Worship services don’t just “happen” on any given Sunday.  They are thought out, prayed over, planned and revised by the ministerial staff and by creative lay leaders.  Here is a look at our worship times together over the next few months.

We will complete our year-long journey through the Gospel of Luke on Sunday, November 28 — the first Sunday of Advent.  I began preaching through Luke in December of last year.  How time flies!  November 28 is also the day we begin four Sundays of Advent worship in one service only, at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary.  Please remember that Sunday School will shift (for those four weeks only) to a beginning time of 9:30 a.m. 

The remaining three Sundays of Advent we will focus on God’s gifts to us of love, joy and peace.  The Christmas Eve message will highlight our gift to God: we become God’s people.

Many of you have expressed a desire for the entire church family to worship together on occasion.  The four Sundays of Advent will be our opportunity to do so.  This will allow us to sing Christmas carols together and to enjoy the beauty of the symbols of Christmas — such as the Chrismon tree — together in the sanctuary.

The Sunday after Christmas, December 26, there will be one service — but it will be in the gym at 8:45 a.m. and will be the Crossroads Contemporary Service.  Jon Greenhill will preach.  Sunday School will follow at 10 a.m.

With the new year, we will return to our regular Sunday morning two worship service schedule.  Beginning in January and continuing through mid-March, our worship will center around the theme of Be. Love. Serve. 2.0.  We will use Richard Foster’s classic book, Celebration of Discipline, as the basis for the messages.  Each Sunday we will consider a different spiritual discipline, including prayer, study, simplicity, service, confession, celebration and many others.  These will help us in our reach toward being, loving and serving in deeper ways.

Our worship experiences as church family will draw us closer to God and closer to one another.  I hope you will make every effort to participate as part of the worshipping family of God.  And bring someone with you who needs to encounter the living God and the people of God.

Bert Browning