Newsweekly for Sunday, December 23, 2018

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Worship this Sunday, December 23, 2018

Theme: Love Revealed – Advent 4: Blessing and Restoration

Worship Leader: Louise Hostetter

Song Leader: Jeremy Nafziger

Children’s Time: Dayna Olson-Getty

Preacher: Dayna Olson-Getty

Pastoral Prayer: Dayna Olson-Getty

Scripture: Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:39-55

Bulletin: 122318-Bulletin.docx

 

 

Upcoming CMC Events

Mon, Dec 24                                       Christmas Eve Service, 6 pm, Sanctuary

Mon-Fri, Dec 24-28                           CMC Office Closed

Sun, Dec 30                                         Christmas Breads, 8:30 am, Worship at 10 am,

No Sunday School

Tue, Jan 1                                            CMC Office Closed

Fri, Jan 4                                               First Friday and CMC Piano Dedication, 4-8 pm, Sanctuary

Sun, Jan 6                                            Free Range Hymns Interactive Concert and Hymn Sing,

with Sopa Sol and Ken Nafziger, 3-5 pm, Sanctuary

 

 

CMC Events and Announcements

Christmas Eve Service. All are welcome to attend CMC’s Christmas Eve service at 6 pm on Monday, December 24. This is a family-friendly worship service and children will be invited to participate. The nursery will not be staffed during the service, but it will be open and available for families with very young children.

Christmas Breads. Join us for Christmas Breads on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 8:30 – 9:30 am.  Please bring breakfast treats, leftover Christmas cookies, fruit, or egg dishes to share.  Coffee and tea will be provided.  –Hospitality Committee

CMC Office Closed. The CMC office will be closed Monday-Friday, December 24-28 and the pastors will be out of the office. If you have a pastoral care need during the week of Christmas, please contact Pastor Jennifer at 540-560-5126.

Newsweekly Announcements. Because the CMC office will be closed December 24-28, the next Newsweekly will be sent on Friday, January 4. If you have an announcement to include in the Newsweekly any time throughout the year, please email your announcement to communications@cmcva.org by Friday morning at 10 am.

Join the Ushering Crew. We are needing to replace 2 ushers who come off the ushering crew at the end of January. There are 12 ushers who rotate opening and closing the church on Sunday mornings (1 time per quarter) as well as the regular ushering role on Sundays. The two year commitment begins at the end of January and comes with training. Please be in touch with Matt Ruth (mr.ruth@gmail.com) or Jennifer North Bauman (baumanj@emu.edu) if you are interested.

January First Friday and CMC Piano Dedication. January's First Friday (January 4) will feature our congregation's young artists, and will be a dedication for CMC’s new piano. If you are a pianist who is willing to perform, or a child or teen artist who would like to contribute some artwork, please contact Aili Huber or Matt Carlson. –Aili Huber, Council Chair

Free Range Hymns Interactive Concert and Hymn Sing with Sopa Sol and Ken Nafziger.  On Sunday, January 6 at 3:00 pm at Community Mennonite Church, Ken Nafziger—longtime music director at EMU and beloved song leader—will lead singing accompanied by Sopa Sol: Daryl Snider, Frances Miller and Nathan Bontrager. Sopa Sol will also perform selections from the Free Range Hymns album released in 2017. These are re-imagined hymns featuring unique instrumental and vocal combinations. Sopa Sol “skillfully employ an extensive cache of classical and global folk instruments in this… meditation on the gifts of communal song," Bradley Kauffman, The Mennonite. CDs will be available. All are welcome to enjoy the evening. Entry is free, with donations appreciated. Website: sopasol.com/events – Email: contact@sopasol.com

An update and prayer letter from David and Sophie Lapp Jost has been posted on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall.  David and Sophie appreciate prayers and support from CMCers as they serve with Mennonite Mission Network at Nazareth Village and Nazareth Hospital.   Their email address is lappjost@gmail.com.  If you'd like to receive the Lapp Jost prayer letters and updates, they will be happy to send them to you.  For more information about the ministries of Nazareth Village & Hospital visit:  www.nazarethtrust.org  –Keaton and Betty Shenk

