Welcome to Emmanuel UCC Dorrance   |   7768 Blue Ridge Trail   |   Mountain Top Pa 18707   |   570-868-5675

Welcome to Emmanuel United Church of Christ

Everyone should be well rested and in church on Sunday morning – bright eyed and bushy tailed – since you get an extra hour to sleep! Just sayin’!
We all know that the “busy season” is fast approaching – Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. This is a busy season because of all that is going on. It is still football season and we must watch as our teams win or lose –
maybe making it to the playoffs. It means hunting season is in full swing. And of course it’s family get together season – beginning with the turkey on Thanksgiving followed by the beginning of shopping season even before
“black Friday” since stores are trying to get us to start our Christmas shopping after we eat that turkey. We have to
make sure we get the best deals and don’t miss anyone on our Christmas list.
“Busy Season” for the church means this year our first ever pork & sauerkraut supper in many years which
takes as many people as possible to prepare and serve. Following that is the Community Thanksgiving Eve service which will be held at our own church this year. It means worshiping God every Sunday morning at 10:30. It means
Advent and the lighting of special candles every Sunday morning beginning with the last Sunday in November. And so – we move on toward Christmas.
My prayer for this church is that all of our children will be brought to Sunday school so they can learn what this season is really all about. My prayer will be that parents will know that it is more important to bring the children to church than to make sure they get to see Santa Claus. My prayer will be that as the children begin to prepare for the Christmas pageant in December that they will understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. I pray
that they will realize that this is a special time because it is when we prepare our hearts and celebrate the birth of our Savior.
Denise is working very hard to make this pageant a special time in the lives of our children and their families including the entire church family. It is very difficult to practice for the pageant with just a few kids and then on the
day of presentation other kids show up to be a part of the “show”. Realize this isn’t a show – it’s the meaning of Christmas. We need the kids here on Wednesday nights to learn the songs. We need these kids here on Sunday
mornings to hear about Jesus and about God. God bless those parents who know this is important. It’s not only important for them to be in Sunday school but also for them see that their parents think church is important by joining
in our service of worship.
In the Psalms we read about God, “Great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (Psalm 57:10)

I implore you to return a bit of that love and faithfulness to our God who loves us beyond any measure. I don’t believe it’s too much to ask.
God loves you and I do too!

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. — 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASV)

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