There are many ways in which our lives intersect with one another. Honoring those connections is one of the ways we continue to form the bonds of community. Please keep these concerns in your minds and hearts in the coming days.

 

•         Those who were unable to worship with us due to their current health limitations, including: Jane Cassell, Barbara Smith, Don & Dorothy Gable, and Eunice Brightbill.

•         Bob Frantz recovering from a recent hospitalization.

•         Joyce McFadden recovering in healthcare following a recent hospitalization.

•         Amy Acree recovering at home from surgery on Wednesday, December 1.

•         Jim Clark as he continues to have medical tests related to a fall that occurred the end of October.

•         Those among us who wish to keep their concerns close to their hearts.

•         Our sister church in El Salvador, Emanuel Baptist. We pray for the group of young musicians who create, lead, and inspire music and worship each Sunday.

•         We pray for peace.

Again this year following the Christmas Eve service, we will be choosing a recipient for the perfume fund offerings. Be sure to join us for the service at 7pm on December 24 and then stay for punch and cookies as we draw the name of a recipient. There is still time to add money to the fund! The perfume fund jar is located on the credenza in the narthex.

 Nominations for this year's recipient will be received on Sunday, December 12 during the Great Potluck and again on Sunday December 19 before or after worship. Listen for the announcement and then look for the table where you can submit your nominations. This year, again persons 18 and under may make nominations, but we will also receive nominations from persons 90 and older!

 

Dear Friends,

In August I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma. The primary location is in the soft palate of the mouth. This cancer is untreatable, inoperable and is growing, following a terminal nerve. I am losing sight in my left eye, sensing diminished hearing in the left ear along with difficulty in keeping my balance. This has made walking more difficult. At this time I’m finding it necessary to stop attending services at the church.

I began hospice care for pain management at the end of August and it has been helpful. Thank you for the many messages of love and concern that you continue to send. I found the strength to attend the first Sunday of Advent and appreciated a sense of being a part of the congregation as we enter this special season. Although I may not be able to be with you on Sunday mornings, you remain in my thoughts and prayers. I feel like I have been with you every time I watch the video.

A Blessed Christmas Season,    Marjorie Dilling

 

While Stewardship Commission has not yet designated a recipient (or recipients) for the Christmas Card Offering, we will once again “grow a Christmas Tree” from your designated gifts to the Christmas Greeting Fund.

 

Church Women United invites you to bake cookies for the shoppers at the Thrift Shop during December. The volunteers report that the cookies bring smiles of gratitude to the shoppers! Please package six cookies in a plastic bag, closed with a twister. Place them in the designated box at our church entrance or take them to the Thrift Shop. Thank you for adding Christmas Cheer! 

Dorothy Weldy, for Church Women United 

The church office will be open in the mornings between Christmas and New Year’s, December 27-28-29 and 30. The church office will be closed in the afternoons December 27 through 30. 

The Family Life Center is open from 8 to 10 am for walking and exercise. Nursery School may use the FLC from 10 to 11.

 

 

  9:30 am Peace Patch Preschool / FLC            

10:30 am Staff meeting

  5:00 pm Weight Watchers – Room 220

  6:00 pm Yoga – Narthex

  6:30 pm CROP Walk meeting

  6:30 pm Worship Center/Decor

  7:30 pm Volleyball

 

9:30 am Peace Patch Preschool / FLC

4:00 pm Children practice program

6:00 pm Food-Fun-Friends

6:30 pm Holden Advent Service-Lutheran

 

9:30 am Peace Patch Preschool/FLC

9:30 am CBWF Relief Sewing

4:00 pm Music Staff

7:00 pm Stewardship Commission

7:30 pm Ecclesia Choir Rehearsal

 

 

 

 

Please join us Sunday, December 12, at 11 am for the Children’s Christmas Program, Making Sense of Christmas. Each Sunday School Class (preschool through youth) will heighten our awareness of our Five Senses as they relate how they experience celebrating Christmas by focusing on a particular sense. Following the program, the fellowship continues with our All-Church Christmas Potluck. Please bring a festive dish or two to share and table service for your family.

The Preschool Sunday School is looking for some clean, gently-used toys and books for their classroom!  If you would be willing to donate any of the following, please bring it to the church office by December 19:

   *puzzles appropriate for small fingers
    *Duplo Building Blocks
    *Christian children's books
    *magneticletters
Questions?  Call Laura Gable.

A rough draft of the 2011 directory will be available in the Narthex again this year for you to edit. If you have changes in your contact information that you’d like to share with the church family, be sure to let the office know.

Both Yoga and Zumba-Gold are often flexible, depending on the weather and Holiday Activities. The church office does not always get their last-minute changes, so please call the instructors for information:

Yoga: Adria Pickett, 1-260-774-9336

Zumba-Gold: Mandy Shull, 1-317-431-5744

Angel gift tags were on the Narthex Christmas Tree until December 5. Tags indicated the age of the recipient and a gift suggestion. Children were encouraged to choose gifts for other children (with parental assistance). Please bring your wrapped gift, with the Angel Tree tag attached, and place it under the Narthex Angel Tree by next Sunday, December 12. Questions? Contact Laura Gable at the church (982-7523) or at home (982-2864) or on her cell (578-0378).

 

 

  

Dear Friends,

I cannot thank you enough for your generous hospitality and gracious hosting of the Progressive Brethren Gathering. Thank you for your continuous witness of justice and hope within the South/Central Indiana District.

Appreciatively yours,

Carol Wise, Executive Director

Brethren Mennonite Council

 

Since 2002, the Learn More Center has helped nearly 1,500 Wabash County adults acquire essential skills in reading, math, writing and computer use. Our programs help create individual paths to employment and improvement. While financial contributions to the Learn More Center are appreciated (contributions made before December 31 will be matched $1 for $1), we are also in desperate need of tutors. Your contributions will help eliminate illiteracy and enhance employability – which means less poverty and more prosperity for Wabash County.

Contact the Learn More Center, 603 Bond Street, PO Box 272, or call 982-6138 to become a tutor to an adult learner.  www.learnmorecenter.org

Zion Lutheran Church will be offering a Blue Christmas Service this year as a ministry for persons who are grieving. They extend an invitation to us to join them for this service of Holy Communion, Sunday, December 12, at 7 pm.

Winamac, Indiana, Flood Recovery project this coming December 12-18, We are asking for volunteers for painting, and finish work as the project winds down. If you can help, contact Cliff Kindy at kindy@cpt.org or phone 260-982-2971.

The Haiti Workcamp information packet is available in the church office.

 

 

Dear Church Family,

Sermon texts will be in an on-line archive for three weeks if you wish to read them or print the text to study.

Web-Site: www.manchestercob.net

Newsletter: 

Calendar: http://www.manchestercob.net/events.php

Feel free to explore the other tabs and let us know your reactions. We want to make it as user-friendly as possible. We encourage articles and content, photos and clips (we reserve the option to edit as needed and appropriate). Please send your items to our e-mail: manchestercob@gmail.com

 

Willie Hisey Pierson, director of Insurance Services

Steve Mason, interim CFO, continuing to serve as director of Brethren Foundation and socially responsible investments.

 

Glucometer and test strips in a small black case: could this be your diabetic testing equipment?