Christmas Eve was wonderful

We had a wonderful service on Christmas Eve. Someone suggested it was one of the best ever. The music, the setting, the congregation, the readings and the message all came together in a magical way as close to 200 people looked on. Along with the carols we had special music by Patricia Ohlund who sang "Ave Maria" and Shawn Rucker who sang "Fit For A King." The Triette of Adele DiBiagio, Mary Brockway and Cynthia Strouse sang a beautiful song and Penny Sargent and the Praise Team gave us a dramatic rendition of "The Drummer Boy."

The scriptures and short meditations were read by Nancy Allen, Mary Brockway, Cliff Vanase, Zelda Fellows, Bob Walker and Cynthia Strouse. Then I finished up with a brief message asking "What Happens Next?" All the while the lights were being dimmed and the room took on a surreal look as we were bathed in candle light.

A nice nativity scene was on display thanks to Ty Menard and Adele DiBiagio who pulled everything together to give us something a little different as a back drop to this year's services.

At the late service Rachel Lord sang a solo and we had a nice mix of carols and scriptures as we greeted the Christmas morn. There are some photos from both services below.

Cal

Saying good bye to 2008 in worship.

On Sunday, December 28 we welcomed Rev. Norman Bardsley to our pulpit. Gwyn Green was the worship assistant. Our praise team shared a special song. It was a great service to close off the year. Although attendance was down, the spirit was good.

For the last dozen years we have held our Youth Recognition Service on the last Sunday of the year. We have some great kids take turns in the pulpit going back to Kate Strouse Canada in 1994. This year we are in a "rebuilding year" in the sense that we lack a large group of high school students. So we decided to give it a rest. We hope to bring it back in a few years when our current middle school class moves up.

Congratulations to the Rezendes family.

I have some catching up to do with the blog. Between getting ready for Christmas, two bouts of sickness and a little vacation, I have fallen off the wagon. So we will get a little schizophrenic here for the next few days. I may jump around a bit until we get caught up. So here is the first joyful entry.

Congratulations to Timothy and Karin Rezendes on the birth of their first son, Benjamin Timothy Rezendes. He came into this world on Saturday, December 27 at 3:22 a.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 oz. Amy Rezendes was on hand for the birth and got to hold the little guy.

Tim & Karin live at 251 New Holland Ave., Lancaster, PA 17602.

Cal

Our prayer list

I wanted to pause before the snow flies to share some prayer concerns with you all. If you get snowed in and are looking for something productive to do, please bow and say a prayer for the following people;

Our special interest missionary Rick Barnes lost his father today. Rick was at his side in upstate New York at the time. Earlier this week Rick's grandfather suffered a heart attack. He is doing better. Keep the family in prayer.

Julia Rogers is home in Norwich tonight. Mark came home with her this morning. Her new adoptive family was there at the JFK Airport to greet her arrival. What a wonderful Christmas gift for Fran, Mark and Priscilla.

Today (Dec 18) is Edith Robinson's birthday. We think of her as she recovers from her broken hip and ensuing surgery.

We lift up Bob Booth in our continuing prayers. He is battling back from about with pneumonia.

We think of Nikki and Shane Stroud and their boys, Chase and Daniel in our prayers.

We lift up Jean Roscoe, Ken Taylor, Doris Regets, Michelle Lord andLorraine Bober in our continuing prayers.

We lift up Timothy and Karin Rezendes and their soon to be born firstborn child. (Due next week!)

We give thanks for the babe whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day - Jesus.

Faith walking between Sundays

On Sunday I caught up with a few of our members who had helped out at the Extreme Home Makeover Project for the Girard family in Voluntown. Each of them were so grateful to be a part of such a project. The truth is that there is something within all of us that wants to do something good and noble for another person. I think God puts that in our hearts.

I am working on an article for next month's newsletter that will pick up on this. For now, let me say that we are all very proud of Erica Corbett, Ken Kreger, Lisa Lapointe, Patricia and Steve Ohlund and Shawn Rucker. They stepped out and lived their faith by giving of their time and energy to this special project that captivated the hearts of our entire community.

Cal

Santa Claus Came To Town

Santa came to visit us last night and he thrilled all the boys and girls by listening to their Christmas wishes and by giving them little gifts. He also accepted soap, shampoo, toothpaste, mittens and gloves for the "Winter Survival Kits" that will be part of our neighborhood outreach project.

