Youth/children musical

Our youth and children put on a musical for Christmas, No Ordinary Night. Mike shares some pictures of the event. Here are the littlest angels, the Holy Family, and the teen angels. Everyone did a great job. A DVD is available if any want a copy.

Worship for the 4th Sunday of Advent

As we near Christmas, we concentrate on the Scriptures that set the stage for the birth of the Savior. The messge of Jesus' specific coming is first given to Mary and Joseph. The gospel writer Luke tells us of the visit of the angel to Mary (the Annunciation in Luke 1.26-33) and she responds in a song of praise (the Magnificat in Luke 1.46-55). We recognize this as the fulfillment of the eternal Kingdom, promised by God in the Old Testament, in such scriptures as 2 Samuel 7.1-13. Our worship Sunday will be a celebration of the eternal Kingdom begun in Jesus Christ, which will lead us to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve.

Our Communion this week will be on Christmas Eve--the service begins at 5 pm. This is a great way to begin your Christmas celebration. Remember that Christmas does not end on December 25, but it is a season of 12 days that takes us to the celebration of Epiphany on January 6--more about that later.

Prayer of the Day for the 4th Sunday of Advent:
Almighty God, we glorify and rejoice in you for you are the Mighty God who has come to save us. In your holiness and mercy you have come as Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son to establish your eternal Kingdom. Grant that we, being filled with the Spirit, may live lives of holiness and mercy ourselves, to the glory of Christ our Lord, who is Emmanuel, God with us, AMEN

Christmas Tea

For the second year, we hosted a Women's Christmas Tea here at Colonial Heights. Here are some of the images: beautifully decorated tables, lots of guests, music, food and good fellowship.

Hostesses decorated their tables with their own china and decorating ideas and gifts.

Several of the men of the church 'volunteered' for duty as servers. They actually did a good job, too!

Lots of thought and effort was put into this fun and fulfilling event.

Worship for this week

This week, beginning with the Third Sunday of Advent, will be the day our Chancel Choir presents their cantata. For more information and a sample, check out the music blog. Some of the scripture we consider on this Sunday includes 1 Thessalonians 5.16-24, some of Paul's concluding remarks about Christian living in light of Jesus' coming; and John 1.24-28, the ministry of John, identified as a witness (rather than the Baptizer) who tells us of one in our midst, whom we do not know. Through the choir's musical retelling of the birth of Jesus, may we relearn who Jesus is and why we should know him.

The prayer for this Sunday is the Prayer of Invocation for the cantata:

Almighty our hearts are warmed as we approach the season of Christmas. We enjoy the sights and sounds, the joys and the lights, the gifts and the gatherings, the traditions and nostalgia. Some of us, however, enter into this season with fearful anticipation of the stresses it can bring. Our memories of Christmases past may not be pleasant. For those of our number, and for all of us gathering, we pray that this retelling of the coming of Christ, the story of your infinite love for all humankind, will so captivate our hearts that we will be bursting to “go tell it.” May Jesus Christ be our focus as the plan for our redemption unfolds in song and story. May the Holy Spirit give us fresh perspective of your love in this Advent. We pray these things in the name of Emmanuel, God with us, AMEN.

Some of our prayer concerns include our choirs and musicians, the children and youth preparing for their program next week, the 2nd annual Women's Christmas Tea, the Church in Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin, all our sick and shut-ins, and community food banks.

Communion will be offered at the 9 am service.

Worship for Sunday

Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent. Our scripture this week includes Mark 1.1-8: The beginning of the gospel with John in the river baptizing and preparing the people for the Coming Greater One; Isaiah 40.3-4, 9: a prophecy on preparing the way of the Lord; and Psalm 85: Hear what the Lord will speak. The theme is prepare for God's act of Wisdom in Jesus Christ. We spend vast amounts of money preparing for December 25, so much so, that at times we have not prepared our hearts for what the coming of Jesus means. His presence means steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness and peace (see the psalm). Communion will be served at the 10.45 am service. Lauren King will be a guest soloist for both services. The rest of the music may be found at chumcmusic.blogspot.com; see the link on this page.

Prayer of the Day:
Almighty and Most High God, you have sent your Wisdom to the world in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son. Grant us, through the Holy Spirit, to prepare our hearts to receive his wisdom so that we would follow the ways of his Kingdom. All honor and glory are yours Almighty God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Other prayer concerns include: the many fellowship activities of the week, the Women's Tea on Saturday, The Church in Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea, Weekly Mission focus: Asbury Center, Weekly Ministry focus: UMW and the Choir Cantata and Hand Bells playing next Sunday.

Thanksgiving at Colonial Heights

For many years Colonial Heights has given out food baskets, using names shared with us by community agencies. This year was no exception.

Here Steven and Don help load a basket for a family.

In 2000, as a memorial to member Rick Flanagan, tragically killed by an impaired driver, we began a Thanksgiving Day meal. This year, we fed about 375 folks, many of them homeless or from public housing, and many of them who had no family to spend the day with.

Here's a picture of some of the crowd there that day. We had lots of help from church folks and a few from other churches: Seymour, Fairview UMCs and Hillcrest UMC let us borrow their van. We transported quite a few folks, because many of those who want to come have no transportation.

Jon came all the way from Massachusettes to give haircuts. Some of the folks who took advanage of this gift had not had a professional haircut for many years, apparently.

Table decorations were provided by South Knoxville Elementary School: the woven mat, and by our Girl Scout troop: the pine cone turkey and gourds.

Thanks go to all who made this a special time at Colonial Heights. We see all this as a response in Thanksgiving for all that God has provided for us as a people and as a congregation.