There will be no Church School classes on Sundays, December 24 or 31. Classes for learners of all ages will resume on Winter Rally Day, Sunday, January 7.
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Blog
Worship with Us | Week of December 24
Here’s what’s happening this week in worship. As a reminder, there will be no Journey worship service on Sundays, December 24 or 31, and no Taizé Prayer Service on Wednesday, December 27.
Christmas Eve Sanctuary Worship | Sunday, 11 am
Our largest service, with music from the Chancel Choir and an organ prelude prior to the service. Pastor BJ will preach from Luke 2:1–20, and deliver his sermon, titled “Good News of GREAT Joy.”
Join us in person or watch our livestream on YouTube or Facebook. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Christmas Eve Friends & Family Service | Saturday, 4 pm
Celebrate the birth of Jesus at our early Christmas Eve service. This family friendly service will feature an intergenerational celebration of Christ’s birth—with many of the families in our congregation, carols, Communion, and a candle-lit version of Silent Night.
The Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt, our guest preacher, will preach from Luke 2:1–14., and deliver her sermon, titled “Wonderful Christmas.”
Join us in person or watch our livestream on YouTube or Facebook. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Christmas Eve Traditional Service | Saturday, 10 pm
Celebrate the birth of Jesus at our traditional Candlelight Christmas Eve service. Special prelude music will begin at 9:30 pm, and will include The Brass Roots, soloists, and the Adult Choir—along with special readings and lighting of candles while we sing Silent Night.
Pastor Patrice will preach from Luke 2:1–14, and deliver her sermon, titled “An Extraordinarily Ordinary Night.”
Join us in person or watch our livestream on YouTube or Facebook. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Church School Classes | December 17
Here’s a list of what’s happening this week in our Church School classes. We offer Christian Education classes for persons of all ages, from infancy through adulthood, on Sundays, 9:45–10:45 am, unless otherwise noted. Read more about our adult classes and children and youth offerings. Read More
Worship with Us | Week of December 17
Here’s what’s happening this week in worship.
Journey Worship | Sunday, 8:45 am
An interactive, energetic service for those seeking a fresh encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastor BJ will preach from Luke 1:46b–55, on the theme, Seeking Love.
Join us on Zoom on your computer, mobile device, or tablet. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Sanctuary Worship | Sunday, 11 am
Our largest service, with music from the Chancel Choir and an organ prelude prior to the service. Pastor BJ will preach from Luke 1:46b–55.
The Advent of Justice.”
Download this week’s bulletin to follow along and read about upcoming events. Join us in person or watch our livestream on YouTube or Facebook. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Taizé Prayer Service | Wednesday, 7 pm
Join us to experience Taizé’s prayerful songs and quiet meditations. Pastor BJ will lead us.
Holiday Gift Ideas that are Light on the Environment
This holiday season, consider some fresh ideas that are light on the environment.
- Give a gift of an experience, rather than “stuff.” This could be a ticket to a game, comedy show, play, or concert, a fun day trip, a museum membership, guitar lessons, or even a gift card to a favorite local restaurant or business. You’ll be supporting arts or local business and giving your recipient something to look forward to!
- Ditch the cheap stocking stuffers. Often, stockings are filled with cheap plastic items that end up broken, lost, or discarded once the holiday season ends. Instead, fill them with delicious homemade treats and a few small, thoughtfully chosen gifts to round it out. Stockings are a fun part of the Christmas tradition, and with a little thought, they can be transformed from wasteful to awesome!
- Recycle your Christmas tree. Every year, over 10 million Christmas trees end up in landfills, contributing to methane emissions that warm the planet. Instead, bring your tree to the recycling collection spot near the Pittsburgh Zoo entrance, or to another City yard waste collection site this year!
Tips selected by the Environmental Team of Justice Committee from One Tree Planted.
Giving Thanks for the Gratitude Retreat
In November, 20 ELPC members ventured to the Villa Maria Retreat Center in Pulaski, Pennsylvania for a Gratitude Retreat. The weekend was a time well spent in community with others, providing an opportunity to slow down, reflect, pause, pray, and “forget not all of God’s benefits.” Here are some photos from our time together.
Christmas Joy Offering to be Received
Many of us spend a lot of time in search of perfect Christmas gifts—gifts that communicate to friends and family how much we know and love them. For those of us who gather in Advent expectation, we know that the only perfect gift ever given was the one we received in Jesus Christ.
