Charles Town Presbyterian Church

Dear Friends,

Every year, for weeks on end, this verse runs endless through my head:

Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: Jesus Christ was born today.

These are the opening words of that great English carol, “Good Christian Friends (Men) rejoice.” and they remind me of what the season is all about—the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As I have been preaching throughout the season of advent, we cannot get to the cross of Christ without first coming to the cradle. We cannot celebrate salvation without recognizing God’s incarnation. And so we worship our Lord Jesus!

We have several opportunities to worship this Christmas weekend. On Christmas Eve we will worship with candlelight services at 5pm and 10pm. Please be sure the proper time is on your calendar since the later service is happening earlier this year. The 5pm service is geared toward families, and children in particular. I don’t want to give away too much of the service, but part of the service will be a Christmas sing along with songs picked by the kids!

The later service will be more traditional, and will include a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper as part of Christmas Eve worship remind us that we can’t separate the events of Jesus’ life on earth. His birth makes no sense if he does not come to make us right with God, and his death is far less important if, we don’t remember the significance of his birth.

Christmas falls on Sunday this year, and that morning will have one worship service at 11am, and no Sunday School (we will follow the same schedule 1/1/2017). I know Christmas morning can be busy, and you may be tempted to even skip worship, so let me just say this as clearly as I can: Come as you are. Come celebrate the birth of Jesus and remember the reason for the season.

As this is the last newsletter of 2016, I close with these familiar words:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Blessings,
Pastor John

Dear Friends,

I love being part of the Charles Town Presbyterian Church family! Last weekend was one of the most fun and enjoyable weekends in the life of the church in a very long time.

The fun began on Saturday evening. 22 people gathered at the church at 6:30 to visit some of the older and home-bound members of the congregation. We made six stops over the course of the evening. One of the stops was unplanned – a neighbor of one of our members asked us to carol for he and his wife! All of those for home we sang were greatly appreciative of this simple act. Afterward, we went back to the manse for some food, fellowship and relief from the cold!

On Sunday evening, we held the annual Christmas Joy service. Our bell choirs and vocal choirs provided music for this wonderful annual advent tradition (you’ll find a picture one of our members posted on Facebook)! Nine different people from the congregation did special readings, and we raised over $1,000 for the Presbyterian Joy offering!

On Monday evening the session met to examine incoming officers. While technically having nothing to do with the season, I am always excited when new officers come into leadership in the life of the church.

Charles Town Presbyterian Church is at its best when we are engaging in ministry, and last weekend was full of ministry opportunities. Praise God!

Blessings,

Pastor John

When you receive this church newsletter, we will be about half-way through advent. The countdown to Christmas is now measurable in days! Yikes! Before we know it, we will be sitting in Christmas worship with all the busyness of the season behind us, for the most part.

This is a busy weekend in the life of Charles Town Presbyterian Church. Tomorrow, on Saturday, we are Christmas caroling. Everyone is invited to help us as we minister the sounds of the season to some of our shut-ins and older members. We will meet at the church parking lot at 6:30, carol at number of places, and then return to the manse for a kind of party. Guests are welcome to stay at the manse until 10:30. (Fair warning: If you have allergies, please be aware that there are pet cats at the manse.)

On Sunday, our annual Christmas Joy service will be held at 7:00 pm in the sanctuary. This annual worship service features wonderful music provided by our talented music ministry. Our bell and vocal choirs have been working for months under the direction of music director Jason Largent to prepare for this wonderful service. During the Christmas Joy service we will collect the Joy Offering, which is used to provide scholarships for ethnic and minority students, and to provide resources for retired ministers who need help funding extreme medical needs.

Christmas Caroling and the Christmas Joy service are great activities and they are great opportunities to introduce friends to the great people and ministries of CTPC. I encourage you to extend an invitation to a friend or two.

Blessings,

Pastor John

It is the beginning of December, and Christmas is coming. When we think of Christmas, we often think of gifts. We give gifts and we receive gifts. Christmas itself is about gifts. God gives his one and only son so that we can have eternal life. And the response to that is to give.

