712 S. Columbia Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74104
918.592.5800
Church Office Hours:
Mon - Th, 9 am - 3 pm
Closed on Fridays
Rev. Freeman is now working from home on Mondays.
Worship Schedule:
11:00 am Sundays
Worship services have resumed in the sanctuary.
Services are also live streamed.
Church Email:
Pastor Email:
Website:
YouTube Channel:
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Better news for this Advent and Christmas seasons here at College Hill - we are at least able to meet together in person compared to last year!
(Albeit still with masks and social distancing and the uncertainty of what the newest Covid variant might bring.)
In being able to lift some restrictions, it is such a blessing to have the Chancel Choir and the BELLissimo Handbell Ringers back in worship!
Now, concerning our preparations for the celebration of Christmas Day, let me ask a question I've posed before:
What significance does the birth, life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth have for you and your life?
Mary Earle, in her book, A Celtic Christmas: Celebrating the Sacred In All Creation, writes:
“The wonder of the Incarnation is that in Jesus we are told that God and humanity are meant for each other… Incarnation is about God choosing to be one of us, so that we might become communities of compassion, mercy, courage, justice, care, God’s embodied Presence here and now.”
I encourage you to take the light of Christ that dwells among and within you and direct that light upon others and your surroundings this season.
In these continuing times of uncertainty, transition and transformation, I pray for you personally, as well as for our congregation, our country, and the entire world that this will be a time of real and tangible hope, peace, joy and love!
Blessings, Rev. Todd
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Christmas Eve Worship Service
Friday, December 24
6:30 pm
There will be a traditional Candlelight Service
of Lessons & Carols, with the Chancel Choir.
We will be collecting cash donations to support Emergency Infant Services. (EIS)
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Please remember to bring your completed pledge card with you to church, or mail it to the church office in the self-addressed envelope that was provided.
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Bench dedicated to Linda Watts
as a memorial to all the College Hill saints who have taught our children.
Using the church Memorial Fund, a brick base has been constructed around the apple tree planted by Linda Watts’ Sunday School class in 2014 and a bench made by the local artist Garden Diva has been installed next to it.
Stones, sea shells and other natural objects collected by Linda from many different places have been spread around the apple tree. Everyone is invited to add natural objects to these as a way of remembering people and places that are special to you.
The bench was commissioned by the Christian Education Ministry Team as a memorial for all the College Hill saints who have taught, are teaching and will teach our children as they grow up in this community of faith.
- Gary Watts
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Visit with
Pat Lucy
in November!
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Visit our Facebook page for
more photos!
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1st Sunday Offering
December 5
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Kendall Whittier Inc.
Emergency Food Pantry
Our 1st Sunday Food Collection will go to the Kendall Whittier, Inc. Emergency Food Pantry.
We will be collecting canned vegetables and canned fruit, which are especially needed, as well as other food items. Cash donations are also always welcome and appreciated.
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Afghan Neighbor Assistance
Ongoing Assistance Opportunities
College Hill has already donated $1,350 and a narthex full of clothes and supplies to our new Afghan neighbors, but needs continue and change from week to week.
If you would like to help further, and to see the most current needs, click this link which will tell you not only what items are most needed, but also allow you to link directly to the Catholic Charities site from which you can arrange to provide needed clothes, supplies and furniture, or volunteer in other ways. The link also presents the four ways to deliver donated goods.
Thank you for your continued support of our new Afghan Neighbors!
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Afghan Resource Survey:
A brief survey was emailed to the congregation recently to fill out electronically, that only takes a few minutes to complete. The information you provide will assist College Hill’s Outreach & Mission Ministry team to inventory the services we as a church can provide as they are needed, to continue our efforts in welcoming our new Afghan neighbors into our community over the coming months. Hard copies of the survey can also be picked up from the information table in the Narthex and then placed in the offering plate during worship, or sent to Tally Ferguson or Mark Thurston.
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Reading Partners
Volunteers Needed
Sign up to help students become proficient readers. Both in-person and virtual tutoring opportunities available!
Please click the button below to view additional information about this non-profit literacy program, including Tulsa schools map.
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Good tidings of great joy from the Green Team!
From a recent National Geographic:
Got Extra Food? College students across the country are collecting surplus cafeteria fare and delivering it to area groups in need through Food Recovery Network. Details @ FoodRecoveryNetwork.org
Fowl-friendly gear. If you’re in the market for a winter jacket, keep an eye out for one with recycled down. Several retailers are gathering feathers for new products from reclaimed bedding and apparel. According to longtime sustainability advocate Pantagonia, the practice has markedly cut its carbon footprint related to insulation.
