Remember To Reach Out

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SECOND’S GAZETTE STAFF Nadine O. Harris, MBA, Founder/Publisher Ferrari Y. Green, Production and Design

Editors:

Remember To Reach Out

Sharon Durall, Jaylyn Harris, Kathy Jackson Sherry Joiner, Operations and Distribution

Contributors Peggy LaBon, Lois Gaston, Jessie Anderson, Vanessa Jenkins, Vera Reeves, Betty Thomas, Felicia Dickson, Keith D. Holmes, Judy McCulloch, Donna Burke, LaTricia Brown

Photographers: Adele Davis, Jerel McLendon

Children’s Church Consultant: Avian Westby

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or many people, the holidays bring sorrow, grief and stress. If you’re hurting, turn to Jesus and his power. Learn from the woman who, desperate to be healed, reached out to touch the edge of Jesus’ robe and was immediately cured.

Sometimes we think our healing process will be so exhaustive that we hesitate to take the first step. Or we doubt that Jesus still performs miracles. Amid your pain, have you reached out? Have you dared to touch Jesus’ robe? He is there, waiting to say: “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34, NIV).

Newsletter Newsletter

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Need Prayer

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Laughing Pew

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Supporters/Movie/Birthday

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December Reading

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Mrs. Lula’s Page

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FEATURES

Church Etiquette A Christmas Memory

Health Care

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NEED PRAYER, call the church office and obtain the telephone number of the Deacon according to the first letter of your last name (See below). If your name starts with ...

A Call Robert & Jessie Anderson B Dennis & JoAnne Craig, or Betty Brown or Rodney Bough C A.G. Harrison, or Shirley Robinson, or Larry & Deborah Hayes D James Harvey or Venda Hawkins E/F Ron & Lavonne Husband or Adrienne Hurst G Minnie Mannings or Valeria Burwell or Ellen Clark H George & Tamara Lewis or Thelma Jones I/J Ellis & Thelma Johnson or Eva McLaurin or Walter McDonald K/L/N/O/T Terrence Williams or Lonnie & Josephine Stokes M Chuck Williams or Melva Hill P/Q Carrie Walker or Nadine Harris R/S Larry Willis or Oscar Woodard U/V/W/X/Y/Z Robert Hamilton or Ron Demps or Michael Dickson

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The Laughing Pew TM

WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM Matthew 2: 1-12

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Merry Christmas to all!

Whether or not you know Jesus Christ as the Son of God, I pray your season is full of joy and laughter, family and fun. I pray that your life will return to the direction it was going before the pandemic, or if you’re going in a new direction now, that it is even better than the former. (Evangelism) God wants the best for His people, and He is willing to help you meet your goals.

He will not withhold any good thing from us, and His plan is that we do well and prosper and help others along life’s journey. He is with you, speaking to you, if you’re listening.

I say this because I’ve seen the Hand of God work in so many people’s lives until it’s overwhelming to contemplate the miracles that are still taking place in our world today.

Many of you can say, “Me too!” in seeing and having miracles happen with either your life or someone close to you. God is no respecter of persons, if He did it for you, He’ll do it for others too. He’s Good like that! So please don’t overlook the miracles happening in your life this Christmas Season.

Now that we’re seeking miracles this season, if the gift you wanted to purchase is still on a freight carrier at the port of Long Beach or somewhere unavailable to you, remember the miracle of saving money, spending less money, or maybe going out to the docks and imagine which freight has your stuff, which is another great money saver. (wink wink) Whatever you do for Christmas, remember to do it with the Love of Christ, the love of family and friends, and especially the love of sharing.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Peggy LaBon

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he church building was closed due to the pandemic which may have caused us to forget church etiquette, respect in God’s house and being respectful of other people in attendance. So on behalf of my fellow parishioners here are a few thoughts for consideration:

1. When the service starts, be polite to the pastor and those who came to listen. Find your seat and stop chatting. During the sermon, pay attention. God is watching and sees those who are walking around, yawning or checking their watches. It’s insulting and distracting. If you have trouble staying awake, try taking notes.

2. Put something in the offering, even if you tithe on a monthly basis or give online. If you are a visitor in the church, an offering is appropriate when the plate is passed. If you can’t give, God knows your heart.

3. Be still/quiet during prayer until finished. Stay in your seats/pews until the final song is over. Heading toward the exit after receiving communion or before the service ends is disrespectful to the worship leader, and very distracting to the other parishioners. Don’t walk out on God before His worship service concludes.

4. Turn off those cell phones. If you forgot, and your phone rings, don’t answer it. Push the off/vibrate button and go outside if it’s a call you have to answer.

