The Messenger - November 27, 2007

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    Pastor Neal's Notes

                 Ready or Not . . .

Just in case you're not quite ready for the "Christmas Season," you might be pleased to know you're not alone. The secular observance of this season normally begins on the day after Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving came earlier in 2007 than it has in many years. In fact, Thanksgiving can NEVER be earlier than it was in 2007 because the fourth Thursday can not fall before that date (November 22).

Fortunately, the SACRED observance of Christmas does not officially begin until December 24. That's because the church has long believed that we need time to prepare. We need time to prepare our homes, we need time to prepare our cards, we need time to prepare our presents, and we need time to prepare our hearts. That's what the next 4 weeks are all about.

I've needed this week just to recover from the excitement of November. Did you know that several families made financial commitments to the church on Dedication Sunday for the very first time? That's exciting! Did you know that we will have about $300,000 dedicated specifically to church growth once the matching fund drive is done? That's exciting, too! Did you know that we assembled more than 1000 Thanksgiving Baskets on November 20 in only 2 hours time? That's amazing! We've never done that before.

Because of these wild events, my mind is still stuck in November! But December is upon us, and so we need to pause and prepare.

As part of this process, our children and youth will gather to make Advent wreaths during Church School this Sunday morning (December 2). Unlike years past, these wreaths will have actual candles that families can light on a regular basis to observe this season of preparation in their homes. Many families who observe this custom like to read a Bible passage and say a small prayer together in their homes. The November-December issue of "The Upper Room" (available in our narthex) includes some helpful patterns you can follow. Or you may also choose to read the Advent texts we will use in worship during the coming weeks: Isaiah 44:1-5, Luke 2: 1-20, Isaiah 49: 1-7, and Isaiah 53:1-2.

While the children are making wreaths, we adults will focus upon the ancestors of our Lord and the Biblical hints of his coming during our morning worship. Then, we will observe the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which reminds us once again that the child who was born on Christmas day both lived and died for us.

If you tell me you're ready for Christmas on this Sunday morning, I might just have to smack you! (Just kidding). But if, like me, you need some time to prepare, please join us for the beginning of our journey to Bethlehem.

I'll see you on Sunday!

     >>>First day of  Advent.  First Sunday of Advent.<<<

• Series:  The "Servant" Songs (from Isaiah)
  
• Theme:  Advent
• Title:  "Chosen"
• Scripture:  Isaiah 44:1-4
  
• Preacher: Rev. Neal Neuenschwander

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Christian season. For other meanings, see Advent (disambiguation)

Advent (from the Latin Advenio, meaning "to come to", "the coming of the Saviour") is a holy season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, also known outside the Church as the season of Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western Christian year and commences on Advent Sunday. The Eastern churches begin the year on 1 September.

The Upper Room began as a daily devotional guide, which remains at the heart of its ministry.  During the 1930s, a group of women in San Antonio, Texas discerned through prayer that families needed a time of worship and Bible study to sustain them through the stress of the economic depression. They asked their church for a devotional guide -- a request that inspired the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to "publish a quarterly devotional booklet to be sold in the local church."

Dr. Grover Carlton Emmons, the first editor of the guide, determined the one-page meditation format and decided that the devotions would be written by various Christians, both lay and clergy, from around the world. The final decision, the name of the guide, came to him as he heard a speaker describe the outpouring of spiritual power among Jesus' disciples gathered in an upper room on the day of Pentecost. He quickly telegraphed those who were typesetting the first issue, and in April 1935, the first issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide rolled off the presses.

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