70 for NINE!
“How many families should we adopt?” someone asked, as we were discussing how we wanted to bless one of the families on Allyson Ryan’s case load for Christmas. “Well, let’s start with one family this time.” I chirped in. “We’ll see how the church responds, what God does, and maybe next time we could add another family,” I said.
We started with forty tags on the Giving Tree. The first Sunday, they were all gone! We then added twenty more tags just in case someone missed the opportunity to grab one. The second Sunday, they were all gone! Then we added at least ten more tags and the last time I checked, they were almost all gone! 70 gifts for this precious family of NINE!
Thank you for your generous hearts and your willingness to make such a big difference for this cherished family this Christmas! We would like to get these gifts to them as soon as possible so they can be prepared for that special day. If you have gifts still, we ask that you please return them this Sunday, December 4th. During our service we will offer a special prayer for this dear family before we take these gifts to them and trust that they will know the greatest gift of all…the love of Jesus!
Rescheduling Blue Christmas
So, the bad news is: a complication arose with the original date for our Blue Christmas Service that was unforeseen when we set the date at the beginning of November. The good news, however, is that we were able to reschedule it to Sunday, December 18th at 7pm. “Wait, when’s the Bills game?” I can hear some of you thinking. Well, we already checked for you and the time of the game is TBD. However, they are playing the Dolphins so that’s pretty much an automatic win for Josh Allen and the team (don’t tell Jeff Gilbert I said that). We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. Please help us spread the word and thank you in advance for your understanding.
The Promise of Advent
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
(Matthew 24:42)
Growing up, my parents pastored a church in northern Ohio, in the suburbs of Toledo. Most of our family, however, lived here in Rochester and we would only see them once a year, at the most. I remember the great excitement I felt as a little boy those times my grandma and grandpa Craig (my mother’s parents) would come out to visit us. I anticipated their big smiles and affectionately warm hugs when they arrived. There would probably be a special gift they picked out just for me. Grandpa would most certainly make us his delicious early morning breakfasts, invite me to go on a drive (an event old-timers loved), and share his peppermint candies he always carried around in his pocket. Grandma, on the other hand, would do things to make us all laugh or bake us something for the “sweet tooth,” filling our house with the smell of yummy sugar cookies. Do you have any similar memories from your childhood? They’re special, aren’t they?
The day they were to arrive, I’d find out when they left their home. I would then calculate the six hours the trip usually took to get from Rochester to Toledo. I would then tack on a few quarter-hours knowing how much they liked to stop so it was always a little longer of a wait then I anticipated. But as that final hour arrived, the soonest they could get there, I would sit staring out the big window in our living room, facing the street. Sometimes I would see a car of the same color as theirs and perk up: could it be them? If I walked away for a minute I would come running back to the window if I thought I heard tires on our rocky driveway or perhaps the sound of a car door closing. Anticipation, hope, and joy! Accompanied with the memories and thrill of what was, what is, and what will be. And as always, the long wait and wondering watching was worth the hour of their coming, the event of their arrival, the moment we were reunited and together again!
And that’s what Advent means and is all about. Advent is a fancy word that is derived from the Latin word, adventus, which means “the coming” or “the arrival of” someone special or of an anticipated event. The Greeks had a similar word, parousia, which also means “the coming” or “the arrival of” but with a particular emphasis on the idea of someone or something being finally “present, with us.”
Advent is the season of waiting with excitement and watching with great anticipation for the coming presence of Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah, our Savior. Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, and all of Israel, to one extent or another, all awaited the first coming of Jesus Christ. God kept his first promise! Jesus was born, Emmanuel (“God with us”), a babe in a manger.
However, there is another promise God has made to us, as well. The second promise….Jesus will come again! The Apostle Paul speaks of it in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 and gives us a sort of preview or trailer of what it will be like. “According to the Lord’s own word [the promise], we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming [literally parousia/advent] of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
Can you imagine? Paul goes on to paint a picture of us then being “caught up” (mysteriously and fascinatingly) to welcome Jesus in the clouds! It’s like me running out to meet my grandparents when they finally arrived! Paul then ends this image by saying: “Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
You see, Advent is a season of encouragement! The Christmas season is definitely about remembering and celebrating the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago. But underneath that wonderful story is yet a deeper, richer promise, and that is that, just like Jesus came once, he will come again, to be present with us forever! Yet, he will not come as a vulnerable baby this time but as a victorious king! He will put an end to all that is wrong and unjust and make it right. He will give us beauty for ashes and a new age in exchange for the old ways. It will be a great and glorious day! One we are to look forward to with great excitement and anticipation. Preparing for and watching and waiting for that moment he pulls into our driveway, if you will, and we hear his car door open and close. And then, finally greets us with a smile, a warm embrace, and ushers us into a visitation that will never come to an end! “Encourage each other with these words!” Christ has died; Christ is Risen; Christ will come again! Let it be so!
