Jackson Community Church

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Advent 2

Events with JCC and Around Town: NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 4

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Advent & Christmas, CalendarTagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Events with JCC and around town: Decorate the church, train rides, winter tree ID, sleigh rides, jazz, Nutcracker Sweets, music around town, Advent 2: Peace worship,  and more!

TUE, Nov 29

  • FITNESS CLASS  with Laurie McAleer
    9:30am • Jackson Community Church
    • Free to all participants.
    • Gentle, chair-based stretch and fitness for all levels of ability
  • DECORATE CHURCH
    10:45am • JCC
    • Voilunteers help finalize decoration of sanctuary
  • Community Event: TICKETS for NUTCRACKER SWEETS on sale Call 207.935.4020
    • Dec 3rd (Sat) @ 5pm and Dec 4th (Sun) @ 2pm: Act One Dance Company presents Nutcracker Sweets.
    • Performed at Leura Hill Eastman PAC at the Fryeburg Academy
    • Members of our church community performing in this show.
    • Tickets will be on sale at the studio (Tina Titzer’s School of Dance) and also at Spice and Grain.
    • Note: Attending the December dance performance is an optional event to complement the church’s 3-week Advent book study of Matt Rawle’s The Gifts of the Nutcracker. JCC friends and members will attend the Saturday performance; participants must order their own tickets at phone number above. 
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Events: HOOT NIGHT
    • Wildcat Tavern: Jonathan Sarty hosts • 6-8:30pm

WED, Nov 30

THURS, Dec 1

  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Service: WAY STATION 
    2-5 • Food collection & distribution
    10-6 • Open shift for drop-ins and apts.
    • Staff and volunteers of JCC participate. Operating in church basement this week: Nativity Lutheran.
  • Community Event: JOURNEY to the NORTH POLE (Believe in Books / Theater in the Woods / Conway Scenic RR)
    • Early – 4:15pm (Boarding begins at 3:45pm) & Late – 7:15pm (Boarding begins at 6:45pm)
    • Info & tickets: Journey to the North Pole including online tickets, dates, departure times and more.
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Jeremy Dean • 6-8pm
    • Red Parka Pub: Closed for vacation
    • Wildcat Tavern: Al Hospers

FRI, Dec 2

  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION
    5pm • Zoom link required
    • Or dial by your location: 929 436 2866, Meeting ID: 830 2844 2916
    • Join us for cocktails and discussion of this week’s scripture with art
  • Community Event: JOURNEY to the NORTH POLE (Believe in Books / Theater in the Woods / Conway Scenic RR)
    • Early – 4:15pm (Boarding begins at 3:45pm) & Late – 7:15pm (Boarding begins at 6:45pm)
    • Info & tickets: Journey to the North Pole including online tickets, dates, departure times and more.
  • Community Event: SLEIGH RIDES @ Nestlenook Farm
    Nestlenook Farm, 66 Dinsmore Road, Jackson, NH
  • Community Event: FIRST FRIDAY – Dark Train Express
    Noon • Majestic Cafe, Conway
    • Dark Train Express quartet (Chad Cummings, Eben Eastman, Gideon Richard and Joseph Della Valla) will play a spirited hour of Cummings’ pop/rock/jazz fusion originals. Admission is by donation, with open seating in the spacious and well-ventilated Majestic Theatre on Main Street in Conway. Pre-concert donations may be made here. Walk-ins are also welcome.
    • Tickets: https://mountaintop.ludus.com/index.php
  • Community Event: MAJESTIC CAFE CONCERT – The Dan Moore Trio
    6:30 pm • Majestic Cafe, Conway, NH
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Al Shafner • 6-9pm
    • Shannon Door: Marty Quirk • 6-9pm
    • Red Parka Pub: The Echo Tones • 8-11pm
    • Shovel Handle Pub; Mountain Music Series – Special Appearance By Annie Sumi from Ontario •  5:30-8:30pm

SAT, Dec 3

  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Event: WINTER TREE ID
    10am • Nansen Wayside Park, Milan, NH
    • 2-hour field program on how to identify trees in winter, both deciduous and conifer. Naturalist Dave Govatski will take participants through the unique characteristics and identifiers of the region’s trees, including twig characteristics, branch arrangement, and bark, this program is appropriate for all levels. We hope you join us! Dress for the weather and bring water & a snack.
    • Space is limited and registration is required. Call 603-447-6991 or click here to register.
  • Community Event: TMCC Nature Learning Center Tour 1pm • Tin Mtn Conservation Ctr, Albany
    • Tin Mountain Conservation Center’s Nature Leaning Center is an exquisitely designed, built and operated “net zero” facility that utilizes both solar-electric and solar-thermal technologies. Our tour includes the many features created by locally sourced materials, the building’s energy systems, extensive natural history library, animal mount display and countless natural treasures. For those who are interested in walking the new accessible trail, bring weather-appropriate clothing and footwear traction for a guided tour of the 1.2 mile “lollipop loop”. The TMCC Nature Learning Center tour offers an informative, fun and beautiful weekend activity.
  • Community Event: NUTCRACKER SWEETS Dec 3rd (Sat) @ 5pm and Dec 4th (Sun) @ 2pm • Leura Hill Eastman PAC at the Fryeburg Academy
    • Call 207.935.4020 fot tickets
    • Members of our church community performing in this show.
    • Tickets will be on sale at the studio (Tina Titzer’s School of Dance) and also at Spice and Grain.
    • Note: Attending the December dance performance is an optional event to complement the church’s 3-week Advent book study of Matt Rawle’s The Gifts of the Nutcracker. JCC friends and members will attend the Saturday performance; participants must order their own tickets at phone number above. 
  • Community Event: JAZZ for the HOLIDAYS – Home Concert in Silver Lake
    2:3pm (sold out) & 7:30pm ª Silver Lake Private Residence
  • Community Event: SLEIGH RIDES @ Nestlenook Farm
  • Community Event: SANTA’s HOLIDAY EXPRESS
    Conway Scenic Railroad
    • Book your tickets online ahead of time
    • Admission rates vary. Visit the Conway Scenic Railroad website for booking details and additional Santa’s Holiday Express info.
  • Community Event: JOURNEY to the NORTH POLE (Believe in Books / Theater in the Woods / Conway Scenic RR)
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Sheehan & Holden • 7-10pm
    • Red Parka Pub: The Big Picture • 8-11pm
    • Wildcat Tavern: Jonathan Sarty • 6-8:30pm

