Our four-week Advent worship series, Take Me To The Alley, is rooted in the lectionary readings from the Gospel of Matthew. We’ll have a number of ways to Reach in Love as we move toward Christmas this year at The Table:
1 Tubman House: Brief biographical information on families from Tubman House will be in the Sanctuary again this week. Take a card on Sunday and add one of these families to your Christmas shopping lists. Please bring wrapped gifts to the Sanctuary by Sunday, December 18.
2 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].
3 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.
Consider tracking your 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)
As we noted last week, John is an obscure prophet who dwells in the margins of his day. John’s witness draws the people of Jerusalem (the city) and all Judea to the the wilderness, to the alley. In the wilderness, John prepares the way for God and baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan. In these wilderness waters, John and the community begin to recognize something unique about Jesus. John and others see him as the Messiah that they have been waiting for. Our reading this week picks up John’s story after time has passed and John has been imprisoned. Read Matthew 11.2-11. Jesus was doing things that did not fit John’s idea of a Messiah. Jesus focussed on acts of mercy and love. This is not what John expected of the one who was sent by God to save him. Scholars believe this is what brought on John’s question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answers John’s doubt by essentially saying, “You have to decide on your own whether I am the real deal. What do you see?”
What have you seen in the world that makes you believe Jesus is for real? What evidence do you see in your own life that makes you believe Jesus is for real?