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Join us for our church services during the season of Christmas! On Christmas Eve, Saturday at 7pm, we will have a traditional telling of the Christmas story, complete with hand-held candles and singing many Christmas Carols.

Christmas morning is Sunday, this year, so we will be having a service at 10am as we always do. Lucky for us, it is the last Sunday of the month, and therefore, as is our tradition, it is a “Child Within” service. There will be storytelling, a game of Christmas Bingo, and a by-request Christmas Carol sing-a-long!

New Year’s Day is also a Sunday this year, so we will be holding our regularly scheduled service at 10am. Being the first Sunday of the month, it is a more formal communion service. What better way to start the new year than by celebrating communion together? Castlegar United Church practices an open table, so all are welcome to partake.

Christmas is not all merry and cheerful. For those who have lost loved ones or have had other traumatic life changes like divorce, health challenges, or loss of jobs, it can be tough. The season can be a reminder of our grief. We can’t be happy and “ho ho ho” every single minute. In the darkest part of the winter we gather to acknowledge these hard parts. We make space for our grief and reach out for healing to God and to one another at this Longest Night/Blue Christmas, Tuesday December 20 at 6 pm with candle lighting, readings, singing and prayer.

Imagine being homeless, cold, and out on the streets all day. At last, evening comes, and the shelter opens. They have a bed for you tonight! You come in, your clothes soaked with the day’s snow. Your backpack, too, is damp and your few possessions inside don’t include any clean, dry clothes. What you really need is a warm pair of pajamas.
Now think about yourself. Your real life now. Are you getting new pajamas for Christmas? Do you have a drawer full of old pajamas that are still in good shape? Do you have ones you bought on sale but never actually wore? Our local shelters have said they could really use some cozy pajamas to give people when they come in out of the cold.
That’s why this month’s challenge is a Pajama Drive! Thank you to all who contributed socks to our recent “Socktober” challenge. The folks at the shelters really appreciated it. Let’s see if we can warm some bodies as well as feet with some nice, warm pajamas. You can drop your new or gently used ones off at the church in the bin just inside the main entrance and we will take them to the shelters.