This week's sermon:
"Boundless Joy"
Luke 3:1-6
Rev. Russ Boyd preaching
This week we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent by focusing on the traditional theme of joy. When joy sometimes seems hard to find, how do we experience the boundless joy found in God?
Also, this week we are thrilled to welcome the Benbrook High School Choir directed by our own Emily Saenz as our guest choir in worship! They will be singing four different choral pieces throughout the service, some accompanied and others a cappella. Please give them a warm welcome on Sunday!
Click here for this Sunday's Bulletin
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Come spread Christmas joy to some of our homebound churchmembers! Wear your festive Christmas gear and come ready to make a joyful noise (no actual singing skills are required).
We will leave the church to go caroling right at 3:30 pm, so plan to meet at the church a few minutes earlier. If you can't make it by then, text Allison at 817-913-6925 and we will let you know where to meet us. Please do plan to wear a mask, and stay home if you are feeling sick so we can do our best to keep our most vulnerable members safe.
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Annual Congregational Meeting
This Sunday, December 12 immediately after worship
All church members should plan to stay for a meeting in the sanctuary (or on Zoom) after worship this Sunday. At our annual Congregational Meeting members review and vote on the budget and church leadership nominees for 2022 and receive end-of-year reports from clergy and lay leaders. If you plan to join the meeting via Zoom, use the info below to log in:
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On Sunday, December 19 during worship over 30 of Ridglea's children and youth will be coming together to tell us the Christmas story! The pageant this year is based on the book "Twas the Season of Advent" and will be filled with music, storytelling and maybe even an elephant at the manger. You don't want to miss this!
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This Sunday we will receive our denomination's special Christmas Offering, which supports regional ministries. Our region, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Southwest, provides invaluable support to our congregation and Disciples churches throughout Texas, New Mexico, and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas.
Our regional staff and lay leaders provide care for pastors, assist churches with pastoral transitions, provide clergy training on healthy boundaries and combating racism, sponsor and promote camps and retreats, and so much more! Read more about the ministries of our region at ccsw.org, and contribute to this special annual offering by clicking here and selecting "Christmas Special Offering" from the Fund menu.
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Want to beautify our sanctuary for Advent, support Ridglea ministries, and memorialize or honor someone in your life? Now is the time to order a poinsettia! Each poinsettia is $20, and if you'd like to keep it you can bring yours home after the Christmas Eve service.
Click here to place your poinsettia order online
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This year Ridglea is hosting an Angel Tree to support Refugee Services of Texas! All of our angels have been sponsored! I addition to the angels from Refugee Services you all went above and beyond and also sponsored children from 3 local families who have experienced recent trauma. Thank you all so much. If you sponsored an angel bring your gifts unwrapped to the church by this Sunday December 12th. Save the date for December 18th when we will have a gift wrapping party and get to play santa and deliver gifts! You can stop by anytime between 10-5. You can also still donate money towards the angel program www.shelbygiving.com/ridglea and choose angel from the drop down menu. This will help to pay for gift wrapping and for angels still on refugee services list who didn't get adopted.
Angels:
1. Ehsanullah, Boy, Age 1: Bart & Sue Pointer
2. Gvin, Boy, Age 3 months: Saenz Family
3. Naseebullah, Boy, Age 7: Ridglea Youth
4. Ahmad, Boy, Age 4: Gaco & Whitney McLean/Le
5. Mohamed, Boy, Age 11: Ben Moretti
6. Sadaf, Girl, Age 8: Lanza Family
7. Bibi Hanifa, Girl, Age 1.5: Carla Kersey
8. Adeline, Girl, Age 10: Jasmine Moretti
9. Sabrina, Girl, Age 13: Garza Family
10. Sara, Girl, Age 2: Whitney & Gaco McLean/Le
11. Faith, Girl, Age 6: Kapavik & Boop Family
12. Yosra, Girl, Age 7: Dreschel Family
13. Madina, Girl, Age 9: Boyd Family
14. Muzlifa, Girl, Age 2: DeVoe Family
15. Rafiullah, Boy, Age 1.5: Schlotterbeck Family
16. Masiullah, Boy, Age 10: Jana Henthorn
17. Joselyn, Girl, Age 13: Ridglea Donations
18. Jennifer, Girl, Age 12: McDonald Family
19. Juan, Boy Age 11: Ridglea Donations
20. Jacquline, Girl Age 6:Janet McLean
21. Leevion, Boy Age 6:June McGee & Family
22. Yahir S, Boy Age 8: Richard Sell
23. Sophia, Girl Age 6: Janet McLean
24. Nathan, Boy Age 4: Katie McLean
25. Sebastian, Boy Age 2: Konnie Myers
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New Jubilee Garden Workdays
Wednesdays, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Each Wednesday the Tarrant Area Food Bank sends us four volunteers to help with our weekly Jubilee Garden workdays, and we hope you can join us too! COME GROW WITH US as we clean out the Jubilee Garden and compost areas and get them ready for spring.
Questions? Want to rent a plot? Contact Janet Lanza at lanza.janet@gmail.com
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Refugee Ministries
This week, thanks to your generosity, our church was able to provide a warm meal to a family of 8 who just arrived from Afghanistan! Our goals for these meals are always to be something familiar and good that the family, after a long day of travel and months or years of trauma and fear, can finally exhale while eating. Usually this is a meal that tastes like home. This family wanted a meal that tastes like America! When Allison showed up with fried chicken and all the fixins the mom, in her limited English, said “we are home.”
