Holiday Worship Schedule
Sunday School Christmas Service
Sunday, Dec. 16, 10:30 am
(Note: Our 8:15 am service and Monday evening service will be regular church services with Holy Communion. Our 10:30 service will not include communion. It will be the Christmas account told by the Sunday School Children and High School Youth.Christmas Service of Songs and Readings
Thursday, Dec. 20, 6:30 pmOne Sunday Service
Sunday, Dec. 23, 9 am
(Note: We will have only one service on Sunday Morning, December 23rd. The time will meet in the middle of the normal 8:15 am and 10:30 am services.)Christmas Eve Services
Monday, Dec. 24, 5 & 10 pmChristmas Day Service
Tuesday, December 25, 10 amNew Year’s Eve Day
Sunday Dec 30, 8:15, 10:30 am
Monday Dec 31, 6:30 pm
(Note: Each service will have our traditional end-of-the-year individual confession and absolution.)
Sunday School Christmas Practice
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2:30 – 4 pm
Saturday, Dec 15, 2:30 – 4 pm
Parents, of Sunday School and High School
Youth:
Please help your children prepare for the Sunday School Christmas Service. Please go over the songs and recitations with your children. Please bring them to Sunday School on Sundays and to the official practices on Saturdays, December 8 & 15. Thank you!
Christmas Wreaths are Here!
If you ordered a Christmas wreath through the
Holy Cross PTO, they’ve arrived and are available to be picked up on Sunday (or
during the week, if you call!)
Senior Youth Shopping
Saturday, December 8 noon– 8 pm
Senior Youth will be shopping at the Fox Valley
Mall in Appleton. Sign up on Pastor Tweit’s office window. Parent drivers are
needed. Call Carla Baumgartner or Holly Alexander if you can drive.
Adult Instrumentalists
On Christmas Eve at 5 pm the Holy Cross Concert
Band will perform pre-service, offering, and postlude music. If you have enjoyed
playing a woodwind, brass or percussion instrument in the past, talk with Jim
Baxter and sign-up in the narthex. We’ll rehearse on Sunday, December 23
following the Sunday service.
Senior Youth and Flowers!
The Senior Youth are selling gift cards from
America’s Best Flowers and will receive 25% of the total value of the cards
sold. You may purchase yours between services on Sundays, Dec. 2 & 9, or contact
Bonnie Marshall at 839-4787 to make other arrangements. America’s Best is no
longer open in winter, so the cards cannot be used to purchase wreaths,
poinsettias, etc., but can be used starting in April when they reopen to the
public. Many of you like to give these for Christmas gifts, teachers
appreciation, or for your spring landscaping needs. The gift cards never expire
and can be used at the main locations and the 4 satellite locations.
Holiday Gift Showers
We are collecting Christmas items of need for
two organizations:
Grades Pre-K – 4 are collecting items for the Elizabeth House, a Christian organization that provides counseling, education, and a safe place to stay for unwed mothers. Grades 5-8 are collecting items for the Ronald McDonald House, which provides support and a place for families to stay during treatments and surgeries for their children at the UW Hospital.
There are donation boxes located in each classroom and there are Rubbermaid containers in the narthex for donations. Please help us "shower" their Christmas with love. A list of needed items is available from the office. Thanks!
Christmas Dinner
Sunday, December 2 at 11:30 am
Support the High School Youth by attending the
Christmas Spaghetti Dinner. The dinner is one of the ways that the youth raise
money for the National Lutheran Youth Association Convention in San Antonio,
Texas next summer. You’re welcome to the dinner, even if you haven’t signed up!
ESL Christmas Party
Sunday, December 16, 2 – 4 pm
The Christmas Party for the ESL (English as a
Second Language) staff and students plus their families will be on December 16
in the church cafeteria. ESL staff, please bring a snack to pass. The students
and their families will be our guests. We hope to sing some Christmas carols in
Spanish and English and also have a piñata for the children. ESL staff, be sure
to tell your students so they can mark their calendars. If you’re not a part of
the ESL staff, but would like to come, you’re welcome… just bring a snack to
pass!
Adult/High School Open Gym & Movie Saturday,
December 1, 6:30-9 pm
Holy Cross sponsors a weekly open gym and
once-a-month movie night. The first movie night will be on December 1st
and every 1st Saturday of the month thereafter. Please bring a snack
to share on movie night. Holy Cross members and invited friends are welcome.
Parents, please note that senior youth coming and going from the Holy Cross
gym/cafeteria will not be monitored. During open gym, please enter and exit Holy
Cross via the rear gym entrance from the back parking lot.
Lakeside Employment Opportunities
Lakeside Lutheran High School is seeking
applicants for a part time custodial position and bus drivers. The custodial
position would be about 4 hours per evening. Duties would consist mostly of
light duty cleaning. Application deadline for this position is December 7th.
Bus drivers are needed for both evening and morning routes, substitutes and
athletic events. Lakeside provides training and reimburses for the cost of
obtaining the proper license. Call Todd Grundman at 920-648-2321.
Scrip Users!
Walmart Scrip cards are now available!
Upcoming Youth Dates
Special Acts-November
Samantha Crary 11/4Baptisms
Funerals
William Nelson 11/27
Special Gifts-November
Numerous gifts to the Relocation Fund
Attention Parents!!
A children’s movie called "The Golden Compass"
will open in theaters December 7. This movie has been described as "atheism for
kids" and is based on the 1st book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark
Materials", written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and
secular humanist who despises C.S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia." His
motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis’
symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series. Pullman’s main
objective seems to be to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left
little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that, "my
books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in
the minds of children." It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer that
atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed." While "The Golden Compass"
movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story.
In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to
ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an
ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In
the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God. Each
book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman’s hatred of
Jesus. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see
the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the
books for Christmas.
Invite Someone to Church for Christmas!
The first visitors to Jesus’ manger, the
shepherds, spread abroad what they had seen and heard. They were witnesses!
Christmas is a time of great joy for us as Christians… our Savior has been born!
During the holiday season, your unchurched neighbors, friends, and relatives may
be looking for deeper meaning in their lives. What a wonderful opportunity to
invite them to a church service where they will hear the saving gospel message
of Christ!
Luther and the Food Pantry
Sunday –Monday, Dec. 3-4
Luther once said in a Christmas sermon,
"There are many of you in this congregation who think to yourselves: ‘If only I
had been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby. I would have
washed his linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see
the Lord lying in the manger!’ You say that because you know how great Christ
is, but if you had been there at that time you would have done no better than
the people of Bethlehem. Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your
neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you
do to the Lord Christ himself."
Non-perishable food items may be dropped off by the coat racks at church. Thanks!
Poinsettias
Would you like to help decorate the sanctuary
with a poinsettia and take it home after Christmas, or donate it to a home-bound
member? If so, call the church office soon at 249-3101. Thanks!
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