So great seeing everyone at the Christ the King Festival of Gifts!
WPC Youth hard at work on our Courtyard of Lights. Come and see at the Love Feast Drive-Through on Sunday, December 6, 5:00pm
The 7th grade Church School class bagged beans and rice for Iglesia Presbiteriana Emanuel.
Westminster Weekly Quick Links 
Advent Begins Sunday, November 29
Devotions and Resources to Keep Us Focused
 
The season of Advent is a time of preparation as we settle deep into the increasing darkness of winter. We offer a number of resources that will enable you to spend some time in reflection, all having to do with light and darkness.

In Light and Darkness: An Illustrated Devotional A weekly devotional with short reflections showing how light and darkness exist together. This unique intergenerational resource is a hybrid devotional/coloring book. We have a version for households with adults and youth, as well as one for families with children. 
Advent Wreath We encourage every household to create one and keep it in a central location, tuning in to worship with your Advent Wreath at the ready so that together we can light the candles of hope, peace, joy, and love. Pick up a color-your-own version or make your own using supplies you have on hand or find out in nature.   
Love Feast Drive-Through & Courtyard of Lights, December 6, 5:00-6:30pm

Long a Westminster tradition, we’ll mark Love Feast a bit differently this year. WPC Youth will be dressed in their traditional Love Feast finery as luminaries cast a warm glow and light the way for this evening Drive-Through event. Small loaves of bread, Love Feast candles, and a Love Feast liturgy for use around the table at home will be given to each carload.

The idea for our Courtyard of Lights came from a desire to bring light to a dark time. WPC friends and families have donated strings of lights from their homes to create a display of unity and serve as a great witness for each other and our community. The Courtyard of Lights will make its debut at Love Feast and shine nightly through Epiphany on January 6. Thanks to everyone who provided lights and those who helped create the display. All are invited to come and view our witness of light, so invite your friends and neighbors!
Adult Christian Education: New Studies Beginning

The Present Word, Sundays at 9:45am
During the December-February quarter, the Present Word class will be focusing on the concept of “call” in the New Testament. This unit will be broken into three divisions consisting of (a) the beginning of a call, (b) calls in Jesus’ ministry, and (c) the call of women. Texts under review during this quarter will include the synoptic gospels, the Gospel of John, and the Book of Acts. This portion of our study will facilitate our quest to determine what God is calling us to do and what kind of people we are called to become.

Monday Morning Bible Study, Mondays at 9:30am
Beginning on November 30, this group will begin "O Come, O Come Emmanuel: Reflections on Four Seasonal Hymns." Written by Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle and Beverly Howard, this four-session adult study pack looks at the meaning of popular Advent and Christmas hymns. Featured hymns include "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus;" "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence;" "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel;" and "In the Bleak Midwinter." 

Newcomers and “drop-ins” are always welcome! Contact Marietta Wynands for the Zoom links.
Help Needed for Struggling Durham Nativity School Students & Families
Update from Carolyn Davidson

Durham Nativity School (DNS) has been a Westminster community partner for many years, with numerous WPC members attending their fundraising events and doing volunteer work like tutoring. The school has been changing the lives of at-risk middle school boys and their families for 20 years.

Durham Nativity School recently made the move to in-person classes on an alternating schedule four days per week. Not all students have chosen to attend in person. There is a great deal of fear of Covid-19 among the school's family population due to its impact on black and brown people. The school is paying for the technology to stream classes to students at home, many of whom must be at home to care for younger siblings. The teachers are very stretched with hybrid lesson planning.

Fear in the Durham Nativity School community is elevated as several have lost close relatives, including a father, due to Covid-19. There is great concern about layoffs for the parents who work in service industries and restaurants. The school's social worker and part-time assistant are working many long hours to help students and their families, providing funds for utility bills and groceries. The school's staff is on high alert for this vulnerable community, even at a time when its cleaning expenses have skyrocketed.

Durham Nativity School is requesting the donation of grocery store gift cards to help families buy food and retail gift cards so the families can experience some joy this holiday season. Anything the Westminster family can do to help would be very greatly appreciated. Gift cards can be mailed to: Durham Nativity School, Attention: Kim Glenn, PO Box 3537, Durham, NC 27702.
Stewardship 2021: Thank you!
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