The Messenger December 2015

Celebrating Christmas

Sunday, December 6 ADVENTures 9:30 a.m.

Worship Service, 8:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday, December 9 Ladies’ Christmas Tea, 12 p.m.

Wednesday, December 9 Community Dinner, 5 - 6:30 p.m.

Friday, December 11 Keenagers’ Christmas Lunch, 12 p.m.

Sunday, December 13 Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.

Worship Service, 8:45 and 10:45 a.m.

Sunday, December 20 One Silent Night, Westminster Voices 9:30 a.m.

Christmas Eve – Thursday, December 24 Candlelight Services, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.

Nursery care available at 6:30 service

Sunday, December 27 Lessons and Carols, 9:30 a.m.

Epiphany Sunday, January 3

Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.

Worship Service, 8:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

First Presbyterian Church, Norwalk

THE MESSENGER

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths

and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Luke 2:6-7

Years from now, few of us will ever remember the specific gifts wrapped underneath the

Christmas tree, the package that came in the mail, or the present left at the door. As much

as we appreciate those expressions of kindness, experience reminds us that the things we

always cherish most are the moments we share together with family and friend, old and

new. All of us have this God-given need to be in relationship, to share life together.

Luke’s account of the Savior’s birth refuses to whitewash the circumstances of that first

Christmas night. As God was giving the world the one gift we needed to connect with God,

there were few people ready to welcome Joseph, Mary, and the Christ-child into their lives.

Only an Inn Keeper found it in his heart to make space for a young frightened couple. We’re

never told the name of the Inn Keeper, but it’s unlikely that Joseph or Mary ever forgot his

name or his unexpected gift of kindness.

During the busyness of the holiday season, all of us will rub shoulders with people who

long to be invited into the warmth and shelter of hospitality. Your neighbor, new

acquaintance, or co-worker might try to hide it, but deep inside they just might be waiting

for an invitation to spend time with some people who have room in their life for one more

person. As you read through this month’s church newsletter, you’ll find some wonderful

opportunities planned to help us reach out to our community and celebrate the greatest gift

of love the world has ever received.

Christmas is the one time of year when people are most wanting to know there is

someone who cares. God came into this world - in the form of child - to assure us of God’s

love. Why not take some extra time this holiday season to open your life - to share his love -

to make room for one more person around the table? Christmas is always most meaningful

when we share its message of hope with others.

From the Pastor’s Desk

Adrian N. Doll

The Christmas Joy Offering

The Christmas Joy Offering is designated by the Presbyterian

Church (U.S.A.) to provide congregations direct ways of supporting those

in need. This offering is distributed equally between the Board of

Pensions for assistance programs, and to the National Ministries Divi-

sion of the General Assembly Council to support racial ethnic schools and

colleges related to the PC(USA). Every congregation’s gifts to the

Christmas Joy Offering, especially now, are critical to the future of this

program. The Christmas Joy Offering will be taken through December 20.

PHOC Maple Syrup Sales

Just in time for

Christmas Gift Giving!

We have maple syrup for sale that was tapped and produced at Pleasant Hill

Outdoor Camp. Syrup will be available in Fellowship Hall during Coffee Hours in

December. Consider buying syrup as gifts for family, friends, employees and for yourself!

Proceeds benefit camp scholarships for families in need.

THE MESSENGER

Mark your calendar for Sunday, January 10 to attend a celebration coffee hour as we

commit to serving and loving neighbors in and around our community throughout 2016. A

committee has been formed to organize this great effort. Contact any member with

suggestions, ideas or ways you would like to be involved.

Chris Canfield

Aundrea Gordon

Kelly Cook

Scot Davidson

Laurie Flickinger

Curt Markley

Brian Pancost

Kathy Root

George Scherz

Reaching Out In Love…. A Year of Service

Community Dinner

December 9

Please join us for a Community Dinner on December 9,

from 5:00 to 6:30pm in Fellowship Hall. This will also be your

opportunity to help. We need setup help, servers, and clean up

help. Contact Bev Miller @ 419-706-0830 for more information.

Join in to help, or come to dinner, all donations will benefit the

Salvation Army and the Norwalk Food Bank.

“Serve the Lord with gladness!”

