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Hello Everyone,
It’s Christmastime! Many consider this the most wonderful time of year. And for good reason – you can feel something different in the way people interact. 2000+ years ago at the inaugural Christmas, there was a buzz in the air as well. The prophecied Messiah had finally arrived. Angels announced to shepherds, Magi came from the East, and a nervous and bewildered Mary and Joseph received our Messiah King, Jesus to care for and raise. What a responsibility!
Not everyone was happy about it though. The reigning king of Judea, King Herod the Great was someone in a permanent state of paranoia about losing power. So when word of a new king spread – he reacted by misusing, misleading, and mistreating everyone around him. While we don’t typically act like the megalomaniac that Herod was, we do sometimes need to watch for a ‘Hint of Herod’ in our lives. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says that we should always be looking at ourselves to see how we are doing –
“Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you (that He’s in your crib). Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.”
This season, as we interact with family and friends – look for any Hint of Herod in you and put that aside to make sure you are always showing the way to that Crucial Relationship Initiated by our Savior. The only thing we get to take from here and enjoy in heaven is our friends and family. Let’s do everything we can to not get in the way of that!
If you miss any of the C.R.I.B.S. messages, you can find them online HERE, or on the SVC podcast HERE.
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THIS SUNDAY: The Gift of Righteousness
Pastor Chris is away for a funeral, so the CRIBS series will pick up again on December 15th. This Sunday, Marc Potocksky will speak about the ‘Gift of Righteousness.’
One of the traditions of Christmas is to exchange, give and receive gifts. This year we can look at and receive the greatest gift of all, the gift of God’s Son and His gift of righteousness.
We have been made the righteousness of God, that’s who we are now by nature, by birth. However, we only experience it and receive it daily, establishing it in your soul and walk, by believing it, confessing it and proclaiming it, thus renewing your mind. God wants us established in the Faith, bearing the fruit of righteousness. It’s an amazing gift to us from the most gracious Giver Himself.
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Praise and Worship will begin at 10:30. Why not come at 10:15 to meet and greet a little before the service starts? We also have Morning Prayer and Oasis starting at 9:00, and all are welcome.
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Sharing in the joys and challenges of life with other people who care for us leads to a rich experience in our journey with God. We get to practice what God is teaching us with others who will listen, challenge, and nurture us. We get to practice new skills, use our talents and gifts, and serve people in our community with others who we know and trust. Life groups are great ways to connect with others in the church as well as a way to create a comfortable environment for you to invite friends who may not be comfortable yet with showing up on a Sunday morning. Great relationships make life better and richer! Check out one of our Life Groups for yourself and experience the difference relationships make.
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Life Group – Overcomer
The Overcomer Bible studies have completed and we now have access to the full video of the movie. Stay tuned for when we will have a special showing that is open to EVERYONE – regardless if you attended the Bible Study, Please check back here for the date and time.
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Life Group – Our Riches in Christ
Join Marc Potocsky as he leads a life-changing, eye-opening 12-week bible study of the book of Ephesians, called, “Our riches in Christ.”
This letter along with the letter to the Colossians is the pinnacle of Gods progressive revelation of the mystery of the gospel to the church given to the apostle Paul, the “Apostle of grace.” Its main theme is God’s gift to the church (you and I), which is His body and the foundational multifaceted Grace of God, establishing the believers calling, position, identity, and perfect union in Christ.
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Tuesday evenings 7 pm
Tim and Jennifer Kearney’s home
136 Pritchett Dr, Westbrook.
Marc: 203-640-2086
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Life Group – Chopped Apps!
Do you like to cook? Pastor Chris and Tanya do too and have started a life group based upon the hit Food Network show, Chopped! This group meets every other week at Pastor Chris and Tanya’s home and at each meeting you will need to bring an appetizer or side dish made from the ingredients that Chris & Tanya will send to you the week before. The next meeting for this group is December 4th. If you want to get in on it see Pastor Chris (203-314-9165) or Tanya (860-391-5084). We also now need some EATERS as we make too much food. Your reward for reading this bulletin is a free meal – yum! Come join us even if you aren’t able to cook.
