First Friday Art Walk

Friday, February 5th --5:00-8:00pm
at Hope.Gate.Way.

If you haven't checked out the First Friday Art Walk in Portland you have been missing out. On the first Friday of every month art galleries and other spaces open up to the community to view art, listen to music, and enjoy snacks and drinks. It's a great way to meet new people, and enjoy some great art in the city.

Come check out the new exhibit at Hope.Gate.Way. by Alicia Sampson, titled "I sail oceans in maps". This show features Sampson's creative projects from 2003 to the present. The works include: watercolor and gouache paintings; montage and collage Tower of Song posters; collages with photographs from Costa Rica; drawings from her Argentina travel journal; and an experiment in digital collage called Nature in Motion.

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.

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!

Quarters from Heaven

Allen shares some thoughts about Saturday's Random Acts of Kindness service day, here. Check it out.