Midweek Announcements for December 22

Schedule for the Coming Week at Resurrection Church

Christmas Eve – Saturday, December 24

7:00 p.m. – Worship: Pastor Wally Jensen presiding, with youth participation, special music, and our choir. Musical performances will begin at 6:30 p.m., before the service starts at 7:00 p.m.

Christmas Day – Sunday, December 25

10:00 a.m. – Worship: Pastor Gordon Lathrop presiding.

Name of Jesus – Sunday, January 1, 2023

10:00 a.m. – Worship: Pastor Gordon Lathrop presiding.

Celebration of Christmas

Resurrection will celebrate the birth of Jesus with a single Christmas Eve service on Saturday, December 24, at 7:00 p.m. with Pastor Wally Jensen presiding. Our young members will be part of this unique service, which will also include musical performances to begin at 6:30 p.m., and special music from our choir.

On Christmas Day Sunday, December 25, Pastor Lathrop will lead our worship service at 10:00 a.m.

Sunday Supply Pastors

On New Year’s Day, Pastor Lathrop will return to lead us in celebrating the Name of Jesus on Sunday, January 1. Our outstanding group of guest clergy continues in January with Prof. James Farwell of the Virginia Theological Seminary returning to preside on January 8 and Rev. Dr. Sarah Colvin, the former Rector at Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Vashon Island, Washington, leading our service on January 15. We will be joined by Pastor George Detweiler from the Southeast Pennsylvania Synod on January 22. The month closes with Pastor Allen Dayal, of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church of India and a graduate student at Virginia Theological Seminary, presiding on January 29.

Congregation COVID Protections

Resurrection’s Reopening Planning Group continues to closely monitor the recent increase in COVID, RSV, and influenza cases. Under the policy adopted earlier this year, the wearing of masks at church remains optional as long as Arlington County's COVID-19 community level remains “low” based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assessment. Congregants are encouraged to wear masks if they choose to, and we will adjust our precautions if necessary based on the CDC assessment.

Congregants are also reminded to continue to maintain appropriate distances when sitting in pews, sharing the peace of Christ and taking communion, and to wash hands and use sanitizers in church. Our pastors, communion assistants, and ushers will continue to wear masks when welcoming those attending services and in distributing Holy Communion in deference to congregation members who choose to take that precaution. The wearing of masks in Sunday School will continue to be guided by parents’ feedback. Congregants are also encouraged to keep up to date with vaccinations, and anyone not feeling well should stay home and access the livestream feed of worship services.

Call Committee Update

Our Call Committee has completed its first round of interviews and the committee decided to continue the process with three of the four initial candidates. The committee will take a break over the Christmas holiday while our candidate pastors attend to their current congregations and resume the interview and discernment process in January.

Join Resurrection’s Sunday School

Our Sunday School takes a holiday break on December 25 and on January 1 – but will resume next month with class for 3’s through 5th grade beginning at 9:10 a.m. in the Parish Hall.

And thanks to everyone who contributed to the Youth Group’s Christmas Tree collection of winter wear! A total of 16 scarves, eight pairs of gloves, 11 hats, and two packages of socks will be delivered to New Hope Housing for holiday celebrations!

Epiphany Evening Prayer

Please join us for a virtual Epiphany evening service on Friday, January 6 at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. Our evening prayer service will include readings and hymns for the Day of Epiphany and an introduction by Gail Ramshaw. Look for the Zoom link and a copy of the bulletin in the announcements for the first week of January, or in a separate Constant Contact email that will come out on January 6.

Blue Recycling Bins

The Creation Care Team has placed several new blue recycling bins throughout the building. Please use these bins to recycle paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, and aluminum/steel cans. Please do not put anything else in the bins, including no plastic bags or paper towels. Thank you for supporting this program as we work to reduce the amount of trash collected at our church.

Holiday Lights Recycling through January 29

If you have holiday lights that are beyond repair, please bring them to church and put them in the designated box in the narthex. The Creation Care Team will take them to MOM’s Organic Market, which is accepting strands of lights for recycling through the end of January. A Better Way Recycling collects lights from MOM’s and breaks them down through smelting or shredding to recover raw commodities which are then used to create construction materials, car batteries, other electronics, flatware, jewelry, and more! You can visit https://momsorganicmarket.com/recycle-center/ and https://www.abetterwayrecycling.com/ to learn more.

Help with Snow Removal

Winter is here – and Resurrection is looking for volunteers to help clear the sidewalks and entrances to the church after snowfalls. The Property Committee has only three volunteers thus far and more hands will make lighter work! If you live within walking distance of the church – or even a short, safe driving distance – and would be willing to help with snow removal, please speak with Ted Mortensen.

Annual Congregation Meeting

Please mark your calendars for Resurrection’s annual congregation meeting, which will be in person following the worship service on Sunday, January 22. This is an important meeting at which we will adopt a budget for 2023 and elect new members of our Congregation Council, so please make plans to attend and participate.

In preparation for the annual meeting, we need reports from all church committees and other groups to include in our Annual Report. Committee chairs and group leaders are asked to please submit your reports for 2022 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday, December 30.

Member Information Form

Resurrection is continuing to work on updating its membership directory with the most current, accurate and preferred contact information. Member Information forms are available in the Narthex – we urge each member of the congregation to fill one out and return it to the church office.

Can't make it to church? Watch us Live! Now Livestreaming Worship

To view our 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship service on YouTube live, click on the live worship link on the RELC home page on Sunday mornings during the worship hour and be redirected to the YouTube live stream. The Live Stream will "go live" at 9:55 a.m. on each Sunday morning. To view the service at a later time, go to our YouTube Channel. Click on the videos tab to browse archives of past services. Click on the Subscribe button and create an account to be notified when Live Streams are started or when other videos are added. For any questions, please contact the pastor.

Intercessory Prayer During the Time of Pastoral Transition

During our pastoral transition, we will suspend the compilation of a formal and published prayer list. Our intercessory prayer lists are crafted and maintained by the pastor who receives names and who exercises pastoral discretion and care in relation to those named and those who name them. Without an interim or called pastor to generate and maintain the list and to follow up pastorally concerning those named, an intercessory prayer list would be challenging to maintain with pastoral integrity and sensitivity. That said, each Sunday’s prayers of intercession include a petition during which members of the worshiping assembly can call out aloud specific names of persons for whom they would like to pray, and during this time of pause, worshipers can also name persons in the silence of their hearts and minds. Please be assured that your prayerful intents and those of the whole worshiping assembly are heard by God.

Pastoral Care for Emergencies and Other Needs

Pastor Amy Feira has graciously agreed to be on call for members of the congregation to contact in case of pastoral emergency and other pastoral needs through the month of December. She may be reached at: (703) 303-9388 and/or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Other Announcements?

Alexandra Mattson, the editor of our now quarterly Steeple Light newsletter, is now also serving as the editor of our Weekly Announcements messages, working closely with Council President Glen Mason. If you have any items that you wish to communicate in the Weekly Announcements as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please send them via email to both This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by late Wednesday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Thursday. Thanks!