Worship Update 12/5

From Jay

Advent what?
I just got back from my daughter’s surgery to remove her “nevus” from her forehead (weird word for a type of mole). She was at a very high cancer risk with it remaining, so we made the choice to remove the risk. The people at St. Vincent were AMAZING! Ava is extremely moody right now to say the least, but everything went great.

I have been on vacation this week, and its amazing how disconnected I feel just in one week. I was thinking this morning that if I feel disconnected from the ministry at Sunset, and I am the leader, chances are you might feel that way most days. Here is a reminder of something we are doing right now at Sunset.
You may or may not have heard about the advent conspiracy. Tyler has written some great posts about it on his blog. If you are out of the loop, click here or go to our ministry blog and check out the video.

I want to share one practical idea that Macy and I are doing this year instead of the normal gift we would give to Allison (like perfume or whatever). Of course this probably only works if you have younger children at home. About a month ago we began to write a story for Allison. The title, the chapters, and most of the content were supplied by Macy. Each page of this ten chapter book has half a page of writing and the other half is an illustration of the chapter decorated with beads, glitter, plenty of stick figures and a lot of imagination. It has been SO fun to sneak downstairs with Macy day after day to work on our top secret project. (Don’t tell Allison!)

I know for a fact my wife will probably cry when she reads through the story on Christmas, and will treasure it forever, it cost us probably about $2 in supplies, and provided a ton of bonding time for Macy and me. It will also be a great opportunity to talk with her about where the money we would have normally spent is going.

Now the question is what will my gift be? I hope somehow they can make me a plasma TV out of stuff lying around the house! Just kidding… sorta. J

Happy scheming! I think it would be fun to hear stories of things your family does and post them on our worship blog throughout December. If you would like to submit yours, please email them to me at jaymckenney@sunsetpres.org.

God bless,
Jay

Update On The New Sunday Evening Gathering

An excerpt from last week’s Production/Tech update from Janet Fraser:
“I'm also excited to see how the 5pm service is shaping up. A group of about 15 people gathered on Tuesday night to talk about what the service will be and for a girl who feels most at home in a small church (believe it or not) I think it's cool that we're going to provide this opportunity at Sunset.
The service will be in the gym beginning Jan 11th at 5pm. The general feel is unstructured, simple, with more opportunity for interaction with the teaching pastor and one another. They are also currently working on how to include dinner together routinely following the service in order to encourage community developing and more discussion about the teaching, etc. The teaching staff/schedule will follow the morning services and Laura VanderGiessen has volunteered to be the worship leader for the first six months…”

Opportunities to Serve*

Ushers for Christmas Eve Services
If you are available to serve as an usher at any of our Christmas Eve services (Wed, 12/24 at 3, 5, 7 and 10pm), please email Gene Barrett at baarrett@aol.com and let him know which service(s) you are available to serve.

Food & Toy Drive
There are still plenty of ways to serve in the Food and Toy Drive!
For information about volunteering click here and you’ll find options in the lower left corner of the web page for ways you can serve.

Would you consider serving at the new Sunday evening gathering?
5pm service begins January 11th
We are looking to staff four, 3 “man” teams who would serve regularly, (once a month 3 - 7:30p for the first 6 months) as the production crew for the new gathering. Each team will consist of a sound/tech director, media/lighting operator and a producer/stage manager. Training is provided! So grab a friend or two and shoot Janet an email asap for more details – janetfraser@sunsetpres.org.

Upcoming Events*

God Has Come – Choir and Orchestra Christmas Concert!
Sunday, December 14th at 6pm
In the rush of the holiday season take an evening off and enjoy a Christmas concert celebrating that God Has Come, put on by Sunset’s Choir and Orchestra. ASL interpretation will be provided.

*For additional opportunties to serve and upcoming events, see the column on the right hand side of this blog.