December 2020

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

 Dear online worshipping friends: We apologize in advance should our live stream be interrupted (again!) by Facebook. We are working with Facebook and the music publisher to honor our music licenses and resolve these issues. Should you experience an interrupted live stream, please rejoin as soon as we are back online! Thank you for your patience.

This Week’s Worship Preview

This is the first Sunday after Christmas, and the last worship service of 2020. In these still uncertain pandemic times, we join in with all of creation to sing praises to God. Maybe you don’t feel like singing! That’s understandable. But God is here. With you. With us. And God’s grace is greater than any pandemic, any problem, and God’s abundant forgiveness is greater than all our sin. Sure, 2020 has left us out of sorts in every dimension of our life. We mourn lost loved ones. We grieve lost traditions. The Christmas Story proclaims that God is with us, Emmanuel, Jesus. That’s why we can celebrate.

In our Gospel reading we will witness the astounding effect the Christ Child had on those who met him, including Simeon and Anna. When Jesus is consecrated in the temple at 40 days of age, Simeon proclaims, “I have waited my entire life to see the Messiah, now I can die in peace.” Anna’s response is appears opposite that of Simeon’s, but is just as dramatic when she says upon seeing Jesus, “I have waited my entire life to see the Messiah, now I can truly live!” The message this week, The Christmas Nudge, asks us what our response is as we encounter Jesus today? Like Simeon and Anna, we too can feel God’s nudge to experience Jesus this year, as never before!

This Week’s Music Preview

We begin worship with O Come, All Ye Faithful. The origins of this 18^th century hymn has spread worldwide and is used by many denominations in every language imaginable. in both Latin and other versions.

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

This Week’s Worship Preview

Our Advent journey is in its final week as we witness Gabriel’s magnificent proclamation to Mary, and her Magnificat response to the news that she will give birth to the Savior. Pastor Kevin’s message, The True Location of Christmas, will stir our spirits in our pandemic world. Let’s reflect on Luke 1:26-38 and Romans 16:25-27 with the guidance of these questions:

1. If someone greeted you like royalty with “Your Majesty,” how do you think you would respond? Can you imagine addressing others in this fashion? Why, or why not?

2. What does it mean to you that God risked the vulnerability of becoming human “with us,” in our location, in order to restore us to our rightful place as bearers of the image of God?

3. This Christmas, how does loving God and others help us deal with our own selfishness as we see Christ in others?

This Week’s Music Preview

“What Child Is This?” is our carol this week with lyrics composed in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix, in Bristol, England. Adapting the memorable melody of “Greensleeves”, he tells the amazing story of the incarnation that God With Us, Jesus, is the “babe, the son of Mary!” (Yes, the exclamation is in the lyrics.) Lenore Bowne and Jayne McDonough offer “Mary Did You Know?” Written by entertainer Mark Lowry, in 1984, it is an example of a more modern musical take on the Christmas Story popularized by the Gaither Vocal Band in the 1970’s.

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

Worship Preview

 This third week of Advent is all about the Who of You! This Christmas is unlike any other. Uncertain times. Uncertain future. Christmas this year will definitely not be like Christmas’ of the past. So now, more than ever, its important to know who you are. Who you really are! John the Baptist knew who he was. He pointed people to the Light of Jesus. The religious leaders (who thought they knew everything)  demanded to know who John was. Find out John’s response and get help answering that question for yourself just in time for the holidays in Pastor Kevin’s message, “Who Are You?. We will hear Isaiah’s prophetic message of hope for all people, the very message Jesus claimed as his own and fulfilled.

Get ready: How would you answer the question posed to John when asked, “Who are you?” While your birth certificate states your name, who you really are goes way beyond our name. Who you are is connected to who you follow, what you do, and in whom do you trust. Clues to help with the Who of You can be found in your calendar. Where do you invest your time, energy, and attention? In the last hour, what was your focus and attention directed towards? Who do your activities say you are? If they align, if they are congruent with who you really are, who you want to be, then great. Keep doing those things. But if not, don’t despair, because every day is a new opportunity to reaffirm who you really are with what you actually do. Who God has called you to be? Listen. This week you can find hope and encouragement to live your very best life, the abundant Life that Jesus promised you!

Music Preview

This week’s carol is The First Noel which dates back to at least the 17th century. In 1823 William B. Sandys and Davies Gilbert edited and added lyrics to create the version we sing today. Noel is the French word, meaning Christmas, which is derived from the Latin word natalis, which means birth.  We will also enjoy It Came Upon A Midnight Clear sung by Barbara Cain with Jayne McDonough accompanying her on our grand piano. Unitarian minister Edmund Hamilton Sears wrote his carol, The Angel’s Song –It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, from the well springs of his profound faith in God and the belief that through the centuries, God sends his emissary angels to earth with a resounding message of peace.

While we continue to worship online every week, we are excited to welcome all who are able and comfortable to worship in-person in our historic Red Brick Church on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Your safety, health, and wellness are our our top priority. West Jersey Presbytery approved our session’s re-opening plan and our pastor, staff, and teams have worked hard to prepare for your arrival. Following the guidance from the CDC and health officials, we have implemented safety protocols, and designed an approximately thirty-minute worship experience that will be spiritually energizing and safe for you, your family, and other worshippers.

Worship Preview

This second week of Advent, we will hear John the Baptist’s message from Mark, the first Gospel written, that echoes Isaiah’s prophetic call to prepare for the Messiah. How far are you willing to go to ensure that others experience the Good News about Jesus during these pandemic days? How are you making the way plain? You’ll be encouraged by pastor Kevin’s message entitled, “That The World May Know” as we discover practice ways to help others gain access to the Good News by raising valleys, lowering mountains, and smoothing out life’s rough roads.

Music Preview

Our experience today begins with a new countdown video that features beautiful Christmas music as Advent candles are lit. Our opening music is “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” written by Charles Wesley. He was committed to sharing God’s Good News in Christ through music to those beyond the reach of traditional educational settings, especially in the city and countryside. Inspired by the sounds of London’s church bells on Christmas Day, this hymn was originated as a poem, first published in 1739. Even in these uncertain times, there are abundant reasons to sing and be glad for God’s grace and abundance.