eFaith Matters
Friday, December 16, 2022
Roxbury Congregational Church
Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Church Website: roxburychurch.org
Be Our Guest This Sunday
December 18, 2022
Fourth Sunday of Advent
10:30 a.m. Worship
In-Person & Virtual
on Zoom or the Church's Facebook page
Christmas Caroling
5:00 p.m. Victorian Christmas Service
Refreshments follow
Be our guest as we gather
to hear the word of God;
meditate upon its meaning
and purpose for our lives;
to be empowered to go out
and share God's love in our daily lives;
and to bask in the peace that Christ gives.
We are a Community Seeking to Share God's Love!
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This Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Worship Where You Are At - in -person or virtually!
You are invited to worship this Sunday.
With the return to in-person worship and activities
we ask that as we come back together that we wear our name tags for worship.
Bulletin: LINK
(The link remains the same each week)
There will be a bulletin posted for each week posted by late Saturday.
Guest Book: LINK
Online Offering: LINK or point your smartphone camera at the image:
3 Ways to Join Us For Worship:
1. In-person worship - We are now worshipping in person! Mask-optional for those fully vaccinated (2 shots and booster)
2. Worship using Zoom on your computer, tablet, or smartphone: Zoom LINK
Meeting ID: 623 572 023 Password: 718688
NOTE: We ask that you keep your computer microphone MUTED, except for the virtual coffee hour, or to share a prayer concern or celebration at the beginning of worship. Thanks!
3. Worship Using Facebook LIVE at Facebook LINK
(You do not have to have a Facebook Account to watch) Be patient, the FB feed is turned on after prayer concerns and celebrations are shared - for privacy reasons... typically by 10:35 a.m. www.facebook.com/RoxburyChurch
Prayer List Submissions can be communicated by emailing Rev. Peters, during the welcome at the beginning of worship. If speaking during the worship, use only first names to protect privacy.
Unofficial printed Prayer List guidelines: for non-member names - one week, which can be requested to remain on for one month, renewable. Deaths - are listed for 1 month;
"See" you Sunday morning at 10:30 for worship!
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This Sunday...
Christmas Caroling
by speakerphone...
If you know of someone affiliated with the congregation in town
who could use some carol singing, make that suggestion to Rev. Peters.
Everyone is invited to stay a little longer after worship and join in the singing.
We will gather in the Chapel Library to sing.
Victorian Christmas Service
Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
a 40-minute service with carols, special music, a children's story
(and no sermon!)
All in the beautifully decorated Meetinghouse.
Invite your neighbors and friends - and you come too!
A wonderful reception follows.
Ministry Opportunities (Help Wanted)
We need 2 volunteers to be Greeters at the December 18 Victorian Christmas Service at 5:00 p.m.
Also at 2:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, we need a couple of people to put together some luminaries ( we have the supplies) and place out in front of the church and down the walks. If you are willing, please let Rev. Peters know. EMAIL
We are also looking for readers for Lessons and Carols as well as the 11:00 p.m. Candlelight Communion Service on Christmas Eve. Please email David or sign up on the Opportunity Table in Fellowship Hall
We have a Fellowship Hour host for this Sunday! Thank you Elizabeth Kutepov!!
Nancy Callahan
We are in shock over the sudden death of Nancy Callahan this past week.
Many have asked about services. They will be in January and details will be announced
when available.
In the meantime, please keep Dick and their family in your thoughts and prayers.
Looking for a Gift for Someone That Has Everything?
You might want to consider a donation in their name to one of the many mission partners that we have with our Church.
Examples include:
Heifer Project International:
LINK
Simply Smiles:
Make an impact in the lives of the children who depend on us in Oaxaca, Mexico, and on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota! LINK
Holy Joe's Cafe
Since 2006, Holy Joe’s Café has been sending free coffee to U.S. military bases around the world. Our mission is simple: serving a little bit of home to those who serve our country. From our humble beginning collecting cans of coffee in a church in Wallingford, Connecticut, we've grown to serve billions of cups of coffee and helped open over 300 coffee houses throughout the world, mainly in the Middle East but also in places like Africa, Europe, and even onboard Navy ships and in NATO military hospitals. Where the troops go, we go.: LINK
IRIS Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services
Working with Refugees re-settling here in Connecticut including nearby New Milford.: LINK
It you want to present a wrapped gift, of course, we have our own SERRV Shop here at the Church
Items crafted by third-world artisans. Always open in Fellowship Hall. Questions: Susan Zappulla-Peters
2022 Giving Statements on Demand
If you would like an up-to-date statement of your giving to the Roxbury Church,
please get in touch with Rev. Peters and we can print one off or email one to you.