Psalm 100:2

THE MESSENGER

Adult Education

Classes

ADVENTures

Sunday, December 6

9:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall

________________

Handel’s Messiah

Sunday, December 13

9:30 a.m. in the Great Room

taught by Clair Brewer

_________________

Home Builders Couples Class

9:30 a.m. in Rooms 112/114

“Home Builders,” is a class designed to

help couples grow deeper in their

Christian faith by looking at Biblical

principles for a Godly marriage and home.

“Novel Idea” Book Club

Sunday, December 6 at 7 p.m.

Angela’s Ashes

by Frank McCourt

Looking ahead:

January 24

The Grace That Keeps This World

by Tom Bailey

February 28

The Potluck Club

by Linda Evans Shepherd

March 27 - Easter

None

April 13

American Wife

by Taya Kyle

Keenagers’

Christmas Party (65 and over)

Friday, December 11

Noon in the Great Room

Food, Fun, Music, Prizes

R.S.V.P.

by Friday, December 4

419-668-1923

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Hodge Podge, our newly

formed band will be

playing the Prelude and

the Offertory at the 10:45

service on December 13th. In case you

missed seeing us in November (we were

playing in the balcony) we will be down

front in December for all to

see. We have a lot of new

faces and several more will

be joining us soon. So if you

haven't heard us yet, be sure

to come and check us out in

December. If you play an instrument,

we'd love to have you join us!

All ages are welcome!

Fusion is an extra-curricular bible study and

youth group for any 3rd – 6th grade

student. We meet every Sunday evening

from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

We will be having a Christmas party and

wrapping presents for the Piggy Back

Foundation on December 6th. Please bring

a family-friendly game to wrap and give to a

family in need. December 13th we will be

going caroling to community nursing homes

and to several homes of shut-ins in our

congregation! Dress warmly! Please note

that our December 20, 27 and January 3

meetings will be cancelled due to the

Holiday season.

ADVENTures, an old-fashioned Christmas

Plan on joining our church family for

ADVENTures on Sunday, December 6th

during the 9:30 Sunday School hour in the

Fellowship Hall and Great Room. Travel

back in time to a simpler Holiday Season as

we explore traditions from the “days of

yore” with family fun for all ages. In

addition to games, crafts and fun events we

will once again be promoting the global

movement, Advent Conspiracy, by giving

you the opportunity to help out those in

need this Christmas. Please consider

bringing a monetary donation to make

toward our local charities and spread the

love of the Christmas Season to those who

need it most. For more information

about Advent Conspiracy visit

www.adventconspiracy.org. So bring your

family, neighbors, friends and

acquaintances as we celebrate with

ADVENTures once again!

Women’s Christmas Tea

The Presbyterian Women invite all

women of the church to join them

for a Christmas Tea on Wednesday,

December 11, at noon in the Great Room.

Mitten Tree & Coat Drive

The Mitten Tree will be in the

narthex the first weekend of

December. This annual

mission project provides hats

and mittens for local people in

need. Take a mitten from the

tree that indicates the age and sex of a

child. Bring UNWRAPPED items to put

under the tree by Sunday, December 20.

Your mittens will be distributed by the

Community Action Commission (C.A.C.) of

Huron County. In addition to our annual

Mitten Tree the Christian

Education Committee is

sponsoring a coat drive. Please

drop off any gently used or new

coats of any size in the

Narthex. Thank you for

donating to help keep our community warm!

Sunday School News

December Children’s Class Schedule

December 6 - “ADVENTures” for all ages

in Fellowship Hall @ 9:30

December 13 – Regular Class @ 9:30

December 20 – No Sunday School

Choir Christmas Program @ 9:30

No Children & Worship

December 27 – No Sunday School Class,

One Service of Lessons & Carols @ 9:30

No Children & Worship

Page 5 THE MESSENGER

Looking Beyond Christmas

We're often told that Christmas is stressful for some and lonely for others and too much of a

spending frenzy for the majority. It doesn't need to be. Christmas is also a time when we look

beyond ourselves and when deep down we want only the best for those closest to us and for all

who are in need in our world. It is a time to hear again the familiar story of the birth of Jesus

Christ; a time when we long for peace on earth and goodwill among all people.

