INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

CALENDAR 2

PARISH COUNCIL

NEW MEMBERS

3

HACKLEY SPECIAL

EVENT LECTURE

6

MISSION &

STEWARDSHIP

7

BAPTISM 8

THANK YOU 9

PASTORS PRATTLING 11

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST: • Blue Christmas

• MDO Fundraiser

• Angel Tree

• Message from T.J.

• Christmas Pageant

DECEMBER 2012

CHRISTMASCHRISTMAS!

experience so enriching.

I had a great time

reconnecting with God.

The experience was a

little exhausting, but well

worth it for the

enrichment I received.

Renewing or

strengthening your faith

is necessary for your

relationship with God.

There was no better way

for me than PDPC # 26.

Bob Wilson

What an experience!

Ana and I went to a

retreat called “Cursillo”

at Ceta Canyon, near

Happy, TX. My

upcoming adventure was

non-stop, full of things to

do. The weekend started

with some preparation

for the things to come.

The next day is when you

realize how fast and

furious praising God can

be. Never a dull

moment, there was never

a time that didn’t involve

praise or love or

fellowship, or all of the

above. The spirit of God

was everywhere. Lessons

on developing and

restoring faith were

abundant. Music was

always going on or

would be soon. The best

part was the love

that was all around.

Half of the

people there were

veterans of Cursillo.

They returned to

experience another

aspect of Cursillo

that offers a

different perspective

of spirituality. These

returning Cursillo mem-

bers made an impact on

me as they shared the

love of God. They all

talked about the PDPC

(Palo Duro

Presbytery Cursillo) they

attended and how it

impacted their lives.

They also learned from

their weekend the power

of serving. It was this

power that brought them

back to make our

115 N. Knox St., P. O. Box 716, Jacksboro, Texas, 76458

Jacksboro Parish

LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE AT CURSILLO!

Women of The Parish

Mark your calendars for Brunch and Cookie Swap.

Wednesday, December 12th from 10AM-Noon in the

Fellowship Hall.

Bring 4 dozen cookies, 2 dozen for Meals on Wheels and 2

dozen to swap. Join us for fun, fellowship, and tasty Christmas

Brunch.

PAGE 2 CHRISTMASCHRISTMAS!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2

Advent Sunday

3 4 5

7:00 PM

Choir Practice

6 7 8

9

Advent Sunday

10

Worship

Mtg @ 3:30 PM

11

Men’s

Breakfast @ 6:30 AM

12

Women’s Cookie

Brunch @ 10AM

7:00 PM Choir

13

Bible Babes

@ Noon

14 15

16

Advent Sunday

4:00 PM Christmas

Pageant & Fellowship

17 18 19

6:30 PM

Blue Christmas

7:00 PM

Choir Practice

20

1:00 PM

MDO Xtreme

Christmas Program

6:30 PM

Parish Council

21 22

23

Advent Sunday

Christmas Breakfast

9:30 AM

24

6:00 PM

Candle Light Service

25

Merry Christmas

Offices Closed

26

Offices Closed

27 28 29

30 31

December 2012

By Jane Myers Perrine

Our offices will be closed for the holidays on the following days:

December 25th and 26th

January 1st

Also, Kim will be at her son’s wedding from December 1-8th. If you have an immediate need,

please call Ana on her cell phone.

Blessings to Kim and the Patchins as they welcome Lou into their family!

mature in our faith. At

this gathering we will

decide upcoming

months and books we

want to read.

This month we meet

December 9th at 6:30pm

as we discuss

The Welcome

Committee

of Butternut Creek”.

This book has been a

hoot! Come join us as

we learn, grow and

BOOK CLUB

6:30am for cooking and fellow-

ship. Come together: enjoy the

food and one another’s company.

This is a great time for all men of

the community! This month we

will see you on December 11,

2012.

CALLING ALL MEN!!!

All men welcome at the men’s

breakfast held monthly here at the

Parish. Join the men every sec-

ond Tuesday of the month at

“The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek”

PAGE 3 CHRISTMASCHRISTMAS!