The ingredients are progressively getting more challenging – but so far everyone has come up with something great!
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Here’s what you may have missed and what is coming! Join in anytime!
Oct 23: Garlic, Broccoli, & Eggs
Nov 6: Pumpkin, Cream Cheese & Rosemary
Nov 6 alt: Pretzels, Sour Cream, Chili Powder
Nov 20: Cranberry, Salami, Mustard
Nov 20 alt: Spinach, Cheese, Nutmeg
Dec 4: Cinnamon, Chicken, Asparagus
Dec 4 alt: Mint, Seafood, Pears
Dec 18th – Bring your most unusual dish!
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We hope to have more life groups still form, and it’s not too late to start one yourself ether! For more information on starting a life group, see Shadi or Pastor Chris.
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Advent with Communion
Every week of Advent this month we will have a special reading as well as celebrating with a special communion time. Each week will have a different person sharing for each.
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THIS SUNDAY – Serving our Seniors – 1:30pm
Join us at 1:30 pm at Solstice Senior Living, located at 201 Granite Rd – Guilford
We will share some Christmas carols as well as some time interacting with the residents who many times have nowhere else to go. It’s a great opportunity to use your voice and time to serve outside our walls.
For more information or to sign up, speak with Gayle Saska.
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Oasis and Pre-Service Prayer
Every Sunday Morning 9:00-10:15
Do you need prayer? Do you enjoy praying for others? How about just taking a break and listening for God’s still small voice?
Every Sunday morning we have a time of prayer and what we call Oasis. We start with Oasis, which is a time of sitting at the feet of Jesus. It is a Harp and Bowl style of worship featuring musical prayer. The name is derived from Revelation 5:8, describing heavenly creatures which each had harps and held golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints.) Harp and bowl, soaking Praise and Prayer in an intimate setting, finding rest for your soul. After Oasis we try to be more intentional about praying for our community, area churches, and the needs of our church.
Oasis and Prayer meet in the Leete room down the hall from where we have our Sunday morning service. For more information, see Marc Potocsky.
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It’s so exciting to know that our church planted these seeds into both our local community and around the world!
Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
Psalm 41:1-3
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SVC Gives Back
100 Shoeboxes were given as part of Operation Christmas Child. These were added to over 28000 boxes that were collected just in the Branford collection point. Wow!
43 Baskets that were assembled were combined with over 225 food bags collected at St George’s and were distributed to families in need throughout Guilford!
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THRIVE’S THRIVING!
Thrive is a group for junior and senior high students. An atmosphere where literally anybody and everybody can come and feel included, loved, and heard. The focus is on helping young people learn how to connect with Jesus in a deeper and more personal way. They regularly tackle some very tough topics that are current in our world today.
Look at what you may have missed last night!
More information about THRIVE will be in the upcoming E-Bulletins, like a video commercial and news about upcoming events like winter retreat. Don’t miss any of it!
THRIVE meets every Wednesday at the Parish Center located in Village Walk, in Guilford. 6:30 – 8:30. For more information contact JJ Secki at 203.645.4054.
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Tithes and Offerings
At SVC we don’t have a special time in the service set aside for collecting tithes and offerings. At a table located at the entrance door, you will find a small box with a cross cutout on the top. Please place your tithes and offerings in this box. There are envelopes that will be alongside the box that will allow you to designate how you may like your gift applied, or for you to receive a giving statement for cash donations. Please feel free to add your name to your gift, or to designate it toward Tithes and offerings, Missions, or our new Building Fund.
Alternatively, if you prefer to make your contribution online, you can find a link to our PayPal on the website. There you can choose to make a one-time gift, or if it is more convenient you can set up a recurring gift. You can get to that page directly by clicking here.
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Check out our Facebook page!
