Staying Connected to Your Church Community

STAYING CONNECTED TO YOUR CHURCH COMMUNITY

Thursday, December 2, 2021

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Thank you for all your generous donations of gifts for those in need this Christmas!

You’ve signed-up. You’ve shopped and wrapped and labeled and bagged. All 241 people on our list will be getting presents at Christmas! Wow! Thank you! Now it’s time to drop off your presents.

Curbside drop-off dates and times:

Saturday, December 4th: 9:00 am - 11:00 am & 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Sunday December 5th: 11:15 am - 1:30 pm

And if you can help, volunteers are needed to collect the presents and to wrap them! All ages welcomed! Bring your presents to the Chapel side of the church where someone will help unload your car. Contact Sue Spencer (suespencer42@gmail.com or 781-526-1510) if you have any questions.

NAMING JESUS . . .

This Advent Season as we prepare our hearts for the arrival of the Christ child we will also reflect on the meaning and mystery behind the many names of Jesus.

Join us for in-person worship each Sunday and pick up an Advent Devotional. Each week we will have a new ornament engraved with a special name for Jesus and corresponding scripture for your reflection. Our church members will be invited to take an ornament home to hang on their tree (one per family) each Sunday throughout Advent.

The Poetry of Advent Bible Study

Week 2: PEACE: Luke 3:1-6

Sunday, December 5, 11:30am to 12:30pm

Join Rev. Jill Edens in the Reception Room

Join the clergy after worship each week for an hour long Bible Study. The word “Advent” means coming or arrival. It’s the season of actively waiting and preparing for Jesus to be born, broadening our hearts and minds to welcome Jesus anew, and paying close attention to the ways Jesus is already coming into the world, God’s Word made flesh. The Christian year begins not with the lilies of Easter, or the poinsettias of Christmas, or the stirring winds of Pentecost – but rather with Advent, four weeks in the shadows of despair, conflict, sorrow, and hate. For it’s here, in the shadows, that the God of grace will arrive. Waiting, longing, and preparing for that arrival, we light candles of hope, peace, joy, and love. Poetry can help us as we wait. As Mary Oliver often emphasized, the best poems help us notice and feel things we might otherwise miss, both the depths of despair and the heights of hope. In this Advent devotional, we let scripture and Oliver’s poetry be our guides, together pointing us toward weekly practices that can help deepen and enrich our experience of the season – a perfect way to prepare for the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christmas day. So grab your favorite Bible and Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (the poems can also be found online). Week by week, we’ll make our way to Bethlehem, attending with care to the lights and shadows as we go.

Come visit! Invite friends! Write Santa a letter! Bring a camera to take your own photos or we can take them for you! Please join us on Saturday, December 11th at 9 am when Santa makes a visit to the Hills Church! He will hand out a packaged cookie!

Christmas Cookie Swap

Sunday, December 12th

following worship

Come join in the holiday fun and yummy goodness beginning right after worship at 11am in the Assembly Room. Everyone bakes one type of cookie but goes home with a festive assortment of each other's favorite cookies! Please bring 3 dozen of your favorite Christmas cookie to share. Don't forget to bring copies of your cookie recipe and a container to bring home your Christmas cookie collection. Please sign up HERE and indicate which type of cookie you will bring. Brought to you by the Faith & Fun Ministry.

Wednesday, December 15 at 11 o'clock in the morning

You are invited to come and enjoy the music of Christmas with a recital by Laurie Stewart Otten & John Finney in the Sanctuary of the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church. This event is sponsored by the Seniors Ministry Team.

While we are unable to hold our festive luncheon this year due to COVID precautions, all attendees will go home with a special Christmas treat. This event will also be livestreamed. We will send out the link closer to the event. If you require a ride to church: please email Susan Walton or call her at (617-965-3323).

The Red Bow Lady

Now that's a big wreath!

Just a few finishing touches!

And here you go . . .

Your Advent crew . . .

Comments & Questions?Please email us HERE!

“As people of faith and followers of Jesus, filled with love, we seek a just world for all.”

Racial Justice Working Group Mission Statement

A Racial Justice "Book Talk"

Please join us for a "Book Talk" led by Emma Weiler and Jackie Winsky from the Wellesley Free Library. Emma and Jackie will present books about racial justice for both adults and children. Our own Sally Tomasetti will also present books we have in our church library that might be of interest to you as well! Join us on ZOOM for this engaging presentation and conversation on Tuesday, December 7th from 8:00-900pm!

ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpfu-upjIsHd0eqzxWF-06uuWhOit11gpM

Hills Church Weekly Calendar

THURSDAY

Staff Meeting ALL (Library)

New Beginnings (AR, K, RR, L)

Church Signage meeting (Zoom)

FRIDAY

AA Meeting (Board Room)

SATURDAY - Christmas present drop-off begins

SUNDAY - First Sunday of Advent - PEACE

Church School (3rd floor)

Worship Service/Fellowship (Sanctuary)

Poetry of Advent Bible Study (Reception Room)

Handbell Practice (Bell Room)

Boy Scouts (Assembly Room)

Youth Cafe (Upper Room)

Youth Conversation Circles (Upper Room)

AA Meeting (Board Room)

MONDAY

Food Pantry (onsite)

Suzuki Violin (Assembly Room)

Deacons Meeting (Zoom)

TUESDAY

Website Preview meeting (Zoom)

Food Pantry (pantry)

Website meeting (Zoom)

WEDNESDAY

Food Pantry (pantry)

ARCH check in (Microsoft Teams)

Confirmation Class (Upper Room)

Chancel Choir (Sanctuary)

THURSDAY

Staff Meeting (Library)

New Beginnings (AR, K, RR, L)

"Events at the Hills" Newsletter Publications

Need to spread the word about an activity or event?

ARTICLES DUE MONDAY BY 5:00 PM

EMAIL // WEBSITE // 781-235-4424