BLUE CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS EVE & CHRISTMAS MORNING with Jackson Community Church
THURS, Dec 22 – BLUE CHRISTMAS @ Jackson Community Church
- 6pm • In-person only
- Worship service
- Gathering to observe a time of solemnity, sorrow, and hope in the midst of the holiday season
CHRISTMAS EVE, SAT, Dec 24 @ Jackson Community Church
- 5pm • OUTDOOR SERVICE with CAROLS, LESSONS & CANDLELIGHT
- Hot cocoa
- Caroling as we walk the journey of the holy family
- Scripture
- Candlelight & prayer
- Dress warmly!
- 7:30pm • CANDLELIGHT SERVICE
- In-person & zoom (link & password available by emailing church by noon on Sat, Dec 24: jcchurch@jacksoncommunitychurch.org)
- Traditional indoor service with carols, scripture, candelight
- Harp with Dominique Dodge
- Solo by Becca Gottlieb
- Piano by Maisie Brown and Sharon Novak
- Candellight
- Carols
- Live music
- Zoom
- 10pm • CANDLELIGHT SERVICE
- In-person and zoom (link & password available by emailing church by noon on Sat, Dec 24: jcchurch@jacksoncommunitychurch.org)
- Tradiotional indoor service with carols, scripture, candelight
- Debut of Christmas song written and performed by Sharon Novak
- Candellight
- Carols
- Piano with Sharon Novak
CHRISTMAS SUNDAY, Dec 25 @ Jackson Community Church
- 10:30am • STORIES & BELLS
- In-person and zoom (link & password available by emailing church by noon on Sat, Dec 24: jcchurch@jacksoncommunitychurch.org)
- Piano: Sue Titus-Reid
- Interactive Message: Gail Doktor
- Text: Children’s Story
- Come in your pajamas or favorite casual attire
- Bring a sleigh bell or jingle bell if you have one, but we have plenty to share
- Prepare to sing and ring jingle bells
Advent Daily Devotional: BIRTHDAY of CHRIST: Day 28-Sat, Dec 25-Christmas Day
… It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them. — Isaiah 63:9
Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. — James 1:17
The Lord is God, and he has given us light. — Psalm 118:27
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Light the final, fifth candle. Doing so, welcome Emmanuel—God with Us— into the world and into your life.
Godself is the holy source of love and light. Yet each person bears that light on behalf of the One who lived among humans, died as a human, and returned beyond death itself to meet you where you are on your own journey. Across centuries, your spiritual ancestors have taught that your hands and feet, your heart and mind, your acts and words embody and reflect the life of Christ.
In this imperfect, impermanent way, you carry holy light within you. Perhaps, by itself, your light is small in scale. Yet it changes the darkness and creates a point of focus and transformation. Then your singular light connects with others, multiplying its energy and effect.
The final candle you light on Christmas Day is an echo of the first and eternal light from which all other lights take their meaning and power. Thus God’s gift of love, reborn into the world, renewed in your heart, reawakened in your community, changes the world one light and one life at a time: beginning with you. Let it burn! — Rev Gail
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Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re worthy.
Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love.
Agape doesn’t love somebody because they’re beautiful.
Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.
— Rob Bell
… the light is all. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Christmas Eve 10pm Reflection
JCC 122418 – 1000PM from architect on Vimeo.
This Week: Mar 25-Apr 1 — Holy Week Events & Other Activities
SUN, MAR 25: Palm Sunday
- INTERFAITH GATHERING
8am • Madeline’s Deli, Jackson, NH
Reflection & prayer using literature, sacred texts, personal sharing. - ADULT CHOIR PRACTICE
9am • Jackson Community Church - PALM PROCESSION
9:45am • Jackson Community Church - WORSHIP: Palm Sunday
10:30am • Jackson Community Church - Community Event: Bliss Yoga
3pm • Be Well Studios New Hampshire, 3358 White Mountain Hwy Unit 3, North Conway, NH
Yoga with Anjali Rose, $20/pp
MON, MAR 26
- REIKI WORKSHOP (closed class, April class has openings: contact Rev Gail if interested)
6pm • Classroom/Betty Whitney Library, Second Floor of JCC
TUE, MAR 27
- Community Event:
HOMELESSNESS COALITION in Tamworth, NH
10am-Noon • TriCounty Cap, Sununu Room, Tamworth, NH
Overview of issues and initiatives to address homelessness and housing needs in Carroll County/Mt Washington Valley. Rev Gail will attend this meeting along with other valley clergy, and representatives of local agencies and nonprofits, focusing on this issue. Interested individuals are welcome to attend to learn more.
WED, MAR 28
- PASTOR’s DROP-IN
7-9am • JTown Deli.
Come for caffeine, cuisine, and conversation. - TUNE UP (Fitness) with LAURIE McALEER
9am • Parish Hall, Jackson Community Church.
Free. Join members of the women’s group and fitness trainer Laurie McAleer for a gentle, introductory fitness class for beginners. Wear comfortably clothing, sensible shoes, and bring a bottle of water. Bring a ski pole. Men and women both welcome to come try this class. Laurie will lead a fitness class that can be customized to each person’s abilities, and help improve overall wellbeing, as well as focusing on body areas that may need additional support and care. - WOMEN’S GROUP
10am-Noon • Parish Hall
Come for social time, refreshments, and to prepare eggs for Easter Egg hunt on April 1
THURS, MAR 29
- INTRODUCTORY YOGA with Anjali Rose
9am • Parish Hall, Jackson Community Church
Men and women invited to join instructor Anjali Rose for a gentle, introductory yoga class. Wear stretchy fitness clothing, bring a matt and a cushion/blanket if you have them. $10/class for 6 weeks; payable at beginning of session. Scholarships available. This session runs through April 19. - YOGA & MEDITATION with Charlotte Doucette
3:30pm • Parish Hall. $10/pp fee. (Scholarships available) - MAUNDY THURSDAY OBSERVANCES: Bread & Blessings
5pm • Parish Hall of Jackson Community Church.
