Adult Bible Study – 8:15 a.m.
Worship – 9:30 a.m.
Childcare is available for infants through preschool age, downstairs in Rooms 4 and 5.
Alternative Gifts Market – following worship
Sunday School for All Ages – following worship
Youth Meet for Mall Tag – 12:30 p.m.
Caroling and Cookie Party – 2:00 p.m.
From the Pastor/Head of Staff
The photo is of a sculpture of John the Baptist Preaching, at San Juan Bautista Mission in San Jose, California.
What were the creators of the lectionary thinking? Don’t they know that with this coming Sunday, we will be half way into the season of Christm…I mean Advent? We are attending Christmas and Holiday concerts, going to Christmas parties, savoring Christmas cookies and eggnog and enjoying Christmas lights. Many of us have our Christmas trees up, for goodness sake. And we have to hear about a wild man’s preaching from the wilderness? Sigh. What were they thinking? If you find yourself thinking these kinds of thoughts, you are not alone. The dissonance between what surrounds us and the messages we hear in Sunday worship disconcert us now more than any other time of the year. If we did not have someone like John the Baptist calling us out into the wilderness, we could so easily lose ourselves in December’s mania and many idols. Knowing what John the Baptist knew, and knowing that we are not that different from the people of his time, the wise scholars behind the lectionary chose to put John’s preaching before us because we so often look for God in the wrong places. In wealth, powerful armies, political parties, social connections, or something or someone else. So join us on Sunday to hear a good word, to hear a true word, from a man whose only desire was to point us to Jesus.
Many thanks, David