Thanks, Church, for helping our neighbors find home again!
You can support this ministry by going to www.shelbygiving.com/ridglea and choosing "Refugee Family" from the Fund dropdown menu and/or by emailing allison@ridgleachristian.org if you want to help grocery shop, set up an apartment, or bring meals to new families!
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Advent is such a joyful time in our church. Read below for ways you can be involved!
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Wondering what to get the person who has everything? Give a Ridglea Alternative Gift in their honor to help share God's love in the world. Email Allison@ridgleachristian.org with any questions and to receive the gift card to wrap up and give them!
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Check out the beautiful Christmas Cards already hanging in our foyer and add your well wishes to it! This is the best deal-you save time and money addressing cards and buying stamps and you support ministries to share God's love! It doesn't get better.
Donations can be made at www.shelbygiving.com/ridglea
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Youth Group
Sunday, 3:30 - 5:30 pm
Grades 3-12
For youth group this Sunday we are joining the church to go Christmas Caroling! Be at the church a little before 3:30 and we will head out to spread Christmas cheer to our neighbors!
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Christmas Pageant
We are so excited for the Christmas pageant Sunday December 19th! We will have rehearsal at 9:30 am this Sunday for all kids with speaking and singing parts, and you can also pick up your costumes. Sunday, December 19 at 9:30 am we will have a rehearsal for all participants before the pageant!
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Snapology Kids Camps
We are thrilled to be hosting Snapology kids camps at Ridglea Christian Church this winter break for kids ages 7-14! Check out their S.T.E.A.M camp descriptions below:
Creature Creator Robotics Camp: Your animal lover will create their own animal inspired robotic models. Students will learn about gear ratio, sensors, simple machines, and programming as they build insects, dolphins, gorillas and much more. Your child is sure to have a wild time as they build, learn and play
Winter Holiday Workshop Camp: students will work together to build winter holiday inspired robotic models, play games with their models and modify their work to learn the basics of robotics to create unique memories!
Mega Machines Camp: Your child will create some of their favorite motorized vehicles. Students will learn about gear ratios, sensors, pulleys, cranks and programming as they build trucks, space rovers, helicopters and more!
Movie Favorites Camp: Bring your favorite animated movies to life using LEGO bricks in this super fun camp! Movies such as toy story, how to train your dragon, Lion King, Onward, Frozen and Trolls will be recreated using LEGO bricks!
Click here for more info and registration
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Camp Winter Retreats
Save the date for these winter retreats at
Disciples Crossing Church Camp
DC Kids Mid-Winter Retreat
1st-5th grade
Friday, January 28, 8 PM - Sunday, January 30 11 AM
DC Middle School Mid-Winter Retreat
6th-8th grade
Friday, February 4, 8 PM - Sunday, February 6, 11 AM
DC High School Mid-Winter Retreat
9th-12th grade
Friday, February 18, 8 PM - Sunday, February 20, 11 AM
Go to www.disciplescrossing.org to learn more and register. When you register, click "invoice Ridglea Christian Church" and we will help cover a portion of your costs through the Pointer Scholarship Fund.
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Throughout the pandemic our mission as a church has been to love God and love our neighbors in ways that keep each other safe. This has led us to learn how to be the church and worship in ways that we would have never imagined two years ago. We have learned that God is everywhere, and that nothing can stop us from sharing God's love!
Our Leadership Team met in late July to discuss updates to our current policies and precautions due to rising COVID numbers in our community. The group determined that while our current precautions are still appropriate, we should encourage people to carefully consider if participating in worship, classes, and meetings via our online options is a better choice - particularly for those who share a home or have regular close contact with individuals who are not vaccinated. To help everyone think through their options for participating in church life, we have put together a consolidated list of our current policies and precautions, as well as our online opportunities for participation.
Click here to read a summary of our current COVID precautions and online options
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Wednesday, January 12 at 7:00 pm on Zoom
So far over 30 people have been participating in a book study with our friends from Community Christian Church and South Hills Christian Church! Every other Wednesday we gather on Zoom and then split into breakout groups of 5-6 participants to discuss a chapter of the book Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation. After a break for the holidays, our next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 12 at 7:00 pm, and the pastors of the three churches discuss the reading for the week and share it as a podcast by the Monday before the meeting. On January 12 we will be discussing chapter 8. If you'd like to jump in and join the conversation, use the link below to log into the next Zoom meeting:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81658261772?pwd=N2wyM1hzdHM0YWI3SnpNZXl4MjZ3Zz09
Meeting ID: 816 5826 1772
Passcode: bridge
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The Open Door Sunday School Class is studying Bible passages related to the theme "Celebrating God" every Sunday morning at 10:00 am. All are welcome!
If you would like to join the class online via Zoom, please call the church at 817-738-0612 and let us know any time before 9:30 am on Sunday morning so that we can set up the Zoom meeting.
Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88956846059?pwd=WXducitUV01JY1g4YlpRbG9wWlhuUT09
Meeting ID: 889 5684 6059
Passcode: opendoor
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