Dear Peace members and friends,
Thanksgiving Day is past and, all of sudden, Advent and Christmas are upon us. This year, with the 4th Sunday of Advent on Christmas Eve Day, we decided to jump ahead on many church calendars and begin Advent this coming Sunday. I love Advent; the promise and hope in it. I love the weeks of preparation. I love the anticipation of the celebration of Christmas. Advent in church begins with the hymn, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” The hymn has a deep, full melody that goes all the way back to the chants of the 4th century. The hymn also reminds us of something important: that the story of Christmas we are about to retell and the event we are about to celebrate again did not happen last week. The hymn reminds us that it is a story of waiting, waiting thousands of years before the event, and waiting now for its completion. “Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand…” the hymn begins. We stop and begin to ponder again the coming of God in the flesh: Jesus Christ.
From that opening hymn, we’ll light the first candle on the Advent wreath, I’ll have a children’s message, sing some more wonderful Advent hymns, and share in the Lord’s Supper around the altar.
We’ll also begin our Advent sermon series: “Heaven and Earth.” In the season of Advent, we recall and celebrate the God who has, in the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem, come to us. Jesus’ name means. “God saves,” which is a Bible way of saying that Almighty God has turned toward us. God is not restricted to heaven. God stoops toward us, showing up when we least expected it and in ways that surprise us. We celebrate the life-changing good news that God come and is coming, bringing “heaven to earth,”…..and changing everything! And Pastor Joe will have a message entitled: “Heaven and Earth: Prepare the Way of the Lord.”
Following worship in Adult Education, on this first Sunday of Advent, we’ll conclude our recent series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
My thanks to each of you who, last Sunday, made your financial pledge to God for the ministry of the church for the coming year. I am, and as a church we are, so grateful for each of you who had returned your pledge card. If you weren’t able to do this last Sunday and you are a member of Peace, you will receive a pledge card in the mail. Please prayerfully consider a pledge. Thank you ahead of time for making a financial commitment to God to support the church’s ministry in the coming year.
Join me for Advent this year, beginning on Sunday. Advent celebrates and anticipates God’s ultimate victory over all that denies or destroys life. “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” continues: “King of Kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth he stood, Lord of lords in human vesture, in the body and the blood, he will give to all the faithful his own self for heavenly food.”
See you Sunday!
Mark