5. If your baby won’t stop crying quickly, please take them to the restroom, nursery or cry room.

6. Finally, if you are coughing or sneezing continuously, out of love for the parishioners, please stay home.

In consideration of these thoughts of etiquette, God bless all you parishioners who are sincerely seeking an encounter with the Living Christ who come faithfully to church and respect the experience of others. Partake of the entire service, give regularly and cheerfully to the Lord’s work, and volunteer in some ministry within your church. You are the backbone and life blood of your congregation. The Lord sees your faithful service, and will indeed reward your efforts.

Let all things be done decently and in order. I Corinthians 14:40 KJV

—Second’s Gazette

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WELCOMES DONATIONS OF ANY SIZE Please make checks payable to

Second Baptist Church Second Baptist Church Diakona Nadine Harris John P. Harris, Sr. Lady Betty G. Dillard Mother Deloris Bridges Sherry Joiner Marcus & Ferrari Green Elder Robert Craig Dr. John & Apryl Harris Diakona Larry & Debra Hayes Ophelia M. Harris Diakona Carrie Walker Mother Mary Bourne Pastor James & Brenda Walker Diakona Mother Melva Hill Diakona Lonnie & Josephine Stokes

Donations can be dropped off at the SBC Bookstore.

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ax Mercer, a mischievous and resourceful young boy, has been left behind while his family are in Japan for the holidays. So, when a married couple attempting to retrieve a priceless heirloom sets their sights on the Mercer family’s home, it is up to Max to protect it from the trespassers and he will do whatever it takes to keep them out. The reboot promises hilarious hijinks of epic proportions, and despite the absolute chaos. Max eventually comes to realize that there really is no place lie home sweet home.

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here are many of you … who think to yourselves: “If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby! I would have washed his linen.

How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manger!”

Yes, you would! You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time, you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. … Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ himself.

—Martin Luther

The Greatest Gift-Giver

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hen we give each other Christmas presents in [God’s] name, let us remember that he has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans — and all that lives and moves upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused. And to save us from our own foolishness, from all our sins, he came down to earth and gave us himself.

—Sigrid Undset

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Joy Amid Suffering

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nly Matthew records the holy family’s “flight into Egypt,” linking Advent with Lent and Christmas with Good Friday. In an article titled “Joy to the World/Pain in the World,” James I. Cook expresses gratitude that Matthew documents the slaughter of the innocents: “I turn to it again and again, when someone I know loses a loved one at the height of the Christmas season. It helps me — and I hope it helps them — to remember that theirs are not the first tears to fall on Christmas; to recall that there has never been a Christmas of pure peace and happiness; [to recognize] that ‘joy to the world’ has always been sung to the accompaniment of much ‘pain in the world.’”

—adapted from Homiletics

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hristmas is a special time of year! I wanted to make this Christian Hip Hop Praise, special and take it back to where music started for me. Music started right here with this woman, Doretha Mae Hill, my grandma or as I called her, Momaw.

It started on Thanksgiving, with The King of Christmas himself, Nat King Cole playing loudly throughout the house. Oftentimes, the first snow had fallen and I watched through the window as I smelled the tantalizing aromas of special dishes I only got once a year.

Those lessons in the kitchen surpassed just the recipes. They were the life lessons, the conversations of how to treat others, how to fight when life gets you down. I remember one conversation, how to keep your husband. I laugh now because I wasn’t even 10 yet, but I guess I remember. ( I got a husband Momaw!) But most importantly the love we shared that death can not take away. Although my Momaw passed when I was 10, only 4 days before our favorite holiday, Christmas.

Those conversations are still fresh in my mind and have traveled with me over 3,000 miles from West Virginia to California. They have stood the test of time, 25+ years. They have embedded themselves in the memories of my own children as I cook holiday meals and begin to decorate the fireplace and stairs the day after Thanksgiving. So as you go into your holiday season and think of those we lost, remember the good times you had and try to give the next generation the love and good memories those special people gave to you during such a special times as this, CHRISTMAS. Music is a wonderful soul-stirring gift, but not until I hear, Nat King Cole’s, “White Christmas” does it feel like Christmas.