Care Teams at CMC. CMC has a network of small groups and other relational networks that provide mutual care and support for our congregation.  For some long-term or acute situations, we also offer Care Teams.  These teams, led by a pastor, are usually made up 4-5 CMCers who are selected by the individual or household seeking support and the pastor, and who agree to provide confidential spiritual and emotional support, as well as practical care.  Those who might benefit from a Care Team include: individuals or families facing serious physical or mental illness and their caregivers, families facing challenging parenting circumstances, household discerning a job transition or other major life decision.  To discuss whether a Care Team might be helpful in a particular situation, contact one of the CMC Pastors.   –Pastoral Team

Mennonite Disaster Service is looking for volunteers to go to Ponce, Puerto Rico to help rebuild after Hurricane Maria. Weekly volunteers are needed January through March of 2019. At this point, the work is mostly demolition and hard labor, though skilled labor is always welcome, too. While volunteers are responsible to pay for their own travel costs, MDS does contribute two hundred dollars towards the cost of the plane ticket. To sign up, go here (make sure to specify the Ponce location in the comment section of the application), and if you have questions, contact Jennifer and John Murch at jmurch6@gmail.com, or Deanna Frey of MDS at 1-800-241-8111 or email dfrey@mds.mennonite.net.  –Jennifer Murch

Help Moving the Old CMC Piano. We are ready to move our old piano out of the sanctuary and into Room 109. If you are willing to participate in a crew to get it down the steps, please contact Kathryn Schmidt at kathrynnschmidt@gmail.com.  –Aili Huber, Council Chair

Looking for Home Rental for One Year. Our older son Geoffrey, his wife Alyson, and their family hope to spend the coming academic year here in the Harrisonburg area. They are a family of five looking to rent a 2-3 bedroom home, preferably furnished, in or near Harrisonburg for the 2019-2020 academic year. Please contact them at campbell.alyson.l@gmail.com if you know of something that might be suitable.  –Kathie Kurtz

Jordan Luther is Looking for Housing. It is with great satisfaction to report that I have graduated from divinity school! I’m looking forward to continuing the candidate process for MC USA over the next several months. During this interim period, I would like to move back to Harrisonburg. I am interested in a flexible housing situation where I can rent on a month-to-month basis starting at the end of January or beginning of February. If anyone has any leads, or a spare room in their home, please contact me at jordan.luther93@gmail.com.

LESSONS LEARNED? The latest photo collage up and running on the "CMC Today" bulletin board captures scenes from November's "Lessons from Jesus" worship series along with kids listening, learning and singing in Sunday school. Photos from early Advent services encircle the poster like a holiday wreath. Also posted — several vintage "Bishop's Mantle" and "Virginia Ham" Advent-flavored columns and a 'congregational report' for Sept.-Oct. from the 11/19/18 issue of Mennonite World Review. Enjoy the seasonal sentiments!  Jim Bishop

ADVENT-TAGEOUS ADVENT-URE CONTINUES – Allow your wandering, wondering and pondering to move you to the east side of the fellowship hall and cast a wondrous gaze upon the "CMC Yesterday" bulletin board, filled with scenes from the 2016 Advent worship series on the theme, "Welcoming Emmanuel" (we'll leave the light on for ya!).       Jim Bishop

Greening CMC : Speaking Out.  Who will ‘speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues’, as the Lorax said?  A panel of federal judges last week rejected permits for the Atlantic Coast pipeline, saying the forest service has not sufficiently protected our forests in giving permits.  In another setback for the pipeline, a Virginia air pollution panel delayed a vote on a permit to build a compressor station in an African-American community, allowing additional time for public comment.  –Doug Graber Neufeld for the Green Congregation Committee

 

 

Announcements from Virginia Mennonite Conference, Harrisonburg area and beyond

Find ideas for celebrating Christmas Eve and Epiphany at home by downloading the At Home worship guide at AnabaptistFaithFormation.org.

MC USA relies on your support as we seek to follow Jesus, witness to God's peace and help our communities experience transformation. Consider making a year-end, tax-deductible donation to support the ministries of MC USA at mennoniteusa.org/give.

