Advent Week Five
Take
heart! God turns our barrenness into
fruitfulness!
Scripture Texts Isaiah 63:7-9;
Psalm 148; Matthew 2:13-23; Hebrews
2:10-18
Praise God! We are redeemed and lifted high! The ancient One stands
with us in our suffering. This
God of possibilities and miraculous
realities, the One who hold the mysteries of the universe, knows our
human
state. Through Christ, God has
overcome the grim reality of the world around us. Empowered
by wonder-working Love, we can
preserve.
Hymn Songs of praise the angels sang HWB 60
Hymn Let all creation bless the Lord HWB 61
Lighting the first and the second and the third
and the
fourth Advent
candles, and the Christ candle
This light reminds us that God often speaks in
ways that
are subtle,
mysterious, hidden.
Like Joseph, who heard God even in a dream, we pay
close attention.
What does God want to say to us today?
Children’s
Time A visit from Joseph
Scripture
Hymn Amazing Grace HWB 143
Sermon Seeing in the Storm
Sharing and Announcements and Passing the
Offering
Baskets
Prayer
Hymn What child is this? HWB 215
Worship Leader: April Hicks; Speaker: Larry Hicks; Chorister: Titus King; Pianist: Stephanie Nance; Children’s Time: Joe Harvey: Candle lighter: TBA
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.
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
There is
no Sunday School today. There will
be nursery during the Worship time.
This is
the last Sunday that Worship will begin at 10:00 a.m.
There will be no Worship at Gretchen’s House next Sunday, January 6.
Epiphany Worship next Sunday will be at Amigo Centre,
On January 13 we will return 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 Committee
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.
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
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 next weekend, January 4-6. We encourage everyone
who
attends Shalom to come to this retreat. There will be no worship
or
Sunday School in
as a faith
community. Don’t miss this opportunity to have some quality time
with your family and friends. The weekend includes lots of
unstructured
time for conversation and recreation. 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
have been
there. Please let Tim Smith know whether or not you’ll be there
so
we can plan accordingly. See you there!
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,
Fresh from
the Word is a book of 366 daily devotions celebrating the 300th
anniversary of the Church of the Brethren.
Composed by writers from six Brethren groups, it
is a way for Brethren
to join in one spirit and purpose to celebrate the 300th
anniversary. You can order it
for $15 from the Brethren Press at www.brethrenpress.com.
From Isabel Cross: “Thank
you for giving me the money
to help families in
support it
means a lot to me. Have a Merry
Christmas!”
Congratulations, Isabel, for taking on this project!