Dear familia,
We are officially in the month of December, my friends! For some of us, this time of year brings up hardship and heaviness. For others, this month may invite us to slow down and sit in the living room with a flickering candle and a twinkling tree. For many of us, it’s a move towards more: more shared meals, more company, more plans, more spending, and more traveling. But for all of us, it means a whole lot more Mariah Carey on the radio! Blessed be the name! 😉
Wherever you find yourself this season, may you find the freedom to simply be as you currently are. Be present, be open, be in tune, be still, be gentle, be gracious, just be.
Your “be-ing” is the greatest gift you can give to yourself in this season. Allow this Advent rhythm of “Honest Waiting” to draw your most honest self back to you. And be kind to whomever you find looking back at you in the mirror. That person deserves your greatest graces. They’ve fought hard to be here this year. Meet them there with love. Christ’s love.
All right, here are a few updates for you, fam!
Christmas and New Year’s
In this same spirit of be-ing, we will not be having a Christmas Day Sunday Service. We invite you instead to celebrate with loved ones in homes that day. And our New Year’s service will instead be online via our Zoom Living Rooms just like last year (10:30 AM PST). We’re hoping these very intentional (and dare I say, defiant!) rhythms of rest and recalibration invite each of us into more opportunities to truly “just be” this season.
Community Partnerships
In looking toward the rest of this month, we want to point you again to two initiatives we are embracing and endorsing! Our church will be investing in both of these initiatives from our Community Partnership fund. If you’re able to, would you consider joining us?
Snuggle Day
Our very own Alicia McCormick is inviting us this year again to join in Snuggle Day, an initiative to buy gifts for social workers who will in turn purchase Christmas gifts for their case families. We invite you to bring new and unwrapped gifts, suggested price range of $15-30, for ages 0-18 years olds, for the next two Sundays. The deadline to bring gifts is THIS Sunday, Dec. 4th! This initiative not only supports social workers but foster moms like Alicia who do the work day in and day out the rest of the year!
Gilbert Community Center – Affordable Christmas Store
Our dear Caleb Parker works with teenagers at the Gilbert Community Center, which is part of OC United, in Fullerton. This is a community that elevates voices for change. This year, we get the opportunity to serve families so that parents are able to purchase gifts for their teens in a way that is empowering and dignifying. Would you help us purchase gifts for the GCC teens? Caleb and his team have put together a wish list here where you can buy gifts and they will be shipped directly to Caleb. The deadline to receive these gifts (please check shipping & handling times) is December 12 as the event will take place on December 17 in Fullerton!
So grateful for you, church familia! And excited to see you Sunday!
Bobby
p.s. SAVE THE DATE!
Our next World Cup Watch party will be Saturday, December 10, 10:30am to 1:30pm for a Quarterfinal game (teams still TBD)! Janet and Mike Hale will be hosting this time! We invite you to bring a potluck dish to share. Space is limited to 20 participants so please RSVP here to sign up!