The Clarendon Connection

News of Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church December 2007

Sunday Schedule

Choir rehearsal 9:45 a.m.

Worship 10:30 a.m.

Children’s Education 10:45 a.m.

Refreshments and fellowship 11:30 a.m.

Communion will be celebrated on December 2nd. December Calendar

Christmas gifts for families from Somerville Early Head Start (for more info, see page 3)

Orders for Equal Exchange items will be taken at church on December 2nd (for more info, see page 2)

Joint Session and Deacon’s meeting on Wednesday, December 5^th, 7:30 p.m.

Serenata Chamber Musician and Friends, Winter Solstice Concert, Friday, December 7^th at 7:30 p.m. (for more info, see page 3)

Opening reception for December Salon at the Nave, Saturday, December 8^th from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. December Salon runs December 8-9, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., December 13-14, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. and December 15-16, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 4)

Yoga, at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, December 9^th (for more info, see page 5)

Writing Group meets on Wednesday, December 12^th at 7:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 5)

Peace, Justice and Mission committee will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 13^th

Horizons Bible Study will meet at 3:00 p.m. on December 14^th (for more info, see page 5)

Caroling on Friday, December 14^th – meet at the church at 6:15 p.m. SHARP, or come for a light potluck supper at 5:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 5)

Sunday, December 16^th – Pledge Cards are due! (for more info, see page 6)

Right after church on Sunday, December 16^th, an interfaith potluck, with Clarendon Hill, Temple B’nai Brith and the Muslim American Society (for more info, see page 5)

Serenata Chamber Musicians, Classical Holiday Concert, Sunday, December 16^th, 2:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 3)

Book Group/Bible Study on Wednesday, December 19th at 7:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 6)

Sunday, December 23^rd, collection of the Christmas Joy Offering (for more info, see page 6)

Christmas Eve service, Monday, the 24^th at 4:00 p.m.

Gusti Newquist will be preaching on Sunday, December 30th

COMING IN JANUARY:

Congregational Meeting/potluck on Sunday, January 20^th, right after the service (snow date is January 27^th)

Adult Education series on the historical Jesus, featuring the book “Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions” by M. Borg and N.T. Wright (see book review)

Parish News

Here is a note from Doris Fisher:

I hope that you all have had a very happy Thanksgiving. We have some much to be thankful for every day. I thank you all that your prayers are helping me get through these difficult times. God has always been with me every day. I am blessed to have so many friends. It is wonderful to belong to a great church family.

I want to thank you for the CD’s. I enjoy them immensely. I can hear the CD’s so clear and plain. It feels so good to sit here and hear Karl’s voice. When listening to the sermons, I feel like I am there in church hearing God’s voice loud and clear.

God bless you and I love you all. Elder Doris Fisher

We pray for continued healing for Ching Ling Kung and her family as she recovers from a stroke.

The Presbyterian Coffee Project

Orders will be taken for Equal Exchange COFFEE (drip or whole bean) and TEA (English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Green, Rooibos),hot cocoa mix, baking cocoa and chocolate bars ($3.00 per bar, or $30.00 for a box of 12), at church on Sunday, December 2nd. You can send orders to Katherine no later than the evening of December 2nd by phone (617-628-6716) or email (kgkg@gis.net).

Due to higher organic cocoas prices, Equal Exchange has had to increase their chocolate bar and cocoa prices. The 12 oz cans of organic hot cocoa mix and the 8 oz cans of organic unsweetened baking cocoa will now be $5.00 per can.

Remember that Equal Exchange makes contributions to the national Presbyterian Church

For every pound of fairly traded products that Presbyterians purchase, Equal Exchange donates $0.15 to the Presbyterian Church USA. For 2006, that amount totaled $21,012. The funds were used to support a reforestation and environmental sustainability project with a coffee cooperative in Nicaragua.

What is EQUAL EXCHANGE? In 1991, Equal Exchange became the first U.S. company to adopt international fair trade standards as guiding principles on 100% of their products. By working with democratic farmer cooperatives around the world and paying a fair price, Equal Exchange supports efforts to improve local communities, putting more control and greater income in the hands of impoverished, small-scale farmers in developing nations. We also serve freshly made Equal Exchange coffee at Clarendon Hill’s coffee hours!

