Category: News

Advent & Christmas Happenings

Here are some ways Catoctin is marking Advent and Christmas.

Mission projects

We have several opportunities this season to share from the abundance God has given us. Giving to those in need is a good spiritual practice, fulfilling the call of God’s law, the prophets, Jesus, and the New Testament letters.

  • Warming Tree for the Loudoun Holiday Coalition – Bring new hats, scarves, gloves, and mittens for folks who don’t have cold-weather gear. Put them on the Christmas tree in the fellowship hall. This is wrapping up this week.
  • Grocery Gift Cards for Loudoun Hunger Relief – There’s a red collection box on the table in the fellowship hall for your $10 gift cards for any local grocery store. These will help folks with food insecurity through the holidays.
  • Christmas Joy Offering for the Presbyterian Church (USA) – This special offering for our denomination helps current and retired church workers in their time of need and also  helps develop our future leaders at Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges. Click here for more information. We will collect this offering in worship on December 17 and 24.
Fellowship

Besides our usual fellowship time after worship services, we have a couple special events coming up.

  • Christmas Cookie Exchange -On  Sunday, December 8, bring some of your favorite Christmas cookies to share with everyone for after-service fellowship. It’s a fun way to enjoy each other’s holiday traditions and some sweetness for the season!
  • Men’s Christmas Breakfast – Sunday, December 16, 8:00 a.m.  Come, and God rest ye merry, gentlemen! We will celebrate Christ’s birth, the dawn of God’s reign on earth, with food, fellowship, and glad tidings of good news! Food will be provided by a few of the brothers, so you only need to bring yourself and good cheer!
  • Women’s Christmas Luncheon – Sunday, December 16, 12:30 p.m. It’s the annual PWOC Christmas luncheon for women of the congregation and their friends. We’ll sing Christmas carols and tell the Christmas story.  Please bring a salad or casserole to share. Also, bring a nonperishable food item as a gift to Jesus as he is found at Loudoun Hunger Relief.
Advent Worship

We continue to mark the days of Advent in our worship services by lighting the Advent candles. We started our decorating with just the Advent wreath, but now the greens are up. What will come next?

See our previous post about Advent and this year’s themes.

Christmas Eve Service – 7:00 p.m., December 24

This year’s Christmas Eve service will be a traditional service of lessons and carols, patterned after the liturgy from the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge. Ours will likely be a little less formal. The lessons cover the whole arc of the story of God’s salvation for us, interspersed with Christmas carols and anthems by the choir. Pastor David will have a wee Christmas message, too. Of course, it’s all done in the candlelight. We hope to see you with your friends and family as we celebrate God’s faithfulness and love made manifest in the birth of Jesus Christ.

Parents’ Night Out – Christmas Edition

CPC is hosting a Parents’ Night Out on Friday, December 15, from 5:00-9:00 p.m. We’ll watch the kids while you take some time for Christmas shopping, or dinner out, or a date, or a long nap, or whatever you want to do with your evening!

Here’s the deal:

• It’s open to kids from age 3 years (must be potty trained) up to 5th grade.
• Limited to 40 children, so register soon!
• The evening includes pizza, fruit, veggies, water, crafts, games, Christmas story, and a movie. Bring a blanket/sleeping bag and pillow for comfy movie watching.
• The cost is $20 for one child, $10 for each additional sibling. Proceeds go to CPC Sunday School program.
• Email sundayschool@catoctin.org for a registration form and further instructions. Registration closes December 12.

 

Pastor Going to Stare at the Sun

Pastor David will be taking two weeks vacation at the end of August. He and Molly will be traveling to Colorado to see family and taking a side trip to Torrington, Wyoming, to see the total solar eclipse on August 21. They have their groovy eclipse glasses, so they’ll be safe. They’ll be staying at a Presbyterian church there, as rooms were booked and sold out six months ago. Continue reading “Pastor Going to Stare at the Sun”

Holy Week 2017 – April 9-16

This is Holy Week, the high holy days for Christians around the globe. Here’s a quick summary of our activities for this week.

April 9 – Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Worship will include both the procession of the palms and the procession of the cross. Continue reading “Holy Week 2017 – April 9-16”