The Christmas Joy Offering celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ, the “perfect gift” from a gracious God, and helps us respond to God’s gift with generous gifts that support church leaders—retired, present, and future—who have pointed us to God. For church workers in need of financial help, whether due to declining health or a catastrophic event, the Christmas Joy Offering provides for those needs through the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions. The Christmas Joy Offering also supports new leaders for our church and world, through the ministry of Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color.
When we receive the Christmas Joy Offering on Sunday, December 17, may you give generously in thanksgiving to God for the most perfect gift of all, the gift of Jesus Christ.
Worship with Us | Week of December 10
Here’s what’s happening this week in worship.
Journey Worship | Sunday, 8:45 am
An interactive, energetic service for those seeking a fresh encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastor Heather will preach from Mark 1:1–8, on the theme, Seeking Love.
Join us on Zoom on your computer, mobile device, or tablet. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Sanctuary Worship | Sunday, 11 am
Our largest service, with music from the Chancel Choir and an organ prelude prior to the service. Pastor Heather will preach from Mark 1:1–8, and deliver her sermon, titled “Which Comes First?”
Download this week’s bulletin to follow along and read about upcoming events. Join us in person or watch our livestream on YouTube or Facebook. If you’d like to join by telephone, call 929.205.6099 and enter Meeting ID 188 135 194 when prompted (press # if asked for a personal ID).
Taizé Prayer Service | Wednesday, 7 pm
Join us to experience Taizé’s prayerful songs and quiet meditations. Pastor BJ will lead us.
News From Your PNC | December 2023
Dear ELPC Members, Friends and Staff,
The members of the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC)would like to share our progress since early October with you. As we let you know last month, the completion of the Ministry Discernment Profile (MDP) was our next step.
Pastoral Message | December 2023
Disruptive. Confusing. Scary. Exciting. Disorienting.
Have you ever experienced a situation or a season in your life that could be marked by any or all of these words?
As I reflect upon the events of my life, I can name many—from the loss of my first baby tooth to the first day of college to the death of my father—that can be marked by most or all of these adjectives. If I were to make a list of such events, it is likely that the first ones I would write down would be those I’d consider hard: switching schools, being hospitalized for back surgery, divorce in my family…
But I noticed that as my list grew longer it would include events I’d consider to be quite positive milestones: learning to drive, being called to Seminary, giving birth to my child…
Although I’m writing this letter in November, planning for the Advent and Christmas celebrations has been well underway for weeks. It is clear that so much of what we do to prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus is festive, comforting, and even fun. We decorate, we bake, we gather with loved ones, we listen to our favorite music, we prepare to exchange gifts. We do this in many faithful ways as a church too.
Yet when the circumstances of our own lives don’t reflect the festive, comfortable or fun energy of the season our own feelings of grief or isolation may be magnified. It can be hard to find ourselves in the story of Jesus’ birth. We might miss God’s promises to us in seasons we might deem hard or circumstances from which we’d like to escape. In these instances, our shared celebration of Jesus’ birth can be a disruptive, confusing, or disorienting event unto itself.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am definitely someone who thinks that Jesus’ birth is one of the most exciting reasons for celebration in our lives. But I think that we do ourselves and our siblings a disservice if we neglect to notice, name and explore the reality that Jesus’ actual birth was a disruptive, confusing, scary, exciting, and disorienting event. It upended the lives of vulnerable individuals and changed the course of history.
This truth is something I believe we need to explore and even embrace as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s a practice that encourages us as a people of faith to not simply pick-and-choose which aspects of faith or the Bible we cling to, but pulls us into a more complex and substantive experience of faith—individually and collectively.
I imagine that some of you might find this assertion to be off-putting…or at least a curious one. We know all too well that the events of our world are disrupting, confusing, scary, exciting and disorienting ENOUGH as it is! We don’t necessarily need MORE of that…we need MORE joy, peace, hope, and love!
I would argue that the two are not mutually exclusive. The Advent and Christmas season before us, in fact, reminds us of this reality! Along with all that was/is disrupting, confusing, scary, exciting and disorienting about Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ birth calls us to rejoice, be peacemakers, instigators of hope and ambassadors of love.
This duality reminds us, too, of the promise of the Incarnation. God put on flesh and dwelt among us—experiencing the difficult aspects of human living, embodying the promise that God IS WITH US, ALWAYS…in the moments that are disorienting and difficult, and in the moments of hope and peace.
People of faith, THIS truth is cause for joy. May we witness God’s presence among us—in seasons of transition, seasons of grief, seasons of fresh starts, seasons of new opportunity, seasons of struggle, seasons of peace…and may the reality of GOD WITH US, ALWAYS give us strength, courage, hope, and love.
—Pastor Heather