News from Mount Zion
December 24, 2021

We are open for in-person worship, Sundays at 10 am. Read more 

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Christmas Services

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Christmas Eve. There will be one service at 4 pm. The service will be in-person for those who wish to attend. It will also be live streamed on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXECBJ1qAjDtjkimg2Q2GA/videos https://zoom.us/j/96599940521 

Christmas Morning. Join us on Zoom for a time to gather virtually and chat with each other on Zoom. https://zoom.us/j/96599940521 

Sunday, December 26. The service will be held in person and live-streamed as usual.

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Christmas Office Hours

Our Treasurer reminds us that for donations to be counted for tax purposes in 2021, they must be received in hand by December 31st.  In that regard, the office will be open on December 31st until 1:00 pm for any drop off contributions.  Members are reminded that there are various methods to make contributions including EFT’s through your bank to ours however please act by December 31st.  Please refer to the website for options.

Other than the Friday December 31, the office will be closed from

Dec 24 to January 3 when Margaret and Christine return from

holidays. Pastor Philip will return from his vacation the

following week.

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Celebrations

Congratulations to Jim and Sandra Millar. Sandra writes:

Jim and I are very thankful to be able to celebrate our 59th wedding anniversary on December 22nd. Our Wedding took place at Mount Zion with Pastor Norm officiating in 1962.  

Jim and Sandra Millar

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We are looking for Readers

If you enjoy reading stories, here is your opportunity to polish your reading “out loud” skills. Mount Zion’s worship team is looking for people who enjoy reading the stories of the bible and become a member of the worship team. Please scall Margaret in the church office if you would like to be on rotation of readers.

Bundles of Warmth

Mitten Tree has banner year with 333 items being donated.

Pastor Philip snapped this photo of the of the donations made this year’s Mount Zion’s Mitten Tree organized by Joan and Jacqueline Schweitzer. Joan and Jacqueline say thank you to all members and friends that made donations of mittens, gloves, hats, slippers and even coats, jackets, boots.     Their efforts and the efforts of those who either knit or purchased mitts, toques and scarves have kept people warm for about 10 years now.

Drum Roll please!!!  This year the grand total of items donated was 333.

This years supply of warmth will be distributed to those in need in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge area by the Anishnabeg Outreach Centre.

Poinsettias and Christmas Worship

Christmas worship will be made more special for those of you in the sanctuary and those watching from home with the addition of a beautiful grouping of poinsettias. We thank those of you who made it possible. Susan reminds you that you can pick up your plant following worship on Christmas Day.

Name                                                In Memory of:

Stephanie von Schilling                   Husband - Kurt

Mary & Ed Baumgart                       Grandparents

Margaret Waechter                         Family

Dianne Frombach                            Husband - Elmer

Joan & Jacquelyn Schweitzer         Grandparents/Parents/Sister

Mary Thompson                              Husband - Carl

Karen & Peter Kuhnert                    congregation

Marg & Rodger Tupling                  family & friends

Jake & Henriette Stumper              congregation

Richard & Susan Brubacher            loved ones

Gladys Roeder                                 Family

Gerry & Linda Roeder                     Family

Karen & Bill Gastmeier                    Family

Carol & Lloyd Ziegler                      Family

Ross & Jane Schlegel                      congregation

Richard & Gloria Heimbecker         Parents

John & Judy Penteker                     loved ones

In Our Prayers

Let us pray for Brian Zinken who had hip replacement surgery last week and George, Betty, Marjorie, Rosalie, James, Willie, and Don and Jean and their daughter Tai. Let us also continue to pray for the health concerns all around the globe and that the spread of the new variant be stopped at the earliest.

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A Christmas message from Bishop Michael Pryse

“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”  As a child, I was always mystified by this line from the carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem.  I understood something of the hope of Christmas. But what role could fear possibly play in the wondrous and beautiful story of the first Christmas? 

But in time, I learned. I learned something about the fear of a young mother about to bear her first child, under far from normal circumstances, alone in a cattle shed. I learned about the fear of a poor father unable to provide his family with proper shelter. The fear of simple shepherds startled by the unexpected appearance of heavenly emissaries. The fear of a jealous and vengeful king whose terrors would soon force the young family to flee to a distant land as refugees.

Hope and fear did, indeed, meet on that first Christmas night.  And they’ve been meeting there ever since! And for most of us, that will again be the case this year. But fear cannot get the final word for this Christmas any more than it did for the first! Despite our quite understandable anxieties and fears, it is not a message of fear, but rather one of hope, that we will again proclaim and celebrate this Christmas – and perhaps with a deeper integrity than might be the case under less challenging circumstances.

At Christmas we celebrate a God who loves creation so intensely that he chose to enter into the very heart of our creaturely existences, for good or for ill – not just one day of the year – but for all three hundred and sixty-five!

Fear not, dear friends. The light of Christ’s presence still shines bright. It is the light of divine hope, a light that casts out fear and scatters the darkness.

Fear not! Christ the Saviour is born! 

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Practical help and advice from Nurse Christine

In Pastor Philip’s email of last week he included a message from Nurse Christine. Her practical advice bears repeating. She reminds us

• To continue to adhere to public health’s COVID guidelines

• She has procured a supply of KN95 masks for the congregation and there is more on the way.

• Please contact her for help in booking an appointment for your booster dose. More appointments are being made available.

• She is also available if you need help ordering and having groceries delivered.

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Upcoming Lessons

Fri. Dec. 24 — Nativity of Our Lord I, Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9:2-7

Psalm 96 (11)

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]

Sat. Dec. 25 — Nativity of Our Lord II, Christmas Day

Isaiah 62:6-12

Psalm 97 (11)

Titus 3:4-7

Luke 2:[1-7] 8-20

Sun. Dec. 26 — First Sunday of Christmas

Samuel 2:18-20, 26

Psalm 148 (13)

Colossians 3:12-17

Luke 2:41-52

Sun. Jan. 2 — Second Sunday of Christmas 

Jeremiah 31:7:14
Sirach 24:1-12 {alternate}

Psalm 144:12-20 (12)

Wisdom 10:15-21 (20) {alternate}

Ephesians 1:3-14

John 1:[1-9] 10-18

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Christmas Breaks for Mount Zion Café and Food Ministry

The Mount Zion Café and the new Food Ministry is taking a Christmas break. We are planning to hold the first Mount Zion Cafes of the New Year in January on Wednesday the12th and January 26th.  Please join us!

The Food Ministry will take up their pots and pans again on Thursday January 13.

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