Christmas gifts for families from Somerville Early Head Start

In previous years we have provided gifts for families from the Somerville Family Homeless Shelter, as well as families from RESPOND. This year we will be helping families from Somerville Early Head Start.

In the back of the sanctuary, on the table by the door, is a Christmas tree with tags attached to it. Please choose as many tags as you feel comfortable with. These families are asking for the bare necessities needed to make it through a New England winter. One family is a single mother with two young daughters. The other family has a teenager and twin toddler boys. One of the mothers has throat cancer.

The gifts do not need to be wrapped, but they must be NEW. Gift cards would also be welcomed, either for the items listed, or for local grocery stores. Please return your gifts no later than Wednesday, the 19^th (and ideally by Sunday, the 16^th). Please be sure to attach the tag to the item so that we know who it is for. If you have questions, please contact Ellen. Thank you!

Concerts in December

You have the opportunity to attend two very different kinds of concerts sponsored by the Serenata Chamber Musicians in December.

The first is on Friday, December 7^th at 7:30 p.m. and features Serenata Chamber Musicians and friends. This the second annual Winter Solstice Concert. It’s a blend of classical, rock, folk and experimental music, and features performances by Serenata Chamber Musicians, Audrey Ryan, Vessela Stoyanova and Valerie Thompson (of Fluttr Effect and Emil Altschuler.

The second concert is on Sunday, December 16^th at 2:00 p.m. and is a Classical Holiday Concert, featuring a blend of classical and baroque music, representative of the holiday season. It includes: Johanne Brahms – Two Songs, Op. 91, which Thea Lobo, mezzo soprano, Jessica Lipton, viola and Margaret Cheng Tuttle, piano; Georg Fredic Handel, Sonata in D Minor, HWV 359a, and Sonata in G Minor, HWV 364 – Orlando Cela, flute and Sivian Etedgee, piano; Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 8 (Christmas Concerto) featuring Melanie Maz, violin, Jessica Lipton, viola, Nathan Haggett, bass, Timothy Blalock, piano and guest artists, Betty Widerski, violin, Megan Whelihan, violin, Josiah Altschuler, cello and Robert Rivera, cello.

Concert tickets are $12.00 at the door, $10.00 reserved tickets (tickets can be reserved in advance at www.serentamusicians.com).

Established in Somerville, MA, in 2006, the Serenata Chamber Musicians is made up of talented musicians from the greater Boston area. Since April 2006, the Serenata Chamber Musicians have performed at the Lily Pad in Cambridge, St. Johns United Methodist Church in Dedham, Somerville Open Studios, the Somerville Public Library, and the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church in Somerville. In September 2006, Serenata began performing monthly concerts at the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church and, assisted by a project grant from the Somerville Arts Council. continued monthly concerts at the church in 2007.

The SCM is dedicated to reaching a wider audience by performing exceptional chamber music in various venues, from libraries to concert halls. Uniting in mixed ensembles of violin, viola, cello, piano, flute, clarinet, and voice, these enthusiastic musicians aim to make classical and new music concerts accessible and affordable to the general public.

Members of the SCM have performed locally in numerous new and classical music ensembles, including the Newton Symphony, the Gardner Chamber Orchestra, Boston Baroque, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Musica Sacra, the Handel and Haydn Society, Radius Ensemble, the Boston Philharmonic, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Cape Ann Symphony, and the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, as well as internationally in Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and Israel.

The Nave Gallery

December Salon at the Nave – Affordable Art for the Holidays – Photos, prints, paintings, mixed media and more…

Opening reception On Saturday, December 8^th from 2:00- 5:00 p.m. Six days ONLY: December 8-9 and December 13-16

Salon Hours:

Thursday, Friday: 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, Sunday: 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Featuring the work of over 50 artists, proceeds from this show benefit the Nave Gallery’s Guest Curator Program. This annual exhibit provides a unique opportunity to add to or start your own art collection while supporting one of Somerville'’ most innovative art spaces.

The Nave Gallery is an important partner in Somerville’s vibrant arts community. It is a project of ARTSomerville, a volunteer organization that draws upon the talents of local creativity, strengthening communication among artists and the public by presenting exhibits, performances, and educational activities, in collaboration with the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church. The gallery is a noncommercial art space featuring work of both emerging and established artists. Run and staffed completely by volunteers, the Nave provides an important exhibition space for both local and regional artists.