Did you know SVC is on Facebook? Take a quick look at our page and be sure to hit that “Follow” button so you get the latest updates on your feed automatically. Maybe while you’re there you can show a little love and click the “Like” button too! You’ll find the page HERE.
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Hospitality Time Help Needed
Many of us enjoy a cup of coffee as we meet and greet with our church family. Maybe you even need a cup just to stay awake during the message! Whatever the reason, right now we are down to one or two people that come in a little bit early so that it can be ready for service. We could use some help! If you can get to church 15 minutes early and help with making the coffee, would you please see Catherine Rampone? Thank you!
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God at Work
If you have something the Lord has done for you, we would love to share it with the church. Please let Pastor Chris know. I will praise you to all my brothers; I will stand up before the congregation and testify of the wonderful things you have done. – Psalm 22:22 TLB
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Do we have your contact information?
We need to be able to stay in touch with everyone. If you are already getting this email, you have the first step completed. We also need your cell phone so that we can contact you with important or last minute information. Signing up is EASY! Just go to your cell phone and text the word SHORELINE to 84576. You will receive a confirmation back saying that you are all signed up.
You can also sign up or update your contact information online. Just go to this link and enter your information. If we already have your information it will give you the opportunity to add or change your existing info. Correct contact information is very important. Thank you for taking a few minutes to update yours!
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Got another minute?
Today, more and more people start the search for a new church family online, and the first stop is usually Google. People want to get a taste of the church from the privacy of their home before they venture out to see what it is like in person. That is part of the reason we have spent so much time making our website attractive, relevant, and up to date.
However, in addition to seeing what our website is like, people also want to hear from other people what their experience has been. They way they do this is through reviews. Shoreline Vineyard Church is on Google as well as Google Maps. If you can spare a minute, maybe you would feel comfortable sharing something about our fellowship that would help someone else who is looking for a new home church? If you click HERE you will be taken to our Google Maps page. There you can see what others have said and share your story as well. Just scroll down to where you see “WRITE A REVIEW.”
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4 the Shoreline?
The Bride of Christ is not just SVC or any of the other churches you see around us but is the COMPLETE assembly of EVERY believer. Our Bible teaches us that when Christ returns there will be no Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Evangelicals, “Vineyarders”, or any other group or denomination. There will be those who believe on Christ as Savior and those who do not. The only titles that will follow us are son or daughter of God.
As you know, Pastor Chris meets regularly with Pastor Doug Dry from Christ Chapel and Pastor Ryan Young of Living Rock and we were able to have our fellowships join together for a Shoreline Night of Prayer over this past summer. We have another Shoreline Night of Prayer that looks like it will happen in January. But this time we have pulled in Shoreline Community Church in Branford through Pastor Paul Allen who now also meets with us. More information on that prayer night will follow. Together we would like to see our fellowships interact more!
This month Christianity Today ran an interesting article on the wave of cooperation and partnership that seems to be catching among God’s churches. This was very exciting to read and offers us anticipation of what the Holy Spirit may be doing here locally and around the world! Check out the article here.
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You can catch up on all the SVC messages any time
Did you miss a message? There are a few ways you can catch up. Check out our website HERE where you can find all the messages as well as the handouts that go along with them. You can listen right in your browser. If you listen to podcasts, the messages are also on Apple Podcasts and Google Play Podcasts. Just search for Shoreline Vineyard Church and hit subscribe. New messages will automatically be updated into your favorite podcast player! Great for in the car or on the go.
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Coming Soon…
- Advent series – C.R.I.B.S. – 3 part message in December
- Shoreline Night of Prayer – Moved to January 12th
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Real God. Real Life.
Shoreline Vineyard Church
P.O. Box 383
Guilford, CT 06437
Parish Center
770 Boston Post Road
Unit 510
Village Walk Plaza
Guilford, CT 06437
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Sunday Service
10:30 am
Guilford Community Center
32 Church Street
Guilford, CT 06437
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