CLOSED

OFFICES CLOSED

Parish Council Meeting

Welcome to all the new Parish Council Members! We invite you to your first Parish Council meet-

ing this month. Our meetings are the 3rd Thursday of every month and we are looking forward to

being in ministry with you over this next year.

There is a catch…..

SAVE THE DATE!

December 16th the children, youth,

Roxanna and Sharon will offer them-

selves to the church by using their tal-

ents of time and acting! AT 4pm join

us for the pageant and bring a potluck

dish to share for the fellowship that

follows! This will be a blast!!!

This month bring a

holiday potluck to share

with the group and a gift

for the gift exchange.

There is a catch...you

cannot purchase this gift,

it must be something

you already own and

you want to “re-gift”.

You know you have

things you want to

re-gift (such

as….”those” gifts Aunt

So-and-so gave you that

Ladies, ladies, ladies!

Bible Babes meet

December 13, 2012 at

NOON! This gathering

is for ALL women and

we have great fun when

we meet. We have times

of laughter, tears,

learning, growth and

relationship building.

We invite you all to join

us every month at the

Activity Center.

sits in the back of your

closet) and you never felt

bold enough to re-gift…

here’s your

chance….everyone even

expects it!!!

Come join the fun!

We’d love to have you!!!

BIBLE BABES

captive this holiday season.

Elvis Presley sang in his song,

Blue Christmas,

“I’ll have a blue Christmas without

you.”

So, let’s have a Blue Christmas.

This special service is one that ac-

knowledges our pain of lost loved

ones, relationships, past hurts and

regrets. While we honor those

blue feelings, we also experience

the hope of our faith in the birth

of Christ. Join us for our BLUE

CHRISTMAS worship service.

All are welcome and please invite

your friends and family.

December 19, 2012

at 6:30pm.

BLUE C

HRIS

TM

AS

As the holidays come upon us and

merriment fills the air, it is impor-

tant that we acknowledge, not all

feel this sense of joy, happiness and

excitement for this time of year.

Christmas Carols we may sing and

smiles may be on our lips, but inside

our hearts break and we feel isolated

as if our pain keeps us

“I’ll have a blue Christmas without you.”

JACKSBORO PARISH

December 16th, @ 4 PM

CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

PAGE 4

Throughout the month of Decem-

ber, Mission and Stewardship will

do a Tamale fundraiser for MDO.

Buy your tickets in advance $6.00

for a half dozen and $12.00 for a

dozen. When you order your ta-

males be sure to indicate whether

you would like pork, beef or

chicken. You can always order a

dozen of each…..You can pur-

chase tickets at the church office

or see Clint, Tina, Jerry, Tom,

Pat, Brent, Cindy, Jack or Liz.

As a bonus ***** If you are inter-

ested in learning how to make

Tamale’s, Liz Pardue’s Mother is

willing to teach you how…..more

information to come.

available for $12.00.

Contact the Parish

Office if you are

interested in purchasing

a cookbook.

Christmas is right

around the corner.

Are you stumped on

what to get your good

friend, neighbor or

family member? How

about a cookbook?

There are Parish

Preschool Cookbooks

CHRISTMAS GIFTS?????

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

MDO Xtreme will hold its annual

Christmas Program on Thursday,

December 20, 2012. The program will

begin promptly at 1:00pm. Cookies &

Punch will be served after the program.

Parent’s may take their children home after

to enjoy the Christmas Holiday.

JACKSBORO PARISH

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

MDO FUNDRAISER!!!!MDO FUNDRAISER!!!!MDO FUNDRAISER!!!!MDO FUNDRAISER!!!!

PAGE 5

MDO’s Christmas party MDO’s Christmas party MDO’s Christmas party MDO’s Christmas party will be December 20, will be December 20, will be December 20, will be December 20,

2012 2012 2012 2012 At 11:00 AM.At 11:00 AM.At 11:00 AM.At 11:00 AM.

