“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” – Luke 1:46

(Mary’s Song of Praise)

After Mary had been visited by the angel Gabriel and after she had visited Elizabeth and was told once again about the blessed gift she would bring forth into the world, Mary sang. As Mary prepared to welcome the Christ Child into the world, she stopped everything else and simply lifted her voice in praise and sang a new song. In singing, Mary created space for a sacred pause in the midst of all that was happening and all that was yet to come.

As we begin to make our way through this Advent season once more, on our own journey toward welcoming the Christ Child, we too celebrate with the gift of song. Throughout the season of Advent, you are invited to join us on a 24-day musical meditation journey. In this “Songs of the Season” series, we will allow some of the beautiful hymnary of Advent and Christmas to create space for our own sacred pauses each day. I will offer a brief reflection, there will be silence, and there will be prayer, held by the soothing and meditative sounds of the organ.

If you would like to sign-up to receive these daily 3-5 mi-nute videos, you can do so on our church website at: http://www.uccwiscasset.org/advent-musical-meditation-journey.

No matter how you mark this Advent season and our jour-ney toward Christmas, may we all find ways to make time for sacred pauses and remember the reason for the season found in the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ.

In Advent Anticipation,

Josh

Rev. Josh Fitterling

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December 2019

Advent Craft Workshop Attendees, please note:

If you are planning to attend our Advent Workshop, please bring (if you have them):

Glue gun Container for greens arrangements

Small ornaments & ribbons to put on arrangements Floral wire

Scissors

Holiday Tea at The Ledges, Friday, December 6th & Saturday, December 7th, 11am-3pm

Give yourself a lovely treat this busy holiday season with a relaxing Holiday Tea in one of Wiscasset’s iconic buildings, The Ledges. Hot tea, cider, or hot chocolate served with a sampler of savory and sweet bites. Enjoy live music by one of the region’s stellar performers. This is a Revenue Raiser for our church. Fixed price of $10. On site parking. 211 Main St.

Join us on December 1 to celebrate these birthdays!

Emily Adler Art Ballard Carol Bradford

John Crispin Jeffrey Grosser Sue Lewis

Jon McKinney Michelle Peele Chris Sieracki

David Sieracki Cindy Wright

Christmas Music Sunday

Christmas Around the World through Music Sunday, December 8th at 10am

Join us for worship as our choir offers a

medley of seasonal music to start the ho-

ly celebration ahead! Choral pieces will

be scattered throughout the worship ser-

vice and there will even be a few favor-

ite carols for the congregation to sing!

All welcome!

December 2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Family Worship & Communion 10am

Hanging of the Greens

2

Game Night 6pm

3

Garden Club Board Meeting 1:30pm

4 Organ Society 9:30am

5

Garden Club 10am-3pm

Choir 4pm

6 Holiday Tea @ Ledges 11am-3pm

Choir Extra Re-hearsal 4pm

7 Church Decorat-ing 9am

Holiday Tea @ Ledges 11am-3pm

Wiscasset Tree Lighting 4:30pm

8 Christmas Music Sunday 10am

Advent Worship 10-2pm

9

Game Night 6pm

10

Trustees 6pm

11 Organ society 9:30am

Communications 11am

12

Choir 4pm

13 14 Organ Society cookie plating

Feed Our Schol-ars back sale, Ames, 7am-1pm

15 Worship & Church School 10am Blue Christmas Service 6 pm Organ Society Cookie Sale Toy Deadline! Diaconate AW

16

Game Night 6pm

17

CIS 3pm

18 Organ Society Holiday Lunch-eon

19

Choir 4pm

Council 7pm

20 21

22 Worship & Church School 10am

23

Game Night 6pm

24 Christmas Eve Service 7pm

Christmas Eve Midnight Service 11:30 pm

25 CHRISTMAS

DAY

Office Closed

26 27 28

29 Lessons & Carols 10am

Noisy Offering

30

Game Night 6pm

31

Church in Society Update

During this busy time of year, many of us are looking for ways to help our neigh-

bors. As many of you know, Seven Asylum Seeker Families have settled nearby in

Bath. CIS was notified that one small way we can help them is to provide Shaw’s

gift cards. Our committee voted to use some of our yearly budget for this purpose

and we also have placed a jar in Fellowship Hall for donations. We will have this

jar available through December 8th. Our goal is to be able to provide each family

with at least a $25.00 gift card. Thanks in advance to all those who help us reach our

goal!

Sunday Night Bible Study

With the busyness of this time of year, weekly Bible Study will take a

break until the New Year. We will resume our study of Revelations in

January. Keep your eye out for updates as we approach.

December Cookie Sale!

The date for the Organ Society’s Annual Cookie Sale will be a few weeks later than usual due to other activities on the church calendar. So please plan to buy your deli-cious Christmas cookies in Fellowship Hall on Sunday, December 15.