This year, there is one gift I would encourage our whole church family to give: An invitation. It was made clear at the budget forum hosted by the session two weeks ago that we must become more intentional in communicating our information to the community. Time and time again it has been shown that the most effective way to do outreach is to extend a personal invitation.

Here are some of the events coming up over the next few weeks:

• Friday, December 2-Advent Festival 6pm
  • A light dinner, Christmas carols, and then adults and older children decorate the sanctuary while younger children make Christmas crafts
• Sunday, December 4-Holiday Dinner
  • Following worship, around noon, the fellowship committee is host- ing a holiday dinner for the congregation.
• Saturday, December 10-Christmas Caroling 6:30pm
  • All are invited to meet in the parking lot from whence we will spread Christmas cheer to some of the older members of our congregation. This will be followed by a Christmas social at the manse.
• Sunday, December 11-Christmas Joy Service 7pm
  • The annual Joy Gift service highlights the outstanding music minis try of CTPC. This worship service is always a highlight of the advent season at CTPC.

I’d like to encourage every one of us to invite someone. If you’re not sure who, or you’re nervous about that idea, the first step is to pray. Ask God to show you who to invite, and to give you the courage to do so. Then, follow through and ask away!

We have so much to give. Of course, as Christians, it is our honor and privilege to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. This holiday season gives us additional ways to share that love and to welcome people into the life of the church.

Blessings,

Pastor John

When you gather around the Turkey later next week, I want you to think of this question: What am I most thankful for? I know I am not the only person asking people to think of that question. At least, I hope I am not!

Thankfulness is such an important virtue. Thankfulness reminds us of all that we have and it reminds us of all the good things for which we should give thanks to God. And herein lies an important point: Thanksgiving is about thanking only one person – God! Thanksgiving is not about saying “thank you” to people who have been good to us since last November. We should be thanking people all the time for the good things they do for us. That just good manners.

The first Thanksgiving was wrought out of hardship. The first settlers of this nation had to rely on help from the indigenous peoples, and together they had a feast after that first, challenging harvest. These early settlers knew exactly who to thank: God.

So as you gather with family and friends, be sure to remember that for which you are most thankful. I am most thankful for my wife Laurie; my children, Zachary, Saige, and Alex; for my good friends, and for the congregation of CTPC – It is a blessing to be able to preach and teach God’s Word to this congregation.

Give thanks to God, and let that thankful attitude remind you of all God has done for you!

With thanks,

Pastor John

I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will make music.
Psalm 101:1

This Sunday we are going to live into the words of this psalm.

We are going to worship Sunday morning, of course, but I am speaking of the Eastern Panhandle Mission Community fall music festival, which our congregation is hosting.

Shenandoah Presbytery, of which our congregation is a part, is divided into regional mission communities in order to more easily share in certain aspects of ministry. The Eastern Panhandle Mission Community, or EPMC, is compromised of the Presbyterian congregations in Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties.

On Sunday, the EPMC will be holding its fall music festival at CTPC beginning at 4:30pm. There will be vocal choirs, bell choirs and other musicians gathering to, as the psalmist writes, make music to the Lord.

Music is an integral part of our worship for a variety of reasons. We are made in the image of God, and God is creative. We are also created, and music is one way in which we engage in creativity in worship of God.

Music is important because it also teaches us about our faith. Do you remember how you learned your ABC’s? We all know the song! The same is true for matters of faith. Music gives us a way to learn and remember what we believe. Most importantly, we are directed by scripture to engage in worship with music. The psalms are filled with songs for and about worship. The Old and New Testaments contain countless examples of music in worship.

Music has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I love when fellow Christians gifted with music gather to lead in worship.

I hope you’ll be able to join us for the music festival, and for the time of fellowship that will follow. Feel free to invite someone to come with you, for this time of celebration is not to be missed!

Blessings,

Pastor John