as the people of God, in this seasonal test of both endurance

and tenacity, I was thrilled to discover something that might just be a ‘positive’ about what is usually

painted as a kind of ‘end of the year rat-race’ that ruins the holiday for many people. It occurred to me

that all the cleaning, mailing, cooking and wrapping are just various acts of ‘getting ourselves ready’

for the coming of Christmas. Similar to getting ourselves ready for the day ahead or a trip to a friend’s

home for dinner, the extra activities of November and December are merely a larger scale of ‘getting

things ready.’

This season of the Church, Advent, takes it name from a Latin word that is usually translated as

‘approach,’ or ‘come near.’ There is, however, an aspect to the ancient word that is related to

‘anticipation.’ That is, not just waiting and expecting something, but ‘anticipating, preparing for and

even taking events into hand ahead of time to ensure success in the coming event.’

It pleased me to consider that all the flurry of the season is NOT a bad thing – depending on why

we’re doing it. Keeping up with the lighting display of the neighbors across the street, outdoing our

baking rivals by creating the most cutting edge cookies, posted on Pinterest, seeking out the gaudiest

of holiday sweaters to feign a complete lack of concern for the holidays, and spending to prove the

depth of our emotions are NOT the work of anticipation to which I was referring. Rather than

struggling to do everything for a ‘rat-race’ that will leave us feeling empty, we can be about the happy

work of preparing for the advent of our Lord. Rather than arriving at 12/25 ‘bitter and burned out,’ we

can feel the joy of having planned and prepared for a festival celebrating a child that we welcome and

love. Like the fun we have planning and preparing for someone’s ‘surprise birthday party,’ that fills us

with anticipation and glee, Advent can be a time that fills us with joy, peace and wonder – while we

do all the things we decide we want to do – to welcome the birth of our Lord in our hearts anew!

Think about it…….

Live Nativity By John Liebenguth Please join us on Sunday, Dec. 14 for our annual

Live Nativity. Continuous programs run from

6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Stop by the front lawn

for five minutes, or the entire two hours! Cookies

and hot chocolate will be served, free of charge,

in between the shows.

I’m pleased to say that without any phone calling, the cast is mostly filled-up! We still need two kings

for the late show and singers for both shows. Please give me a call at (724) 934-0731 if you can

participate.

Crèche Construction By John Liebenguth, Property Chair The crèche and sanctuary tree will be constructed on Saturday, December 6 at

10:00 a.m. Any helpers are welcome.

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Christmas Pageant Dec. 21 By Norma Liebenguth, Christian Education Committee The youth of the church will present a Christmas program during morning worship on Sunday,

December 21. Please plan to attend! Following, the Christian Education Committee will host

coffee hour with a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. Thanks to Pennie Cadwallader, Carla

Liebenguth, Shelly Muhlenkamp and Melanie Verbaarschott for helping with the kids.

Christian Ed also welcomes Jenn Hudak on the committee beginning in January! I will move

into the role of Sunday School Superintendent.

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” ~ 1 John 5:11

Youth GRAPE News By Ed Cadwallader, Pastor

The newly restored BWCC Youth program has been meeting weekly and welcomes any youth from

6th through 12th grade who want to learn more about our God and like having fun with their friends.

We meet each Sunday evening from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., and share together with fun, food and

learning. The goal in Christianity is to grow – come out on Sunday evenings and develop!

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services By Cait Kowal, Office Manager Join us for a beautiful candlelight services on Dec. 24. Together we celebrate the first

night when the angels announced the news of Christ’s birth to the shepherds on the

hillside near Bethlehem. There will be two services on Christmas Eve, the first one will

be at 7:30 p.m. and the second one will be at 11 p.m. The 11 p.m. service will also

include a celebration of Holy Communion, which is open to members and non-members alike.

Order Christmas Poinsettias Now! By Cait Kowal, Office Manager Make Christmas beautiful by ordering your poinsettias now! Festive 6 to 6.5” foil wrapped pots

from Bauerle Greenhouse are available for only $8 each. Pick from: red, white, pink or marble

colors. Order forms are in the church library or you may order online by clicking HERE. You

may also dedicate your poinsettias in honor or memory of someone special or for a special

occasion. Deadline for orders will be announced at a later date. For more information please

contact the church office at [email protected].

Men’s Advent Pancake Breakfast Dec. 7 By Cait Kowal, Office Manager Come by on Dec. 7th for a warm, delicious breakfast! The men in our congregation will be

serving up pancakes, sausage and fruit after service to celebrate the second Sunday in

Advent. We still need a few more men to help set up, tear down and clean up afterwards. If

you’d like to help out please contact Jeff Kowal or the church office at

[email protected]. Thank you to all our men for your hard work and support. There is

no charge for the breakfast but feel free to contribute to our free will offering basket!

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Missions By Jean Hipwell, Missions Committee

I would like to thank everyone for our big undertaking of helping to give shut-ins a homemade

Thanksgiving dinner. A big thank you to all who helped by calling, baking pies, cooking turkeys

and delivering the meals on Thanksgiving. Everyone was very appreciative and thankful.

Cookies! By Jane Siefers, Hospitality Committee Cookie baking is a part of almost every family’s Christmas traditions, and we have several

opportunities to share that tradition with others.

