“Advent” denotes the beginning of the Christian worship year as we bring into view Jesus’ arrival at his birth. Instead of jump-scares into Christmas and attending anxieties, many appreciated Advent’s needed time for reflection, preparation, and openness to new ways that Jesus can arrive in our lives. The four weeks of Advent begin this Sunday, December 1, when we celebrate around the Lord’s Table, enjoy special holiday music and decorations, our Poinsettia Trees, and light the Advent Candle of Hope! Your friends and neighbors will be grateful for your invitation to join you!
Pastor Kevin has also prepared a special Advent Series of messages using photography as a metaphor for our faith titled, The 5 Lenses of Christmas. Deeply focused on our Advent Scripture readings, each week we will create a different field of view using Normal, Wide, Ultra Wide, Telephoto, and Macro lenses in our spiritual camera bag that will bring our experience of Christmas into sharp focus.
This week we will use a Normal lens in a message from Matthew 24:36-44 titled, “From Influenced to Influencer.”Advent is a time to hear Isaiah the prophet urge us to walk in the light of the Lord while the Apostle Paul reminds the neighbors in Rome that God’s deliverance is getting closer every day. As we wait, Jesus’ words to be ready for Jesus are not intended to scare us or provoke fears of being left behind. Instead, Jesus promotes our growth in mindfulness that is a counter narrative to political rancor, consumerism’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and to instead respond in faith to opportunities at hand, like Giving Tuesday exhorts us to do!
Come to worship this week for your wake-up call to resist being negatively influenced to becoming an positive influencer of faith as we focus on Jesus who continues to arrive in our life each day.