All exhibitions are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Friday 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

To see a schedule of events, which is updated often, please look at the website: www.artsomerville.org/upcoming.html

Introduction to Yoga

Come join our small, half-hour class during coffee hour (12:15 p.m., on Sunday, December 9^th) to practice mindful breathing and gentle yoga postures. Great for stress release, improved flexibility and strength. If interested, please email Liz at cavatorta1@hotmail.com for more info.

Writing Group at Clarendon Hill--all are welcome!!

After two exciting and productive meetings in October and November, the writing group will meet on Wednesday, December 12th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Green Room. Please join us!! We will begin with a group check-in, move through 1-2 writing exercises, share as we feel moved, and finish with a group check-out. We are open to everyone, regardless of previous writing experience and will tailor each session to the needs and interests of those who show up. Contact Gusti or Liz for more information: gusti_newquist@yahoo.com or Cavatorta1@hotmail.com

Friday afternoon Horizons Bible Study

On Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., December 14th, all interested in a once a month Bible Study are invited to come to Salam Lebbos' house in Arlington. We will be using the 2007-2008 Horizons Bible Study: Above and Beyond - Hearing God's Call in Jonah and Ruth, published by Presbyterian Women. If you are interested in participating, please contact Gusti Newquist, Katherine Gustafson, or Salam Lebbos. Get in touch with Katherine if you need a ride or directions.

Caroling

We will meet at the church at 6:15 p.m. SHARP on Friday, December 14^th to go caroling. (We will carpool as much as possible.) We will first visit Ruth Reynolds in Winthrop, then head back to Woburn to sing for Doris Fisher. If you would like to gather beforehand, come to the church at 5:00 p.m. for a light potluck meal. If you are not able to make it to the church by 6:15 p.m., but would like to join us later, please contact Sarah Donovan .

Interfaith Potluck

On Sunday, December 16^th we will host an interfaith potluck, beginning at noon, members of Clarendon Hill, Temple B’nai Brith and the Muslim American Society will join together for a meal and socializing. There will be brief presentations on Chanukah, Christmas and the Hajj festivals during dessert time.

Please bring an appetizer, main dish, side dish, dessert or beverage. Because our Jewish and Muslim friends have religious dietary restrictions, and we have members with severe allergies, we respectfully ask that you bring vegetarian dishes, and that all items have a list of ingredients.

Come also with your curiosity and questions as we begin to explore our connections with other faiths.

Stewardship for 2008

For this year the Stewardship Group is asking three things from the members and friends of this church.

1. Prayerfully consider how you can support the life of this congregation with your time, talents, and financial support for next year

2. Work to make stewardship an act of worship throughout the year

3. Here is the special goal… to raise money separate from the normal budget to make this building fully handicap accessible starting with our bathrooms. If we truly believe that there are no lesser children of God then we simply have no choice. Therefore, we are asking for a separate set of pledges towards this effort. The goal is to raise $20,000 for this project.

You should have received a letter with a pledge form. Please be sure to return it by Sunday, December 16^th. You may put it in the offering plate, or mail it back to the church to the attention of Mike Nickey. If you need a pledge form, please contact Mike. Here is a note from Mike:

Hello everyone,

Just a quick reminder that as you are making your holiday to do list that you include filling out your pledge form for the life and mission of Clarendon Hill! Extra forms will be available in the lobby at church. Remember this year we are asking for your annual pledge and an extra pledge to make our bathrooms handicap accessible. What better Christmas/Birthday present for Jesus than making his "house" welcoming for all his children.

Peace,

Mike Nickey

Book Group/Bible Study

There has been a simmering desire for more bible study opportunities at CHPC. The book group of the past few years is now a bible study that will be reading and listening to the Gospel of Matthew. We will go through it chapter by chapter at whatever pace we

need. Although meant to be more about listening for God's voice through this gospel, we will certainly also be ready to look at issues of interpretation and history. If you have been looking for something like this you are invited to join us on Wednesday evening December 19th at 7:00 p.m.