The children will enjoy The children will enjoy The children will enjoy The children will enjoy goodies & yummy food goodies & yummy food goodies & yummy food goodies & yummy food

then they will be then they will be then they will be then they will be allowed to open their allowed to open their allowed to open their allowed to open their gift from the MDO gift from the MDO gift from the MDO gift from the MDO

Staff.Staff.Staff.Staff.

I try to plan the youth groups

year, based on the first and

second semesters of the school

year and three months of

summer. I also try to evaluate

youth ministry after each

semester and summer. After

four years of doing this with

great excitement, I can say this

has been, by far, the best

semester EVER. I’ve seen our

youth group grow closer

together as a church. I’ve seen

God work in ways I have never

seen before. I have been blessed

by two wonderful churches time

and time again.

But just because the semester is

winding down we must not

forget it is not over. This is the

beginning of December, the

beginning of Advent. For us as

a youth group, for me as an

individual, and hopefully for you

as a follower of Christ we will

slow down and remember what

this season is all about.

Merry Christmas,

T.J.

continuing Education at Brite

Divinity School, her prior profes-

sional career was centered

around understand the earth and

solar systems.

This program was very appropri-

ate for what Dorcus Hackley en-

visioned for the Parish and

broader community when she

established the Hackley Special

Event Fund in 1992 for the pur-

pose of adding new levels of un-

derstanding to one’s faith, pro-

viding opportunities for educa-

tion, enrichment, and spiritual

growth, and expanding the wit-

In November Dr. Eilene Theilig

from Brite Divinity School helped

us to a higher understanding of how

to embrace both God and Science.

Her sermon “Listening to Creation’s

Proclamation” was followed by a

scientific presentation at a potluck

lunch — both of which enabled us

to marvel at the complexities result-

ing in the creation of the galaxies

and earth as a very small part of that

process and to match the scientific

facts and religious beliefs regarding

creation. Although Dr. Theilig is

now an ordained Disciples of Christ

minister and director of Lay and

ness of the Parish. She established

a permanent fund with the Chris-

tian Church Foundation in Indi-

anapolis and instructed that the

annual earnings of this permanent

Fund should be distributed to the

Parish Council. She further speci-

fied that the lectures or programs

should be varied: biblical, musi-

cal, sacred art, and/or subjects

which meet certain needs at a

given time and that they should be

open, without charge, to the com-

munity.

HACKLEY SPECIAL EVENT LECTURE A SUCCESS

NURSING HOME AND OF-

FERS A WORSHIP SERVICE.

SO, JOIN UA AT 1:30 EVERY

SUNDAY AT THE NURSING

HOME!

NURSING HOME MINISTRY

WE NEED YOU!

EVERY SUNDAY IN DECEM-

BER THE PARISH JOINS THE

“...biblical, musical, sacred art, and/or subjects which meet certain needs….”

JACKSBORO PARISH

...as a follower of Christ we will slow down and remember…...

DECEMBER ALREADY? HDECEMBER ALREADY? HDECEMBER ALREADY? HDECEMBER ALREADY? HOLY COW! THIS MEANSOLY COW! THIS MEANSOLY COW! THIS MEANSOLY COW! THIS MEANS ANOTHER SEMESTER HASANOTHER SEMESTER HASANOTHER SEMESTER HASANOTHER SEMESTER HAS ALREADY COME AND ALREADY COME AND ALREADY COME AND ALREADY COME AND

GONE. BUT THE TRUTHGONE. BUT THE TRUTHGONE. BUT THE TRUTHGONE. BUT THE TRUTH IS, THIS HAS NOT JUIS, THIS HAS NOT JUIS, THIS HAS NOT JUIS, THIS HAS NOT JUST ST ST ST BEEN “ANOTHER” SEMESTER, IT HAS BEEN AN BEEN “ANOTHER” SEMESTER, IT HAS BEEN AN BEEN “ANOTHER” SEMESTER, IT HAS BEEN AN BEEN “ANOTHER” SEMESTER, IT HAS BEEN AN

“AMAZING, FABULOUS, “AMAZING, FABULOUS, “AMAZING, FABULOUS, “AMAZING, FABULOUS, OUT OF THIS WORLD” OUT OF THIS WORLD” OUT OF THIS WORLD” OUT OF THIS WORLD” SEMESTER.SEMESTER.SEMESTER.SEMESTER.

