The Pastor’s Blog
January 02, 2019 Update
The Stewards will meet Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 6 p.m. On the agenda will be approving a budget proposal and setting some dates for the kitchen work.
FWMF Ladies, our next meeting will be Thursday, January 17, 10:30 a.m. at MFC with a buffet lunch following the meeting. All ladies are welcome.
Mark Your Calendars! Sunday, January 20, 2019 for our All Church Potluck Please join us for a time of fellowship and good food! We’ll meet in the fellowship hall at noon. Please bring a main dish & salad, vegetable or dessert to share.
The Home Study that meets at Marilyn Johnston’s will meet Monday, January 7th and 12th, then take a break until after April 15th, 2019 tax season.
Join Pastor Jesse for lunch! January 27th @ 12:30 at the Parsonage Pastor Jesse will be hosting a lunch. There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer if you are interested in joining him this month.
It’ time to update our birthday file and directory information. If you are new to MFC within the last year we would like to have the birth dates of those in your family. Please list the month & day on the back of your Information Sheet. (Adults are not required to list the year, however it is helpful for children!)
It’s also time to update our MFC directory…if you have moved or have new phone numbers or a new email address please fill out the top of the Information Sheet and place it in the box on the table in the foyer. Thank you.
Read more...
NEW AGAIN!
As we step into the New Year I am excited and nervous. The Lord is doing good things and changing life up in some beautiful and painful ways for us here at Medford Friends Church. We have an opportunity to step into some new relationships and find ourselves connecting in new ways with God through them. I look forward to the ways in which we seek these things together and how God will continue to show His love and favor to us as we step into these new things. But the saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” So even as we step into these new things we continue to be faithful to God and seek to worship Him day by day, to point to Jesus in all that we do. Even when the world changes and things seem like they won’t ever be the same for us that truth remains: God loves us and is shaping our lives to reflect that love to the world!
Read more...
Expectation
This is Advent season. This means that we participate in the expectation of Christ’s return and the remembrance of His incarnation. We celebrate this season as a time of looking forward and looking back. It is a season of hope and joy, of peace and celebration. We are called to an expectant waiting on the Lord to reveal Himself to us again. A hope in the future that Christ has offered to us and is offering to us each day, a new life in the Kingdom of God. This is not the anticipation of a trip somewhere else but the expectant waiting for our King to return and reclaim what is rightfully His. As we step into Advent we are stepping into this expectant hope and the celebration of what Christ’s incarnation and His return mean for us.
Read more...
Ladies Annual Ornament Exchange will kick off the Christmas Season on Friday, December 7th at 6:30 p.m. Invite a friend and join us for a celebration of Christ’s Birth! Share in the joy & laughter as we fellowship together, interact with the story of the First Christmas and exchange ornaments. Everyone bring a wrapped ornament and finger food for sharing!
Some of us are gathering on Thursday night the 6th at 7 p.m. to decorate the church. The help of all ladies will be welcomed.
Brett and Cindi Garrett have announced they are stepping down after leading worship at Medford Friends Church for 25 years. They will be leaving MFC at the end of the year. There will be a celebration of all God has done over these past 25 years on December 9, at 11:00, following the worship service, no Sunday School that day.
We look forward to our Preschool and Koinonia Kids sharing Christmas songs during the 9:30 a.m. service on Sunday, December 23rd.
Our traditional “Come As You Are Family Celebration” will take place Sunday, December 23rd, at 6:30 p.m. Please join us in the sanctuary, followed with a time of fellowship. Please bring finger food to share.
There will not be a Christmas Eve service on the 24th.
Operation Christmas Child – Shoebox Gifts
We are so excited! A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped pack shoe boxes, and huge thank to everyone for their donations of filled boxes, and things to fill boxes for Operation Christmas Child – 118 boxes were taken to the drop off center and shipping costs were met!
You’re invited To a Christmas Open House
At the Hamilton House December 15th, 2-4 p.m.
Call the church office for details.
The Evangelical Friends Mission’s 2018 Christmas Catalog, located on the usher’s table in the foyer provides a way to share our God-given resources with our neighbors during Christmas. As you prepare for Christmas, please consider this catalog as an opportunity to do gift-giving differently.
White Elephant Gift Exchange Monday, December 31st
Join us at 6:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall for a fun time! Bring finger foods to share and a wrapped white elephant gift for the exchange game!
If you’d like to stay later that evening, bring your favorite board game and extra finger foods!
Prayer Chain Sign-up – Be a part of this Ministry!
We are putting together a new Prayer Chain list, if you would like to partner in prayer with others here at MFC, there is a sign-up sheet in the foyer. Please designate phone or email contact.
Read more...