We will celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent this Sunday, December 17, starting with a combined worship service at 10:00 a.m. The 2nd Ave Kids pageant, new members, traditional and contemporary music will be featured during this service. From 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., there will be coffee, cookies, and punch. The church Christmas card will be displayed at 9:55 a.m., just prior to the start of the service.

The children’s pageant will not be streamed or recorded; however, the livestream will begin at the conclusion of the pageant.

The Christmas Offering envelopes are now available in the sanctuary. The Christmas donations placed in the envelopes will be used to fund the March 2024 Rise Against Hunger event.

Don’t forget to look for Christmas cards for yourself and your family on the card table!

If you ordered a poinsettia but are unable to attend church on Sunday, December 24, you can pick up your poinsettia the following Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The 3 Heath Brothers will perform a Christmas concert on Wednesday, December 20 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are still available, but must be purchased in advance via their website. https://www.3heathbrothers.com

The church office will be closed for a short time on Wednesday in the mid-morning (We will post when we will be closed and when we will reopen on Facebook). If you need to visit the church on Wednesday, please contact the church office to make prior arrangements.

The January newsletter has been mailed. Paper copies are available at the round table in the sanctuary, and email copies will be delivered next week.

The ROCK will hold their Christmas celebration this Wednesday evening. Thank to you everyone who donated so each child gets a present from the ROCK! They will be off for Christmas break until January 10^th after this week. 

Saturday is the final Soup & Sandwich Luncheon of 2023! Thank you to everyone who volunteered and made soup this year and came out to serve. All are welcome to this free lunch from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Sunday will be the 2nd Ave Kids Christmas Pageant; the service begins at 10:00 a.m. and we will premier the church video Christmas card around 9:55 a.m. Don’t be late! We will hold coffee hour from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (church doors will open at 9:00 a.m.).  A reminder that kids in the pageant need to arrive at 9:15 a.m. to prepare!

As we near the end of the year, we wanted to remind you of the service times through the end of 2023.

This Sunday will be the last day of the year when we will hold both the 8:15 and 10:45 a.m. services.

We will have one service at 10 a.m. on Sunday, December 17th, which will include our 2nd Ave Kids Christmas Pageant.

We will have one morning service at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 24, followed by our 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Christmas Eve services. The organ, etc., will be present at the 4:30 PM service, and the Praise Band will be present at the 7:00 p.m. session; both PM services will include candle-lighting.

We will have one service on Sunday, December 31 at 9:30 a.m.

There will be no Sunday School or Jr. Church from December 17 to December 31, and the nursery will only be open as a cry room.

On Sunday, January 7th, the worship services will resume to their regular times.

If you have any questions, please contact the church office.

Please be advised that the office will be closed from December 22 to January 1.

We will continue our series “Light Shines in the Darkness” with this week’s message That Life Was the Light. The sermon’s Bible verse is John 1:1-5.

This will be the last Sunday we have services at both 8:15 & 10:45 AM until January.
(There will not be Sunday school or a staffed nursery December 17, December 24 or December 31)

Reminder: Kids in the pageant are to be here at 9:30 AM this Sunday for dress rehearsal in the sanctuary! 

Sunday is the final day to sign up for the church Christmas card! The video card will be shown at approx. 9:55 AM next Sunday December 17 before the pageant and be emailed out the following day.

Monday is our music recital here at the church. All are welcome to come get into the Christmas spirit with pianists, trumpets, vocalists and a sing a long! We will have cookies and punch as well. (The church office is closing at 1:00 PM as we prepare for this event). The music will begin at 5:30 PM. 

Tuesday, December 19 is our Christmas Blessing shop for those who signed up for help. Thanks to all your donations we are going to be able to help quite a few families this year! Volunteers are needed and asked to arrive around 9:00 AM for set up. 

Poinsettias will be delivered on December 21. If you know you will not be here December 24 and would like to pick yours up on December 21,  please call the church office to make arrangements.

Church office hours are Monday – Thursday 8:00 AM – 2 PM; we will be closed December 22 through January 1.

Thank you to everyone for your donations to the ROCK Christmas gifts! They made well over their goal and cannot wait to surprise the  kids on the 13^th!

Next Monday is our first Christmas Recital here at 2nd Ave! We are blessed to have two music teachers on staff and they will have some of their students perform some music as well as have a small singalong to get you in the Christmas spirit! The show begins at 5:30 pm and there will be refreshments following. If you’d like to provide cookies, please let me know this week.

Sunday, December 10 is the final day to sign up to participate in the church Christmas card. The video card will be shown before the service on December 17 around 9:55 am (service begins at 10:00 am). We will also have paper copies available for anyone who would like to have one.

Beginning Sunday, if you’d like to bring in Christmas cards for your 2nd Ave friends and family (please note, this is only for people who come here to church, we are not able to mail them), please place them in the box in the Gathering Place. We will then alphabetize them and have them available through the 31^st for folks to pick up.

Save the date!

December 16 – Monthly Luncheon 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

December 17 – 10:00 am Service & Christmas Pageant

December 19 – Christmas Giveaway for folks who have received a call. If you’d like to help out this day, please contact Pastor Brian

December 20 – 3 Heath Brothers concert 7:00 pm

Please contact the church office for more information on any of the above announcements. We are generally in the office Monday – Thursday 8:00 am – 2:00 pm. The office will be closed December 22 until January 2 for Christmas break.

We hope you can join us Sunday as we begin our Advent sermon series “Light Shines in the Darkness” with this week’s message “Joy Increases.” We will also celebrate Holy Communion at both 8:15 & 10:45 am. We will collect a special offering this Sunday for our Christmas Blessing Store, envelopes are available at the entryway for this offering. 

