THE CHRISTIAN CRIER FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES...
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First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) P. O. Box 295 Dexter, MO 63841 Sunday, December 3 10:00 First Sunday of Advent Hanging of the Greens followed by the holiday dinner Sunday, December 10 10:00 Second Sunday of Advent Worship Service 11:30-1:30 Cookie Walk Sunday, December 17 10:00 Third Sunday of Advent Worship Service including the Children’s Christmas Program Thursday, December 21 7:00 Blue Christmas Service Sunday, December 24 10:00 Fourth Sunday of Advent Worship Service 6:00 Candlelight Communion Service THE CHRISTIAN CRIER FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) Michael Williams, Pastor 224 E. Stoddard, P. O. Box 295 E-Mail: [email protected] Dexter, MO 63841 Web Page: www.fccdexter.org Kim Williams Office: (573) 624-4341 Administrative Assistant Fax: (573) 624-7723 E-mail: [email protected] November 30, 2017 For many of us who grew up in the church, the Christmas pageant was one of the highlights of the holiday season. There was a delightful ritual to the process. Every year all of the Sunday School children would dress up in a variety of costumes in order to act out the nativity story. Some kids would be sheep. Some would be shepherds. The older kids would get the speaking parts and at the end everyone would join together in singing a couple of familiar carols. Even those of us who did not grow up in the church were able to get a glimpse of the pageant experience through popular culture. Television brings us specials like the Charlie Brown's Christmas and The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever on an annual basis. In these shows we get a chance to see both the excitement of kids participating, but also the bit of the behind the scenes work necessary to put on such a presentation in the first place. Children are not the only ones who get to have fun telling the Christmas story. Many churches sponsor living nativi- ties with adults and farm animals portraying the Bethlehem stable scene. Latin Americans have a tradition of "shepherd's plays" which originated in medieval European Christianity. In our own community hundreds of people gather every year in downtown Dexter for a public reading of the Gospel story. Besides providing an opportunity for parents and grandparents to photograph their children, there is actually a good disciple-making reason for all these traditions of acting out the biblical story of Jesus' birth. Hands-on participation in the narrative helps the words of Scripture embed themselves in the lives of believers. Educators refer to this as kinesthetic learning. Students may learn a lot through lectures, but a field trip to a historic site will help solidify that knowledge by giving them a chance to walk in footsteps of famous people and to touch artifacts they have only read about. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to make a field trip to ancient Palestine. Instead, pageants, shepherd's plays, and nativity scenes give us a small glimpse of the world into which Jesus was born. Obviously, this window incredi- bly small and distorted by our own culture and context, but it can help to provide a tiny bit of flesh and blood to characters that we would otherwise only be able to read about. This is why I am so excited that this year Jess Hunter and Jansen Williams are working together to organize a youth Christmas program. On Sunday, December 17, the children's Sunday School students will be acting out the story of Jesus' birth. Like all good pageants, there will be costumes, singing, and narration. Additionally, every week the kids will place a different character in the nativity scene until the wise men arrive on Epiphany Sunday. The reason they are doing this is not simply to entertain, it is to tell a profound truth about God's love. I invite you to join them as they help us reconnect to the story of the birth of our Savior.
Transcript of THE CHRISTIAN CRIER FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES...
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Sunday, December 3 10:00 First Sunday of Advent
Hanging of the Greens followed by the holiday dinner
Sunday, December 10 10:00 Second Sunday of Advent
Worship Service 11:30-1:30 Cookie Walk Sunday, December 17
10:00 Third Sunday of Advent Worship Service including the Children’s Christmas Program
Thursday, December 21 7:00 Blue Christmas Service
Sunday, December 24 10:00 Fourth Sunday of Advent
Worship Service 6:00 Candlelight Communion Service
THE CHRISTIAN CRIER FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)
Michael Williams, Pastor 224 E. Stoddard, P. O. Box 295 E-Mail: [email protected] Dexter, MO 63841 Web Page: www.fccdexter.org Kim Williams Office: (573) 624-4341 Administrative Assistant Fax: (573) 624-7723 E-mail: [email protected] November 30, 2017
For many of us who grew up in the church, the Christmas pageant was one of the highlights of
the holiday season. There was a delightful ritual to the process. Every year all of the Sunday
School children would dress up in a variety of costumes in order to act out the nativity story.
Some kids would be sheep. Some would be shepherds. The older kids would get the speaking
parts and at the end everyone would join together in singing a couple of familiar carols.
Even those of us who did not grow up in the church were able to get a glimpse of the pageant
experience through popular culture. Television brings us specials like the Charlie Brown's Christmas and The
Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever on an annual basis. In these shows we get a chance to see both the excitement of
kids participating, but also the bit of the behind the scenes work necessary to put on such a presentation in the first
place.
Children are not the only ones who get to have fun telling the Christmas story. Many churches sponsor living nativi-
ties with adults and farm animals portraying the Bethlehem stable scene. Latin Americans have a tradition of
"shepherd's plays" which originated in medieval European Christianity. In our own community hundreds of people
gather every year in downtown Dexter for a public reading of the Gospel story.
Besides providing an opportunity for parents and grandparents to photograph their children, there is actually a good
disciple-making reason for all these traditions of acting out the biblical story of Jesus' birth. Hands-on participation
in the narrative helps the words of Scripture embed themselves in the lives of believers. Educators refer to this as
kinesthetic learning. Students may learn a lot through lectures, but a field trip to a historic site will help solidify that
knowledge by giving them a chance to walk in footsteps of famous people and to touch artifacts they have only read
about.
Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to make a field trip to ancient Palestine. Instead, pageants, shepherd's plays,
and nativity scenes give us a small glimpse of the world into which Jesus was born. Obviously, this window incredi-
bly small and distorted by our own culture and context, but it can help to provide a tiny bit of flesh and blood to
characters that we would otherwise only be able to read about.
This is why I am so excited that this year Jess Hunter and Jansen Williams are working together to organize a youth
Christmas program. On Sunday, December 17, the children's Sunday School students will be acting out the story of
Jesus' birth. Like all good pageants, there will be costumes, singing, and narration. Additionally, every week the
kids will place a different character in the nativity scene until the wise men arrive on Epiphany Sunday. The reason
they are doing this is not simply to entertain, it is to tell a profound truth about God's love. I invite you to join them
as they help us reconnect to the story of the birth of our Savior.
December Serving Schedule
Elders: Kenny Pope & Larry Speight
Diaconate: Debbie Crane & Deidre Thompson (communion prep.); Jon
Thompson, Brian Merritt, Gregg Mil-
ler, Mark Stidham
Greeters
12-03 Kenny & Kenton Pope (front);
Angela & Drexler Pope (side) 12-10 Debbie Crane (front);
Debbie Stidham (side)
12-17 Sean & Debbie Vanslyke (front); Parker Vanslyke (side)
12-24 Bob & Janice Barney (front);
Carolyn Carrier (side)
12-24 Candlelight Service
Rita & Larry Speight (front);
Sarah Moore (side) 12-31 Mark & Debbie Stidham (front);
Dee Boesen (side)
Welcome/Announcements
12-03 Kenny Pope
12-10 Debbie Stidham
12-17 Debbie Vanslyke 12-24 Kim Williams
12-31 Mark Stidham
Acolytes: Kenton & Drexler Pope
Worship Leader
12-03 Angela Pope
12-10 Debbie Crane
12-17 Sean Vanslyke
12-24 Jansen Williams 12-31 Kenny Pope
Computer/Sound: Sarah Moore & Lily Williams
Open/Close Church: Mark Stidham
(If you will not be able
to serve on the Sunday
listed, please find your
replacement and noti-
fy the church office
who will be serving in
your place.)
PRAYER LIST—Elizabeth, friend of Debbie Crane, Kay Ables, David Adams, Faustina Barker, Reverend Tom Bass, Mary Ellen Blank-enship, Bill Boesen, Carolyn Carroll, Family & Friends of Carrol Chaney, Caryl Clippard, Maxine Daniel, Jerry Darby, Tom Dawson, Ginger Evans Dill, Shirley Edwards, Sue Waggoner-Flowers, Janet Hammock, Friend of Eric & Sandra Basham, Lynn Hassell, Ray-dean Hendrix, Josephine Hueckel, Friends and Family of Kenny Kingree, Debbie Lewis, Bonnie Logan, Vivian Maddox, Elvena Mar-tin, Betty & Bob Mayer, Mary Ann McDowell, Lola Montgomery (sister-in-law of Carolyn Montgomery), Winnie Morgan, Diana Orr, Barb Owens, Mae Pope (Mother of Debbie Wilson), Friends and Family of Darlene Rowland, Betty Russell, Scott Russell, Marty Thompson, Jerry Thrower, Tracey Tompkins, Mary Beth Williams, Becky Sisler Wilson, Danielle Wunderlich, Bonnie Yersak's son, Tyler
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10 11:30-1:30
Our 101h Cookie Walk is scheduled for December 10. This year the cookie walk will be held on a SUN-DAY from 11:30-1:30. Proceeds will be used to purchase paper products
for the Stoddard County Gospel Mission. We still need cook-ies and candies to sell in order to make this a successful event. Give one of the Evening Ladies a call if you can help us out! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make plans to stay after the Hanging of the Greens Service on Sunday, December 3 for our holiday din-ner. Meat, rolls and drinks will be provided. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
3 9:00 Sunday School 10:00 Hanging of the Greens followed by Holi-day Dinner 6:00-7:30 Youth
4 11:30 CWF Meeting at Air-ways 6:00 Zumba
5 8:00 Prayer Group
6
7 6:00 Zumba
8
9 11:00 Youth Meet at Church for shopping trip
10 9:00 Sunday School 10:00 Worship Service 11:30-1:30
11 6:00 Zumba
12 8:00 Prayer Group
13
14 6:00 Zumba
15
16
17 9:00 Sunday School 10:00 Worship Service & Chil-dren’s Christmas Program 6:30-8:00 Youth
18 6:00 Zumba
19 8:00 Prayer Group
20 21 6:00 Zumba 7:00 p.m.
22 23
24 10:00 Worship Service 6:00 Candlelight Communion Service
25
26 8:00 Prayer Group
27 28 6:00 Zumba
29 30
31 9:00 Sunday School 10:00 Worship Service
1
2 8:00 Prayer Group
3 4 6:00 Zumba
5 6
SHUT-IN OF THE MONTH Wes Eskew
Central Gardens, Room 307 302 N. Elm
Dexter, MO 63841
A visit or card would mean so much.