David's email link
You may want one so that you can see if you are current with your pledge for 2022.
The last day for receiving a tax-deductible donation for 2022 to the Church is December 31, 2022.
A Giving Statement for 2022 total giving will be mailed in early January 2023.
Have you Considered Making a Special Year-end Tax-Deductable Donation to the Church?
Did You Know That We Have a Convenient Giving Webpage?
Yes, we DO!
If you go to: https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z252/home
You find a one-stop place to make your contributions to the Church
for general offerings, special gifts such as
memorials, mission giving, Minister's Discretionary Fund, and disaster relief. Easy and Secure!
The December edition of Faith Matters
is now available for viewing or downloading
at roxburychurch.org/documents
If you have something to submit for the January 2023 newsletter, please email it to
office@roxburychurch.org or drop it off at the Church Office.
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Toys & Books Distributed
at Daily Bread Food Pantry in Danbury this past Tuesday
Thank you to Ray Fitch and Barbara Biafore for organizing this event.
And thanks to those who donated and helped distributed the items.
Our Congregation Putting Faith and Caring into Action!
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Christmas Poinsettias
PRICE DROP!!
Once again, we will be offering to have the church bulk purchase poinsettias for decorating the Meetinghouse during the Christmas services.
You can make a check out to RCC for $15 and place it in the offering plate or mail it to the Church Office.
DEADLINE IS TODAY!
If you wish to have the Poinsettia placed in the memory of someone, please mark it on the signup sheet in Fellowship Hall or email David.
As usual, you can purchase a plant on your own and place it. Please mark the plant with your name so you can have it afterward.
We would like the plants to be in the Meetinghouse before Sunday, December 18, 2022, so they can be arranged.
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This Week at Church
The Meetinghouse Steeple is lit
during December
by Charlie (and Diane) Meade
celebration of the Joy of the season
Liturgical Season: Advent / Christmastide
Deacon of the Month is Mike Wilcox, assisted by Mark Wolmer
(Person to contact for more information)
Saturday, December 17
10:30 a.m. Mindfulness Mediation Group (Charlie Stauffacher) By Zoom only
11:00 a.m. Memorial Service for Mark Wilton Meetinghouse
Reception follows Fellowship Hall
Sunday, December 18 Fourth Sunday of Advent
9:15 a.m. Choir Rehearsal (Sandy Kleisner) Meetinghouse
10:30 a.m. Worship - In-Person and Virtual Meetinghouse
Refreshments follow Fellowship Hall
11:50 a.m. Christmas Caroling by phone Chapel Library
5:00 p.m. Victorian Christmas Service Meetinghouse
Reception follows Fellowship Hall
Monday, December 19 Hannakah begins for our Jewish friends
Tuesday, December 20 Rev. Peters is taking today off
Wednesday, December 21
2:00 p.m. Piano Lessons - Hall - (Sandy Kleisner)
6:00 p.m. Cub Scouts (Jason McKay) Fellowship Hall
7:00 p.m. Boy Scouts (Jason McKay) Fellowship Hall
Thursday, December 22
Saturday, December 24
7:30 p.m. Family Service of Lessons and Carols Meetinghouse
11:00 p.m. Candlelight Communion Service Meetinghouse
Sunday, December 25 Christmas Day
10:30 a.m. Worship Online - Zoom and Facebook LIve only
Save the Date
Sunday, January 1, 2023
11:00 a.m. Pot Luck Brunch with Worship Fellowship Hall
Reminder: If you have any community events that you would like lifted up, please submit them to the church office by 9:00 a.m. on Fridays so they can be printed in the bulletin. We want to keep spoken announcements to those pertaining to the Roxbury Church.
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Greeters Lay Reader
December 18: Collette Family Autumn
December 18: _____________ for Victorian Christmas Service
December 24, 7:30 p.m.: __________________ See sign up
December 24, 11:00 p.m.: _________________ See sign up
December 25: Online
January 1: Brunch _____________
January 8: ________________ _______________
Flowers
December 18: Christmas Poinsettias (see order form on Opportunity Table)
December 25: Onlne
January 1: Christmas Poinsettias
January 8: _________________
Zoom Virtual Worship Tech
Control and switch between the camera and sharing the bulletin on the screen.
December 18: Barbara Cover 10:30 & Victorian Christmas
December 25: David Peters
January 1: _____________
January 8: _____________
We are looking for a couple of people who can help us with this. See Rev. David
Refreshments Host
As simple as some cookies with coffee/tea.
December 18: Elizabeth Kutepov
December 25: Online
January 1: Fellowship Committee
January 8: ____________
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Steeple Lighting
The Steeple is lighted each month in memory or celebration.
Listed below are those who have signed up.
December 2022: Diane & Charlie Meade
January 2023: Mike Wilcox
February 2023: C & D Farrell - in memory of Nancy Callahan
March 2023: ______________
April 2023: ______________
Steeple Lighting: $25 for the month, payable to RCC
and goes into the Memorial Fund - See Rev. Peters
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Our Congregation is finishing up its Stewardship Campaign for 2023.
We would like you to please return your 2023 Financial Pledges soon.
Bring them to worship and place them in the offering plate or mail them to the Church (24 Church St.)
The Stewardship Committee is now in the process of following up with those who have not yet submitted their pledge.
If you misplaced or did not receive your pledge letter and form in the mail,
please go to our website's GIVING page: LINK
Pledges are your best estimate of giving for the year and help the Trustees to fund the ministries for the coming year.
You can give electronically by signing up on the pledge form, going to our giving link, and selecting a re-occurring donation, weekly offerings using the offering envelopes, or checks mailed to the Church weekly, monthly, quarterly, or a one-time annual donation.
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Headlines and Lowlights
Martha Spong
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But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. - Jeremiah 31:33 (NRSV)
I don’t know why I keep looking at the news first thing every morning. For a long time, I thought knowing what was happening in the world, even the worst of it, would make me feel more secure, better prepared to respond to disaster. But a lot of the time—maybe even most of the time—I end up feeling unsettled instead, frustrated by the number of things that feel out of control and mad at the people who are making them that way.
I hear my father’s voice from long ago telling me, “Don’t say mad, say angry.” But this feeling I have goes way beyond angry. It’s as if all my joints are both wound up tight and impossibly loose. I have the passion to smash things but none of the precision to keep from being reckless. And while, if pressed, I would tell you I don’t believe in an actual Devil, that feeling and the people and situations that inspire it feel like hell.
My lowlights correspond with the lowlights of the world as it is. When we get caught in the hellmouth of headlines, we fix nothing and help no one.
Maybe today, I’ll leave my phone on the bedside table and turn to a different authority for my security. Maybe today, instead, I will embrace the early morning and pray.
Prayer
Holy God, write your law on our hearts. Bring about the world as it should be, for everyone. Amen.
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Mindfulness Meditation Group – Saturday mornings
Feeling Stressed? Overwhelmed?
You are invited to be a part of the Mindfulness Meditation Group which meets Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to noon, in the Chapel Library and on Zoom. Open to any and all in the community, regardless of any religious affiliation.
Note: They will not be meeting Nov. 26 or Dec 3 because of Church events
The Link to join is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/762243509?pwd=SkFGTXlPSm5HZ1pMZnRMQ3NyZ2NrQT09
Contact Charlie Stauffacher for information at 860-354-1274.
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COVID -19
While we do not have a widespread outbreak here, some of our neighboring congregations have had COVID-19, flu, and RSV spread at the Church. You may have noticed that some more people are wearing masks while out and about in public. Covid has not gone away. Please get your bi-variant booster.
I want to encourage us to be mindful of how we interact. Please be conscious of the proximity of each other. While I don't feel we need to take any formal restrictive measures at this time, we have had some unintentional exposures here at church. You may, for example, notice that the choir may sometimes choose to stand across the front of the worship space instead of around the piano. Some may choose to not hug when greeting. Please remember that some among us are more vulnerable than others. Be kind... be loving... be smart. David
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You are Encouraged to Support these Community Events
and Neighboring Congregations:
________________________________________
Please submit other community events to be listed here by email only to office@roxburychurch.org
by Friday 9:00 a.m.
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