Connections: November 22, 2022
and don't forget to check out Pine Tree #7!
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The latest issue of CCSM's Pine Tree newsletter is here! Click HERE or on the image to SAY YES to what's coming in Advent 2022.
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Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I was so happy to see how many of you showed up to church this past Sunday. Especially on Thanksgiving weekend when so many of you are traveling and visiting with family and friends. I hope the first Sunday of Advent was moving for you as it was for me.
I know for me, as I get older, and read and reread the Advent narratives, I have met an Advent that is not primarily a seasonal message about decked halls or strands of white lights or beloved carols. I want to remind us that the first Advent was about the arrival of God into a world of woe, and every Advent since invites us to grapple with what Jesus’s coming means to our fraught landscape now. Marking time with these Advent stories, meditating on them each year, allowed me to see the season of Advent as a perennial invitation to the faithful ones. I hope this exploration of Advent will invite you into a similar season of discovery. I leave you a poem below that I am using this year to meditate on daily. May it be part of your devotion as well.
“For those who carry an Advent ache,
You are not alone.
May your discomfort with injustice lead you to lament, prayer,
And solidarity with the oppressed of this world.
For the people of Palestine,
You are not invisible.
May your steadfast presence in the land be a blessing as you
resist daily acts of oppression.
May our faithful wrestling lead us to a hard-born hope in the
God of peace.”
—author unknown
Peace and blessings!
-Jorge
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Giving Tuesday is tomorrow! Please feel out your pledge card ASAP. Your contribution is vital to our financial viability and budgeting. We would love to have all pledges in by Tuesday, November 29th, “Giving Tuesday.” Go to ccsm-ucc.org/give for more info.
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Click on the video above for Sunday's worship service,
or click HERE for Rev. Jorge's sermon.
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A Very Merry Cookie Exchange and Pick-A-Party List Distribution on DECEMBER 11!
A Very Merry Christmas Cookie Exchange AND Pick-a-Party List Distribution take place December 11 in Kloss Hall following worship service. There’s an informational handout here if you wish to participate in the cookie exchange but the short of it is… bring 2 dozen of your favorite Christmas cookies/bars and take home a variety of other people’s favorite Christmas cookies/bars. They can be homemade or purchased.
Take your cookies/bars to Kloss Hall BEFORE service so our good elves (helpers) can get them organized and ready for the exchange. It would be great if you can bring the recipe so those that wish can take a picture of it. You will be required to wear a mask during the exchange and given vinyl gloves and tongs to handle cookies in our efforts to keep everyone safe and well during the holiday season.
But that’s not all. There’s MORE:
· This will be the time and place to PICK UP the “Pick-a-Party List” of Parties. [Note: if you can’t make it to church on Dec. 11 the List can be emailed to you at your request, and will be available after church between Dec. 11 and Jan. 8]
· You do not have to participate in the cookie exchange to pick up your list. Please come and enjoy coffee hour, the music, and the fun
· Christmas piano music will be provided by three of our own members - sing along or just enjoy listening
· There will be a kids table for cookie decorating!
You have from Dec. 11 until Jan. 8 to mull over the Pick-a-Party List and decide which party or parties you want to attend. Sign up is Sunday, January 8. More information about Sign Up Day will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
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IT’S POINSETTIA TIME!
The tradition of delivering a plant to members of our congregation during Advent continues. Next Sunday, December 4, you can pick up a plant (or several) on the loggia after the service. Each plant is marked with the name of its recipient, and you can deliver them to the people whose plants you have selected. Thanks for participating!
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LAS POSADAS: Wed., December 21, 7:15 pm
Save the Date
This Advent Season CCSM will celebrate Las Posadas again! This event brings together people from all ages, both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking. It begins with the traditional candlelit, singing procession around the outside of the church. Joseph and Mary, accompanied by angels and shepherds—and by all of us, go from ‘inn’ to ‘inn,’ seeking a place to stay where Mary can give birth. When they are finally offered a manger in which to stay, we participants in the procession will enjoy cross-cultural games and activities. Then we will proceed to a traditional tamale dinner, prepared by Rev. Jorge’s mother and women from our Spanish-speaking congregation. The evening will end when our children strive to smash open a piñata.
Starting Wednesday, December 7 from 6:00pm to 6:45pm, all are invited to join Melanie in the Fireplace Room to learn the music of Las Posadas.
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Youth and Family Events
A reminder that we are still looking for a host family for our Dec playgroup: please let me know if you would like to suggest or organize an activity for families after church on Dec 4. It could be skating in San Mateo Central Park, making gingerbread nativity scenes, games, carolling, or something else!
As usual, during the service, Lily and some youth volunteers will engage our pre-K crowd in some fun playtime in the nursery, and Shannon and Elaine will share a Bible story (through Godly Play) and then invite our K-5th grade crowd to reflect, create, build, share, and serve the community in response to the story (in the Memorial Garden). Some of these responses will be featured in our all-ages Advent devotional which will be launched Dec 1. Please let me know if you or your kids would like to make something for this devotional at home as well - I can share more info. Could be a poem, a photograph, drawing, etc!
The UCC is hosting a climate justice art contest for all ages! Please click here to learn more or to enter the contest. Deadline: November 30.
Sunday, December 4: 11:45am Family Advent Play Date! Please join us in the Memorial Garden for a fun time that will include pizza, music led by Julie Berk, and a service project for LifeMoves where we will decorate pillowcases to be used in family shelters.
