December 18, 2020 - Advent Devotion
Join us this Sunday, December 20 on The Fourth Sunday in Advent, as we share and celebrate a Christmas Eve Worship service including Carols, Communion, Candlelight, and “One Solitary Life.” Worship this Sunday, in-person and live stream, at 9:30 a.m.
As we follow the latest information and recommendations regarding gatherings, please join us in doing everything possible for the health of one and all! Please stay home, if you do not feel well, if you or someone close to you has been exposed, if you or someone close to you has been tested. We will keep you informed with further updates!
Thanks be to God for those who have given their time and leadership as we worship in our sanctuary, and as we together do everything possible to honor, serve, & care for one and all!
You will find more details below, including signing up for worship, signing up to volunteer, what to expect, and children's activity sheets. You can also access these details on our website and on our Facebook page!
Worship each Sunday will be a 30-minute service including live music by our worship leaders, a children's message and a message from Pastor Jamie. Holy Communion will be offered as the service ends. If you prefer, if your timing is better, from 10:15-10:30 a.m., you are invited to drive up to the curb of the sidewalk in front of the building, and receive Holy Communion in your vehicle.
Each Sunday we will make every attempt to live stream the service for you at 9:30 a.m.
We hope you join us for worship this Sunday! We look forward to seeing you soon!
We are nearing capacity for our Christmas Eve Worship, This Thursday, December 24, 4 p.m.
Join us next Sunday, December 27, for a special Christmas Day Worship experience! "Every Sign, Alive, Here, Now, Among Us!"
You can access our mobile-friendly bulletin for this Sunday, December 20, here.
You can access the bulletin for this Sunday, December 20, here.
You can access children's activity sheets for this Sunday here.
You can sign up to attend worship in December, including Christmas Eve here.
You can access details and what to expect as we share worship here.
You can access the signupgenius and ways to assist our services in December here.
You can give online to share your generosity and support here.
Said the night wind to the little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
(Do you see what I see?)
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
(Do you see what I see?)
A star, a star, Dancing in the night,
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite.
“Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’”
What part of the Christmas story do you like imagining? Do you ever wonder what Mary saw when the angel visited, or how Joseph felt when assurance was given? What do you think the Innkeeper saw in Mary and Joseph when they first arrived? What did he see in his stable that night? What was it like for the shepherds to see angels bring light to the night sky? How bright was the star the wise men followed?
Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? "This will be a sign for you!" Would we have seen and heard what they saw and heard that first silent night of grace alive among us?
The Pharisees sent a group of Jews, priests, and Levites to question John The Baptist. The Pharisees and this group that came questioning had already made up their minds what they would see and hear. Their eyes and ears were not about to open to see and hear signs of grace in John, through John.
Even when we make up our minds what we will most likely see and hear, may God's grace open our hearts and our eyes and our ears, to see, to hear, to make known, to witness, what requires no imagination only faith, what only God can deliver - hope in the grace of Jesus Christ!
Let us pray: Ever-present God, open my eyes and my ears and my heart this Advent and Christmas season to witness like the shepherds, to trust and to then make known, the good news of the greatest joy in every sign of your grace. As I imagine myself taking part in the Christmas story, break forth once again, and let me hear and see, what you long for me to hear and see, thanks to the first-hand miracle of your presence every day. In your name I see and hear You anew, as I pray. Amen.