This year many of the girl's gifts were donated by June Deptulski. She gave us several very special Barbie Dolls. Sunday School Superintendant then went out and picked up some small gifts for the boys.

As Santa chatted with the kids, Sandy Stone and Zelda Fellows assisted him with his duties.

Cal

Happy Birthday Jesus - FBC style

Tonight we hosted our Annual Christmas Party and Pageant at Church. Heather Adams was the Narrator and our kids played the parts of all those who were there on that first Christmas morn. This was our Sunday School's way to say "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Sandy Stone, our Sunday School Superintendent, directed the play and had lots of help from Mary Brockway and several of the moms and teachers. Lori Lord was the pianist.

One hundred and eleven people were on hand to enjoy the production. It had its unpredictable moments but the story of Jesus' birth came through and the night mirrored God's love for one and all.

Jarod LaFlamme played Joseph and Chelsey Calkins played Mary.

Rachel Lord played the Angel Gabriel


Bethany Stone was the Inn Keeper.


Jacob Kreger played King Herod.


We had shepherds.




















We had angels.














We had wise men.


We even had barnyard friends!

What a great night! And that all happened even before the party began.

Cal

Too good to be true?

When I purchased the software for a "do it yourself photo directory kit" I was very excited. I thought to myself, "How hard can it be to put together our own photo directory if we have the software?" It has taken us six months. We started taking pictures at Easter (did I say six months?) and two weeks ago we ran off our first copies. I thought everything would be simple using our handy, dandy, color laser printer. Boy was I wrong.

We could only muster fifteen copies that first week and four the next week. The laser printer has a flaw. It runs too hot and after a certain number of copies the pages start sticking together and colors start running. There is also a scratch on the drum and it appears to put a fine line through some photos.

Never one to be intimidated, I decided to solve the problem by buying a new printer. Armed with a 10% off certificate and a coupon worth another 13.50 and the promise of a $50 rebate, I purchased the printer today. Two hours later I am ready to give up. Actually I already put up the red flag and called George Rezendes to help me install the printer.

I am used to working on macs where all you have to do is drag and drop and its done. Windows vista is another ballgame. Well if George is successful, we will have twenty more directories ready for tomorrow. If not....

Cal

The spirit of giving.

The flu bug does not discriminate. It doesn't matter how many things you have on your calendar. No one is above catching it. I was offered a flu shot a couple of times but foolishly was either too busy or felt too invincible to get one. Then my world came crashing to a halt. I missed several meetings and an opportunity of a lifetime to help out at the Extreme Home Makeover. I was in bed one whole day and a good part of two others now. Although I am making progress, I am still a bit woozy.

Anyway I just wanted to say how proud I am of our Extreme Hom Makeover volunteers. The ones I know of include Erica Corbett, Lisa Lapointe, Steve & Patricia Ohlund and Shawn Rucker. I know that they were as blessed as were the recipients, the Girard family. Giving to others is a great feeling. I think it is something that God built into our spiritual DNA. Have you ever noticed that miserly people are always grumpy? The people with generous spirits are always happy. They are living their purpose.

I'd like to suggest that all of us give ourselves a big gift for Christmas and the new year. Let's try to find ways to be kind, loving, giving and courteous to the people we know. Let's practice random acts of kindness each week to people we know and those we don't know. I think we will not only bless others but it will come back to us. What do you think?

God bless. Pray for me. I am going back to bed for a couple hours.

Cal

PS If you have the flu I suggest you "not" pass that on. That's part of the reason I am laying low this week. I don't want to share this with anyone.

Rogers family to receive an early Chrsitmas present

Fran and Mark Rogers received a call last night that they can go get their little girl!!!

Mark plans to fly out early next Sunday morning from New York and return the following Thursday. They wish to thank everyone so much for their prayers and ask for continuing prayer for safe travels for Mark and a smooth transition for Julia! They feel so blessed to have such wonderful caring friends! We their excitement as Julia will begin her new life with her new family and be home for Christmas. What an awesome gift!!!

A recipe for a warm blanket

As Part of our Winter Survival kits several people have made the "No Sew" blankets that we will giving to the families in our neighborhood. Some have asked how to make them. Well, here are the directions.

No Sew Fleece Blanket (directions are from the Internet)

Materials needed: Fabric needs to be at least 40 inches or wider (most are 54 inches)

Baby/Toddler - 1 to 1 1/2 yards (in both fabrics)
Child - 1 3/4 yards (in both fabrics)
Teen/Adult - 2 yards (in both fabrics)

Feel free to make your blanket(s) bigger for taller or bigger people Things you need: Two pieces of fleece the same size. Piece may be the same pattern, two different patterns, two plain colors or a pattern on one side and a plain color on the other.

