December 24, 2021 - Advent Devotion
Tonight:
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!
A most blessed Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin
Mother and child
Holy infant
So tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
“And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. .... “For to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.””
"Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. ..."
On that night before Christmas, all appeared to be so silent, so quiet, and yet so much was about to happen.
This is the night!
Maybe all through the house, not a creature was stirring, but on that first night before Christmas, God was stirring, getting ready to break the silence. All appeared quiet, and yet so much was about to happen.
God was stirring among the streets of Bethlehem. God was stirring in a little stable. God was stirring out and about in the fields. Heaven and nature were about to sing like never before; God's grace was about to stir up the world! This will be a sign for you!
This is the night!
God's grace is delivered. God's grace is delivered on a silent night. God's grace in a holy infant, sleeps in heavenly peace. Yet God's grace is not silent, heaven and nature sing out as one, and God's grace will not be silenced. God's grace is not silent as it silences all else that makes noise. God's grace makes all else still, and yet God's grace was not about to be still. God's grace stirs us up as heaven and nature sing! This will be a sign for you!
May you and your loved ones be at heavenly peace in The Gift wrapped so perfectly in swaddling cloths, delivered to you! May all your guilt and worry and uncertainty be silenced in all that is calm and all that is bright, for God's grace this holy night, for all eternity, will not keep silent! Heaven and nature sing; this will be a sign for you!
An extended devotion for God's children of every age:
A book that finds its way to the shelf and to the lap each year is the classic, Santa And The Christ Child. In the story, the Christ Child as a young man helps with the final preparations around the north pole and then Jesus makes the big trip with Santa to deliver all the presents. As the final gifts are delivered, the Child with his true identity unknown to Santa asks to make one more stop, to show Santa where he was born. As Santa sees the manger, he is humbled by the awe of the manger and the presence of the Christ who has been in his midst all the time, the One in whose spirit Santa has always intended to give, to give in the spirit of The Greatest Giver of all, and the best gift of all.
For children of God of every age, the long awaited day is here, to be humbled before the manger and to once again receive the greatest gift of all from The Greatest Giver of all. May others see the anticipation and God's joy to the world in our eyes. May others hear the excitement in our voices as we sing and tell others of the joy and grace that has come to us, away in a manger on a silent night, and yet in our midst all the time as heaven and nature sing. May The Christ Child tonight bring you what you have been hoping for. May The Christ Child tonight assure you once again all that God has delivered and given to you in Jesus.
Let us pray: Emmanuel, tonight is the night, when grace comes to life, when grace comes alive, when grace becomes flesh on this silent night, in The Holy Infant, so tender and mild, to stir me up anew. Quiet all that is stirring in my life, and yet, please do not be silent on this night. Christ Child, thank you for being The Greatest Giver of all. Give me again, the gifts I am hoping for most: To sleep in heavenly peace, to believe anew like a child, to see you and your grace are in my midst, alive and on the move, never to be silenced. In your perfect gifts perfectly delivered by you alone, in Christmas, in every sign, in The Sign, of your grace, I, too, am alive. All is calm, all is bright, heaven and nature sing as one, and I pray. Amen.