A sidewalk board outside Pottery Barn advertises:
3 million trees: For every piece of indoor wood furniture you buy, we’ll plant a tree in partnership with Arbor Day Foundation.
66 million bottles: We’ve kept millions of plastic bottles out of landfills by using Repreve®
recycled fibers in our products.
Responsibly sourced cotton. Through our partnerships, we’re at 87% now and on track to reach 100% responsible cotton by the end of 2021.
From General Mills:
Nature Valley. Parks, trails, lands and waters are precious to us all and must be preserved for future generations. We’re starting by making our crunchy granola bar wrappers store drop-off recyclable and that’s just the beginning. All Nature Valley packaging will be 100% recyclable by 2025.
From The Nature Conservancy’s winter issue:
Conservation works. Thirty years ago, the Aravaipa Creek – a tributary of the San Pedro River carving a 10-mile gorge through Arizona’s Gauliro Mountains – was drying up.
Nature Conservancy’s subsequent restoration efforts designed to slow the flow of water during increasingly infrequent monsoon rains have helped the creek and its verdant streamside forests of willow and cottonwood rebound.
As drought driven by climate change intensifies its grip in the desert northeast of Tucson, the 9,000-acre Aravaipa Canyon Preserve remains an oasis. Its restored lands provide a lush corridor for bighorn sheep, mountain lions, javelina and 228 bird species, not to mention the state’s healthiest populations of native fish, including two endangered species.
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2021
Birthday Endowment Fund
A meaningful way to celebrate your Birthday in this new year is to donate an amount equal to your new age to the Endowment Fund.
This donation is also a wonderful way to honor others such as children, grandchildren and friends and allows the church to have funds available for special projects.
Checks can be made payable to College Hill and marked "Birthday Fund" on the memo portion of the check.
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3 - Ike Thomason
6 - Peter Campbell
9 - Sue Haskins
9 - Emily Oldham
13 - Jana Rhoads
15 - Megan Buchner
15 - Caroline Johnson
17 - Kado Bissell
18 - Ronda Robertson
19 - Tally Ferguson
20 - Roberta Smith
22 - Maggie Medlock
24 - Wyneth Roulet
28 - Charles Stanford
29 - Kathy Evanson
30 - Lisa Hays
Remember the
Birthday Endowment Fund!
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Poinsettia Orders
Due December 12
If you are interested in buying a poinsettia to help decorate the church during Advent, please click below to download an order form (forms also available on the Narthex information table), and turn in to the church office.
Donors’ names and the names of ones being honored/memorialized are listed in the bulletin for the Christmas Eve service of worship.
Order forms are due Sunday, December 12th. Please contact Kathy Davis with questions.
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Alternative Christmas Gifts
Sundays during Advent, 11/28-12/19
in Fellowship Hall
Outreach & Mission Ministry team invites you to make a contribution to one of four local, national or global causes. Stop by Fellowship Hall and “buy” a card with any size monetary donation for one of the following:
~ Kendall Whittier, Inc. Emergency Food Pantry, GROW Garden, etc.
~ Heifer International: farm-type animal donation for international family to benefit community
~ Housing Solutions, LLC: development of local high-quality housing from underserved community
~ Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: national and global help for shelter, food and comfort for disaster victims
We have four cards to select from, with inserts for each of the above-mentioned causes. Please see Mark Thurston, our Outreach & Mission Ministry team Moderator, after worship.
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Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless
Secret Santa
Christmas Wish List:
Contact Caroline Johnson to select one of ten individuals who have provided a Christmas Wish list. (gifts not to exceed $75)
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Blessing Bags for the Homeless
Last year the Finckward’s took up a long-standing wish to bless persons experiencing homelessness with blessing bags filled with items they need to survive and thrive. These bags are meant to show support, bridge the gap between perception/stereotypes, to a place of caring, peace, joy and love.
With the help of College Hill, community members at large, and lots of HOPE, in 2020 we were able to fill 30 blessings bags for Tulsa’s unhoused.
Just driving around Tulsa, you can see the numerous tent cities, with many of the bridges packed up on the ledge near the rafters. This is a time for us to come together, to make sure we are showing support, humanity, compassion, and love. With your help, we can surpass the 30 blessing bags of last year and make it 100 blessing bags.
Please click the button below to view the Amazon list we have created of some of the primary items we are targeting to place in the 100 bags.