Gather with members and friends for dinner and worship. This evening is derived from events surrounding the ‘Last Supper’ and will include a meditation on bread and blessings. - AA
6-7pm • Church Library
THURS, Mar 29 – FRI, MAR 30: HOLY FRIDAY VIGIL
- VIGIL
6pm Thursday until 1pm Friday • Shifts held at home, although church is open 24/7 and people are welcome to hold vigil at the church. Individuals and families can sign up in one-hour shifts from 6pm Thursday until 3pm Friday, to pray, meditate and stay awake during the hours of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion. This vigil will be held ‘by trust’ in people’s homes, or at church if they so choose, so that each person who takes a one-hour shift to keep vigil may do so in their own environs. Sign up at church on Palm Sunday.
FRI, MAR 30: HOLY FRIDAY
- WAY of the CROSS
1pm • Jackson Community Church
Come for journey through ‘stations of the cross.’ Walk the stations, or meditate with Stations coloring pages - HOLY FRIDAY SERVICE
6:30pm • Bartlett Congregational Church.
Ecumenical worship services organized by Clergy of the Eastern Slope and hosted at Bartlett Congregational Church.
SAT, MAR 30: HOLY SATURDAY
- Community Event:
HEALING SERVICE
1pm • Christ Episcopal Church, North Conway, NH
SUN, APR 1: EASTER
- SUNRISE SERVICE
6:30am • Gazebo by Jackson’s Historical Society. Gather outside for worship & song. Return to Jackson Community Church for hot beverages and breakfast. - EASTER SERVICE
10:30am • Jackson Community Church.
Easter worship with “flowering of the cross.” - EGG HUNT
Follows worship service • Jackson Community Church. Hunt for eggs on grounds of church. Hunt will take place outdoors if weather permits, inside if weather is inclement.
Reflections on following stars, receiving epiphanies: themes in Matthew 2 and Isaiah 60.
Under the wide expanse of sky
I am alone and asking questions… why
What’s this longing in my heart
What’s the reason for my life
And this solitary light is shining, callingFollow that star, follow that star
Uncover the mystery of Who You are
I’ve searched for a lifetime,
I’ve come from afar
And discovered my destiny
Is to follow that starLike the light of early dawn
I see the promise there beyond
And a hope within begins to rise
Love is calling to my heart
Reaching deep into my soul
And reveals to me the reason for living …
What joy, what hope, what good news
He brings to me and you …So I follow that star, I follow that star
Uncover the mystery of Who You are
I’ve searched for a lifetime, I’ve come from afar
Discovered my destiny is to follow that star
Follow that star, follow that star
Follow that star, follow that star
I have to follow that star
Follow that star
Follow that star
Of Stars
God’s time [Emancipation] is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free. — Harriet Tubman
What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives? — E. M. Forster
Once upon a time there were some very wise men who were all sitting in their own countries minding their own business when a bright star lodged in the right eye of each of them. It was so bright that none of them could tell whether it was burning in the sky or in their own imagination, but they were wise enough to know that it didn’t matter. The point was, something beyond them was calling them, and it was a tug they had been waiting for all their lives. — Barbara Brown Taylor
When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. — John Muir
Son, brother, father, lover, friend. There is room in the heart for all the affections, as there is room in heaven for all the stars. — Victor Hugo
Stars and moon are an object of consciousness. They are in store consciousness. In the world of the oyster, they have no-eye consciousness and no-ear consciousness. The things that we see, the oyster cannot see. So, sense organs are one condition to give birth to consciousness. The object gives rise to consciousness. And these are manifested from seeds. And store consciousness holds all the seeds. The sense organ and the object rely on each other to create consciousness. Object and subject. They are divided into two parts but this isn’t exactly correct. We cannot take one out of the other. This is called Interbeing. — Thich Nhat Hahn
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars. — Og Mandino
No, sure, my lord, my mother cried, but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born … God give you joy!— William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
Well we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun. — John Lennon, Instant Karma lyrics
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens, you have made them bright, precious and fair. — St Francis of Assisi
How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart. — William Butler Yeats
Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul. — Victor Hugo
After my death, the molecules of my being will return to the earth and the sky. They came from the stars. I am of the stars. — Charles Lindbergh, Autobiography of Values
Reach for it. Push yourself as far as you can. — Christa McAuliffe
— Gerard Manley Hopkins
The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there! …
Touched by an Angel
— Maya Angelou
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
We dare be brave
And suddenly we see that love costs all we are
And will ever be.
Yet it is only love which set us free
Of Epiphany
In order to reach a distant shore, one must consent to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. — Andre Ghee
All we know for certain is that we are three old sinners, That this journey is much too long, that we want our dinners, And miss our wives, our books, our dogs, But we have only the vaguest idea why we are what we are. To discover how to be human now is the reason we follow the star. — W.H. Auden
Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering. — Saint Augustine
So there we have it: a call, a path, a life, a destination—all safe in the heart of God, and given to us, bit by bit, as we do our part and accept both the invitation and our soul’s transformation that the journey requires. Putting one foot in front of the other, as Jung said, trusting that this life, and this path, is given us for a reason. It is … a path that will be utterly unique to you, yet also grounded in our common experience as people of the star. … We follow the light, though we do not know the way. Yet we need not know everything to follow Christ. We need only trust the invitation and the One extending it. — Rev Mariann Edgar Budde
Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never even knew you had. ― Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones
The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany. ― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking