Hi Friends,
What a special Candlelight Carol Service we had last Sunday! Our choir sang beautifully, our kids brought their own joy to worship, and it was a beautiful time to settle into the Christmas story with our church family and friends. Thanks to Pastor Leslie for planning such a meaningful time of song and lights and to all who helped to make the night come together. What a beautiful way to usher in the birth of Christ!
We are excited to worship with you on Sunday and hope that you can join us for our Christmas Eve service at 6 PM. I'm wishing you much joy this Christmas, regardless of your circumstances, as you celebrate the birth of Christ and remember that you are deeply loved by God and your FBCP family.
Nursery - Elementary
The last few weeks our kids have read about angels visiting Mary and Joseph, the long road to Bethlehem, and shepherds and animals attending the birth of Christ. This Sunday our nursery kids will continue to tell the story of Jesus' birth by focusing on the manger and celebrating the baby Jesus. We have special nativity stickers to help them make the manger scene—we can't wait!
Family Discussion Starters:
Why do you think God chose for Jesus to rest in a manger?
What is your favorite part of the story of Jesus' birth?
What is one way you want to celebrate Jesus this Christmas?
Prayer: God, help us to celebrate the birth of Jesus all year long by loving others like you love us!
Children's Choir
Thank you to all the kids who were able to participate in our carol service this year! You did a wonderful job leading us all in worship as you sang and brought the nativity to life. We are so blessed to have children share their gifts and their voices with us. A special thanks to Ms. Cynthia, our Children's Choir director, for all her hard work teaching the kids, to Pastor Leslie for bringing our children's choir and band together in the carol service, and to Judah Alvaro for serving as Ms. Cynthia's assistant (yay for youth who serve!). And parents, thank you for bringing kids early for rehearsals and for sharing them with us. We look forward to learning new songs in January!
Youth
This week the youth will gather for our regular youth time of lunch and small group. We look forward to hanging out this one last time before 2020! Note that we will not have youth programming on December 29th so that our youth can have time with family after worship. We will resume regular small group on Sunday, January 5th.
Fuller Youth Institute Cohort
Get excited! We have been accepted to a two-year cohort project with other churches and the Fuller Youth Institute. The goal of the project is to design new and relevant ways to disciple youth, and I am so excited for this opportunity to innovate and grow our youth program in the context of solid research and other like-minded folks. Stay tuned for more information, and let me know if you are interested in being part of the work!
Youth Winter Retreat
This winter we are joining up with two other church youth groups for a fun and meaningful weekend retreat! All middle and high schoolers are invited to attend our winter retreat January 18th-20th at Camp Sky Meadows near Big Bear Lake. Stay tuned for more details, and get excited for a super fun time up in the mountains!
News You Can Use
The Practice of Reading and Singing Christmas Carols
We have sung some powerful carols together this Advent season, and it has been beautiful to worship in song with you! At our carol service last Sunday evening, John Jay read the words to "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and gave some history behind the song. I love the practice of slowing down to read lyrics and really sit with the meaning behind them, especially when songs become so familiar that it's easy to sing along without much thought to the words. I would encourage you to read a song or two this Christmas and see if you notice something new and beautiful to ponder. This post has some interesting history behind five classic carols (including my favorite, "O Holy Night") in case you want to dig a little deeper. Enjoy!
