6TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Sunday, December 13, 3:00 pm
In this season of Advent and Christmas, our 6th annual Christmas Concert will take place on Sunday Dec. 13 @ 3:00 PM. This time it will be called “A Silver Lining”, because this year has given us an unexpected opportunity to share our music remotely with people out of our area, and to archive it for people out of our generation.   ÂÂ
The program will be done over Zoom with music prerecorded by our musicians, including several performance groups on virtual video, although unlike our church services, we will not have congregation participation. We will welcome the public as always, but it might make more sense for this year’s observance if members of the congregation invite their family and friends who might not otherwise have been able to attend, and offer instructions on how to join the day’s event.
In case you missed the concert, an archive is now available on the church YouTube channel. You can view the full concert or individual music pieces on the Christmas concert playlist.
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
Thursday, December 24, 7:00 PM – NEW TIME
Zoom worship service of readings and hymns at 7:00 PM. Click here to see instructions for joining worship from home.
CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP WALK – NEW TIME
Thursday, December 24 through New Year’s Day, during daylight hours
Join us for an Outdoor Worship Walk during daylight hours in a walk through the Christmas story outside at the church. We wanted to provide something special for this sacred moment that ends a difficult year. At the same time, we recognize that we need to be extra careful in following protocols to keep everyone safe and healthy. If you plan to attend the worship walk, come prepared to wear a face covering, stay with your household group, keep physical distance from other groups, and leave promptly after completing the walk. We thank you for your attention to these details and wish you a worshipful experience this Christmas. We’ll leave our stations up for people to visit at their leisure between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, during the day.
ADVENT STUDY OPPORTUNITIES
Daytime Advent Study: Our Wednesday women’s group, Women in the Word (8-9:30am), is beginning an Advent study called Pauses for Advent: Words of Wonder. If you are looking to be more intentional about waiting for Christmas this year, you are invited to join us! Email Tracie Wright cheerful45@live.com to get a copy of the book and the Zoom link for meeting.
Evening Advent Study: Using the devotional in our Advent packages, Pastor Jen will lead an evening reflection group on three Thursdays in Advent: Dec. 3, Dec. 10, Dec. 17. We’ll meet using the regular church Zoom account from 7:15-8:15 pm. The devotional is based in art and poetry that spring from the season’s lectionary texts. Come ready to share what the reflections reveal to you about God, the scriptures, and life in our day.
MISSIONS MINISTRY
PINS Christmas Gifts and Dinner Collection
In association with the “Partners In Service†or PINS program at the Vermont Department of Children and Families we normally pick Christmas gift items to donate from our Mitten Tree in church, but this year we are doing it through Signup Genius. Our family consists of a Mom, a 13 year old teen girl, 8 year old boy, 5 and 3 year old girls. Please sign up for an item or two on our Signup Genius Mitten Tree. Please purchase, wrap, and write or label your gift with a number 1 for Mom, a number 13 for the teen girl, number 8 for the 8 year old, 5 for the five year old, and number 3 for the 3 year old. There will be collection boxes on the parsonage porch. Please bring your gift on or before Sunday, Dec. 20 at 12:00 noon through 4 p.m. Alternatively, you can always donate to PINS on the Online Giving page.
Please consider donating food items for a nice Christmas dinner for our PINS family: a turkey, ham, cranberry jelly, veggies, potatoes, desserts, and $$ for fresh items like milk, onions, cheese, rolls, butter etc. For fresh items like ham or turkey please contact Terri Page or Missions first. Please bring your food item and leave in the collection boxes on the parsonage porch on Sunday, Dec 20 at 12:00 noon through 4 p.m.
The UCU Christmas Fair Trade Gift Sale ends Dec 15. Shop at our sale at http://serrv.org/?a=Underhill Choose beautiful gifts that help marginalized artisans, farmers, and their families through fair trade. 20% of the purchase price will be returned to support UCU missions. Share our sale website with your friends and family. So far we have over $200 coming back to UCU Missions!
Our annual Retired Clergy Offering on Sunday Dec. 20 will benefit UCC retired clergy. The Christmas Eve Offering will go toward the purchase of the Jacob’s property. Both will be available on the Online Giving page. Stay tuned for more information.
THE CLUTTER BARN MARKET
The Clutter Barn Market is now open for business at https://clutterbarn.unitedchurchofunderhill.com/. There will be many more items added to the store, so keep checking back. If you pay on-line, you will need to use Paypal. If you want to buy an item in person or have questions, please email the Clutter Barn team at CBMarket@ucu.church including item number. All items will be made available for pickup at UCU at a convenient time set up by the Clutter Barn Team.