Franklin Park police officer, Kim Boucek has been sending homemade cookies and other

goodies to our overseas troops since 2008. Women’s Club has been supporting Boucek’s

Battalion for several years. Jane Siefers will be delivering cookies to the drop off site on Sunday,

December 7 and has offered the church kitchen as a drop-off location. If you would like to

support this project, please drop off your donated cookies before 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7.

For complete details of types of cookies and proper packaging, please check out the website at:

http://www.bouceksbattalion.org.

And, of course, we also need plenty of festive Christmas cookies for our appreciative audience at the Live Nativity on

December 14. You can drop off your cookies in Kehew Hall at church Sunday morning, or leave them in the church

fridge earlier in the week. FYI, this year we will not be selling cookies at the Live Nativity, but we will follow our

tradition of free cookies and cocoa after each performance!

2015 Pledges By Jane Siefers, Assistant Treasurer The pledges are coming in for 2015! If you have not yet dropped off your pledge slip, please

consider making a pledge and submitting it by the end of the month. Your slip may be placed in a

regular offering envelope and left in the plate, dropped off in my church mail box, mailed to or

dropped off at the church office in an envelope labeled “Attn: Assistant Treasurer”, you can also

email: [email protected] or phone 724-935-4028 me with your pledge. OR you may (like

one of our trustees) accost me on the street and hand over a slip of paper. The method and amount are up to you, and no

one but you and I will know! The trustees are hoping to reach a goal of at least 40 pledges for 2015.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that

whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” ~

John 3:16

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Treasurer’s Report as of 11/16/14

YTD YTD

Actual Budget

Pledge $24,789 $45,833

Plate $25,800 $18,333

TOTAL: $50,589 $64,166

Total Year Budget $70,000

Worship Leaders and Acolytes If you would like to volunteer to be a worship leader, please contact

Pastor Ed. Thank you for your service.

Dec. 7 Melanie Verbaarschott, Ben Cadwallader, acolyte

Dec. 14 Jenn Hudak, Amber Swann, acolyte

Dec. 21 John Liebenguth, Mac Coltharp, acolyte

Dec. 28 Paul Swann, Beth Muhlenkamp, acolyte

Chloe, Mac & Ben finish wrapping things up with Beth at a Youth

GRAPE meeting. The group worked to learn about how being

‘covered in sin’ makes it difficult to get around as we would like!

A beautiful solo by Corinne Swann.

Melanie V with one turkey who

didn't make it to the pan!

A good team, set to make a great

Thanksgiving feast for many seniors!

At Salem Methodist church preparing cranberries for Thanksgiving delivery.

There is always something to be thankful for.

Thank you newsletter photographers: Doug

Atkinson, Pastor Ed Cadwallader and

Shelly Muhlenkamp!

November Happenings

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Events for the Month of December: December Birthdays

3 Kris Hayhurst; 7 Greg Hendrickson; 10 Linda

Tessmer; 12 Dirk Verbaarschott; 15 James

Hayhurst; 17 Sarah Grguras; 17 Donna Spec; 22

Missy Johns; 22 John Astarb; 27 Don Siefers

4836 Wexford Run Road | P.O. Box 421

Bradford Woods, PA 15015

(724) 935-3135

Serving Bradford Woods and surrounding North Hills communities.

Visit our website: www.bradfordwoodschurch.org | Contact us: [email protected]

ICCC Mission Statement

Bradford Woods Community Church is a member of the ICCC (International Council of Community Churches) whose

mission statement is: “As people devoted to following Christ we are committed to community, to treasuring diversity, to

living our faith in service and love.”

Please help us with our mailing list costs. If you could view this newsletter via email or online, please

contact us at 724.935.3135 or [email protected].

Prayer Concerns and Praise

Stevie Bachman, Sue Bayer, Joel Bonzer,

Joseph Bossman, Chad Brown, Cathy

Carter, The Davenport Family, Jody

Dentici, Diane Dilanni, Al Dinello,

Margie Douttiel, Christine Feagin,

Martha Finley, Kevin Fredrick, Katherine Gardner,

Laurie & Joe Gillespie, Jenn Hudak, Doug Ice, Ron

Liguori, Mary Love Nast, Carol O’Brien, Jennifer

Rihtarchick, Myleigh Smith, Doris Stokes, John

Valley, and The Waldron Family Coffee Hour

Please sign up to handle the duties of

coffee hour any Sunday. Preparing coffee,

a cold drink and an (optional) refreshment

is all that’s needed. And, it’s appreciated!

December

6 Crèche and Sanctuary Tree Set-Up, 10:00 a.m.

7 Men’s Advent Pancake Breakfast, 12:00 p.m.

10 Trustee’s Meeting, 6:15 p.m.

10 Church Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m.

14 Live Nativity, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

21 Children’s Christmas Pageant, 11 a.m.

24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, 7:30 p.m.

24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with

Communion, 11 p.m.

Ongoing:

Advent Sunday School Series: Every Sunday, 10 a.m.

Morning Worship Service: Every Sunday, 11 a.m.

Youth GRAPE: Every Sunday, 7 p.m.

Choir Practice: Every Monday, 7 p.m.

AA/NA: Every Thursday, 7:00 p.m.

Ushers Needed

Please volunteer to handle the duties of ushering any Sunday.

Greeting new guests, handing out bulletins, and collecting

contributions during service is all that’s needed.

If you are new to our congregation, please pass your information to Caitalyn Kowal in the church office, regarding your

address, phone number, email address, etc. so we can keep our records up to date and keep you up to date. Thank you.