PAGE 6

Hello church family!

As we come to the end of another year

we have a few more mission projects

in store.

* Angel Tree—We will take 30

Angels from the JISD Angel Tree and

ask the Parish to adopt these Angels —

it is recommended to spend around

$25.00 per Angel — you can drop off

your unwrapped gifts either at the

JISD Administration office or the

Parish office

PAGE 7 CHRISTMASCHRISTMAS!

MISSION & STEWARDSHIP

* We are asking the church to adopt a family this

year for Christmas as well

* Boy—Pants size: 12—Shirt size: youth

large or 12-14—Shoe size: 3

* Girl—Pants size: 4t—Shirt size: 4t —

Shoes size: 3

* Baby Boy—Pants size: 18 month—Shirt

size: 18 month — Shoe size: 9 month

Don’t forget to Support MDO and the Tamale Sale!

Mission and stew-

ardship committee

would like to take

this opportunity to

say thank you for

your kindness and

generosity this year.

Without each of you

the Parish could not

reach out to our

community and help

those in need.

Those of you who joined the church

in 2012 or wish to join the church, we

invite you to come to a new members

class that will offer you an under-

standing of our church. As you

know, we have two denominations

that join together in unity and it’s

kind of confusing for those of us who

are new to understand how this

church works. So, this class will offer

an overview of each denomination

and what it means to be a member of

the Parish. There will be two classes

in January and I encourage you to

attend both. So, save the dates, Janu-

ary 6th and 13th from 9:45 am until

10:30 am.

on a journey of faith

exploration and learning

what baptism and being a

child of God means with

our upcoming Pastor’s

Class. This will be a 10

week journey that will

include both child and

parent or mentor

interaction. At the end of

this 10 week class, those

who feel called to baptism

will be baptized Easter

morning. If you’ve already

been baptized, we accept

that baptism, but we will do

a ceremony of

rememberance of your

baptism. Our first class will

be January 20, 2013 and goes

through March 24th with

possible baptisms on March

31st. Please plan on attending

all classes for the full

experience. Also, we may

need some mentors from the

church to be an active

participant in these

individual’s lives. If you have

questions or are interested,

call Pastor Ana.

PASTOR’S CLASS

Do you have a desire to be baptized? Have

you wondered what baptism is? Are you

beginning to question your faith? Do you

have children who are asking these

questions? Starting in January, we embark

“Are you a FPC member, a MCC member or a Parish member?”

JACKSBORO PARISH

Welcome To

The Parish

New Members Class

PAGE 8

Johnny's Mother looked out the window and noticed him "playing church" with their cat. He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work. A while later she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back To the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water. She called out, "Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!" Johnny looked up at her and said, "He should have thought about that before he joined my church."

1. The love and care for

everyone

2. For all the many blessings of

each member

3. Light

4. People that are here

5. Hearts in this church, all the

unselfish acts of service

they provide

6. Family and friends

7. New friendships made here at

church

8. Our Sunday school and adult

study groups

9. The connection to God in the

church

10. That the church always

welcomes us

11. For Ana and all our church

ministries

12. For the members of the choir

who show up faithfully

even though the numbers

are small

13. All the wonderful people in

our church who love all of

us even when we don’t see

it or when we feel that we

are all alone. They

somehow come through

when we need it most.

14. For our church family

15. LOVE

16. Family and friends and

warmness and welcoming

of the church

17. Generous people

18. For the people becoming one

family!

