|
The Advent Season: A time of anticipation, a time of prayer.
The season of Advent is approaching quickly. It consists of the four weeks leading up to the Christmas season. It is a time of waiting and anticipation as we contemplate what it means to worship a God who makes a radical, life giving choice for humanity by becoming flesh, becoming vulnerable for our sake. As we await the birth of the Christ child, we pray that God’s promises will be fulfilled, that all our hopes and dreams for the world – peace, unity and love may become reality. And so we pray the words of the old hymn,
“Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us; let us find our rest in thee...
Born thy people to deliver, born a child, and yet a king;
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.”
We invite you to join together in anticipation and prayer as we begin the season of Advent on Sunday, December 2nd. As you know, we have been contemplating some changes around our Sunday worship schedule. The Church Council members and I are thankful for all of the thoughtful feedback we have received regarding our proposal to move from two worship services to one. We want you to know that we heard your affirmations as well as your concerns and, based on these, we have decided to implement a seasonal change. Beginning on the first Sunday in Advent (December 2nd) and continuing through Epiphany Sunday (January 6th), the worship schedule at Community of ChristChurch will be:
Worship - 9:30am
Faith Conversations - 10:45am
As stated above, this is a seasonal change. It is an opportunity to gather in unity and to refocus our gifts toward more effective ministry. And it is also another change for our community that brings with it varying degrees of discomfort for our members (as all changes do.) So, we will be looking for your continued feedback during this time as we live into this alternate schedule for these six weeks. We invite everyone to prayerfully ask himself or herself: What is God revealing in our hearts about this new schedule? What is God calling us to do and to be in this new year, as individual and corporate members of the Body of Christ?
During this Advent season, as we light the Advent candles and offer up our prayers of Hope, Peace, Love and Joy in worship each Sunday, we also invite you to join us during the Faith Conversations hour to participate in some engaging activities designed to help us connect our worship with our daily walk of faith.
December 2nd - Offering up Advent prayers of Hope, we invite you to gather in the Commons after worship to assemble Advent kits to take home and use for daily prayer and devotions, keeping hope alive in our daily lives.
December 9th - Offering up Advent prayers for Peace, we invite you to join us after worship for the Mission Fair, sponsored by our Service and Mission Team, to learn about some of the ways you can participate in making our corner of the world a more peaceful place for our neighbors.
December 16th - Offering up Advent prayers of Love, we invite you to assemble Kringle bags in the Commons, filling bags with food, warmth and love for our members to share with those who are in need during the holiday season.
December 23rd - Offering up Advent prayers of Joy, and as we fill our worship time with special musical offerings from our congregation, we invite you to gather in the Commons after worship to practice a few Christmas carols and take our Christmas cheer on the road, sharing the joy of Christ with folks living in care facilities in our area.
I look forward to worshiping, praying and serving with all of you during this Advent season as together we embody the Hope, Peace, Love and Joy of our Savior so that our surrounding communities might join in our celebration of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, born into the world, for the sake of the world!
God be with us all!
Pastor David
|
