Dec 17, 2008

You and your family & friends are invited to any or all of our Christmas Eve worship services. There is sure to be something for everyone depending on times and type of service. We'd love to have you share in the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Worship times are as follows on Wednesday, December 24TH : 5:30 P.M. UCC Family Service with special music by our youth and a story for the children; 7:30 P.M. CUMC Service; 10:00 P.M. UCC Traditional Service of Scripture & Carols with special music from our Chancel Choir. Nursery care will be provided.
We look forward to seeing you and yours this Christmas Eve.

SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS & ROOM PICK UP

Children will begin in Worship before going to room 4 for a Sunday Special with Lisa Machuga. They will be decorating cookies and writing letters to Christopher Mongcopa, a 1^st grader in the

Philippines

. He has never seen snow, so the children will make paper snowflakes to add to their letters!

"Christmas Story 101" on December 14^th was special! Thank you to the author, Zoie Koostra, to Sheree West and Syneva Heupel for chairing it, and to Christeen Collins, with the expert help of Gloria Collins, who organized, cleaned, and ironed the many costumes. Thank you to all of the others who helped in so many ways!

A special thank you goes to all of the wonderful families and friends who braved the record cold (25 below zero!) to come for this performance. Christ United Methodist warmed tummies and hearts with hot chili afterwards!

WELCOME MINISTRY TEAM

Laura Barber needs your help! We want to reach out to our visitors and members by extending our hands on Sunday mornings, sharing a cup of coffee and a cookie, or even a friendly visit. Please join this ministry by calling Laura at 952-4192 or send her an email at lbarber01@ugf.edu. Also, if you are interested in greeting or refilling a cup of coffee, please let her know. Thank you!

TOP TEN REASONS TO CHECK OUT THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

4) We believe that # 5 is good news!!! (note: last week's #5 was "One God, one faith, one baptism?for all."

Thank you, members of the UCC Church, for your faithful and ongoing support the past year in the following ways: Volunteering at FISH, giving to FISH bowl offerings, donating to the FISH program, purchasing Loaves & Fishes dinner tickets, using Herberger's Community Days coupons, helping FISH reach the Town Pump challenges, praying for the FISH program. Special thank you to Nick Cetto who represents UCC on the FISH Board.

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to send a really big thank you to everybody who helped with the boxes of goodies for college kids. I received mine, and I loved getting it! It was such a great idea, and I really appreciate the time and effort that went into them. Please continue to do this, because I think it is a great idea! It was so nice to get something that reminded me how much the church cared.

Thank you very much,

Catherine Mercer

are enclosed with this issue of The Good News. As in years past, this special offering goes towards the needs of children at The Salvation Army, Mercy Home, Children's Receiving Home, and Intermountain Children's Home in Helena.

GREENING NOTES

The members of the Greening Committee would like to stuff your stockings full of information aimed at respecting our beautiful environment. As we approach the holidays please be aware of the footprint you are leaving behind. If we reused some ribbon and thought of clever ways to encase our gifts without wrapping paper, we could save space in our landfills. If every American family wrapped just three gifts in 100% recycled paper, we'd save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. Every ton of paper reused or recycled prevents the emission of over a ton of CO2, keeps 100 cubic feet of waste out of a landfill, saves enough energy to light the average home for 6 months and leaves 17 trees standing to absorb more CO2. We're not here to Scrooge your holiday, but might we suggest trying LED Christmas lights? Please don't forget to turn off your indoor lights when you leave the room. Turn down your thermostat and put on a sweater. You could also carpool to church! So have yourself a greener little Christmas now!

Facts taken from Ideal Bite and How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Joanna Yarrow.