Christmas Joy Offering

A Presbyterian tradition for almost seventy years, the Christmas Joy Offering is one of the four special offerings designated by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to provide congregations direct ways of supporting specific causes that help those in need.

Fifty percent of the receipts to the Christmas Joy Offering are distributed to the Board of Pensions for assistance programs that provide support to retired and active church workers and their spouses and families. The other fifty percent supports Presbyterian-related racial ethnic education through the National Ministries Division of the General Assembly Council.

During the month of December, our focus on mission will be about the folks who have been helped in previous years by the Christmas Joy Offering. The Christmas Joy Offering will be received at Clarendon Hill on Sunday, December 23^rd. Please give as generously as you are able. Here is the story of one of the people whose lives have been changed through your gift.

Claiming Two Heritages

For more than three decades, Tony White Thunder was a man without a clear positive sense of who he was. Orphaned at age three, he spent his youth with foster parents who didn’t offer much support for his Native American heritage. He attended church, but mostly as an escape from a world where he didn’t feel like he belonged. In fact, much of his youth was troubled, as he failed to find meaning and purpose in life and fell into what he describes as “a vicious alcoholic cycle of pain and loss.”

After a stint in the Navy where he learned some useful job skills, Tony recalls, “I just drank myself out of one good job after another. I felt doomed to the same alcoholic death that had claimed the lives of my biological parents. Realizing how miserable I was, I reached out to the only friend I had left and asked God to help me. That day in February 1991, I felt God touch my life.”

Although he had never before felt a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Tony found that Jesus had been there all along. “And ever since that day, he has been with me, leading my journey through Alcoholics Anonymous and then through Cook School for Christian Leadership to a new life.” At Cook, Tony found the spiritual family and sense of belonging he needed. “It was the first place that allowed me to develop without abandoning a major part of myself. It’s where I learned that my Indian heritage was not something I had to overcome to be Christian, but something that enriched Christianity with a different perspective.” Indeed, it was through Cook’s internship program that Tony was reconnected to his surviving siblings and culture on the Pine Ridge Sioux reservation in South Dakota. “It seems like as long as I stayed sober and tried to follow God’s word, doors kept opening.”

Most important, Tony feels that at Cook he is becoming the Lakota Christian man the Creator intended for him to be. He hopes to enter the certified commissioned lay pastor program and then return to Pine Ridge. “There are so many Indians who don’t recognize what Jesus can do in our lives because they think we have to abandon our culture to embrace him. I believe God has called me through my experiences to be a bridge between these two cultures.”

For Tony, attending Cook has helped him explore his identity as a Native American Christian without having to sacrifice either part of that identity. Exploring similar questions of identity and call is a central reason why many other students attend the racial ethnic schools supported by the Christmas Joy Offering. Half of your gifts to the Offering help these schools offer a supportive environment for such explorations. The other half helps the assistance programs of the Board of Pensions keep faith with those who have followed their call to serve the church when they encounter unexpected financial needs.

As we celebrate the good news of great joy the angel announced to the shepherds—the bursting into human form of the same love that saved Tony White Thunder’s life—let us share that love with one another through our gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering.

Claiming Two Heritages

Tony White Thunder knows how precious Native American identity is. He was thirty-seven before he knew for certain that he was a Lakota Sioux from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. In a culture where answering the question “Who are you?” involves telling about your parents and their families, he had no idea who any of his family was. “The day I met someone who knew my sister and brothers and how to contact them,” he says, “I felt the hand of God upon me.”

Tony also understands why it’s hard for many Native Americans to accept a Christian identity. “For way too long, it was the only spiritual outlet we were permitted,” he reflects. “We were told we had to set aside our own culture to be Christian. So now, many young Indians see Christianity as another weapon of European culture.” Because he believes that Jesus Christ saved him from the early death from alcoholism that his parents suffered, and because he believes the core message of Jesus resonates deeply with traditional Native American beliefs, he feels called to bring to each culture the richness of the other.

For the fact that he feels at peace with both of these cultures, Tony thanks the Spirit for leading him to Cook School for Christian Leadership. He was looking for someone to teach him more about his Lakota heritage and found someone in Phoenix to teach him the Lakota language and drumming. One day he happened to mention that he was also interested in learning more about the Bible. Weeks later, the teacher invited him to study at Cook, where he was a professor. Seeing Tony’s interest, he was able to arrange for a scholarship and, within a few days, Tony became a student at Cook.

