Thurs. Dec. 24th – Interactive Online Christmas Eve Service

After the success of our last interactive Thanksgiving Service on Zoom, we have decided to hold our annual Christmas Eve Service together in the same way. We hope to have even more participants for this Christmas service. This will be a simple service with the reading of the Christmas story and featuring Christmas carols. We will gather at 4:45 pm and the service will begin at 5 pm. See below for the link to the online bulletin. To join the service, click the link below (you will need to have the Zoom app downloaded on your smartphone or computer). Or if you’d like to call in (audio only) please dial by location and then enter the meeting ID followed by the # sign. 

Zoom Link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85454762749


Dial by your location

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 854 5476 2749

FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE ONLINE WORSHIP BULLETIN BY CLICKING HERE!

UCC Christmas Fund Offering

During the month of December, Brookmeade will be collecting for the UCC Christmas Fund which has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the United Church of Christ for over 100 years by providing emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums, and Christmas “Thank You” gift checks each December to lower-income retirees. Over the past nine months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergency financial needs of many who serve the church have increased dramatically. In such a time as this, the need for the Christmas Fund is more urgent than ever. United Church of Christ congregations and members have blessed the Christmas Fund with their generosity for many years. This year, your care and compassion will be especially appreciated by those servants of the church who are facing a time of need. Brookmeaders who wish to contribute can send checks to the church with the memo: Christmas Fund, or if you give with Tithe.ly, you can designate “UCC Christmas Fund Offering” when you give online. Thank you!

For more information and a video from the UCC, click HERE.

Sign Up to help with the Brookmeade Christmas Pageant today!

Calling all Brookmeaders! This year’s Christmas Pageant, The Unicorn at the Manger, will be brought to your home virtually with “a little help from your friends”.

Please see your weekly email to read the script and find the link to sign up for your favorite character ASAP. Once you sign up, you’ll be asked to wear a simple costume that represents your character (items you have on hand are fine), read through your part (probably a few lines), and then we will record our parts together on a Zoom call (date and time TBA).

The Pageant will be aired during online worship on Sunday, December 20th. Thank you! Worship and Gathering Team

Learn & Grow Winter Schedule

We welcome everyone to join us Sunday mornings at 9:15 am for Learn & Grow: All Ages Sunday School! Please email brookmeade@comcast.net if you’d like the link to join our class.

Here are topics we will be discussing in the coming weeks!

December 6: Finishing discussion on “How to be an AntiRacist”.

December 13: How do we celebrate Advent?  A look at the messengers who bring us the Christmas story.

December 20: Christmas Memories: Come and share a special song, ornament, decoration, or memory of Christmas.

December 27: No Learn & Grow This Week

January 3 – February 7: The Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kin-dom of Heaven.

Sun. Dec. 6th: COW Offering

This Sunday we will be collecting our monthly C.O.W. offering to benefit Nashville’s Second Harvest Foodbank and Heifer International.

Nashville’s Foodbank has seen the same increased need for food as foodbanks around the U.S. during this pandemic. One in eight Middle Tennesseans struggle with hunger daily, and that includes  one in seven children in our region.

There is even more hunger in other parts of our globe. Heifer International continues to address global needs for people to be self-sustaining, including in parts of the United States. For example, if our total C.O.W. offering this month totaled $300, half of that would pay for Heifer International to provide an alpaca to an indigenous family in the Andes. Alpaca are the only grazing animals that do not harm the sensitive high-altitude environment in which they live. One alpaca will provide fiber for spinning and weaving or knitting items for sale as well as to wear, plus fertilizer for summer crops.

Let’s share the blessings we have received by sharing some of our wealth to feed and clothe others.

You can send a check to the church with the memo “COW Offering” or when you contribute online with Tithe.ly you can designate “COW Offering”.

Sun. Dec. 6th: Congregational Meeting

We have now had a series of four congregational meetings to discuss different options that have been proposed for Brookmeade’s future. During these meetings we have heard presentations about and discussed the four options that were sent out to the whole congregation through special emails. At their request, some members have received this information through the US Postal Service.

At the end of the most recent meeting, it was clear that many members are still not ready to have a formal vote on these options. As a result that meeting was continued to this Sunday, December 6 at 6:00 pm. The purpose of our meeting on December 6 will be for everyone present to share the spiritual, theological and moral reasons that move them to prefer one option over the others. How do you see God moving in and through Brookmeade at this time?  What do you sense as God’s continuing mission for Brookmeade? Sharing our answers to these fundamental questions in each others’ presence should help us feel part of one body of Christ as we make these important decisions.

You can find the link to the zoom meeting in your weekly email. Anyone unable to join via Zoom can call someone on staff or another member of the church to receive help participating through the Zoom phone line or by listening to the Zoom meeting on their phone. They should give a proxy to another member if they will not be seen in the meeting when we finally vote. A special email will be sent this Saturday with instructions on how to join the meeting and attached documents about the options we are discussing. 

We also expect to meet as a congregation on January 10, also at 6:00 pm.

Please keep reading your Beat under “Brookmeade Business” for updates on this important process.

December 2nd-10th: Donate Toys to the Last Minute Toy Store

Once again this year, we will continue our tradition of collecting toys for the “Last Minute Toy Store.” This project provides free gifts for children whose families are unable, for whatever legal or practical reasons, to access state financial benefits to supplement their income, which would otherwise entitle them to state help.

This “last resort” project distributes the gifts to qualifying parents in mid-December so they can plan additional holiday joy for their children. Since the project had to move from West Nashville, the Sheriff’s office has continued it through the South Nashville Police Precinct.

They are looking for donations of new toys, stocking stuffers, books, games, sporting goods, and arts & crafts!

Janet L. has offered to come pick up toys you can contribute at Brookmeade, and deliver them to the South Precinct. You can bring or send them to our office during Lauryn’s office hours (11am-1pm Wed. 12/2 or 12/9), or come say hello to Janet and deposit the items in her open trunk in our parking lot on one of the two Thursdays after Thanksgiving, Dec. 3 or 10, between noon and 1pm. If you can’t come mid-day yourself, see if a friend in the church can deliver for you, or call the office and leave a message to schedule another drop-off time.

Thank you to Janet for keeping the Brookmeade spirit alive in this way!

Sun. Dec. 20th: Youth Zoom Christmas Game Party!

We’re having a virtual youth Zoom party at the end of December!  The whole family is welcome to participate in this Zoom call alongside youth (we’ll play virtual Jackbox games). We will  have 8 people participating as “players” in Jackbox while everyone else is able to sign in on your phone as the “audience” while we watch the game unfold on Zoom.  It’s a great game with lots of options and it’s easy to catch on to!  The game allows for fellowship and fun!  Let us know if you plan to hop on the call (by emailing brookmeade@comcast.net) so we can expect you!