Monday Announcements, Poems Read at Worship Yesterday, Brief Report of Congregational Meeting, Youth Group Greeting Card Fundraiser!

A joyful welcome to our newest members who joined yesterday – Sean Mack, Brianna Neal, Michael & Sara Murphy, and Robert & Andrea Wescott. Thanks be to God for these strong hearts!

Many thanks to those who attended and brought their prayerful thoughts & concerns to the Budget Meeting yesterday! After a wonderful lunch prepared by Shirley Carlberg (applause), we considered several documents: the Pastor’s Terms of Call, to which several small changes were made by our Administration Board and which hadn’t been reviewed in a few years; the 2019 Budget Policy and 2019 Budget. All documents were discussed and the motions to accept them passed with no changes from the floor. There was also a commitment made to complete the Visioning Process, begun early in the year, and to hold a meeting (or meetings) to discuss their conclusions & recommendations. Those Congregational Conversations have been scheduled for January 13, after worship, and 16th after WNL supper.

Also presented for discussion was language to amend the bylaws of the Church to establish a Union Church Endowment Fund. The proposed addition to our bylaws was approved by Church Council at its November 19 meeting and discussed at yesterday’s meeting. The addition to the Bylaws will be voted upon at a special called meeting right after church on December 16. That proposal is attached at the end of today’s announcements. After tomorrow’s Finance Board meeting, we’ll send out the questions asked at the Budget Meeting with responses and clarifications.

Our Youth Group is selling cards as a fundraiser. Never be without a greeting card when you need one! Order soon – they’ll arrive n about mid-January.

https://union-church.org/fd_ops/cards/

Christmas Caroling: Sunday December 16th at 4:00 pm. Meet at church for cookies at 4 pm. Help is needed to plan the details of this event.  Please contact Laura (call or text) at 859-358-0106 or joyfulsunflower @gmail.com to volunteer your fun-planning skills! Bring cookies if you can!

Next week! Christmas Pageant at worship! Once Upon An Angel: A Simple Christmas Story. During worship, you will be invited to join the story of Christmas as led by the youth of the congregation. Come as you are; no rehearsal necessary.

Alva Peloquin sends thanks to the many church family for the birthday greetings!

Christmas trees & greens needed. Do you have a 5-7-footer you aren’t using? We can use it at church. We can also use some greenery, if you’re in the mood to prune around your yard. Holly, spruce, magnolia…we can use them all to beautify the church for Christmas!

I need a bit of help organizing bulletins in the office. Any weekday, 8-5. Call 986-3725 to volunteer. Thanks—Joan.

Saturday, Dec. 15, 2:00 pm. Memorial Service celebrating the life and faith of Stan Bolster, father of Steve Bolster sanctuary, followed by a reception in the Community Room. If you can bring something sweet or savory to the reception, it will be very welcome!

Dancers of all abilities and skills are enthusiastically invited to help us dance in the light on Christmas Eve. Dancers begin the service with slow and lovely music as we light the worship candles for the service. If you would like to join (no experience necessary), contact Carla Gilbert (859-985-1144 or 859-358-2962) .  Rehearsals will be scheduled as soon as the group is assembled.  We’ve love to include male and female dancers in the group!

St. Clare Christmas Basket Program! Each year we partner with St. Clare to help provide food staples and children’s gifts for the holidays. In the sanctuary you will find information about how to provide food for families of various sizes, including a shopping list. Your items, put into a cardboard box (or boxes), along with any toys or children’s books, do not need to be delivered to St. Clare until December 21. We will collect toys and food baskets here if you wish, or would like help transporting your items. We’ve also got plenty of boxes if you need one. If you wish to make a financial contribution in lieu of shopping yourself, here are the recommended donation amounts: 2 person family: $70; 4 person family: $80; 6 person family: $100; 8 person family: $115.

Specific toys needed include: Legos, Lincoln Logs, KNex, building blocks, Magnetix, tractors/ trucks/ cars, dolls and doll house furniture, play kitchen and food sets, puzzles, stacking toys, headphones, basketballs and soccer balls and jump ropes.

Adopt a Gift for Liberty Place Recovery Center Residents and Their Children. Liberty Place Recovery Center for Women is one of our Union Church Mission and Service projects as we support women who are making the courageous and difficult journey to freedom from addiction. You can help by adopting a resident or their children for a Christmas present. Provide your name and contact information in the basket on the giving table at church, or send it to Dodie Murphy, dodiemurfmsw@yahoo.com or call 859-868-9622.

Many thanks for helping make the season brighter for those most in need!

Have a Heart For Fellowship, Communication and Welcoming New Members? We Need 3! The Community Life and Growth Board of the church helps “outsiders” become “insiders” by helping Rev. Kent welcome new members, get people acquainted with each other for ministry and spiritual support, and oversees our website, social media, and media outreach (advertisements, banners, webcasts, etc). We need three people to help fulfill this vital work with our pastor. Is one of them you? Please contact Carla Gilbert of the Nominating Board: carla_gilbert@ windstream.net or call the church office!

LOOKING AHEAD:

On Jan. 22, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy will hold their annual conference from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm at Embassy Suites Lexington, 1801 Newtown Pike.   It will be a full day of presentations and discussions about the issues facing Kentucky during the 2019 General Assembly and beyond.  Keynote speaker will be Mehrsa Baradaran, author of How the Other Half Banks and The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.  For more information, go to https://kypolicy.org/events/Registration fee is $25.  Scholarships are available by contacting Sarah Zeller at sarah@kypolicy.org.

Please Sign up to Read Scripture or to Help Greet and Usher!  Please use our electronic sign up system at union-church.org, and click on “Volunteer.” You can pick a date that works for you!  OR you can also call the office and we’ll get you on the lists.

The Light of Peace

Let this time of waiting—this Advent season

be filled with the Light of Peace

Be still… and let Peace arise

Peace can be elusive

As we grasp

it slips through our desperate fingers

The Light of Peace traverses a challenging path

Dare we take that journey?

Be still… and let Peace arise

In these darkening days of Advent

As the Holy One draws near

Be still

Prepare the way for Peace

On the rocky, obstacle-filled path

Shards of shame, guilt, and grief may cut our feet

Pain and despair may pry open our hearts

We may stumble, may fall

May descend into the deep, dark wellspring

from which the Light of Peace arises

Through relentless grace-filled labor, give birth to Peace

Imagine Peace, not yet, but already ours

Choose Peace

Walk toward it

As it emerges on the other side of struggle and strife

Step into its intimacy with our deepest fears

And our sharpest suffering

In the Light of Hope,

Embody the Light of Peace

Be still… and let Peace arise

     — Jennifer Even Melton

To Carry Glory

An Advent Meditation on Baruch 5:1-9 and Luke 3:1-6

Be one who breathes with the breathing earth

Be one on whom the wind writes

Be one to claim the canopy, the crown

And also claim the trunk, the branching roots

For we are gathered into an infinite hand

Marvel at skin, flesh, bones, blood, cells

Marvel at strength, at freedom

Be one blown west and east, to seed the world

Be one to shelter, preserve the green fragrance

Be one to pierce the clouds and shine on water

Be one in the light, be light

For splendid light lifts us

Holds us, feeds us

Breathes with us,

The sweep of green dreams

Walk, the low and high

Walk, the straight and crooked

Walk, in infinite glory

Walk into glory, side by side

—Libby Falk Jones

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