Like many students at racial ethnic schools and colleges we help support with our gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering, Tony brought both unique needs and unique gifts with him. In order to discover the gifts, however, he needed a unique place, one where his cultural heritage would be celebrated as an important part of him rather than a deficit to be overcome. Like many students at these schools, Tony found that once he had accepted this, he had something to offer both his own culture and the majority culture that he might never have discovered at another school. Let us give thanks for the opportunity through the Christmas Joy Offering to participate in this ministry of love.

Update from the Finance Committee of the Session

The Session is currently completing the 2008 budgeting process, and we wanted to share some of our findings and recommendations with the Congregation.

Each year, our utility expense has become a greater proportion of the overall budget, reaching nearly 20% of our expected expenses in the coming year. We are forecasting a total expense of nearly $32.000, up 20% from 2007, most of which will go to the cost of heating the church building, an expense that has nearly doubled in the last four years.

We have also recommended a substantial increase in our local mission budget. In 2007, we budgeted $1,000, all of which was distributed to Somerville Early Head Start. In 2008, we are recommending an increase to $4,000. The Session believes that we can find multiple candidates in the area where we can once again make a big impact, and we want to signal our commitment to supporting local mission.

Elder Jeff Bray

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee will shortly begin it’s work to fill our boards, committees and church positions for 2008. If you are called and asked to serve, please prayerfully consider your answer to be an enthusiastic “YES”!

We need your energy, time, imagination and love to make Clarendon Hill the best that it can be.

The Promise of Advent: Gospel Nonviolence

This appears in Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? (Ideas for a Christ-Centered Holiday 2007) and was written by Paul Amrhein, who serves as the Director of Social Concerns at Catholic Communnit of St. Francis of Assisi, Raleigh, N.C.

The promise of Advent is nothing less than Jesus’ proclamation of the reign of our God. Our daily Scripture readings for this season are full of the promise of God’s covenant with the chosen people for Israel to send a Messiah to redeem them. This Messiah showed us the way to be God’s children

Two thousand years later we are still an Advent people trying to live out that promise. Nonviolence is an integral part of living out that promise, a mainstay of Jesus’ Gospel message, and a reflection of the Advent season

Take for example, Jesus’ handling of the woman caught in adultery in John 8: 2-11, where Jesus prevents a woman from being stoned to death. The crowd, ready to cast stones, represents a very human tendency to want to have the situation brought to closure and move on. The punishment is prescribed: carry it out and the world is a better place.

Jesus’ nonviolent handling of the situation, telling the crowd, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” may appear to be a clever end to the story, but such is never the case with Gospel non-violence.

The practice of Gospel non-violence is ever the beginning – ever the Advent story. Its challenge is that there rarely an immediate solution or closure but rather it provides the opportunity for the Gospel of God’s love to take root and bloom.

This is an important point for contemporary Christians who too frequently look for others to take leadership in applying the Gospel and/or blame others for evil in the world. As followers of Christ we believe God loves us each equally and each of us is accountable to God.

The difference nonviolence makes in the story told is, all have the chance to repent and follow the Gospel. The adulteress woman in this story, aside from receiving the scare of her life, is given the opportunity to repent. The stone throwers also see their own need to repent.

Whenever we practice Gospel nonviolence in our lives, it is rarely an immediate solution to our problem. Rather, it is the beginning of the solution. It provides us the opportunity to work out our differences with those with whom we are in conflict.

A primary problem in dealing with violence in our culture is that so few of us recognize the violence in our own lives. Our actions and words help perpetuate a culture of violence.

The United States has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world, the highest percentage of its people incarcerated in the world and one of the only industrialized democracies of the world with a death penalty, sadly enough, popularly supported by many Christians. Watch the news of just about any TV program and see violence, hear it in the language. Violent talk and violent actions all breed more violence.

The challenge of Advent is to examine our own lives – do we treat every person with dignity and respect as a child of God? Are we truly making way for Christ to be born among/within us?

