Dear Friends,
Saturday is Christmas Eve, and I hope you're able to come and join the rest of your New Light family in celebration! This year's Christmas Eve service has a BROADWAYtheme, and should be lots of fun, as well as a celebration in worship of Jesus birth. The service starts at 7:30pm - but you might want to get here early as we haven't yet extended the sanctuary.
This Christmas I believe that we have much to be grateful for. New Light has grown through the year, and even in this difficult economic climate was able to meet budget. Alas we still don't have the funds to pay a full time pastor's salary, or to pay for any staff, and we've had to be extra careful with our general church expenses as prices have risen, but it's a testament to the church leadership and your generosity that we have so much to be grateful for.
Over the year the church delivered over 400 Food & Friends grocery packs, received up to 480 visits from families collecting groceries from our food pantry (not including our own church members who sometimes access the pantry for their own needs or on behalf of others in the community), paid out over $2,000 in emergency financial aid from our Deacon's Pantry, raised over $1,500 to send Seminarian Colleen Foley on a missions trip, Raised over $600 to help your pastor return to the UK after the sudden death of my father, supplied children and single mothers in sheltered accommodation Christmas gifts and Easter baskets, entertained over 100 children on Santa's knee, Marched in Washington DC Pride and gave communion at the festival, Lobbied in Washington on the hill and in the state capital Annapolis to raise awareness around LGBT inequality, and much much more. Because of you children were fed, families were able to stay off eviction, an elderly woman had her power restored after she was cut off for non-payment of an unexpectedly large bill, a single mother was able to give her children Christmas gifts, and so much more.
I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you, and how proud I am to be your pastor. You truly are the beating heart of Christ in this community and I appreciate everything you do. Thank you.
And I pray that we continue to be Christ's Church throughout 2012. I pray that we continue to be the wonderfully 'queer' community that dares to live an inclusive Gospel in the world - no strings attached. I pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous new year, that God's blessings chase you down the street and overtake you, and that the light that is Christ's heart beat within you all the year to come.
With much love
Rev. Michael.
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