But Christmas is more than simply the celebration of the birth of a baby. The story takes us

beyond the glitter and the tinsel and the lights to something much deeper.

Most of us experience a sense of awe and wonder when we see a newly born baby. As we see

nativity scenes we are moved again by the memory of that experience. And as we feel it, we are

invited to look beyond the baby, to catch a glimpse of God whose gift is hope; the hope of peace

and goodwill, of beauty and love. We are invited to look beyond what we see, however bleak it

might seem, to discover signs of goodness and beauty, of hope, of joy wherever people are trying

to do their best.

The Christmas story tells us about people trying to do their best in a pretty bleak situation - a

couple forced to go to another town for a census, a man doing his best for the woman to whom

he was engaged and who was heavily pregnant, but not by him, and an inn keeper trying to do

his best for the couple when all the accommodation in town was taken. And, in this very human

drama, the birth of a baby.

Christmas is a time for looking beyond these to see goodness and beauty in those around us; to

look at tragedy and see the stories of kindness and compassion that carry with them the hope of

life beyond the darkness; a time to look at the violence and see the efforts made to change these

patterns and see in them signals of hope for a safer world; to look at our environment and see

the beauty that is there.

When we accept the invitation to look beyond the surface, we

become open to signals of hope for ourselves, our families and our

world. This is part of God's gift that is celebrated at Christmas

but does not stop there. God invites us to look beyond.

May we all share God's gift of love and hope this Christmas and

in the year that lies ahead.

DECEMBER STUFF GOING ON...

December 6 (1:30 - 8:00 pm) MALL & A MOVIE

December 13 (6:30-8:00 pm) Catalyst Meeting

December 20 (6:30-8:00 pm) Catalyst Christmas Party

Brown Bag Sunday

Thank you for donating over

2,000 food items to the

Norwalk Food Bank!!!

THE MESSENGER

Look what First Presbyterian

Church of Norwalk is doing...

Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan’s Purse

84 shoe boxes filled!!!

15 Youth

attended

Youth

Explosion !!

Mitten Tree CAC

THE MESSENGER

DOUBLE BLESSINGS

Visit from Parfume de Vie

Our church and community

recently was host to a

cultural exchange visit from

5 adults (Nicole and Vincent,

Harry and Marjorie, and

Yamina) and 8 children

(Medhi and Marilou, Emma

and Leonor, Sahar and

Linda, and the young ones,

Paul and Etienne) from the

Parfume de Vie mission in

Grasse, France. Three families, the Graves, the Hilers, and the Murdocks/Canfields each

hosted 2 teenagers from France, from various ethnic and religious backgrounds. The adults and

2 younger children were hosted by Sandy White. The adults spent the week in Norwalk and St

Paul schools, teaching leadership classes and French classes and sharing their experiences at

Parfume de Vie. Harry, one of the adults spent some time at Christian Roberts, sharing his

“French” salon skills and testimony. The teenagers spent the week with the host families;

going to school, sporting and cultural events, eating family dinners, going to youth groups and

generally doing whatever is done in an American family during the week. Other activities

included a trip to Amish country where we spent the day with an Amish family sharing about

each other’s faith and lifestyle, a visit to an ACT work site project where even Yamina was on

the roof helping out, and spending time in several different homes fellowshipping and sharing

about the work of Parfume de Vie and how it is impacting many lives for Christ.

I think it is safe to say, we Americans felt as blessed by their visit as they felt. Many of our

youth shared about what they had learned from their new French friends, how they came to be

more thankful for what they have, like schools and homes and families, and how they felt that

they had made some new lifelong friends. The adults, myself included, developed a close bond

with all of our remarkable guests, and have a greater appreciation of the work Nicole and

Vincent are doing in Grasse, France to further the Kingdom of Christ. We learned a lot about

their very successful approach of being the hands and feet of Christ in their community and

hope to be able to apply this in our own. And, I think we were all speaking a little more French

before their visit was over!!

I appreciate all the participation and effort

of the host families (the Graves, Hilers,

and the Murdocks), the mission

committee, our pastors and youth director

(Adrian, Clair, and Don) Sandy White, and

the numerous other people who helped

organize and orchestrate this visit. I know

I was very blessed by getting to know

these remarkable people better and I hope

our church and community were too!

