Advent
Pastor Heather and I shared our excitement about Advent in our Pastor Talk time last Sunday. We are looking forward to this special and holy season with you, Faith, even though it will look different this year than in any year previous.
What won’t change is the special experiences of worship and ritual that usher in the miracle of Jesus’ birth. This season always has an expectancy and hopefulness to it; this year is no different. What will change is our need to offer these experiences safely, keeping our distance as much as possible. For our households with kids, we are preparing Advent bags with lots of special ways to prepare your home and family for the season. Those will be delivered early next week. For all of our households, you’ll receive an Advent devotional in the mail next week also.
The theme for Advent is, “Incarnation: Rediscovering the Significance of Christmas.” Pastor Heather is resourcing our Sunday School classes as well as 3 new faith groups with curriculum and resources. If you want to join one of the new faith groups, sign up with this link. Advent sermons will follow the themes of this study through the last Sunday of the year, Dec. 27.
We’ll have two virtual events to mark the season. On Dec. 17 at 7:00 pm, we’ll be airing, “A New Christmas Memory,” on all three of our channels: website, Facebook, and YouTube. This service will feature many of our own musicians offering Christmas gifts to us through voice and instrument. On Dec. 24 at 7:00 pm, we’ll be airing our Christmas Eve service on those same three channels. At the conclusion of the streamed service, we’ll head to one of 8 locations for smaller, outdoor gatherings. We’ll share the light from the Christ Candle as we light our own candles and sing “Silent Night” together. The online service will be about 45 minutes long, allowing 15 minutes of travel time for the gatherings which are scheduled at 8:00 pm. Please note we are asking everyone to wear a mask at these gatherings.
We are offering a special Christmas bag to every household, Dec. 13-16. These bags will have your candles for Christmas Eve, song sheets for Silent Night, a list of the locations for our in-person gatherings on Dec. 24, and some other goodies we hope will bless you during the waning days of Advent. The bags will be available for pick up under the portico on the west side of our building, along with a yard sign we hope will be a way to invite others in your neighborhood to participate with us, virtually, on the holiest night of the year.
Finally, we are offering what’s known as a Blue Christmas Service on Dec. 20 at 7:00 pm. One day short of the longest night of the year, this service acknowledges the darkness some feel at this time of year. For those who’ve suffered loss in 2020, the joyfulness of the season doesn’t allow for their feelings of emptiness and grief. So, this time of worship makes space for these feelings while pointing us back to the hope we have through the miracle of Incarnation. Pastor Heather will lead this service on Zoom. You can contact her for the link.
I hope you will engage as many of these opportunities as possible this year. The season of Advent acknowledges our deep yearning for God’s touch to reach down and hold us close once again. We need it this year as much as we ever have. As we planned our special Advent celebrations, your staff was thinking about you and praying for God’s presence to be made real through each week of this beautiful season.
For those who are wondering where we are in our stewardship campaign, we’ll celebrate our Commitment Sunday this week, Nov. 22. We’ll offer a special prayer of blessing and consecration over those commitments we’ve received. If you haven’t returned yours yet, it is not too late. We put a first class stamp on all of the response card envelopes so you can easily drop it in the mail. Or, you can download a pdf of the commitment card, fill it out, and email it to Lori Burns. We appreciate everyone who has prayed over your commitment for next year and offered it with faith that God will keep the light on for us in 2021.
Looking forward to Sunday,
Pastor Charla