Sunday, December 11: Kids craft table during the Pick-A-Party cookie exchange and offering of the party lists, and also there will be a craft table for all ages led by Donna Lindsay and Betsy Woodward!
Sunday, December 11: 60 Minutes conversation for high school youth led by Mike and Sheryl at 10:30am. This month the focus will be on the interplay of media, popular culture, and the real world.
Wednesday, December 21: 7pm - Las Posadas! Youth are invited to participate as readers/with speaking roles or help out with the kids, food, etc. as we gather to walk around the church telling the story of Mary and Joseph looking for a room at the inn. Younger kids—come wear an angel, shepherd, or animal costume and walk around the church as we tell the story of Mary and Joseph looking for a room at the inn. Afterward, we will share a meal together!
Saturday, December 24: Special Christmas Eve services at church
Friday, February 24 - Sunday Feb 26 - Mid-winter youth camp in Cambria for those in grades 7-12.
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Advent Taizé
Start your weekends in a meaningful way on Friday evenings.
In December we will have Advent Taizé services to ground us in the season of love beyond the commercialism that attempts to own the Season.
Fridays, December 9,16, and 23 we will host bilingual Taizé here at CCSM at 7:30pm. Light dessert and beverages after.
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FIRST SUNDAYS OF THE MONTH ARE COMMUNION SUNDAYS
If there’s a way you can be in person on the first Sundays of the month, communion is a meaningful time to be together.
If you’re not able to be with us in person, you’re invited to share in communion while online with us from wherever you are; just have some bread and juice ready and you can participate with us that way.
This coming Sunday, December 4, is our December communion date. In January, we will celebrate communion on January 8 (instead of on the first Sunday, January 1).
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CHRISTMAS WISH LIST STARTS NEXT WEEK
This holiday season, CCSM will again be working with LifeMoves’ First Step for Families. Instead of “Adopt-A-Family” as it has been in the past, we are now calling it CHRISTMAS WISH LIST. First Step for Families provides temporary shelter and services for families experiencing homelessness in San Mateo.
This year, CCSM will not be collecting gift cards. Instead, LifeMoves is finding that family members need very basic items, so we will be asking that gifts selected by LifeMoves staff be purchased for each individual. Admittedly, donating necessities is not as personal as selecting fun gift items; however, the need is still great. We’d also like to have a few extra ornaments listing items to give to Vendome residents so they may also experience some joy during this time.
Please look for the WISH LIST Christmas tree on the loggia on Sunday, December 4 and 11, after the service. Stop by and pick up an ornament or two with suggested gift items to purchase and return to CCSM by Sunday, December 18 at the latest (earlier is better).
We are also looking for a few friendly and helpful people to volunteer and assist with this program this year. Volunteers should be available for about an hour after the service on either one or both dates (December 4 and/or 11). Please contact Melodie Lew at boygie.m2000@yahoo.com or call 650.573.9765. Thanking you in advance.
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VOLUNTEER AT THE VENDOME ON DECEMBER 1
Another area where there are opportunities to volunteer are with VENDOME which is on Claremont and 2nd Ave. This LIFE MOVES facility could use some much needed TLC for its 17 residents, in the form of holiday decorations and parties. On December 1 at 1:30 at VENDOME volunteers are need to hang lights outside and put up some indoor decorations to add a little holiday spirit for the residents. If you have an extra (or more) set of outdoor lights, or decorations that still have life but not in your house any more, please let Donna Lindsay know and she will come pick them up to use for VENDOME. If you have 2 hours to help decorate on December 1, please contact Donna. Homemade goodies are always welcome and greatly appreciated.
Donna Lindsay, Point Person for Life Moves • (releduc@sbcglobal.net) 650-345-8397
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BLESSING BOX
As most of you have noticed, there is a "Blessing Box" outside of the entrance of CCSM. This is a project of the Ministry of Service and Justice, which has identified the need for families in our neighborhood to access food. This project is an expression of our call to be the "hands, feet, and face of God" in our community.
Before the pandemic, CCSM had a nonperishable food collection for Samaritan House on the first Sunday of each month. We are now reinstating a food collection for each first Sunday, but it will be to supply our Blessing Box. Please take the opportunity to bring nonperishable food (canned, dried and boxed, no fresh food please!) on the first Sunday of each month. There will be helpful reminders before that Sunday in our congregational bulletins and the Connections, and the Pine Tree.
In addition, the Ministry of Service and Justice would encourage members of CCSM to consider adding a few appropriate nonperishables to your grocery list, and just drop them in the Blessing Box anytime you are at the church. If we make this a habit, we can keep the Blessing Box filled with nourishing food for the people of our neighborhood.
Thank you in advance for your continuing generosity!
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Pray for Ukraine Every Tuesday at 7:30pm
CCSM held a powerful live Prayer Ritual for Ukraine on March 6th. We have decided to premier this ritual ONLINE every Tuesday until the war ends. We hope you will join us online weekly to continue our prayers and heal our hearts. These are challenging times and this offering is a way to bring our community together and magnify our prayers.
Please share this link with your friends and family so we can extend this offering to as many people as possible.
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225 Tilton Avenue • San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 343-3694
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Scan the QR code above or go to
to make a donation or pledge to CCSM.
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