THE MESSENGER

Thank You

Grieving:

The Cornell family on the passing of David

Cornell on October 31 and Barbara Cornell

on November 21.

News of Our

Church Family

News From the Session October 2015

YTD income contributions are at 89% of

budget, with expenses at 93% of budget.

Investments are down 6.2%.

Less than $30 per member is sent to Maumee

Valley Presbytery with only a small portion of

that going on to PC(USA).

Session approved the November 15, 2015

baptism of Joey Peterson.

On All Saints’ Day, white roses will be

distributed to families that have lost a loved

one this year.

The new Electric Grand Piano was paid for

with memorial funds.

Thanksgiving celebrations will include a

Thanksgiving Quilt with blocks designed by

members and quilted by Jenny Jenkins and

Carolyn Winkler, a Thanksgiving Digital

Presentation prepared by Kayliann Matter,

and Chancel decorations by Peggy Case.

Communion flowers and Christmas Poinsettias

may be ordered beginning October 25.

Plans are underway for a December meal for

the Community.

Don Rennigner will preach on Sunday,

November 22 while Rev. Adrian Doll attends

the funeral of Janel’s Japanese adoptive

mother.

Elders Chris Canfield and Aundrea Gordon

will co-chair the 2016 Year of Service

subcommittee.

Building and Grounds repaired outside closet

door, fertilized shrubs and trees in courtyard,

and installed the boiler. A grant application,

covering 50% of the cost for the new boiler,

saved the church $29,998.

The annual staff performance evaluations are

underway.

Our church will participate in Charity Tracker,

a computer program linking churches and

other local charities in order to coordinate

community care.

Dear sweet church family,

Your love and support has been so kind

and gentle these past months since David

died! We still look at the gaping hole in our

lives with tears and deep deep grief, but

there is joy every single day. Our God is so

good and steadfast and our church family

and friends are simply wonderful. We trust

God is working out His plan for us, so we

move forward with gratitude and awe, with

somedays more difficult than others.

Our family thanks you! Cynthia Kniffin

Our family thanks you!

Cynthia Kniffin

THE MESSENGER

Serving in December

Church Finances as of

10/31/15

YTD Income 351,256.37

YTD Expense 357,813.83

Difference -6,557.46

Coffee Hour

Deacon’s

Screen Door Caller

Jane Kluding

Separate Flowers

6 Tracey Sommers

13 Sandra Shope

20 Shannon Sommers

27 Wende Mersereau

Flower Delivery

6 Nancy Gelvin

13 Tina Hormell

20 Jane Kluding

27 Nick Wheeler

Greeters

Outreach Committee

Nursery

10:45 a.m.

6 Georgianna Scherz

13 Becky Carr

9:30 a.m.

20 Tina Davidson

27 Patricia Tkach

Ushers

December 6 and 13

8:45 a.m.

Bob and Marilyn Huston

10:45 a.m.

David Doll

December 20 and 27

9:30 a.m.

David Doll

Liturgist:

6 Janel Doll

13 Chris Canfield

20 Jonah Mersereau

27 Tina Davidson

Birthday Bunch

You are invited to join the

Birthday Bunch the 2nd

Tuesday of each month at

East of Chicago at 12:30 p.m.

Everyone is invited! For

more information contact

June Knoll, 419-668-3505.

Rooted in Grace… Growing in Christ... Reaching out in Love...

CHURCH STAFF:

Rev. Adrian N. Doll, Pastor

adrian@firstpresbyterian.net

Rev. Clair H. Brewer, Parish Associate

Don Renninger, Youth Director

revduck@yahoo.com

Kathleen Wheeler, Director of Christian

Education

kwheeler@firstpresbyterian.net

Michael Matter, Director of Worship and

Music

Serena Bowles, Organist Patricia R. Babcock, Treasurer

pbabcock@amishtrails.com

Connie Gregory, Office Coordinator

cgregory@firstpresbyterian.net

Kayliann Matter, Worship Media Coordinator

craftyteacher246@gmail.com

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The Messenger

21 Firelands Boulevard

Norwalk, Ohio 44857

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN C HURCH

Phone: 419-668-1923

Fax: 419-663-5115

Web Page: http://www.firstpresbyterian.net

January 2016

Messenger Deadline

Thursday, December 10