Our four-week Advent worship series, Take Me To The Alley, is rooted in the lectionary readings from the Gospel of Matthew. There are a number of ways to Reach in Love as we move toward Christmas this year at The Table:
- Tubman House: Brief biographical information on families from Tubman House will be in the Sanctuary again this week. Invite your Kitchen Table to take a card on Sunday and add one of these families to their Christmas shopping lists. Please bring wrapped gifts to the Sanctuary by Sunday, December 18.
- Winter Sanctuary: We’ll host around 100 unhoused guests this year for Winter Sanctuary from December 25 – January 1. Here is a link to make donations. Here is a link to sign-up for helping with a shift or a few shifts over the week. If you have any troubles with the Winter Sanctuary sign-ups, please contact Dorothy Lingren at [email protected].
- Habitat for Humanity’s Build for Unity: Our team is full for December 10. If you’d like to reach in love with Habitat, sign-up on our website (thetableumc.org) to join us on Saturday, January 14.
All are invited to track spending on family & loved ones this Christmas and then match the amount spent on families & loved ones by generously giving to reach in love to those beyond our own circles.
Take Me To The Alley
November 27: Watch (Matthew 24.36-44)
December 4: Turn (Matthew 3.1-12)
December 11: See (Matthew 11.2-11)
December 18: Dream (Matthew 1.18-25)
5pm & 11pm Candlelight Christmas Eve: Luke 2
9:30 AM Christmas Day & New Year’s Day (ONE WORSHIP ONLY)
Take time to listen to our theme song for this Advent series. Gregory Porter’s Take Me To The Alley.
Read Matthew 3.1-12. In the ancient world, much like today, power was concentrated in cities, yet John the Baptist appears in this story in the wilderness. John is an obscure prophet who dwells in the margins of his day, in the alleys. John’s witness draws the people of Jerusalem (the city) and all Judea to the margins, to the alley of the wilderness. John’s life on the periphery would have been a dramatic challenge to the religious and political leaders from the center of Jerusalem.
Where are the margins, or alleys, in your own life? When over the last week have you been drawn to turn toward the margins and what was your experience like?
Immanuel, God with us,
surprise us as we prepare for Christmas.
Call us to the alleys.
Take us to the afflicted ones,
to the lonely ones.
Let us all hear you say
You are our friend.
All are invited to your table.
Amen.