ADVENT
On Sunday, Nov. 26, we begin our observation of Advent with our Hanging of the Green service. This will be a combined worship service at 10:30 AM, with Sunday Morning Bible Study that morning at 9:15. Over the next four weeks, we will examine the hope, peace, love, and joy of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Advent is a season of preparation that helps us as a church to look forward to the celebration of Christmas, and beyond Christmas to the second coming of Jesus Christ. During this season we remember how our Savior humbled himself to be born and live among those He would save. We remember the perfect life he lived doing the will of His Father in the power of the Spirit, his sacrificial death on the cross for our sins, and how he was raised from the dead three days later, having paid the penalty in order to save all who would believe. Not only do we remember, we look forward to the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to return again one day and restore everything fully, to inaugurate his kingdom.
To help us remember Advent, for the next few weeks on Sunday mornings we will be going through 1 Kings 17, and how the ministry of the prophet Elijah helps us anticipate the great work of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. And then, on Christmas Eve, December 24, our anticipation of Christ’s appearance will be over, and we will celebrate the coming of our Savior to save us from our sins. December 24 will also be a combined service in the morning (at 10:30, with SMBS at 9:15), accompanied by our Christmas Eve candlelight service that evening at 5 PM.
Please know that I am praying for you during this Advent season, that God will help you see and remember who he is and what he is doing all around us in Jesus Christ. I am praying that God will help you have the peace he has purchased for you through his Son. I hope to see you all as we continue to gather in Christ, praising him for his tender mercy in giving us, his people, “the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77).
God bless,