Recovering Jesus

This appears in Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? (Ideas for a Christ-Centered Holiday 2007) and was written by Tony Campolo, Ph.D. who is a professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia, a media commentator on religious, social and political matters, and the author of a dozen books and numerous videos. He has served on the Aternatives” Honorary Board of Directors since its inception.

A friend of mine had his TV turned on one morning in early December when he was taken aback by the strange announcement of a newscaster. “I have something disturbing to report,” were the words that caught his attention. “Someone has stolen Jesus! Sometime between midnight and three in the morning, someone took Jesus from the manger scene that sits outside the county courthouse. If anyone in our television audience has any information that could lead to recovering Jesus, please contact this station as soon as possible. We very much want to get Jesus back where He belongs.

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to be amused by that announcement or to glean all kinds of messages from it. Each Christmas it is easy to get a sense that Jesus has been taken away or gotten lost amidst all our harried activities, decoration, and presents. During the holiday season, we may want to put Jesus back in the center of things where He belongs, but we all know that recovering Jesus involves more than getting some plastic Jesus returned to a crib on the lawn of a courthouse in St. Louis.

If the real Jesus is going to be recovered this Christmas, we will have to make room for Him in our hearts and minds. Whether that plastic imitation is ever found only has symbolic meaning, but making room in our lives for the real Jesus is what is desperately needed.

Each morning try to make room for Jesus through centering prayer. I empty my mind of extraneous thoughts and try to create that sacred space that the ancient Celtic Christians call “the thin place.” I establish a subjective condition wherein there is receptivity for an invasion of Bethlehem’s Jesus, and when in stillness that invasion occurs, I experience a wonder-filled recovery of the real Jesus. This, unquestionably, is the best of all second comings.

Book Review

Our January Adult Christian Education will use this book as a starting off point for our discussions.

Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions by M. Borg and N.T. Wright

ISBN: 197800061288547

Synopsis

How is one's Christian faith shaped by their understanding of the "historical" Jesus? In point-counterpoint format, two leading scholars—Borg, a popular liberal voice on Jesus and member of the Jesus Seminar, and Wright, a prominent standard-bearer for the traditional Christian stance—discuss how interpretations of the Gospel and the facts surrounding Jesus impact upon such topics as the divinity of Jesus, the Virgin Birth, the meaning of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, and the Second Coming.

Biography

Marcus J. Borg, author of the bestseller The Heart of Christianity, is Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University, author of the bestselling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, The God We Never Knew, and co-author of The Meaning of Jesus with N. T. Wright and of The Last Week with John Dominic Crossan. He was an active member of the Jesus Seminar when it focused on the historical Jesus, and he has been chair of the Historical Jesus section of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church

155 Powder House Boulevard

West Somerville, Massachusetts 02144-1613

Telephone: 617-625-4823

www.clarendonhillchurch.org

The Rev. Karl Gustafson, Minister…………………………..John Adams, Music Director

Augustus Kwaa, Parish Associate/Evangelist……………………….. Arnie James, Sexton

Sarah Glass, Seminarian

LECTIONARY TEXTS

Dec. 2: Isa. 2: 1-5; Ps. 122; Rom. 13: 11-14; Matt. 24: 36-44

Dec. 9: Isa. 11: 1-10; Ps. 72: 1-7, 18-19; Rom. 15: 4-13; Matt. 3: 1-12

Dec. 16: Isa. 35: 1-10; Ps. 146: 5-10 or Luke 1: 47-55; James 5: 7-10; Matt. 11: 2-11

Dec. 23: Isa. 7: 10-16; Ps. 60: 1-7, 17-19; Rom. 1: 1-7; Matt. 1: 18-25

Dec. 30: Isa. 6: 7-9; Ps. 148; Heb. 2: 10-18; Matt. 2: 13-23

Jan. 6: Isa. 60: 1-6; Ps. 72: 1-7, 10-14; Eph. 3: 1-12; Matt. 2: 1-12

Jan. 13:Isa. 42: 1-9; Ps. 29, Acts 10: 34-43; Matt. 3: 13-17

Jan. 20: Isa. 49: 1-7; Ps. 40: 1-11; I Cor. 1: 1-9; John 1: 29-42

Jan. 27: Isa. 9: 1-4; Ps. 27: 1, 4-9; I Cor. 1: 10-18; Matt. 4: 12-23

Church Assignments