First Presbyterian Church of Holland Michigan (PCUSA)

Youth Calendar

1/8 POP CAN SUNDAY!

Pop Can Sunday January 8th.

Start the New Year out right by cleaning out your garage and helping
the youth group. Write yourself a note to bring your pop cans and
returnable bottles to church on January 8th! The youth group will be
returning them to the store to raise funds for youth trips.

1/8 Sledding/ Capture the Flag:VanRaalte farm
12 PM—4 PM

Join in the WINTER TIME fun with sledding and outdoor games January
8th. Right after church, we will have a pizza lunch. Once we return
our the pop cans to Meijers, we will be heading to the expanses of Van
Raalte Farm to sled and play winter Capture-the-Flag! Bring along
your snow boots and come for an afternoon of snowballs, team-play and
fun! We will return to the church at 3 PM for hot chocolate!

1/21 PARENTS NIGHT OUT Fundraiser 3-9 PM

2/10– 2/11 Ski Trip (Leave 5 PM, Sleep in a Cadillac Church, Ski 2/11
Return 9:30 PM)

2/14 “Eat Your Heart Out!” FUNDRAISING DINNER 5-8:30 PM

2/18-2/19 Confirmation Class Retreat for 8th grade and up. (Maranatha
Retreat Center?)

2/26 12:30—4 PM Confirmation Class Lunch & Meeting

3/11 Animal Shelter Volunteering

3/18 9 AM—4 PM Confirmation Class Day
Retreat

3/26 Confirmation Sunday

Have you ever WONDERED WHY?

Have you ever wondered why people are Presbyterian? Do you think
that you just may like to join our denomination? Join our
confirmation class and get the answers to your spiritual and
theological questions! Retreats and pizza, friends and conversation abound.
Sign up on the youth board today! Confirmation class for 8th graders on up!

Native American Mission Trip—Sign up NOW for the experience of a lifetime!
REVISED DATES
We will now be leaving Holland, Michigan on 6/17, driving 7 hours and spending the night in a hotel in Wisconsin. We will arrive in Martin, SD on 6/18 after an 8.5 hour drive.
We currently have 7 slots reserved through Youth Works. If you would like to join us please sign up ASAP. A $50 deposit is required by 10/31 to hold your spot. Your additional $50 is due May 25th. (But COMPLETE Scholarships are available.) We will be raising the balance of the funds through service projects and mission funds from FPC. In Martin, we will be sleeping in schools on sleeping bags which we will bring. There will be showers available. We leave our Mission work at 9 AM on 6/23 and will go see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Mountain. We will spend the night of 6/23 in SD, and arrive in Wisconsin on 6/24. We return on 6/25.
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Advent Kneeling Places

Poet Ann Weems has a directness in her poetry which has a way of capturing me, and redirecting my thinking, my praying. Included is her volume Kneeling in Bethlehem in this poem:

In Search of Our Kneeling Places
In each heart lies a Bethlehem,
an inn where we must ultimately answer
whether there is room or not
When we are Bethlehem-bound
we experience our own advent in his.
When we are Bethlehem-bound
we can no longer look the other way
conveniently not seeing stars
not hearing angel voices.
We can no longer excuse ourselves by busily
tending our sheep or our kingdoms.
This Advent let’s go to Bethlehem
and see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.
In the midst of shopping sprees
let’s ponder in our hearts the Gift of Gifts.
Through the tinsel
let’s listen for the brush of angel’s wings.
This Advent, let’s go to Bethlehem
and find our kneeling places.

In the rush of this Christmas Season, I pray for you not only a successful Christmas shopping and partying, but an attentive, alert, Advent; one in which you will find yourself kneeling in awe of God who entered time and space and flesh, saying a holy “YES” to humanity.

A note about our “kneeling times” in Sunday worship:
At the encouragement of Worship Committee, I’ve been inviting you to write your celebrations and concerns on the Prayer Cards found in the pew racks prior to the beginning of the service so that ushers might collect them during the opening hymn and hand them to me to be included in the Prayers of the People. This written communication has been a tremendous help to me and my sometimes feeble brain. With names and situations in front of me, I am able to include names accurately in the Prayers of the People and I also have a record from which to follow up in succeeding days and weeks. The Prayer Cards are not intended to eliminate your spoken requests, but to provide another route to communicating with the congregation and with me. Please be patient with me as we work together for a smooth, sensitive, supportive way of being the community of God in this place!
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