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Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Matthew 25:34:-36

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So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. ~ I Corinthians 3:7-9

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3 John 1:2: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

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e have certainly had our hands full over the past year and a half, dealing with the Corona-19 Virus pandemic. We have embarked on influenza Season also known as (flu). According to the CDC” the flu season occurs in the fall and winter months in the United States”. Anyone can catch influenza (flu), but there is certain age groups and vulnerable populations that are considered high risk for catching this virus. According to the World Health Organization” individuals - 65yrs or older, young children and pregnant women are at risk”. Individuals with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, immunocompromised, heart disease, Asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder are considered high risk”. This information does not replace the advice from your Health Care Provider. Please consult your Health Care Provider, they will advise you on what is best based on your health history.

What is the influenza? also known as the flu: This is a contagious viral infection; symptoms are like a cold but usually worst and last longer. There are up to four types of seasonal influenza. The most common types of influenza virus are type A and type B. Influenza B is most common and is spread from human to human.

This contagious virus can spread to others up to about 6 feet away. This virus travels through the air in droplets. It can spread by coughs or sneezes, touching doorknobs or other unclean surfaces, kissing, or sharing drinks, by handshakes or hugs. This virus is most contagious in the first 3-4 days after the virus enters the body. Are you aware you can pass the flu virus on to someone else before you realize you have the flu?

Symptoms may include: *Fever is usually continuous, but it may come and go. Fever may be lower in older adults than in children and younger adults. When fever is high, other symptoms usually are more severe. *Body aches and muscle pain (often severe), commonly in the back, arms, or legs. *Headache. *Pain when you move your eyes. *Fatigue, a general feeling of sickness (malaise), and loss of appetite. * nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may occur in children * dry cough, runny nose, and dry or sore throat. *. If you feel you are experiencing a medical emergency such as persistent shortness of breath or chest pain that does not go away, you may need to call 911.

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Treatment: Flu Vaccines are made to protect against the influenza viruses. The flu can be treated with “antiviral drugs”.

You must notify your Health Care Provider as soon as you develop flu symptoms. Treatment with use of antiviral drugs is time sensitive. According to the CDC”. Studies show that flu antiviral drugs work best for treatment when they are started within two days of getting sick”. Antiviral medications require a Physician prescription, this is not an over-the-counter medication. Antibiotics are not used to treat a viral illness and will not help cure a viral illness. Individuals need only 1 dose each flu season. There are standard inactivated flu vaccines that are approved for people as young as 6 months of age, as well as high does inactivated vaccine approved for people 65 years and older” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. If you have allergies to egg product or have had an allergic reaction to this vaccine in the past, please discuss these issues with your care provider. Your Health Care Provider can select the best vaccine for your situation.

Simple Preventive Actions: 1. Avoid close contact. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

2. Stay home when you are sick.

3. Cover your mouth and nose, use a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

4. WASH your hands soap and water.

5. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth, wear a mask.

6. Practice other good health habits i.e. Maintain a proper diet, drink plenty of fluids, exercise, get plenty of rest, disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home and work, especially when someone is ill. Manage your stress.

7. Get vaccinated!

If you develop symptoms of the flu and are at risk for complications contact your care provider for medical advice.

In conclusion, this is just touching the surface of Influenza symptoms, treatment, and prevention. Most will recover from the flu; some may develop complications. The best way to reduce your risk and possible complications, get vaccinated! It is our responsibility to protect ourselves and others against the spread of disease. Let’s commit to maintaining healthy lifestyles, seeing our Health Care Providers regularly and staying up to date on all vaccines. Be good to yourself, you will be a blessing to others. God Bless you.

Reference: https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/health-encyclopedia https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/actions-prevent-flu.htm https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/communicable-diseases/influenza/seasonalinfluenza

Anita J. McCulloch, BSN, RN

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Bibles, All Occasion Cards, Gifts, Children’s Books, Big Bible Cover Selection, Large Print and Extra Large Print Bibles, Life Application and Study Bibles, Children’s Bibles, Candles, Jewelry, Devotionals. Purse and Credit Card Holders Special Orders and beautiful imprinting, Gift Wrapping 2BC T-shirts, Customized Tees Wheel Chair Accessible

Where’s your Gladness?

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing” Psalms 100:2

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very day we should find a reason to give the Lord thanks.

He is worthy of all the glory and the honor. This is a time of season where emotions can set in and sadness knocks on your door ready to take over with a quickness.

Gladness, how does one know gladness? Is gladness a decision one chooses? Can you choose within your heart to be glad? The Psalmist commands when we worship the Lord, we should worship with joy and gladness. Sometimes there are situations where gladness seems impossible to achieve when our souls are burdened and heavy. Sometimes life can throw you nothing but curves. We can be glad because we know that the Lord is God. Just the thought of knowing that when all else fails--GOD never Fails.

So, rejoice in the Lord and be Glad in It.

Buttafly Burke

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