Scripture
Texts:
Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Matthew 1:18-25; Romans
1:1-7
Advent
Week Four - Take heart! God turns our
barrenness into
fruitfulness
Be restored! Though we often
feel disintegrated by struggles in our own lives as
well as by a world bent on destruction, God promises to bring
wholeness
through
Immanuel, “God with us.” Our
scattered and broken lives become
one as Christ
moves among us.
Leader:
Come, O people! Worship
Immanuel - God with us!
Men:
All across a weary world, turning slowly with stiff and painful
joints,
Women:
God-with-us turns us, ever so gently, in the dance of a new
dream.
Leader:
Come, Immanuel! God-with-us!
May hope bloom once more within
our hearts.
HWB 172
O
come, O come Immanuel
Verses
1, 4, and 5
HWB 190
‘Twas
in the moon of wintertime
(Solo singers, congregation on the
refrain)
HWB 173
Savior
of the nations, come
Choral Group
Lighting
the first, second, third, and
the fourth Advent candles
This light
reminds us of a night, long ago, when the darkness was broken by the
light of
God’s messengers announcing the birth of Immanuel – the One who
lights our
hearts and wakes us up to God’s dream.
Children’s
Time
A visit from a Shepherdess
Psalm 30: 4-5
Teaching
"It's Christmas Time:
Joy Comes in the Morning."
Silence
Leader:
O
God, we weary ourselves with the ticker tapes in our brains – to-do
lists, conversation sound bites, and tomorrow’s schedule.
Men: Restore
to us the light of your presence, and we shall be saved.
Leader:
We
are haunted by recycled shame, fear, and anger. Instead
of food,
we eat tears.
Women:
Restore to us
the light of your presence, and we shall be saved.
Leader:
How
can we join your dread when we are distracted and broken?
Where is your salvation?
All:
Restore to us the light of your presence, and we shall be saved.
Leader:
Weary mortals, God offers absolute restoration.
You have been given a sign: a
child, Immanuel, God-with-us, who is
here to give you real life. Call on
his name, and
you will be made whole.
Congregational
sharing time
Prayer
HWB 200
Where
is this stupendous Stranger?
Choral Group
HBW 202
The
Virgin Mary had a baby boy
Announcements
and the Passing of the
Offering Baskets
STJ 42
Listen,
God is calling
Leader: Solo
singers
All:
Congregation on the
responses
Teacher, John Powell; Worship Leader, Joy Kauffman King; Reader, Sherry Thackrey; Candle
lighter, Isaac Hr; Children’s Time,
Priscilla
Chamberlain; Pianist, Michelle
Webster Hein; Chorister, Titus King
Visitors
are invited to stand and introduce yourselves during the
sharing time so we can welcome
you. Visitors
and regular attendees are invited to
submit the “I wish card” found in the back of the hymnal.
SERVICE OUTREACH: CHRISTMAS
From Joy Kauffman King: Visuals
for Advent.
A Rocky Mountain Mennonite Conference worship
resources team
from the Southwest suggested our Advent visuals.
These persons live
in a place with expansive sky, prairie and desert vistas, and rugged
mountains;
a place where Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo peoples meet and
blend. The purple and blue colors provide a backdrop of mountain
and sky
for the dawning of God's promises. Tan and sand colors represent
the
desert. Each week of Advent a luminary is added with designs that
correspond to the Scriptures of the week; turning a sword into a
plowshare; a shoot growing from the stump of Jesse; a wild rose as a
sign of
flowering, fruiting, and peace; the Star of David; and the Christ
candle.
At
Worship
will continue to begin at 10:00 a.m. through December 30.
There will be NO Sunday School for adults,
children
or youth on any of
the
following Sundays:
12/23 Advent/Christmas --will have nursery
12/30 Rev. Hicks --will have nursery
1/6/08 Amigo Centre/ Epiphany --No service at Gretchen's House on January 6.
January 13 will be the first date back to our regular schedule of Sunday School at 10:00 a.m. and Worship at 11:00 a.m. at Gretchen's House.
SHALOM COMMUNITY
CHURCH HAPPENINGS
Small
Group Opportunities: the
following groups meet
regularly and are open to interested persons in the SCC community. You can drop in and ‘drop
out’ as you wish. Call
the contact person for information,
dates, times, directions or location.
·
Patti
Sprunger
Poetry Meeting : Saturday,
January 12,
7:30 a.m. Reedys’
·
Don Thackrey
Peace
and Justice Interest Group,
Monday, January 14, 7:30 p.m., Weaverdycks’
·
Gertrude
Warkentin
Readers’ Club: January 13, 7 p.m., Hollander Chamberlains’, Hemingway Anthology
· Priscilla Chamberlain
Slow
Cookers: Tuesday, January 8, 6:30 p.m.,
Showalters’
·
Gertrude
Warkentin
Meetings:
Finance
Committee
Nurture
Comm. Meeting
Worship
Committee, January 5 at
Congregational
Life Committee, Monday, January 29, 7:30 p.m., Reedys’
Service – Outreach Committee, Thursday, January 24, 6:30p.m., Miller Polleys’
Dwelling in the Word: A corporate spiritual discipline of being attentive to God through the practice of meditation on Scripture.
· Suggested passages for the reading are Isaiah 42:1-4, or 1-7, and John 15:1-11, or 1-17.
GUEST
SPEAKERS
December
30 – Rev.
Larry Hicks
(father of April Hicks) will be speaking on the topic "WAKE UP TO GOD’S DREAM!" with a focus on preparing for
God's plan in the New Year.
January
rotating potluck
matches.
If anyone has been missed, please let
Betsy Harvey know and she will fix you up.
1. Host: Cross, Guests:
Warkentin, Nance-O'Reilly, Brubaker
2. Host: Kanagy, Guests:
3. Host: King, Guests:
Smith, Showalter, Webster/Hein, Ropp
4. Host: Reedy, Guests:
Chamberlain/Hollander, Seelbach, K. Tang
5. Host: Versluis, Guests:
Brubacher/Clingenpeel, Kaufman
6. Host: Weaverdyck, Guests:
LaFlamme, Ponstein, Nofziger
7. Host: Shantz, Guests:
J.& P. Sprunger, J. Brubaker
and guest, Harvey
The end of the
year is almost here.
Remember
SCC from January 1 - November 18, 2007, please contact Anita
Toews. Of course, an end of year accounting
for income tax purposes will be provided in January.
You can contribute money to
Mennonite Church USA organizations
in a single, secure credit/debit card transaction at giving.MennoniteUSA.org.
All
Church Retreat at Amigo
Centre: Our annual retreat at Amigo Centre will be the
weekend of Jan. 4-6. We encourage everyone who attends Shalom to
come to
this retreat.
There will be no worship or Sunday School
in
Meals and hotel-style accommodations are
provided. Donations to help cover expenses are appreciated, but
not necessary.
Amigo Centre is a Mennonite camp in southwestern
Check
out www.brethrenworkcamps.org
for information on youth service opportunities for 2008.
Registration opens January 3.
“Genocide”
is the topic for the National Youth Christian Citizenship Seminar,
March
29-April 3, 2009,
From
Janis Miller:
You can still donate online to the
CROP Walk. Please consider this
extended opportunity for CROP Walk support as you designate your
December
charitable contributions. CROP Walk
website: www.cropwalkonline.org