New in this Issue:

3rd Sunday Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter - December 15th
Bring your birthday bag this Sunday! The Missions team will be delivering to NSKS Sunday afternoon!
Holiday Office Hours
Youth Event at St. James UMC in January
2025 Stewardship Campaign
Staff Gift Fund
Treasurer Volunteer Position Needed!
United Way Coat Drive - we are dropping off donations Dec 23! Get your winter coat, hat, mittens donations in today!
RISE - Rivier Institute for Senior Education Opportunities

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Sunday Worship Begins at 10:30 AM

"Joy to the World" Series Begins Sunday, December 1st

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Last night, at the Advent conversation at the parsonage, we talked about the nature of attention and perspective during this season when so much of the day is dark. We considered how a change in perspective might help us become aware of the nurturing gifts of darkness. The quote by Morgan Harper Nichols "There is a reason the sky gets dark at night, we were not meant to see everything all the time. We were meant to rest and trust even in the darkness."

In the hurried season of parties and shopping and cards and travel and food prep, we wondered how much worse it would be if it were light out in the evenings. Does the earlier sunset impose a kind of forced reset or pause?

And if we look to the natural world for their wisdom about the winter, what perspective might we gain? We ended with a poem by UM pastor Jan Richardson from her book, Night Visions, encouraging us to embrace the other senses we have available to us beyond sight to receive God's messages.

There are other senses, you tell us,
and when the darkness
obscures our choices,
we must turn
to the other ways of knowing
you have given us.
In the daylight we can get by on sight,
but for the nighttime
is our hearing,
is our tasting,
is our smelling,
is our questioning,
longing touching.
A thousand messages waiting
for our sensing
you have given us, O God.

Peace,

Pastor Kelly

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Disaster Response Training Survey

Main Street is hosting the Third Sunday Food Pantry this Sunday, December 15. December holiday box distribution begins December 18, so we will only be distributing fruits, vegetables, and probably one meat and some other canned goods, but no boxes.

There may be boxes to pack for the holiday distribution. Last month, we were able to pack 60 Thanksgiving boxes in 45 minutes, thanks to impressive organization by John Graudons and then Ken Mack.

If you want to bring any donations to the pantry, or just to church, some of the items that may be missing from the holiday boxes include oil, sugar, flour, gravy, broth or bouillon cubes, and dessert mixes.

Please let me know if you are able to help on Sunday.

Thank you.

Phyllis Appler

The Missions team is once again collecting "Birthday in a Bag" donations to benefit the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter this holiday season. We are collecting new or gently used birthday bags, filled with what families can use for a birthday party (cake mix, frosting, candles, oil, table cloths, party favors, etc.). We can help bring joy to families this holiday season with a birthday bag they can use while not having to worry about how they can afford to celebrate their loved one on that special day.