SUN, DEC 4 – ADVENT 2

  • INTERFAITH GATHERING
    8am • Old red library or Zoom link required
    • Join us for poetry, conversation, and prayer.
  • WORSHIP with ADVENT 2: Peace
    10:30am • JCC in-person or Zoom link required
    • Advent candle-lighting
    • Message: Rev Gail Doktor
    • Music Sharon Novak
  • Community Event: NUTCRACKER SWEETS Dec 3rd (Sat) @ 5pm and Dec 4th (Sun) @ 2pm • Leura Hill Eastman PAC at the Fryeburg Academy
    • Call 207.935.4020 fot tickets
    • Members of our church community performing in this show.
    • Tickets will be on sale at the studio (Tina Titzer’s School of Dance) and also at Spice and Grain.
    • Note: Attending the December dance performance is an optional event to complement the church’s 3-week Advent book study of Matt Rawle’s The Gifts of the Nutcracker. JCC friends and members will attend the Saturday performance; participants must order their own tickets at phone number above. 
  • Community Event: SLEIGH RIDES @ Nestlenook Farm
    Nestlenook Farm, 66 Dinsmore Road, Jackson, NH
  • Community Event: SANTA’s HOLIDAY EXPRESS
    Conway Scenic Railroad
    • Book your tickets online ahead of time
    • Admission rates vary. Visit the Conway Scenic Railroad website for booking details and additional Santa’s Holiday Express info.
  • Community Event: JOURNEY to the NORTH POLE (Believe in Books / Theater in the Woods / Conway Scenic RR)
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Mike & Becca • 6-9pm
    • Red Parka Pub: Blue Sunday with Erin Harpe • 5-8pm

Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of PEACE – Starts DAY 8 – Sun, Dec 5

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Advent & Christmas, Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , , , , ,

The Peace of Wild Things — Wendell Barry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


___________________________________

WEEK of PEACE: DAY 8
Sun, Dec 5

Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace —
in peace because they trust in you. — Isaiah 26:3

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them
light has shined.— Isaiah 9:2

______________________________________

How do you cultivate peace through this practice of reading, reflecting, and lighting candles?

            Perhaps the first truth is that by setting aside time to dive into any spiritual practice, you make a commitment to yourself and your loved ones. You honor yourself and others by setting apart time, space, and attention to be present to the inner, spiritual part of your life. You cultivate this aspect of wellbeing. You give it space and priority.

            When you ignite the first and second candles, you focus on wellbeing in relationship to self and others. This simple act is one step in being present. Let the light of peace warm you.   — Rev Gail

______________________________________

No person, no place, and no thing has any power over us,
for ‘we’ are the only thinkers in our mind.
When we create peace and harmony and balance
in our minds, we will find it in our lives.
— Louise Hay

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
— Kahlil Gibran

Advent Daily Devotional: Day 12

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Advent & Christmas, Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thurs, Dec 10 – DAY 12

Communal peace requires a different form of attention and advocacy. By our choices, with our voices, through our actions, we foster local peace. While some people may be in positions to affect national and global peace through high-level policy and practices, many of us shape peace through regional and neighborhood-based activism and engagement.
— Rev Gail

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. — Matthew 5:9

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” — John 20:21

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. — John F. Kennedy

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
— Desmond Tutu

Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that
we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all
that they are. —Hafsat Abiola

Advent Daily Devotional Day 10

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Advent & Christmas, Weekly MeditationsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tue, Dec 8 – DAY 10

Peace within relationships may include committing to renewed availability to people in your life. Especially in these days, it’s easy to be too busy. To be distracted. To put deadlines and schedules and errands first, rather than focusing on the significant people who are essential to your wellbeing within emotionally intimate connections.

            Or perhaps you’re with some folks constantly, care-giving or quarantined or working and schooling at home. Maybe you’re together in ways that make it challenging to step back and appreciate these special people in your life.

            Make dates when the phone and computer and other screens and monitors aren’t drawing away your attention. Choose settings and activities that draw those with whom you’re spending time into more conversational, companionable roles.

            Listen. Listen actively. Make eye contact. Repeat the phrases and themes you hear from the one with whom you’ve set aside time. Give your whole attention to the experience. Mirror body language.

            Relax. Laugh. Have fun. Do a puzzle. Play a game. Cook together. Walk. Sip hot beverages. Share poetry aloud with each other. Discuss a book or article you’ve read. Play with a pet. Learn something new together: take an online class or try a recipe. Spend time in ways that are meaningful and rejuvenating for each of you. Such sharing may happen in person or across remote connections. Peace is a process, even in relationships. — Rev Gail

Peace be within your walls. — Psalm 122:7

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. — Psalm 85:10

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
— attributed to Lao-Tse

Sometimes you need to know that you have good people at your back when things go awry in your life.  Good relationships can bring peace of mind, not to mention longer life, companionship, health, happiness, and a host of other benefits.  At bottom, we are social creatures who need each other. — Meg Selig

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