BRANCHES December 2015

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SOUTHWOOD branches SESSION UPDATE We recently had the privilege of welcoming 18 new members (many pictured below) into the Southwood family. One of our greatest joys as a Session is getting to hear their stories and rejoice with them in God’s work in their lives. It is exciting to see the range of ages and life situations God has brought us in this group, and we look forward to serving Christ with these new members. Please join us in welcoming them and in thanking God for faithfully building his Church. God has also been at work through our Jobs for Life partnership, where we—along with several of our local partners—recently celebrated our first graduating class. We are looking forward to being able to come alongside a new group of students and develop more mutually life-giving relationships when we start another class in January. Holding classes such as these requires many volunteers from Southwood and the broader Huntsville community, so there are plenty of places you can get involved in January. The Session continues to be encouraged by God’s faithful financial provision for Southwood in this season. As has been typical for our congregation, though, we find ourselves needing a strong financial finish to the year in order to meet our budgeted income. Additionally, our Finance Committee has encouraged us to pray for God’s provision of a contingency fund so that we can proactively and wisely address capital repairs and improvements. If you have any questions regarding endof-year giving, you may contact our church administrator, Janice Crowson, at Janice.crowson@southwood.org. We particularly look forward to this advent season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior together. Join us on Sundays as we gather to worship the newborn King and Will preaches a Christmas sermon series on the identity of Jesus from Isaiah 9. You also won’t want to miss two of our favorite nights of the year: Fa La Lodge on the evening of Sunday, December 20, and communion services on Christmas Eve. WELCOME TO SOUTHWOOD Take a moment to welcome our newest members who joined Southwood on Sunday, November 22 From left to right: Elaine Hill, Casey and Lauren Still, Ken and Suzanne Comer, Danny, Rush, and Jordan Razook, Lana and Keith Barshinger, Sam Sheppard, Tom, Thomas, and Kate Austin, Thomas, Kelly, and Grace O'Connor, Brooke, Geoff, and Hayes Harriman (Not pictured: Austin Duncan, Lana Austin, and Erin Barshinger) 4 DECEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG
christmas family traditions by Nicole Lucas and Barbie Sumner, sisters The Lucas Family The Czura Family The Sumner Family Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year; somehow mom and dad made sure we knew it. The season began after thanksgiving with the ceremonious decorating of the Christmas tree. We used the same 5’ tree every year, the same passed down ornaments we made in grade school, the same wooden stars that mom bought in a flower shop in Germany. We laughed at our clothespin reindeers and glittered self-portraits, poking fun is one thing we sisters did best. The Beach Boys and Alvin and the Chipmunks played on loop until the whole house was covered in our version of Christmas joy. Mom had a handmade advent calendar that was stuffed with three chocolate kisses for each day, one for each of us. On December 5, we each would put one boot on the front porch for St Nicholas’ visit. If we had been good, we got candy and gifts in our boot! The house would smell like cookies, the three of us would help mom make a ton of different kinds in different shapes. We would give them to neighbors, teachers, friends, and even Santa Claus! We went to church on Christmas Eve; watched where Santa was on the evening news. We put out cookies and milk for Santa, with a couple of carrots for Rudolph. Then my sisters and I would all sleep in the same bed that night; giggling, singing carols, and talking until dad had enough. Our family was always quite close. Yet there was something about Christmas that made us even closer. At the Lucas home, we have traditions, too, that are starting to emerge. Although we cut down our own tree at a Christmas tree farm, we too do it the day after Thanksgiving. Some of my childhood ornaments are on our tree now. And even though we have homemade ornaments, each of our four kids choose a new ornament to add to the tree every year. We celebrate St. Nicholas day too, and anyone who knows me will tell you I love to bake! We have two little mischievous elves that Santa sends to ensure good behavior at the Lucas house. We have Friday family movie nights in December, where we all watch a Christmas movie together. We have a Jesse tree that goes through the Bible, relating it to the season, each story has an ornament we place on the tree together. We go to church on Christmas Eve, and we always have homemade cookies for Santa. At the Sumner home, we were blessed with our son Joshua a little over a year ago. It’s been fun to dream about what traditions we would carry on when we started a family. We are just now starting to carry those out. Each year just after Thanksgiving, we pack up the family and drive to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our very own Christmas tree. It was something special that Jonathan always did growing up. Each year we purchase an ornament to go on that tree that symbolizes a special moment that happened during the year. We always attend service on Christmas Eve. After, we cuddle up and watch the best Christmas Movie of all time—“Home Alone.” We are looking forward to new traditions that we plan to start by baking Christmas cookies for Santa and celebrating the season with mom’s German Advent Windmill. Most of all, I’m looking forward to reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to Joshua for his second year. It’s funny how a tradition is. How a smell of a cookie or a glimpse of a wooden star ornament could recreate a memory. Our mom passed away this year. Normally those things wouldn’t have stood out as much. It isn’t the tradition that really matters; it isn’t whether you have an elf on the shelf or you bake cookies. It’s about the feeling behind it, the love you feel from those moments. For our family, we won’t get to do those special traditions with our mom. Those memories that we still laugh about, we now adore as treasures we won’t experience again this side of heaven. We feel this awesome responsibility to pass them down to our children, so they will always remember how much they are loved, just by seeing a wooden Christmas tree ornament. After all, isn’t that the same way we feel when we see the cross? Christmas is about showing each other how much you are loved, because our Father loves us.
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Page 3: PASTOR’S NOTE What Child Is This?
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BRANCHES December 2015

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