December 23, 2022
Dear Peachtree Road Family,
Merry Christmas! As I write these words, we are merely hours away from our Christmas Eve celebration. The church has been buzzing with excitement as members of the flower guild, altar guild, usher teams, hospitality volunteers, children’s choir moms, Doxology Choir members, Chancel Choir members, and pageant helpers all have been making their final preparations for the big day. The church is at its most beautiful, and I am grateful to all who have helped. There is nothing like Christmas at Peachtree Road UMC!
I am looking forward to worshiping with you as we welcome anew Christ into our lives:
- 12:00 noon – First Communion of Christmas
- 4:00 pm – Family Candlelight and Pageant
- 6:00 pm – Family Candlelight and Pageant
- 8:00 pm – Festival of Lessons and Carols
- 10:30 pm – Festival Choral Eucharist
Each service is distinctive, and we hope you will select the time that is most helpful to you and join us for the celebration. Some of you may be traveling and will not be able to attend one of our services in person, but we do invite you to join us online. Also, let others know of this opportunity to experience the pageantry of our celebration of “God with us.”
Again this year, our Christmas Eve Offering is designated for our effort to provide clean water in Kenya. Over the course of the last six years, our Christmas Eve offerings have been used to provide water filters for approximately 150,000 people. As a result of your help, tens of thousands of families have had their lives transformed through the gift of clean water. This Christmas Eve we will have the opportunity to do it again. Our special offering will be used to purchase water filters for families living in the Njoro region of Kenya. This is an area that has been devastated by water-borne disease. The water is plentiful, but it is not clean. Children are dying at an alarming rate, and their parents cannot do anything about it. But you can do something. You can provide them with a life-giving water filter! Each filter costs $50 and lasts approximately 10 years. Please help by giving generously today. Thank you in advance for your gift.
Speaking of giving, as we come to the end of the year, I encourage you to help us finish 2022 strong by fulfilling your commitment to the operating budget. If you would like to make an extra gift to the church’s ministry, please know that we would be humbly grateful to receive that gift. Mail your check prior to December 31, or give online through the church’s website. Thank you for your extraordinary faithfulness.
Finally, I remind you that we will have only one service on Sunday, December 25. It will be at 11:15 am in the sanctuary, and our associate minister Rev. Josh Miles will be preaching. You are invited to join your friends at Peachtree Road UMC for the continuation of our Christmas celebration either in person or online.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow as we light candles and remember the promise: “Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.” That is our hope, and that is the source of our joy.
Merry Christmas!
Bill