Scissors (sharp ones)
Tape measure or ruler
one 4" x 4" piece of paper…I found it easier to use a square closer to 6” No sew fleece blanket instructions:

1. Take your two pieces of fleece. Put one piece on top of the other lining up the edges so they are even. (one side will be the front and the other side will be the back of your blanket)

2. Trim your blanket so the two pieces are equal. You might want to trim off the “selvedge” edge of each side.

3. Take your square piece of paper and lay it on the corner of your blanket. Then cut out the corner through both layers. Proceed to do this on all four corners. I eyeballed the next 2 steps as I had so many to do

4. Now you are ready to cut your fringes. Cut into both fleeces as far as your paper was at 1 in intervals Your fringes don't need to be 1" exactly, just try to keep them the same size. (You don't want to have one fringe 1" and the next one 2") Proceed to cut 1" intervals on all four sides. You can place the tape measure or yard stick 6 inches in (or however deep your square was) so you know how far in to cut, or you can eyeball it!

5. Tie two knots in each corner so the two pieces of fabric will stay together. Or, you can pin them.

6. Starting on one side tie square knots (using one fringe from each fleece.) Tie these knots on every other fringe around the entire blanket. This helps them from coming untied, especially in the wash. A square knot is a type of double knot. If you don’t know how to do it, just tie a double knot.

7. Flip the whole blanket over and tie the remaining knots until your blanket is complete.

8. Tying every other one helps the blanket to have a more finished look. You can also gently stretch them so they are squarer. Just don’t stretch too much or it will look really out of shape.

Now you can make one for yourself.

And now a big thank you to all those that made them for us to distribute on January 24.

Cal

A busy time of year

I feel badly that I haven't written a lot lately. Life has been busy. We are gearing up for our Annual Christmas Party and Pageant at church. Plans are in the works for services on Friendship Sunday (this week), Christmas Sunday and two more on Christmas Eve at 7:00 & 11:30 p.m. We've also been putting together our team for Mission Mexico. That came while finishing up our Stewardship Campaign and putting together the church budget for 2009. We also kicked off the 2008-09 youth basketball season.

There is always something fun happening at church. Check out our web site to find something that you can enjoy.

Cal.

Mission Mexico 2009 ready to take flight

On Sunday afternoon we met to firm up plans for our Mission Trip to Mexico next February. We had many of those who have talked about going at the meeting. This week we will have a complete list of everyone who has committed to going. Right now we are very close and I hope to buy our airplane tickets in the next couple of days.

So here are those who have committed to going. Some of the names you will recognize. Others belong to new friends who will be joining us this year as a result of an invitation by one of our team members.

Returning team members include;

June Deptulski, Amanda Duntz, Mark Kane, Lisa Lapointe, George Rezendes, Pastor Michelle Madsen Bibeau and myself.

Newcomers include Amanda Duntz's friend, Amber Manning, and Sarah Rodriguez from Buenas Nuevas and two of her friends, Rob and Julie Wagner. The Wagners own a construction business locally and bring some additional expertise to the mission. June Deptulski's sister-inlaw and her daughter, Patty and Sarah Bober will be joining us as will Michelle Chaffee.

Central Baptist is sending Mark Salomon, Sue Fage and Ann Keckes.

That is a total of seventeen who are committed to going. We have another six who are seriously considering it and will let us know in the next day or so.

The total cost of the trip will run close to $13,000 and we will be looking for donations and running a few fund raisers to supplement the individual donations and the money earmarked through the church budgets. So stay tuned. The adventure is about to begin as we share God's love in Mexico.

Cal

Halleluia

Last night I was blessed by attending a performance of Handel's Messiah at the Noank Baptist Church. The 78 member choir was directed by Linda Lozis and included an orchestra and four gifted soloists. The church was packed and you could hear a pin drop as the chorus sang. It was very moving.

It was made even more special because three of our ladies were involved. Rosie Main, Susie Rothholz and Cynthia Strouse sang with the chorus. I hear they all had a great time. It certainly showed on their faces. Several churches were represented in the group as well as a few local vocal groups.

I also ran into a few old friends who are now members of the Noank Baptist Church, namely Jack Sebastian and Joyce Adamcewicz. It was a very good end to a nice Sunday afternoon.

Cal