FIRST REFORMED CHURCH OF BOONTON NEWSLETTER

 We are your Friendship Christian Church

How about those fall colors?  They were truly a beautiful sight. My favorite time is when the early morning or late afternoon sun hits the trees at a certain angle which tends to enhance the color more than when the sun is overhead. 

 

Light seems to be something we take for granted.  It’s always there.  Every day we have light from the sun and electric lights at night.  . 

 

One way to measure the output of an  electric light is to compare it to the light produced by a candle. That’s where the term candlepower (cp) comes from. How many candles  would it take to make a light that bright?   A searchlight could have a cp rating of over a million.  What does this have to do with us?  Think about it – each of us in our fellowship is a “candle” doing God’s work.  That’s 1 cp for God.  Couple that with 100 or more candles and we have a much brighter light or a greater ability to serve God.   One might say we  become a beacon of light.  Lighthouses anyone?   We thank God for HIS light and need to magnify the intensity within our fellowship, the community and the world.  When we focus our collective light toward projects as directed by God - great things can happen! 

 

November is a time when we set aside a day to say thank you for all that God has provided.  We should have been doing this all year long.    Everyday should be a day of thanksgiving!

 

Lets look at the month ahead.

 

11/10    Consistory meeting @ 7:30

11/11    Women’s Guild meeting @ 7:30

11/18    Food Run to Hillside

11/26    Annual Thanksgiving Dinner

11/29    First Sunday in Advent

 

Every Monday-7:30 PM Bible Study w/Ernest Codella.

 

Our Food Pantry is open Thursday from 3:30 to 5:00. 

 

Bible Study with Pastor Carl every Thursday @ 6:30.

 

Choir rehearsal is held every Thursday @ 7:45

Christmas is right around the corner

November 29^th is the first Sunday in Advent.  We will be celebrating Holy Communion on that Sunday.  Following morning worship we will have a luncheon after which we will begin to decorate our church for this special season.

 

In the planning stage is our Church Christmas party, a special Christmas Sunday service and the Christmas Eve Candlelight service.  More details will follow.

 

Christmas is a time for much celebration, rushing around shopping and getting everything “Just Right” for what ever event you have planned.  Wait a minute – What are we celebrating?  Not just a time for parties and gifts.  We celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  We can be thankful that we are free to worship and celebrate this glorious event. Please remember the old saying and don’t forget “ the reason for the season”.  

 

Operation Christmas Child.

We have been reminding you of this project for several weeks now.  Last year we were able to fill 47 boxes.  Let’s see if we can top our record.  A small group helped to decorate a number of shoeboxes after our morning worship on November 1.  There are more to be decorated.  Next is the task to fill them.  All of this needs to be completed by November 16th so Bill can get them to the distribution center in Charlotte, NC. 

 

Women’s Guild for Christian Service

The Guild wishes to thank everyone who helped, and supported their Rummage Sale held last month.  Sure looked like many happy customers passed through the doorways which made this a very successful sale.  A lot of people look forward to this sale.

 

Harvest Buffet

A warm thank you to all who donated, helped, became a customer and worked on the cleanup.  We had a very successful event.  It must have been good as we ran out of turkey.   Guess we will have to double the amount next year.  Thank you everyone.

 

 

Speaking of sharing his Love ----

 

Have you given it any thought to supporting partially or totally a child at the Consolation Center in Haiti?  Here is the information once again.

 

A $50 donation will cover school, clothes and a portion of food for one girl for a month.  A $100 donation will cover school, clothes and all food for one girl for a month.

 

If you are interested in participating, please see Earle or Pastor Andy.  This would be a wonderful outreach for our fellowship.

 

 

Food Pantry -

With the holiday season upon us, please don’t forget our Food Pantry.  As we have said before the needs is there.  Please help support this outreach in any way you can.  It will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Finances - Classis Dues

We are nearing the end of the year. We still owe around $2900.00 for this year.  We don’t want to have to take funds from our cash reserve to pay this bill.  Doing so will certainly take from funds needed to keep our plant operating. Please do not forget your obligation as a member.   Remember  - if part of your weekly offering is for Classis – Please indicate this on your check or envelope.  If you have already paid, thank you!!!!

 

 

Speaking of Thanksgiving and dinners ----

On Thanksgiving Lisa Elizondo and friends will be hosting their annual Thanksgiving dinner complete will all the trimmings for our Food Pantry clients and anyone else who will be alone for the day.  Dinner will be served from 1 to 3 PM.  There is no charge for this dinner.

Pastor Andy’s corner (click here)

Pastor Andy on November 2 left for a trip to Haiti.  He is working to build housing facilities for the girls at Consolation Center.  His efforts in this not only involve fund raising for IHAF but the nuts and bolts of actually building the facility. We are blessed to have a Pastor such as Andy who has the skills and ability to engage in such activities.  He believes that God is leading this effort and that it will be successful.  We are blessed to have Pastor Carl who fills in willingly while Andy is away.  This enables us to extend our mission outreach to areas such as Haiti.

 

Andy did not prepare his usual piece for this months newsletter as he was preparing for his trip.  You will be receiving a Thanksgiving letter shortly from Andy.   I have had a sneak preview and can tell you it sure points out our need to be thankful based on some of his travel experiences.

 

 

Closing thoughts

Remember, keep the cp for Christ glowing.  Be part of the fresnel lens (there’s that lighthouse thing again) to focus that light to do his work.   Such a lens is made up of a very complex configuration of angles to enable a lighthouse’s beacon to project 20 or so miles out to sea.  You could say we have a complex fellowship. Each member has unique talents and interests. When we focus  our collective efforts we can project our love of Christ in our community and around the world.  Let’s go for it!  Let the world know that The First Reformed Church of Boonton means business with its outreach to the community and the world as well.

 

Be sure to remain thankful all year long but especially on Thanksgiving day.  A time to spend with family and friends, have a good meal of turkey and all of the other goodies and to give thanks for what the Lord has done for us.  Have a great meal and a great time saying thanks for all that we have in life. 

 

Here’s one for you.  After you have given thanks for everything and everybody, think about this:   Give thanks for wild turkeys.  They are the cousins to the birds we enjoy on our feast day.  Why be thankful for the wild turkeys?  They certainly rank among the most  cantankerous of creatures. It turns out that wild turkeys provide a great service by eating ticks and help to keep their population down.  Bet that’s one you did not know. We can thank the Yankee Magazine for that piece of information.

 

See you next month.  Remember, be thankful and don’t eat to much!!! 

 

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