December 2006 – Vol. 2, No. 11

Dear Friends in Christ,

When I first arrived hers as pastor, some 4+ years ago, Rudy Homchuck your interim pastor gave me a book written for pastors in their first year of professional ministry. I share with you now a Christmas message from that book:

“In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1). . . I think John's message is that Genesis is an unfinished story—the creation is still in progress. God made all things, John acknowledges, but all things are not the way God made them. God separated light from darkness, but darkness still smothers light. God created order from chaos, but chaos ever seeks to make a comeback. God created rocks, and we extract the stuff of weapons from them. God created plants, and we make deadly drugs from them. God gave us lakes and we foul them, children and we abuse them, societies and we pit them against each other. . . . A new beginning was needed. That's why the Christmas story can be read as a sequel. . . . Because He loves what He made by His Word, God sent His Word again to remake the world."

The real question this Christmas season isn't where we'll spend our holiday dinners, or what will be under our tree. The question isn't even which of the three December 24th services we'll attend. The question, it seems to me, is—Are we participating in God's remaking of God's world? Is there space in our heart for Jesus to be born? Is there room in our schedule for God to turn our world around? Are we part of God's ongoing plan?

Yes. Join me in saying "Yes" this Christmas. Let us give to the Baby Jesus the best—the Only—worthy gift we can give. The gift of ourselves. Let us say yes to Christ, together. Yes.

With Christmas Joy,

Pastor Steph

Upcoming Events at First Baptist

December 5, 12, 19th - 10 am & 6 pm. Bible Study. An Advent study using meditations from the book Redeeming Light by Robert Hereth. Studies will continue in January (staring the 9th) looking at the Epistle to the Romans..

December 7th. Eat at UNO's and support the 2007 Youth Choir Tour. Present the certificate at the time of payment to have up to 20% of your check's value, excluding tax and tip, donated to the FBC Youth Choir Tour. Valid at UNO's at the Bangor Mall across from the old Filene's/New Macy's. If you need a coupon, they can be picked up in the church office.

December 10th. Communion during Worship Service. Arad Thompson Christmas Party at noon. A potluck luncheon followed by a gift exchange, man for man, woman for woman at Gloria and Gerry Pickard's home on Union Street in Hermon.

December 16th - 7 pm. Board of Christian Education Christmas Party and Pageant. Everyone (all ages) are invited to a time of rejoicing and informally telling the Christmas Story. Please bring a dessert to share. We will have opportunities to sing, to dress up, to act out the Christmas Story and to have a time of Fellowship and fun.

December 17th. BYF Christmas Caroling

December 19th - 5:30 pm. Neighbors Christmas Party at the Folsom's home.

December 24th: 10:15 am - Regular Worship Services; 7 pm - Christmas Eve service with the Glory Tellers and special music; 11:30 pm - Communion Service

January 5th - Epiphany Party. The Friends in Fellowship Progressive Dinner. Everyone is invited. More information to come.

January 7th - Deadline for all Boards and Committees to have their reports in to the church office so that the Annual Report can be prepared in time for the Annual Meeting which will be held on either January 21st or on January 28th.

Recycle Your Ink & Toner Cartridges

Leave your used ink-jet and toner printer cartridges in the box next to the Betterley Chapel and they will be purchased by a company which will refill them. The money will benefit the FBC Youth Choir next year and the ink cartridges will not be sitting for centuries in a landfill.

Juliet Cobb, Hillary Dubois & Stephen Salinas were recently inducted into the National Honor Society at Bangor High. Alex Watts (not pictured) was also inducted.

Affirmations of Christmas

Anonymous

I believe that Christmas is more than a time for parties and ornaments; it is a time for remembering Christ and the incarnation of God's love in human flesh.

I believe there are gifts more important than the ones under the Christmas tree, the things we teach our children, the way we share ourselves with friends, and the industry with which we set about reshaping the world in our time.

I believe that the finest carols are often sung by the poorest voices; from hearts made warm by the wonder of the season.

I believe in the angel's message that we should not be afraid—that the Child of Bethlehem is able to overcome all anxieties and insecurities.

I believe in prayer and quietness as a way of appropriating Christmas—that if I wait in silence I will experience the presence of the one born in the manger, for he lives today as surely as he lived then.

I believe in going away from Christmases the wise men went: "another way," I want to be different when these days are past—more centered, more thoughtful, more caring.

And I believe God will help me. Amen

Sunday School

This Christmas season the Sunday School has chosen to collect gifts for some foster children. Each class has been assigned a child to give gifts to and each class member will be bringing some small gift to make another child's Christmas a little brighter. Contact any Sunday School teacher for more details.

Gifts for St. Andre's Home

Once again this Christmas, we will have the cradle in the Sanctuary for people to put in gifts for the residents of St. Andre's Home. This has been an ongoing ministry for our Church for close to 30 years and the stories of what the gifts mean to the residents have been heart warming to say the very least.

Neighbors Annual Dinner and Auction

On November 18th, the Neighbors held their Annual Dinner and Auction. Once again, it was a success. They raised over $2200 from the event and had a sellout crowd of approximately 100 people. At the meeting on November 21, they voted to donate $300 to each of the following organizations: Make A Wish Foundation; Maineacs Air Guard Charities (for members and their families); Salvation Army; Bangor Homeless Shelter; Maine Seacoast Medical Mission; China Lake; and to purchase winter coats for people needing them (which will be distributed through the Salvation Army).

The Neighbors wish to thank everyone who made the event possible from the cooks and potato peelers, to Dottie MacLeod who made the centerpieces, to people who donated items and to those who came, enjoyed Clyde Folsom and donated money and got some nice items in return. Thank you all.

Newsletter Contacts: Any submissions for the newsletter may be delivered to the church office or any member of the Publicity Committee: John Cheney, Pam Levesque or Ned Salinas or emailed to newsletter@fbcbangor.org. The deadline for the December Messenger is Sun., Jan. 7th.