To make this year’s sale as successful as past years, we need your help. Please bring your donation of cookies to the church by 9:30 AM on Saturday, December 14. That day a group of Organ Society ladies will package the goodies for easy distri-bution on Sunday. We hope to offer 45-50 plates of cookies for $5.00 each.

Hope you will include these delicious treats at your holiday gatherings!

Feed Our Scholars Bake Sale Ames Hardware, Dec. 14th, 7am-1pm

Feed Our Scholars is planning a bake sale at Ames Hardware on Saturday, Dec. 14th, from 7am to 1pm. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please bring your food offering to Ames that morning, or to the St. Philip’s Help Yourself Shelf the day be-fore. Thanks for your help!

Blue Christmas Service – Sunday, December 15th at 6pm

As we approach the darkest night of the year,

we acknowledge that the Christmas season

can be a challenging one for many who have

experienced loss in their lives. Join us for this

special service as we make a place for our grief

and sorrow, light candles, read scripture, sing,

pray, and reflect in the light of this holiday

season.

Vision for the Church Stewardship Campaign 2020 UPDATE

After our Dedication Sunday on November 24th, we have received to date 45 pledges totaling $75,372! Thank you to everyone for your generosity! This is an exceptional showing of support as we commit to the work we do together!

If you have not yet pledged, please consider it and help us meet our goal of $105,000 for 2020. Additional pledge cards can be found in the church office and in Fellowship Hall.

Your Stewardship Committee, Margot Stiassni-Sieraki, David Lenz, Kent Wusterbarth, Brad Adler, Deane Attwood

To our Coffee Hosts for December

Trustees

Police Chief and Ambulance Service Personnel Visit Organ Society

Police Chief Larry Hasseltine, EMS Director Dennis Simmons, and EMT Erin Bean spoke to the Organ Society about many local issues on October 30th. Chief Hasseltine explained the function of his equipment, including a Taser gun and body camera, as he discussed his personal work load. The Chief has recently moved to Wiscasset and is invested in his community. Both the Police Chief and the Ambulance service are reaching out in a proactive manner. More personnel is needed for both departments but that has not affected coverage. They both are seeking to work more closely with the community for more visitations and contact to alleviate or reduce emergency vis-its.

EMS Director Dennis Simmons and EMT Erin Bean discussed their job and protocol of calls. File of Life packets were distributed. If you own an iPhone, there is a Medical Profile setting to save your medical history for use by the EMTs. The EMTs were asked how they would be able to get into a house for an emergency when the door is locked. To avoid breaking the door or lock, they suggested that you leave the loca-tion of a key or the pin pad number of a locked key box with the Communications Dispatch department to be used in an emergency. Your security information does not go out over the scanner.

An hour passed by quickly for the round table meet and greet followed by a round of applause for our service people. If you have an emergency, always phone 9-1-1. Do not wait because you may be “bothering” the EMTs or that you might “just get better with time.” Time is important. EMTs can gather information and start initial treat-ments before you reach the hospital. For any other non-emergency calls, Chief Hes-seltine can be reached at 882-8202, Lincoln County Sheriff at 882-6576, and the ambu-lance service at 882-8204.

Church World Service

Please remember that the Toys for Tots box for new unwrapped toys and the box for warm children’s clothing will be in Fellowship Hall through the Dec. 15th service.

Thanks so much!

Poinsettia Order Form

Deadline: Tuesday, Dec. 3

With Christmas on the way, it’s time to think about decorat-ing our sanctuary with red, white, and pink poinsettias! This year’s price for a 6” foiled pot is $12.00 each, and they will be displayed in the sanctuary on Dec. 15, 22, 24, and 29. You are welcome to take them home after the service of Lessons and Carols on Dec. 29. Any remaining flowers will

be delivered to individuals who serve our community, home-bound members of the congrega-tion or anyone else in need of some Christmas cheer.

Orders may be placed in the Offering Plate during Sunday worship or delivered to the church office. Checks should be made payable to “First Congregational church” with memo “poinsettias.”

Name_______________________________________________________

Total $ __________________

Color: # Red _______ # White ______ # Pink _______

In Memory of_________________________________________________

In Honor of ___________________________________________

Trustees Update

With the Holiday Season fast approaching the Trustees have been working hard to

produce a budget for 2020. Expenses have risen and some structural problems will

need to be addressed in the spring. I would like to thank Deane Attwood and Steve

Hatt for their help installing our new emergency/exit signs in Fellowship Hall. Five

have been installed and the sixth will be done after Thanksgiving. Another 6 signs

will be ordered after the first of the year. The new signs are all LED and are brighter

than the old incandescent units we are replacing.

We would like to thank Janet Leonard for her support throughout the year. Her help

behind the scene is invaluable.

Meeting House Chimes

First Congregational Church, U.C.C.

P.O. Box 350, 28 High Street

Wiscasset, ME 04578

December

2019

First Congregational Church

United Church of Christ

28 High Street, PO Box 350

Wiscasset, Maine 04578

We welcome you to the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset.

We are an open and affirming congregation and are open

theologically, growing spiritually, and concerned socially.