'advent' Tagged Posts
Toward Sunday
We have a number of needs for Winter Sanctuary. If you have not already done so, please consider signing up to work for a shift. We particularly need folks for setting-up from noon – 3:00 pm each day and for clean-up on January 1 from 6:00 – 9:00 am. Winter Sanctuary is a powerful way to celebrate the birth of God in an ancient alley by welcoming unhoused guests with hospitality and shelter from December 25 – January 1. Here is a link to…
Toward Sunday
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…
Toward Sunday
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…
Toward Sunday
We shift this week to a four-week Advent worship series called Take Me To The Alley. Our worship series will be rooted in the lectionary, an ancient collection of appointed readings from Scripture, 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. Our Christmas Offering will go to support an organization called Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH). CASH aims to be a picture of hope…
Toward Sunday
We celebrate the fourth week of our Advent worship series called Christmas Is Coming by turning to Micah 5.1-5. Our worship series has been rooted in the Hebrew Bible readings from the lectionary (collection of appointed readings) for this season & the fiftieth anniversary of Charles Schulz’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. This will be the final week in our preparation for the coming of Christmas. Thank you for watching over young mommies & their children in love this Christmas. Your generous and…
Advent Hymn.
Take a few minutes. Breathe. Listen. How might the Advent of God’s new reality be coming to you today?
Who needs love today?
“We can be certain of one thing: transformation into God’s image and God’s purpose requires that we pass through God’s refining fire. Being made holy is not a one-time deal; it is an ongoing process that continues until we are fully reconciled with Christ….The key idea to remember is that we pass ‘through’ and do not remain in the fire.” Okoro, Enuma. Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent. Nashville: Upper Room, 2012. 65. It is a powerful metaphor…
Hope is the thing with feathers…
Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I’ve heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me. ~Emily Dickinson
Toward Sunday
We transition this week from Acts to a four-week Advent worship series called Christmas Is Coming. Our worship series will be rooted in the Hebrew Bible readings from the lectionary (collection of appointed readings) for this season. We will look back to these ancient writings as we prepare for the coming of Christmas. Christmas Is Coming Outline November 29: Jeremiah 33.14-16 (Hope) December 6: Malachi 3.1-4 (Love) December 13: Zephaniah 3.14-20 (Joy) December 20: Micah 5.1-5 (Peace) 5pm & 11pm Candlelight Christmas Eve: Luke 2 Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes writes, Advent takes…
Toward Sunday
Outline of Worship Series. November 30, 2014 Mark 13.24-37 December 7, 2014 Mark 1.1-8 December 14, 2014 John 1,6-8, 19-28 December 21, 2014 Luke 1.26-38 We turn this week from John the baptizer in John’s Gospel to Mary in the Gospel of Luke. In 12 verses, Mary is described as favored, perplexed, thoughtful, and afraid. She questions, believes, and submits to her vocation. Given this array of emotions it is not a surprise that Mary is depicted in many ways…
Toward Sunday
We turn this week from John the baptizer in Mark’s Gospel to John the baptizer in John’s Gospel. In this telling of the story of John the baptizer, we’re reminded that John is not the light, but came to testify to the light. John is a witness. Outline of Worship Series. November 30, 2014 Mark 13.24-37 December 7, 2014 Mark 1.1-8 December 14, 2014 John 1,6-8, 19-28 December 21, 2014 Luke 1.26-38 Begin by reading John 1.6-8. Wonder about…
Dark and Light.
It is hard to find any “good news” this week. Followers of Jesus may recognize this phrase “good news” from the beginning of the Gospel of Mark: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…” (Mark 1.1.). “To help his readers understand their troubled situation, Mark proclaims Jesus. But to understand Jesus, he looks back to the Scriptures of Israel. Indeed, we cannot understand Christian faith adequately without understanding the Jewish roots of that faith. Whatever we think God…