Still wondering where to send your 2018 year-end gifts? Please consider a cash contribution to the Patchwork Pantry. Since 1992, the pantry has provided a three-day supply of basic foods once per month to Harrisonburg and Rockingham County residents who are in need.  Your gift will help support this essential service. The pantry, staffed entirely by volunteers and supported by a coalition of faith communities, operates at Community Mennonite Church (CMC), 70 S. High St., Harrisonburg, 22801. Food is distributed to clients Wednesday nights from 7 – 8 p.m., with church doors opening at 6 p.m. For more information, see www.PatchworkPantry.org or contact “Patchwork Pantry” on Facebook. – Jan Jenner

Annual Epiphany Messiah Sing Revived. After a short break, Park View Mennonite Church will again host a Messiah sing for fans of Handel's famous oratorio — on Sunday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. The conductor will be Ben Bergey and the organist John Fast. New this year is a 10-piece orchestra. The soloists will be Caitlin Holsapple, Sarah Hamilton, Les Helmuth, and Matt Hunsberger. End the Christmas season by singing this marvelous music together. Bring your Messiah score.

Men’s Chorus Opportunity. Shenandoah Valley Men’s Chorus announces the beginning of the 2019 season of men’s sacred choral music, directed by Jared Stutzman. If you enjoy singing men’s a cappella music, you are invited to join this group. Our diverse sacred music repertoire includes hymns, gospel songs, anthems, spirituals, and contemporary songs. We ask that you participate consistently in the practice sessions, and be available to sing in the February 24 and March 3 concerts. Regular Sunday afternoon practices will be in January and February at Eastern Mennonite School. First rehearsal is January 6, 2019 at 2 pm. Invite your singing friends! Questions or comments? Contact one of the SVMC Committee members: Rick Bell (433-7233), Chad Beery (908-1438), David Martin (289-5567), Roman Miller (383-0281), Elwood Schrock (908-6396).

The 50th annual School for Leadership Training at Eastern Mennonite University, “Thriving in the Stormy Seas of Change” is January 14-16, 2019. Pastors and church leaders are well aware of the tumultuous seas in which we serve. Significant changes and conflicts in contemporary politics, churches and denominations and in our personal lives present challenges and opportunities for preaching and leading the church today. Church leaders riding these waves of change yearn for deep communion with God’s Spirit and for inspiring worship with other leaders in order to thrive in ministry. School for Leadership Training 2019 will provide this worshipful and renewing encounter through the narrative of Jesus’ crossing the stormy sea with his disciples in Mark 4:35-41. Keynote speakers are Sue Park-Hur, John Pavlovitz and David Evans. For more information and to register https://emu.edu/seminary/slt/

Glen Guyton: "My Journey, My Ideal" The new Executive Director of Mennonite Church USA will give a free 35-40 minute lecture with a time for questions from the audience. Join us Thursday, January 24, 7:00 PM at Lindale Mennonite Church, 6255 Jesse Bennett Way, Linville, Va. Glen has over a quarter of a century of experience serving in the denomination at various levels. After the completion of four years as an officer in the United States Air Force, Glen felt the call to ministry, which was in large part due to the peace ministry of Mennonites in Virginia Mennonite Conference. After leaving the military, Glen worked for Mennonite Mutual Aid (now Everence), and on the ministry staff of Calvary Community Church (C3) in Hampton, Va. Glen and his wife, Cyndi, live in San Antonio, Texas. In addition to the lecture, Glen will speak to Eastern Mennonite School students on January 24 and 25. Everyone is invited to his two chapels, 9:30-9:49 AM each morning in the school auditorium.

Virginia Mennonite Conference is seeking a quarter-time bookkeeper. It is an hourly position with flexible work schedule. Experience with QuickBooks essential. Key tasks include accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll. Immediate hire is possible. Contact Executive Conference Minister Clyde Kratz to indicate your interest and secure a job description at clyde.kratz@virginiaconference.org or 540-434-9727.

Community Mennonite Church
70 South High Street Harrisonburg, VA
office@cmcva.org
540-433-2148