19. For the love and support

shown to my wife during

her illness and treatment

20. Loving and caring members

21. Children of the Parish

22. Church being so welcoming

23. Wonderful church and all the

great members

24. ….the warmth and grace of

the Sanctuary with the

lovely stained glass

windows

25. Return of the young people

and prayers when I was ill

26. Moms and Dads

27. Ana—excellent pastor and

preacher

28. TJ—inexhaustible youth

minister

29. God, family, friends, health,

shelter, transportation,

freedom of worship, love

30. People

31. Provides for many missions

32. For the sincere friendship and

concern of the Parish—I

know they care

33. The love and caring of fellow

members

34. Congregational involvement

and support

35. Youth group and T.J.

36. Members

37. How giving and abundantly

generous our members in

their church life as well as

in the community

38. Finding a church for my

family to call HOME.

39. Finding such a loving church

to be part of……

For these and so much more, we

offer our thanks to God the Al-

mighty who makes all of this pos-

sible here at the Parish! Thank

you to each person who is part of

this church. We could not be this

type of church without you!

Thank you!!!

PAGE 9

Thank you, O Lord for the gifts of

The Parish!

How far is it to Bethlehem?How far is it to Bethlehem?How far is it to Bethlehem?How far is it to Bethlehem?

How far is it to Bethlehem

Where the Christ Child lay;

The Infant King by prophet told,

Upon a bed of hay?

How far is it to Bethlehem

Where angels did proclaim

Their message of Goodwill to men

And glory to His name?

The shepherds went to Bethlehem

Inside the lowly shed

Beholding Christ the Savior

Upon his manger bed.

How far is it to Bethlehem

Where once the bright star shone

That led the Wise Men from afar

To view the manger throne?

How far is it to Bethlehem?

Open your heart’s door wide;

Let it become a Bethlehem;

Let Christ be born inside.

By Francis

From Columbia, SC (12-17-1957)

Congratulations

Tigers on a great

2012 season!

PAGE 10

Dear Church Family, As we enter this time of year, may we be mindful of what truly matters….love! We get so carried away with the hustle and bustle of the holidays that we neglect taking time for truly loving others and ourselves. This Christmas, my prayer for the Parish is time to care for ourselves and for others, that we may gain the true meaning of Christmas. Enjoy your family and friends, enjoy the merriment of the season, enjoy all the goodies that come with Christmas, but most importantly enjoy the love that we share. I’ve included the 12 Prayers of Christmas and I pray all of this for each of you this holiday season. God bless you! Merry Christmas! My love and

devotion, Pastor Ana

PASTORS PRATTLING

PASTORS PRATTLING

PASTORS PRATTLING

PASTORS PRATTLING

1. LOVE—Lord, help us follow the way of

love—let the love of Christ compel us (1

Corinthians 14:1; 2 Corinthians 5:14).

2. JOY — Restore the joy of

Your salvation to us; let us

experience the joy of Your

presence (Psalm 51:12;

16:11).

3. PEACE —Let

Your peace rule

and guard our

hearts; give us

more of You—You

are our peace

(Colossians 3:15;

Philippians 4:7;

Ephesians 2:14).

4. HOPE — Enlighten

the eyes of our heart

so that we may know

the hope You called

us to (Ephesians

1:18).

5. FAVOR— Let Your favor rest on us (Luke 2:52).

6. LIFE— Shine Your

light of life on us; help

us to walk in it (Job

33:30; Psalm 56:13).

7. SALVATION — Help us to fear

you so we can unlock the

treasure of Your salvation

(Isaiah 33:6).

8. SELFLESSNESS —

Keep us from self-

seeking attitudes that

reject truth (Romans

2:8).

9. GENEROSITY —

Make us rich in ways

that result in

generosity on our

part so You will be

praised (2

Corinthians 9:11)

11. SEEKING — Encourage

us to seek Your face with

all our hearts

(Deuteronomy 4:24; Psalm

10. RECEIVING— Help us receive Your

kingdom, Your Spirit, and Your grace

(Daniel 7:18; John 20:22; Romans 5:17).

12. PRAISE — We ascribe glory to Your

name, Lord; we come before You in

worship for You are holy (1 Chronicles

16:28-29).

PAGE 11