O Holy Night

Can You Imagine?

CAN YOU IMAGINE

Can you imagine
how it would feel
to a homeless woman
who has spent months
or years sleeping on the streets
or mats at the city shelters
to finally have
a home of her own?

Can you picture the look
of wonder on her face
when she opens the door of
a brand new apartment
and says "This is mine"?

Can you imagine her
sleeping for the first time
in her own bed,
feeling really truly safe at last?

Multiply that 60 times.

Check out the Florence House, the new shelter in Portland that will do exactly what this poem talks about, when it opens in March. Then consider making a financial contribution this year, to help those who really need it. Checks can be made payable to New Light (with Advent Conspiracy in the memo line) or online here.

Advent Conspiracy Video

I've watched this video 10 times, and it doesn't stop being meaningful. Watch it, and pass it on.






This Christmas consider making a financial contribution to help those who really need it. Checks can be made payable to New Light (with Advent Conspiracy in the memo line) or online here.

Blood: Water Mission

Did you know that $1 can provide water for a year for a sister or brother in Africa? We have decided to give half of the money raised through Advent Conspiracy to Blood:Water Mission, an organization dedicated to empowering communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crisis in Africa.

Blood:Water Mission promo video from Blood:Water Mission on Vimeo.

Blood: Water Mission funds full-scale programs in iWASH: Integrated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. This approach is critical as community behavior changes in hygiene and sanitation practices have the potential to more than triple the health impact of clean water alone. While each program is unique according to the cultural, environmental, and political climate in which it's implemented, every program is built around core principles in community empowerment. To date water technologies used in Blood: Water Mission projects include drilled wells, rain catchment, spring development, gravity flow, and biosand filtration.

Through the efforts of many generous supporters, Blood:Water Mission has completed 859 water projects, in 11 countries, changing the lives of over 570,000 people. They have also opened 3 clinics, tested 18,000 people for HIV/AIDS, and served over 22,000 people.

This Christmas, consider making a financial contribution to help those who really need it. Checks can be made payable to New Light (with Advent Conspiracy in the memo line) or online here.

Christmas Eve Worship Celebrations

Thursday, December 24

4:00 pm

Candelight Worship celebration at Hope.Gate.Way. (185 High Street, Portland), with coffee, hot chocolate, Christmas cookies, and hot appetizers starting at 3:30 pm. Join us and help us extend hospitality to our neighbors.

6:00 pm

"Under the Night Sky" -- a starlight and candlelight worship celebration outside at Congress Square, corner of Congress Street & High Street. It could be a bit chilly, so make sure you bundle up!

Both of these Christmas Eve celebrations will be filled with wonderful music and all the joy of the Christmas story. Christmas Eve is the perfect time to invite family members and friends to join you to share this special night. Who will you invite?

Christmas Fun at Monument Square!

Sunday, December 20th
2-5pm at Monument Square

This is an event you won't want to miss! We'll hang out at Monument Square for the afternoon, next to Portland's giant Christmas tree, with horse & carriage rides coming and going. We'll sing Christmas carols, give out FREE coffee and hot chocolate (yes, with marshmallows) to our neighbors, and construct a community project, inviting passersby to reflect on their hopes and prayers for the world and add them to a big cardboard tree. We'll also distribute postcards announcing our Christmas Eve worship gatherings. It's going to be awesome, and we need as many people from New Light to be there as possible, to spread good cheer and meet new friends!

Florence House

We have decided to give half of the money we raise from Advent Conspiracy to a local project called Florence House, a project of Preble Street. Florence House will provide safe, supported permanent housing to chronically homeless women in Portland, Maine.

The building will include three types of housing designed to offer options to 60 women including:

• Efficiency Apartments for individuals who are ready to manage independently.
• A Safe Haven to provide a permanent private living space for chronically homeless women who are not quite ready to maintain their own apartments and who may, with support, begin to develop trust, self-assurance, and skills to become more independent.
• A small number of Emergency Beds for immediate, short-term housing for women who are temporarily homeless because of an economic or situational crisis.

The Florence House model is based on approaches to homelessness and chronic mental illness that have emerged nationally as key strategies for ending homelessness.

Consider making a financial contribution this year, to help those who really need it. Checks can be made payable to New Light (with Advent Conspiracy in the memo line) or online here.

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

December 17th-5:30pm
at Allen and Sara's house (31 Sheffield St. Portland)

Our annual community Christmas Party is going to be a blast! We'll get together at Allen & Sara's house for a potluck dinner (bring an appetizer, salad, side dish, or dessert to share if you can). As usual we'll have a Yankee Swap, but the rules are very strict: do not buy anything. Make it, bake it, or regift it, but do not spend money on your Yankee Swap gift.

This year the fun gets even better: we're adding an UGLY SWEATER component. We are asking all party guests to wear your ugliest sweater. Feel free to be creative (you could always embellish if you don't have an ugly seater) or visit Goodwill to get a cheap one. This will be super fun if we all agree to be ridiculous together, and just think of all the awesome pictures we will get! Oh, and yes, there will be a fabulous prize for the ugliest sweater.

Feel free to invite all of your friends over for this exciting event, and remember, no regularly scheduled LIFE groups next week... just one big party on Thursday! Bring a friend. Bring a neighbor. Bring your great-aunt Bertha. Or just bring yourself. But one way or the other, make sure you're with us for this festive event!

Advent Conspiracy 2009

We are issuing a challenge to members of New Light and Chestnut UMC to celebrate Christmas more simply, this year by spending less on Christmas gifts for friends and family -- and then to match that amount, dollar for dollar, with a gifts to people who really need it. With a little help from Advent Conspiracy, we are encouraged to spend the season worshiping fully, spending less, giving more, and loving all.

We are focusing our efforts this year in two different ways:
First, a local project, to help Florence House, the new Women's Shelter opening in Portland, by furnishing an apartment. Florence House, a program of Preble Street, will provide safe, supported permanent housing to chronically homeless women in Portland.

Secondly, a global project, Blood:Water Mission is partnering with groups and individuals to empower our sisters and brothers in Africa to build healthier communities through sustainable clean blood and clean water solutions. Since 2004, Blood:Water Mission has completed 617 water projects delivering clean water, hygiene, and sanitation training to 460,000 people while helping to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Did you know that $1 provides one year of clean water for our sisters and brothers in Africa? Let's see how many people we can help this holiday season.

When you're ready to make your contribution, just make a check out to New Light, clearly marking "Advent Conspiracy" on the memo line. Or if you'd like to make your gift online using a credit or debit card, you can do that here... Just scroll down and make your gift in the "Advent Conspiracy" category.

Join the Conspiracy! And remember, matching your Christmas spending dollar for dollar is the challenge, but it is not an all-or-nothing deal. Set a goal and try to reach it, and honor Christ by helping people in need this holiday season.

Sara Groves Christmas Concert

"O Holy Night"
Sara Groves in Concert
Manchester, NH
Sunday, December 6 - 6 pm

We're going as a group to this Christmas concert with Sara Groves on Sunday, December 6, leaving Portland at 3:15 pm, and stopping for a quick dinner along the way. Tickets are $15, but if you can't swing that, just let us know and we'll make it work for you.

Want to go along? Great! Contact Erica right away to reserve your ticket.

Check out Sara Groves here.

Sara Groves 2009 Christmas Tour Video from Sara Groves Music on Vimeo.