“How many families should we adopt?” someone asked, as we were discussing how we wanted to bless one of the families on Allyson Ryan’s case load for Christmas. “Well, let’s start with one family this time.” I chirped in. “We’ll see how the church responds, what God does, and maybe next time we could add another family,” I said.
We started with forty tags on the Giving Tree. The first Sunday, they were all gone! We then added twenty more tags just in case someone missed the opportunity to grab one. The second Sunday, they were all gone! Then we added at least ten more tags and the last time I checked, they were almost all gone! 70 gifts for this precious family of NINE!
Thank you for your generous hearts and your willingness to make such a big difference for this cherished family this Christmas! We would like to get these gifts to them as soon as possible so they can be prepared for that special day. If you have gifts still, we ask that you please return them this Sunday, December 4th. During our service we will offer a special prayer for this dear family before we take these gifts to them and trust that they will know the greatest gift of all…the love of Jesus!
Rescheduling Blue Christmas
So, the bad news is: a complication arose with the original date for our Blue Christmas Service that was unforeseen when we set the date at the beginning of November. The good news, however, is that we were able to reschedule it to Sunday, December 18th at 7pm. “Wait, when’s the Bills game?” I can hear some of you thinking. Well, we already checked for you and the time of the game is TBD. However, they are playing the Dolphins so that’s pretty much an automatic win for Josh Allen and the team (don’t tell Jeff Gilbert I said that). We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. Please help us spread the word and thank you in advance for your understanding.
The Promise of Advent
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
(Matthew 24:42)
Growing up, my parents pastored a church in northern Ohio, in the suburbs of Toledo. Most of our family, however, lived here in Rochester and we would only see them once a year, at the most. I remember the great excitement I felt as a little boy those times my grandma and grandpa Craig (my mother’s parents) would come out to visit us. I anticipated their big smiles and affectionately warm hugs when they arrived. There would probably be a special gift they picked out just for me. Grandpa would most certainly make us his delicious early morning breakfasts, invite me to go on a drive (an event old-timers loved), and share his peppermint candies he always carried around in his pocket. Grandma, on the other hand, would do things to make us all laugh or bake us something for the “sweet tooth,” filling our house with the smell of yummy sugar cookies. Do you have any similar memories from your childhood? They’re special, aren’t they?
The day they were to arrive, I’d find out when they left their home. I would then calculate the six hours the trip usually took to get from Rochester to Toledo. I would then tack on a few quarter-hours knowing how much they liked to stop so it was always a little longer of a wait then I anticipated. But as that final hour arrived, the soonest they could get there, I would sit staring out the big window in our living room, facing the street. Sometimes I would see a car of the same color as theirs and perk up: could it be them? If I walked away for a minute I would come running back to the window if I thought I heard tires on our rocky driveway or perhaps the sound of a car door closing. Anticipation, hope, and joy! Accompanied with the memories and thrill of what was, what is, and what will be. And as always, the long wait and wondering watching was worth the hour of their coming, the event of their arrival, the moment we were reunited and together again!
And that’s what Advent means and is all about. Advent is a fancy word that is derived from the Latin word, adventus, which means “the coming” or “the arrival of” someone special or of an anticipated event. The Greeks had a similar word, parousia, which also means “the coming” or “the arrival of” but with a particular emphasis on the idea of someone or something being finally “present, with us.”
Advent is the season of waiting with excitement and watching with great anticipation for the coming presence of Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah, our Savior. Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, and all of Israel, to one extent or another, all awaited the first coming of Jesus Christ. God kept his first promise! Jesus was born, Emmanuel (“God with us”), a babe in a manger.
However, there is another promise God has made to us, as well. The second promise….Jesus will come again! The Apostle Paul speaks of it in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 and gives us a sort of preview or trailer of what it will be like. “According to the Lord’s own word [the promise], we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming [literally parousia/advent] of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
Can you imagine? Paul goes on to paint a picture of us then being “caught up” (mysteriously and fascinatingly) to welcome Jesus in the clouds! It’s like me running out to meet my grandparents when they finally arrived! Paul then ends this image by saying: “Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
You see, Advent is a season of encouragement! The Christmas season is definitely about remembering and celebrating the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago. But underneath that wonderful story is yet a deeper, richer promise, and that is that, just like Jesus came once, he will come again, to be present with us forever! Yet, he will not come as a vulnerable baby this time but as a victorious king! He will put an end to all that is wrong and unjust and make it right. He will give us beauty for ashes and a new age in exchange for the old ways. It will be a great and glorious day! One we are to look forward to with great excitement and anticipation. Preparing for and watching and waiting for that moment he pulls into our driveway, if you will, and we hear his car door open and close. And then, finally greets us with a smile, a warm embrace, and ushers us into a visitation that will never come to an end! “Encourage each other with these words!” Christ has died; Christ is Risen; Christ will come again! Let it be so!