Presbyterian Visitor
December 5, 2025
We started the month of November off with All Saints Sunday where 40 of our loved ones were remember with candle lighting and prayer.
Also in November we had our Called Congregational Meeting to act upon the recommendation from the Nominating Committee for the slate of officers for 2026. Nominations were as follows:
Session -Melinda Hendrix & Kara Talbott
Trustees-James Talbott & Grant Burcham
Memorial Committee-Deb Cullion
Nominating Committee At-Large-Austin Harrah
Financial Secretary-LuAnne Allen
We greatly appreciate all our members giving generously of their time and talents to keep our church going strong.
Following the Called Congregational Meeting everyone enjoyed great food and Fellowship during our Church Thanksgiving Dinner.
The Soup on Saturday Christmas Lunch will be held on Saturday, December 13th. Our church will, once again, be providing a turkey and fresh fruit. The turkey has been donated and we are in need of someone to bake it, please let the church office know if you would be willing to do this. A sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board for the fresh fruit. We will be sacking the fruit Friday, December 12th at 4:30pm. All help is greatly appreciated.
We will be having our Sunday School Christmas Program and Party on Sunday, December 14th at 4:30pm. Following the program everyone is invited to join together in Fellowship Hall for a taco bar dinner and rumor has it that we will be having a very special visitor.
Once again we will have stocking hung in Fellowship Hall for the children. Everyone is invite to place small gift items in these stockings. The children will receive these stockings during the Christmas party. A list of the children’s names and ages will be available on the narthex table.
This year our church will be assisting 4 families with their Christmas dinner and gifts for their children. The items needed will be posted on the bulletin board
along with the children’s needs and wish list. Please take the top copy as your reminder and sign your name to the paper left on the bulletin board. Please have all items to the church by noon on December 21st.
Also we will be providing small gifts, as well as treats, for the six students at the Life Skills Class at Bloomfield High School. Please have these items to the church by December 12th.
Women’s Association
The Women’s Association will be having their December Birthday Gathering on Thursday, December 4th at 9:30am at Rejavanated.
The Women’s Association Christmas Party will be held on Thursday, December 11th at the home of Alicia Holt. Please bring a $15 grab bag gift and a covered dish to share.
Session News
At its meeting on November 19, 2025, session:
decided to distribute a $2500 grant from the presbytery to fight food insecurity as follows:
recoup congregational costs for Thanksgiving dinners, minus donations ($240) from the congregation;
split the remaining funds between C2C and the community food pantry at First Baptist Church, specifying (per grant requirements) that the funds be used to purchase food.
discussed the congregation coming forward to receive communion on occasion, and decided to try this on the first Sunday of December.
scheduled the Blue Christmas service for 6pm on Wednesday, December 17, and the Christmas Eve service for 7:30pm on December 24.
approved Pastor Hana's vacation for December 26-January 1. Daniel Frye will fill the pulpit on December 28.
discussed engaging kids in worship, and the congregation's baptismal vows to assist in raising children in faith so that they might grow to be active participants as adults.
Pastor’s Message
Happy New Year! Liturgical new year, that is.
When we begin the season of Advent on the last Sunday of November, we also embark on a new year in our worship calendar as we prepare for the birth of the One that God has anointed to bring us salvation.
I talk about the liturgical calendar a lot, and some of you may wonder what the big deal is. Where did it even come from? The simple answer is that it has evolved throughout the history of the church.
Easter and Christmas weren’t observed by the early church until between 200 and 400 CE. Over the centuries, other “feast days” were added to the calendar to mark significant moments in the lives of Jesus, his mother Mary, and other saints and martyrs of the faith. (As Protestants, we only mark the seasons and days that center on Jesus’ life and ministry among us.) The last major feast day—celebrating the Reign of Christ over all creation at the end of the liturgical year—was added to the cycle by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
The liturgical year did not become common with Protestants until the 1990s, when the Revised Common Lectionary was published. The weekly readings of the lectionary invite us into the celebration of the liturgical seasons in which those readings are based.
The liturgical calendar matters for several reasons:
• Observing the liturgical year reminds us that God rules over all time. God sets the rhythm of our lives, our seasons, and our days.
• The liturgical year orients our lives to the pattern of Christ’s life as we mark our time as Jesus’ life was marked.
• Following the liturgical calendar connects us to Christians all over the nation and the world who are worshiping according to the same annual rhythm.
You may have noticed that the rhythm of the liturgical year is sometimes at odds with the culture around us. For example, the season of Advent keeps us in a mode of preparation and anticipation, while around us many are already celebrating Christmas.
Similarly, the season of Lent still has us on the road to the cross while others are already hunting Easter eggs and hanging out with the Easter bunny.
In this way, the liturgical calendar is counter-cultural; it reminds us that we are in this world, but not of this world. Just like Jesus.
As we turn the page of our liturgical calendar, may we be reminded that God is the author of all our days, and pray that we may live our days as a gift to God.
In hope,
Pastor Hana