Sunday is the final day to order 2nd Ave GMC t-shirts as well as poinsettias for Christmas Eve, Order forms for both are on the round table

If you haven’t signed up to participate in the church Christmas card yet and would like to, please sign up by next Sunday, December 10. The video card will be shown prior to the pageant on December 17 and paper copies available here as well

Monday, December 11 we will host a Christmas music recital featuring music students from the music teachers we are blessed to have here at 2nd Ave! All are welcome at 5:30 pm! Free admission, refreshments will be served

Wednesday, December 20 at 7:00 pm, We will be blessed to have the 3 Heath Brothers back here at 2nd Ave. They will bring their Christmas Concert here to help you kick off your Christmas! Tickets must be purchased ahead of time via their website. If you need help with this, please let Jill know.

Please keep in mind, church office hours are Monday – Thursday 8:00 AM – 2:00 pm. Jill is also here on Sundays from about 7:30 am until noon for any of your in person office needs. We are generally closed if the AASD is closed for a holiday or due to weather.

Important Service Reminders!

Next Sunday, December 10 we will have regular service times 8:15/10:45.

Sunday, December 17 one service at 10:00 am for the 2nd Ave Kids pageant (no Sunday school or staffed nursery)

Sunday, December 24 one AM service at 9:30 am (no Sunday school or staffed nursery), 4:30 pm traditional (organ), 7:00 pm contemporary (praise band) There will be candle lighting at both PM services

Sunday, December 31 one service at 9:30 am (no Sunday school or staffed nursery)

The church office will close at 2 PM on Thursday, December 21 and be closed until Tuesday, January 2. We will check messages a few times throughout this closure and return them as needed if urgent. All other messages will be returned in the new year. 

Please know, none of the staff here at 2nd Ave or Pastor Brian, would ever be reaching out to you to purchase gift cards and giving them numbers, give banking information or anything financial being emailed back and forth. (This is also a good rule of thumb for anyone you know sending you an email asking you to do any of those things) Please don’t respond to the email. You can call the church office and let us know, and we suggest you block the sender as well. Scammers are getting very good at making it look like these emails are coming from someone you know. 

**Our online giving is a safe and secure website and has nothing to do with this** 

Anything we would ever ask of you for donating to a cause, etc., would be done with instruction on how to donate here at the church, never giving anything financial via email.

If you have any questions, please contact the church office.

Women’s Bible Study is back this week on Thursday at 6:30 pm in the Narnia Room (inside the elevator entrance).

Sunday is the last day for the 2nd Ave GMC t-shirt orders. We currently do not have enough orders to get shirts made, so if you would like to order, please do so between now and Sunday. We will refund to those who have placed orders if we cannot get them made. If you need an order form, let us know.

Sunday is also the very last day to order poinsettias for Christmas Eve pickup. The flowers are used to decorate the front of the church for the Christmas Eve services.

The 3 Heath Brothers are holding a Christmas concert here at 2nd Ave on Wednesday, December 20. The concert will begin at 7:00 pm, doors open at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available on their website. https://3heathbrothers.com

The Church Christmas card sign ups are going strong! If you’d like to send your Christmas greeting to your 2nd Ave family and friends in a video card (also available in print version for those without internet), sign up by December 10 on the round table!

Service Reminder Times:

December 3 – 8:15 & 10:45 am

December 10 – 8:15 & 10:45 am

December 17 – 10:00 am Pageant day

December 24 – 9:30 am, 4:30 pm, 7:00 pm

December 31 – 9:30 am

We had a wonderful combined service yesterday and a great time of fellowship afterwards. The service is available now to watch on YouTube, and the sermon will be on Spotify later this morning.

If you missed the church wide meeting and would like a copy of the reports presented, please let Jill know and she can email that out to you. 

Thanksgiving Meals will be packed up tomorrow (Tuesday, November 21), thanks to everyone who donated towards that. If you’d like to help pack the meals, please be here at 9:30 am.

There is no ROCK this week; they will be back on Wednesday, November 29.

There are a few weeks left to order your Christmas poinsettia and sign up for the church Christmas card! Please let Jill know if you need an order form emailed to you or the card sign up emailed to you.

2nd Ave GMC t-shirt orders are being taken now! They are due with payment by December 3. There are several options available. Contact Ashley with any questions.

Food Pantry will be held this Friday. If you are able to help, please arrive around 9:45 to the Narnia Room.

OFFICE HOURS: This week we are open Monday – Wednesday 8:00 am – 2:00 pm, we will be closed Thursday and remain closed until Tuesday, November 28.

Join us Sunday, one combined service at 10:00 am, for our message “The Greatest Teacher: Do You Want To Be Made Well?” John 5:1-5

There will not be Sunday school. The nursery will be staffed and there will be pageant practice as well.

We also invite and encourage you to stay and attend the luncheon and the all church meeting immediately following the service.

Today is our monthly luncheon from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm, the Hope Chest will also be open.

Advent devotionals are available in the sanctuary on the round table.

Poinsettia orders are being taken now and are due no later than Sunday, December 3. Flowers will be available for you to take on Christmas Eve.

Church Christmas Card sign ups are going on now! Visit the round table to send your greetings to your 2nd Ave family and friends.

2nd Ave GMC T-shirt order forms are available beginning on Sunday! Forms will also go out with the newsletter next week. There are t-shirts, long sleeve t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts available.  Contact Ashley with any questions.

The office will be open Monday – Wednesday next week and then be closed until Tuesday, November 28. Messages after Wednesday will be returned the 28.