Friday, December 23, 2016Dear Resurrection Family,
Tonight we begin holding Candlelight Christmas Eve services! There’s excitement in the air at each of our campuses as we prepare for these special services tonight and tomorrow night. We’ll have beautiful Christmas music, read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke, reflect upon its meaning, and we’ll share in the traditional passing of the candlelight throughout the room as we sing Silent Night.
In the sermon we’ll consider why God invited shepherds and wise men to be among the first to celebrate Christmas and to help us understand what God was up to we’ll consider Pope Francis’ 80th birthday and my favorite TV commercial of the season – from Amazon. Then we’ll turn to the meaning of Christmas and to shed some light on this we’ll turn to a song written in 1969 by Paul Simon, a song he described as a gospel hymn – Bridge Over Troubled Water. I think you’ll see the connection and how the song points to what scripture means when they call the Christ child, Emmanuel. It’s going to be a beautiful series of services at all of our locations.
By the way, did you know we have a total of 27 services at our four locations?! At Leawood this will be our last Christmas Eve services in the current sanctuary. We’ll give a 30-second sneak peek inside the new sanctuary by video as we begin worship, and you’ll have a chance to see the next section of stained glass.
Are you on social media? This is a great way to invite your friends to one of our Christmas Eve Services. You can download and share the graphics posted on our website here.
Each campus pastor is including in their e-notes recommendations for which services to attend. Here’s my suggestions for Resurrection Leawood:
First, remember we’ll have all our new parking lots open for the Christmas Eve Services. The best parking will be on the south side of the new sanctuary. We’re leaving the lights on in the new narthex and sanctuary, so if you park on the south side of the new sanctuary you and your friends and family can take a look inside the new building through the windows.
Here’s a list of the services and how full they were last year:
December 23 –
5:00 p.m. Full but not overflowing
7:00 p.m. 500 seats available
December 24 –
1:00 p.m. 1,000 empty seats
3:00 p.m. Sanctuary - completely full and hundreds in the narthex
3:00 p.m. Student Center – some seats available
3:00 p.m. Wesley Chapel – some seats available
5:00 p.m. Sanctuary – completely full and hundreds in the narthex
5:00 p.m. Student Center – seats available
5:00 p.m. Wesley Chapel – some seats available
7:00 p.m. Sanctuary – 200 empty seats
9:00 p.m. Sanctuary – 400 empty seats
11:00 p.m. Sanctuary – 300 empty seats
I’ll be preaching all the services. The chapel and student center will have live music but the sermon will come via video from the sanctuary. We’ll have the same candle lighting in each service. For a list of musical styles at each service, click here.
We are still in need of volunteers to welcome our guests for the Christmas Eve Services. The urgent need is at the 3, 9, and 11 pm services. Thank you to the hundreds of you who have already signed up to volunteer to help with Christmas Eve candlelight services! We’re still in need of volunteers at each campus and for each service. Those at the campuses, please check your campus pastor’s e-notes for details.
At Leawood we still have several needs for nursery workers at the 7 pm tonight and 1 and 5 pm tomorrow. You can sign up to help in the nurseries by clicking this link. We are also still in need of people to prepare and distribute candles as people enter the Sanctuary, ushers and greeters are also needed – click here. And volunteers to help in the parking lots – Parking Greeters: click here and Shuttle Drivers: click here. Finally, we’ll have hundreds of first time visitors to the church on Christmas Eve – our aim is to drop a coffee mug by each of their homes as a personal “thank you” for attending and an encouragement to join us again. This is a very important part of our outreach. Could you deliver a few mugs on the day after Christmas to visitors in your zip code area? I’m planning to deliver mugs to some of our first time visitors myself and hope you will join me. You don’t need to sign up to deliver mugs you just need to stop by in the Narthex and pick up mugs that are in your zip code. If you would like to see a brief video on how to deliver click here. It takes about 2 minutes, but the impact is really important.
Remember that on Sunday, December 25 – Christmas Day – we’ll only have one worship service at each of our campuses. Leawood, Resurrection Blue Springs, and Resurrection Downtown will have a Service at 10:45 am while Resurrection West will have a 9:30 am Service. We’ll share in carols, scripture and Holy Communion.
Many of you have signed up for the Educational Opportunities cruise next fall on the Life and Journeys of Paul. We have over 300 from Resurrection and nearly 200 from other churches across the country. EO has informed us that they only have 7 balcony state rooms, 17 ocean view rooms and 19 interior rooms left. You can find more information about this amazing trip byclicking on this link. If you would like to register click here and open the “register now” button at the bottom of the page. If you have any questions please contact my assistant at sue.thompson@cor.org. If you were thinking about going, please sign up now. I’ll be giving four lectures on the life of Paul while on the cruise ship. Lance Winkler will be leading singing and worship. We have several other pastors and staff joining us to make this a most remarkable experience. We’ll visit Ephesus, Athens, Corinth, Pompeii and Rome as well as several Greek and Roman islands. It will be a remarkable experience and one I will likely not lead again.
A couple of financial reminders: if you are making a year-end gift to complete your 2016 pledge, or your building pledge, please note this in the memo section of your check. Anything not specifically designated for your pledge or building fund that is given on Christmas Eve will go to the Christmas Eve offering. If you are looking to fulfill your pledge by giving stock, please contact our finance office at 913-544-0778 to find out the last date you must give this by to have it counted on your 2016 giving for tax purposes. Giving appreciated stock has certain tax benefits, be sure to check with your accountant. All cash and checks to be counted for 2016 must be received byFriday, December 30, at 5 pm or in the offering on Saturday night, December 31st. If you would like to give electronically, click here. Your year-end giving is important. For those who made building pledges, there are three months left on our pledge period.
Finally, I am looking forward to sharing Christmas Eve services with you. I am so grateful for you, and so profoundly grateful for the gift God has given us in Jesus Christ. I’d encourage you to invite a friend, neighbor or co-worker to join us for this special service.
Merry Christmas!
Adam Hamilton
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
913.897.0120
www.cor.org
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