The season of Advent begins on November 27th. This year’s theme is “Journey to Bethlehem”. A teenage girl and a twenty something young man were forced to make an arduous journey many years ago. Arriving in Bethlehem, shortly before the census was to begin, Jesus was born in a katalumna (Gr. “outbuilding”, usually translated as “stable”). Follow Joseph and Mary’s progress each week during worship. Hear about the journey through the spoken word and choir music. Join us on Sunday mornings at
8:30 and 11:00am unless stipulated below with the asterix*.
November 27th: The Annunciation
December 4th: Joseph of Bethlehem
December 11th: Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth
December 18th: From Nazareth to Bethlehem
*Saturday, December 24th, Christmas Eve
5pm, The Grumpy Shepherd (Children’s Christmas Eve)
This is a service designed for children, but adults are welcome too! Joram is one grumpy shepherd! He needs a new attitude. He needs a new perspective. Fortunately, he meets the Messiah who will give him more than that. Based on the book by Pattie Devon, this service will feature dramatic characters and carols. Communion will not be served at 5pm. Join us for a family-fun children’s worship service.
7pm and 11pm, This Will Be a Sign (Candles, Choir, Carols, and Communion)
The “incarnation” is the mystery whereby God became flesh in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-4 [show]John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (ESV)
). If we take seriously the thought of an all powerful God becoming manifest in a wrinkled and red baby, the only conceivable response might be to come and worship. Please join us at 7 or 11pm to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Lighting the candles reminds us that we are to go into
the world to bear witness to Christ’s birth. Join us for a traditional Christmas Eve worship service.
*Sunday, December 25th, Christmas Day (One Service Only)
10am, A Birthday Party for Jesus
The worship for the season does not end with Christmas Eve. There is more! Ready, set, go— cake, candles, Christmas carols, reflections from time honored members, and a message from our Lay Leader Susie Brown. Please join us in the fellowship hall. This type of service will only happen once every several years, so don’t miss it! Come celebrate the reason for the season with your church family on Christmas Day. Melody Harmon and Melinda Russell will coordinate the reflective testimonies. Susie Brown and Kathy Baccary will head up the refreshments for this true birthday party. Please contact them directly.
*Sunday, January 1, 2012 New Year’s Day (One Service Only)
10am, Covenant for a Holy New Year
What common thread is there among Noah, Abraham, and Isaac? What do Moses and Jesus have in common? Covenants, that’s what! God made covenants with or through each of these men and Jesus was the supreme expression of the covenant. In Matthew 22 [show]Matthew 22
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.' But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
"But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her."
But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living." And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
"'The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet'?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. (ESV)
the “new covenant” is proclaimed by Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and the sign of that covenant is Holy Communion. On the one hand, God has obligated himself to humans through the covenants. On the other, humans have a response that they can make to a gracious God.
Come participate in the time honored tradition of the covenant service on January 1. Copies of the covenant will be available through the adult Sunday School classes during the month of December. You are invited, and encouraged, to pray over the covenant prior to January 1. Let’s start the New Year in unity and love! Let’s embrace one another in the love that Christ has bestowed upon us and commit ourselves to doing His work in the world outside our doors! This commitment can only strengthen and reinforce our goals and sincerity as Christians.
