December 21, 2021 - Advent Devotion
This Week:
Christmas Eve - Drive Through Communion - Friday, December 24, 2021, 3:00pm-3:30pm
With the busy schedule (and busy parking lot) following worship on Friday, we have moved our Drive Through Communion to BEFORE worship for this service. Pull up in front of the building or in the pull-around loop and someone will be masked and out to serve you!
Festive Christmas Eve Worship - Friday, December 24, 2021, 4:00pm
Worship includes carols, a children’s message, communion, candlelight, reading of “One Solitary Life”
Worship is available in person or on Facebook for Lord of Life LIVE
A friendly reminder that our ministry is requiring masks inside our building through at least early January.
RSVP for Lord of Life LIVE using the link below! Be sure to click or tap the “interested” or “going” button to be notified when we go live!
Past Service
The Fourth Sunday in Advent, Sunday, December 19, 2021
Join us on the rewatch for this past week’s service where we lit the last candle on the Advent Wreath in preparation for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It came upon the midnight clear
That glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold
"Peace on the earth
Good will to all
From heav'n's all-gracious king."
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
“When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.”
Today is the shortest day of the year. The fewest hours of sunshine. The least amount of light. Our day today is between the two longest nights of the year, the most amount of darkness.
At times, our days can feel short, and our nights can feel so long. We long for light, and yet, the darkness feels like it is all around us. It is in the darkness that we need light, some light, any light. Please take careful note of this point: No matter how dark it is, any light at all allows one to get through the darkness, any light at all means it is not "completely" dark.
Joseph had every right to feel in the dark when Mary broke the news to him that she had been visited by an angel, that she had now conceived, that she was carrying The Son of God. How Joseph could even sleep is a mystery, now he is awakened, not in the dark, given an angel's command, and he goes forward trusting what must have felt like barely enough light. Soon he would know The Light, The Brightest Light, and he would name him Jesus.
It came upon the midnight clear, at the darkest point of the night, heaven and nature sing anew! In that darkness, Heaven's All-Gracious King provided just enough light: Peace on earth, Good will to all!
Even in the joy and hope and promise of Advent and Christmas, the world and our lives and our spirits can so easily feel lost in the darkness. May The Light of the world provide you and your loved ones with enough light this year to know and believe you are not completely in the dark, to surrender to the truth Isaiah prophesied, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it," to find assuring hope in the light that shines bright in the One who rules the world with truth and grace! May you name this hope, this Light, this grace: Jesus!
Let us pray: Light of the world, shine on me and my life and my spirit today. The world and circumstances can overwhelm me with darkness. Help me through the darkness. Not every midnight is clear; I can be overwhelmed; I long to hear your angels sing. Assure me each and every amount of your light overcomes my every darkness. Shine on me with your gift of peace, that like Joseph, I may go forward trusting I am never completely in the dark, for heaven and nature sing. In the name of Jesus, The Light, I pray. Amen.
