Share FPCE Social Media for Sunday Nativity Pageant

Want to help First Pres spread the word about our Advent and Christmas Eve services? Of course you do!

Visit the following links and "share" our reels and posts with those you know! Hit the "like" button, and add a comment, too!

Don't know much about social media? That's okay. Just click these links to help increase the number of visits we get. That helps, too!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDfXe99Bs2k/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/921163983017328

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ooXaBxWsEFE

Sunday Worship Service

Third Sunday of Advent

December 15, 2024 | 9:30 a.m.

Nativity Pageant

"Generation to Generation: We Can Choose a Better Way"

Rev. Dr. Tassie Green, Interim Senior Pastor

Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:18-24, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-16, and Matthew 2:2-12

In person and online!

Download Bulletin

Nativity Pageant Rehearsal is this Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m.

Calling all young performers! Join us for our Christmas Pageant Rehearsal THIS Saturday, December 14, from 9 to 11 a.m. as we prepare for a joyful and memorable celebration of the Christmas story on Sunday, December 15, during the 9:30 a.m. worship service. Whether you’re in costume, helping behind the scenes, or reading lines, your part is important! Come ready to rehearse and bring the story of Christmas to life for our church family. Snacks will be provided.

Angels of Hope Gifts Due at Church this Sunday

Sunday is the deadline for gifts to be returned to FPCE by those who have taken Angel of Hope names this year. Each year, in partnership with Chicagoland Prison Outreach, the Deacons collect new toys for children of incarcerated individuals from the region. Gifts go to an area child or family that has a parent who is incarcerated. All gifts must be returned to a box at the reception desk by Sunday, December 15.

Family Small Group Meets Sunday

Sunday is the final Family Small Group meeting of the year. Join us at 4 p.m. (we meet every third Sunday of the month) for an enriching time of devotionals, adult education, and a shared meal. It’s a wonderful opportunity for families to connect and grow together. We also provide childcare for all ages, so everyone can fully engage in the experience. All families with children from birth through high school are welcome! Junior high and high school youth will meet together for the White Elephant Gift Exchange!

Chicago Bronze Handbell Ensemble Winter Concert December 15

Our First Pres Sanctuary hosts the Chicago Bronze Handbell Ensemble, Sunday, December 15 at 3 p.m. First Pres member Matt McLeod plays with this amazing ensemble, led by previous First Pres music director Andrea Handley. Free admission. More information at https://chicagobronze.org/concerts.

Mission Prayers

Please pray for our partner Christudas Retnadas and the work of United Mission to India (UMI). 

United Mission to India (UMI) spreads the Gospel in India and Nepal through the service of committed missionary couples from India who move to Hindu villages and try to establish themselves in the community through living there. They often establish a school or tutoring system and use it as a place to minister to those in the community. Missionaries have suffered intense persecution in many of these areas, and yet they stay having their homes burned, lacking money to eat, experiencing sickness and more. They are all committed to prayer. One group of women pray all day every day, lifting up prayers for the missionaries. And one day each week they pray for us at First Presbyterian Evanston.

Christudas would like to remind us that Jesus has come to save us, keep us safe from all sins. Let us be glad and rejoice from now on, because “He has come.” If anyone accepts the Joy of Christmas, Jesus will make His blessing flow through him and you also. And he encourages us with this scripture: “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared...” Nehemiah 8:10.

Points to Praise God:

• Praise and glory be to our Lord God Immanuel-which means God with us (Matthew 1:23), showing His grace and mercies to each one of us in the year 2024.
• Praise be to our Lord for the provision of honorariums during the year, so that our UMI missionaries and staff could be fed and protected, along with your prayer support.
• Let us praise God more for the survival of each one of us during the anti-Christian activities prevailing in the country (India) against the churches and Christians, particularly in the State of Manipur.

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for Christudas and his wife Santha as they lead this ministry. Pray for their health as they have never completely recovered after having Covid. May God continue to give them all the vision, wisdom, provision, and perseverance they need as they lead UMI.
• Pray for the missionaries of UMI that the Lord might protect them and surround them with his presence. May they “see the goodness of God in the land of the living” (Psalms 27:13) as they persevere in very difficult situations.
• Pray more for those on the mission field including Eriyode and Athani, so they would overcome the troubles created by the enemy so that the missionaries may be established well in the places they serve.
• Kindly pray and do something for the needs of three families in the vacant centers of UMI, and for three sponsors to be raised up, too.
• Pray more for Mrs. Unice Victor Rajan, wife of Rev. Victor Rajan Israel, who is weak and sick, and for Mrs. Santhi Sambath who is suffering due to the amputation of her leg, and for Mr. Devadas and Mr. Kennedy.