Last Koinonia Cafe To Go for 2020. Our Wednesday takeout meal service will take a break after Dec. 9 and resume on Jan. 13, 2021. Thanks for making this effort so successful these past few months! It’s great to see you every week. Order and pay online by end of day Tuesday, then pick up your food at the church at lunch or dinnertime on Wednesday. Full instructions are online.
Hanging of the Green adapts for 2020, recalls 1918 – Sunday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m., via YouTube. “We’ve never done it this way before,” says Associate Pastor Doug Haney of this year’s Hanging of the Green. It should be no surprise that the 2020 version of the beloved service will be unlike any to come before. After all, it will be an online-only event. Haney calls it “a community effort for the community of faith.” The service, which premieres on YouTube Sunday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m., will include Wilshire’s music groups performing in virtual videos or socially distanced and outdoors. Plus, a series of dramatic vignettes written by Wilshire member Jeff Hampton will depict life in Dallas during the Spanish Flu of 1918. Read more.
Hopes & Fears Devotional Videos – Video reflections from Wilshire members on the Hopes & Fears theme will be released twice a week on social media channels or email beginning Tuesday, Dec. 1. If you would like to view these in an email, sign up here (for devotional videos via email).
Give Blood on Saturday, Dec. 5—Win a car. Thanks to a local car dealer, everyone who gives blood with Carter BloodCare during December will be entered to win a new car. And we all win by helping Carter maintain a healthy blood supply during the pandemic. Carter BloodCare will have a bus in Wilshire’s south parking lot on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Please consider signing up to donate. Thousands of blood drives have been cancelled since March, resulting in more than 52,000 lost blood donations. The minimum age to donate is 16, and those under 18 will need parental consent. The permission forms are located on the Carter website and will also be available onsite. Find out more.
Giving Tree and Virtual Giving Trees. As always, our Giving Tree will be adorned with gift tags representing the wishes of children and parents served by our mission partners. It will be located in the Narthex and you can make in-person selections on Sunday, Nov. 29, and Sunday, Dec. 6, from 1 to 5 p.m. while the Sanctuary is open for the Honest Advent Experience. The gifts for the Narthex Giving Tree are due back to the church by Dec. 9. A virtual Giving Tree will also be offered (See signups below.).Gifts are due back by Dec. 9. Gifts may be dropped off at the main church office during the Sunday Advent Experience, on Wednesday during Koinonia Café To Go pickup, or by arrangement with Abbey Adcox. Contact Abbey at aadcox@wilshirebc.org with questions or for more information.
- Dec. 9 Virtual Giving Tree Gifts for these children are due back to the church by Dec. 9.
Honest Advent Experience—Sunday afternoons during Advent. The Wilshire Sanctuary will be open for a guided experience each Sunday during Advent from 1 to 5 p.m. Each week, we will explore the weekly liturgical theme (Hope, Peace, Joy, Love) through art by Scott Erickson, Scripture, prayers and prompts for reflection. Each visitor will receive a postcard-sized print of one of the art pieces and a tapered candle to take home. You are encouraged to come all four weeks as materials will be refreshed weekly. The experience will take about 15 minutes to complete, and family units should move through the experience as a group. Read more here. Advance sign-up is required. Free. Sign up below (via SignUpGenius):
Cookies & Carols, Saturday, Dec. 12 at 4 p.m. Join us in person in the north parking lot for a safe social event with live Christmas music and treats packaged to enjoy on site or to take home. Free. Advanced registration required. Sign up here to attend.
Wilshire’s Got Talent – Holiday Edition. Videos due Dec. 9 • YouTube premiere Dec. 19. The streaming sensation of the summer is getting a wintertime sequel! So get your act together and sign up to perform in Wilshire’s Got Talent: Holiday Edition, our Christmas-themed virtual talent show. All kinds of holiday acts are welcome. You could sing or play a song, juggle some jingle bells, recite some Dickens or tap dance like Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Videos should be under five minutes long and cannot include copyrighted recordings or video. The big YouTube premiere is Saturday night, Dec. 19, and the deadline for submitting videos is Dec. 9. To RSVP as a performer, email Shana Gaines (sgaines@wilshirebc.org) for complete details and instructions.
WOW! Book Clubs
Wilshire’s Anti-Racism Book Club will discuss White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity by Robert P. Jones on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Register at wilshirebc.org/registration.
• Copies of Stakes Is High by Michael Waters are still available for purchase for the discounted price of $10. Waters, a local pastor and community leader, was featured on the Anti-Racism Book Club Zoom on Nov. 19. Purchase the book via the link at wilshirebc.org/registration or contact Abbey Adcox.
• The WOW! Tuesday Evening Book Club meets on Zoom monthly at 7 p.m. On Dec. 8, the group will discuss Fannie Flagg’s A Redbird Christmas. Contact Debby Burton at dburton@wilshirebc.org to sign up.
• The WOW! Brown Bag Book Club meets on Zoom one Thursday a month at noon. On Jan. 7, the group will discuss Sejal Badani’s The Storyteller’s Secret. Contact Abbey Adcox at aadcox@wilshirebc.org or Carolyn Murray at cmurray@wilshirebc.org to sign up.
Unified Budget Update
November gifts $315,861
November budget needs $328,000
YTD budget gifts $2,941,385
YTD budget needs $3,259,500
YTD budget income deficit $318,115
Start to Finish – Finish Strong in 2020