We wish we could help everyone, and this being our second year, we are hoping to bless 100 souls with holiday cheer and love. Please help if you can!
Happy Holidays to you all, and a very Happy New
Year!
The Finckwards
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Advent in a Bag is headed to the homes of our church families!
The bag contains DIY Christmas cookies for each member of the family plus some candy.
An Advent devotional for children is included.
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COLLEGE HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
Dr. Kim J. Childs, Director of Music
Mike Gibson, Organist
SUNDAY MORNING
MUSIC OFFERINGS
December 2021
DEC 5- Keep Your Lamps - arr. Andre Thomas
Chancel Choir
DEC 12 - Come Thou Long Expected Jesus-Robert A. Hobby
Chancel Choir
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence -arr. Margaret Tucker
BELLissimo Handbells
Of the Father's Love Begotten -Anna Laura Page
BELLissimo Handbells
DEC 19 - Lo' How a Rose E'er Blooming- arr. Shawn Kirchner
Chancel Choir / Clark Gibson, alto saxophone
DEC 24 - Christmas Eve
Away in a Manger - Arr. David Wilcocks
Ding Dong! Merrily On High - Charles Wood
Coventry Carol - Arr. Martin Shaw
Chancel Choir
DEC 26 - Caitlin Norton, soprano, Guest Soloist
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CHANCEL CHOIR
The Chancel Choir of College Hill Presbyterian Church rehearses Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the second story choral room (next to the church office) for singing, fellowship and fun! If you would like to sing with the Chancel Choir this fall, we are welcoming new members. Please contact the Director of Music at kim-childs@utulsa.edu or call him at 918-230-2770.
Please wear a protective mask to rehearsals.
BELLISSIMO HANDBELL ENSEMBLE
BELLissimo Handbell Ensemble of College Hill Presbyterian Church rehearses Wednesdays at 6:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall on the first floor. If you are interested in playing in this fun ensemble (permanent member or substitute) this fall, please contact Director of Music for more information. Please email at kim-childs@utulsa.edu or call him at 918-230-2770.
Please wear a protective mask to rehearsals.
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Congregation-wide Book Study:
Caste:
The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson
Thursday, December 16
at 6:30 pm on Zoom
NOTE THE DATE CHANGE (because there will be a Session Meeting at our regularly scheduled time Tuesday, Dec. 14).
This will be the FINAL gathering to discuss this very important book.
There will be a mailing before this gathering with downloadable "NOTES" dealing with the upcoming discussion. Therefore, whether you have the book or not, feel free to join us!!
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Face masks and physical distancing required in the church building.
Session-Approved standards:
Re-enter a Modified Phase III for in-person activities at College Hill:
1) Masks are required inside the building for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status.
2) Normal length weekly worship service, with self-directed entry/exit with social distancing*
3) Continue current sanctuary seating (all pews utilized with staggered seating)
4) Continue use of pew Bibles and Hymnals
5) Resume use of pew attendance pads/discontinue no-touch check-in
6) Continue no touch offering and communion
7) Normal congregational hymns with masks
8) Normal responsive and unison congregational speaking
9) In-person adult church school with masks and social distancing* is allowed.
10) Continue in-person youth or children’s programming (including Nursery, Time with the Children, Worship Connection and Church School) with masks and reasonable attempts at social distancing*
11) Elevator capacity limited to two persons.
12) Limited socially-distanced* fellowship activities with masks, including small receptions (without food/drink), may resume at the discretion of the Session
13) Expanded special services and third-party building use may resume at the discretion of Session with masks, social distancing*, sanitation stations and additional cleaning/disinfecting.
* As indicated by CDC guidance, social distancing may be further reduced or eliminated during Phase III at the discretion of the Session.
The team continues to encourage full COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible individuals.
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Congregational Care Team Needs Substitute Drivers
Barbara Perry has two people who will take her to and from church on most Sundays, but there will be weeks when we need a driver to do one of these things.
Would you be willing to be an occasional substitute driver for Barbara? If so, please let CC Team moderator Gretchen Hrachovec know. Call or text Gretchen at 918-697-4198.
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Flower Chart
Sign Up
If you would like to bring flowers to decorate the sanctuary for an upcoming worship service, please sign up on the Flower Chart on the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall. There are many open dates available for the new year. Your dedication will also be announced in the worship bulletin.
Flowers can be purchased from any store or brought from home. Please bring them in two containers the morning of the service for which you have signed up.
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