As Jessica Stockton reminds me every year:
"Why is it that the worse the Christmas service, the closer we get to the idea of Christmas?
Children's services, with children running aimlessly in the aisles in lamb costumes or dressed as wise men, neglecting or refusing to say their lines, why so much closer to the idea of Christmas?
What is this thing about Christmas, the paradoxical tendency of Christmas, that the more heartbreaking it is the closer it seems to get to the point? Why is failure and awkwardness so human and so natural at Christmas?... Why is it that desperation is closer to God?...
At the same time, what about the Mean Estate stuff, what about Mary lying in bad circumstances? Why is it that the no-room-at-the-inn part is inevitably moving, even when you are skeptical about the whole thing?... And why an ideology of the neglected and left out and miserable and disinherited and lonely and poor and ill and exiled, anyway?...
And why is it, meanwhile, that singing is the thing that enables me to understand this, why is it that singing makes the Christmas holiday what it is, what it can be, what it ought to be?"
- Rick Moody, Christmas 2006
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Book Drive
Our Deacons are really at it.
They're also conducting a Book Drive to benefit African Refuge's After-School Program.
African Refuge is a non-profit org. on Staten Island offering aid to West African refugees. Due to a 14 year civil war, many Liberian children have missed one or more years of school. They need a library for their after-school program. We can help them build it. Please bring your 'gently read' or new books to Old First (7th Ave.&Carroll St.) on Sunday, Dec. 13th from 3:00-7:00pm. The books should be for readers age 5-17. Adult-level books also welcome.
They're also conducting a Book Drive to benefit African Refuge's After-School Program.
African Refuge is a non-profit org. on Staten Island offering aid to West African refugees. Due to a 14 year civil war, many Liberian children have missed one or more years of school. They need a library for their after-school program. We can help them build it. Please bring your 'gently read' or new books to Old First (7th Ave.&Carroll St.) on Sunday, Dec. 13th from 3:00-7:00pm. The books should be for readers age 5-17. Adult-level books also welcome.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Christmas Carols
Come Sing for Peace!
Old First Christmas Carol Sing-along
Please join us for a SING-ALONG of all your favorite classic carols.
Suggested donation
$8.00/familes $15.00
Proceeds support our mission in Africa in the work of Debbie and Del Braaksma as they teach trauma-healing, reconciliation and trust building to people who have previously only known war.
December 13, 2009 5.00pm
Old First Church 7th Ave & Carroll St. Park Slope
Old First Christmas Carol Sing-along
Please join us for a SING-ALONG of all your favorite classic carols.
Suggested donation
$8.00/familes $15.00
Proceeds support our mission in Africa in the work of Debbie and Del Braaksma as they teach trauma-healing, reconciliation and trust building to people who have previously only known war.
December 13, 2009 5.00pm
Old First Church 7th Ave & Carroll St. Park Slope
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