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Keeping the Celebration |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 11/19/2008 11:02 AM | Greetings on this crisp, clear day!
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow. Advent begins in about 10 days. And we all know what that means: that Christmas is not far away, either. Sometimes, it seems to me that things come so fast that I don’t have the time to truly celebrate and observe the holidays. The distractions of all the activities, while good and fun, can sometimes pull us away from the spiritual disciplines that the different holidays cry out for. And when we don’t take the time to stop, think, pray and celebrate, we will indeed miss something.
My advice? Plan to take some time every day to be with God, alone, in prayer and conversation. Take a few minutes to read the Bible, to read the Advent books that the Elders have provided for us. Take some time to give thanks, to recommit to following the teachings of Jesus even more closely in the days ahead, to celebrate that God is with us in the person of the baby born in a stable in Bethlehem. Something will happen if you do that: you will find that you are a little more relaxed, a little more aware, a little more attuned to God’s presence in the world. When we find ourselves in that place of harmony with God’s call on our lives, we will be, whether we are actively trying to be or not, better witnesses for God’s love and grace in our lives and in the world. Because the fact is, now, more than ever, the world around us needs our witness. The world needs hope. The world needs something that gives meaning and purpose to our existence. The world needs Jesus Christ. The world needs the church. The world needs each of us.
As we work our way through this holiday season, let us pledge to each do our part to be witnesses to the Good News of Jesus Christ with our actions and our words; let us pledge to each do our part to support Christ’s church with our prayers, our time, our resources so that others might find the sanctuary of God’s love that we have found; let us pledge to each do our part to open our hearts to all those who need God’s presence in their lives.
Some decry the fact that the holiday season lasts so long, has become so commercialized, has sometimes led us to forget that at the heart of all the celebration ought to be our immersion in seeking to understand how we are called to live in God’s world. While those things all may be true, they don’t have to be, if we don’t let them. Join me in doing our part to make this holiday season a true celebration of God’s love and grace…because if not us, who will?
For an updated prayer list and list of upcoming events, please go to www.brookhavenchristian.org
For your prayer lists:
Please keep all those who are suffering with the flu and other seasonal maladies in your prayers.
Keith Atkinson is home from the hospital after being treated for severe dehydration because of a virus. He is feeling much better and both he and Jaye thank you for your prayers.
Please keep our homeless brothers and sisters in your prayers as they seek shelter during the cold winter months.
Announcements:
Don’t forget that this Sunday, November 23, is our target date for wrapping up our 2009 stewardship campaign. If you have not yet made your pledge to help underwrite the operating budget for 2009, please get a pledge card in the narthex and drop it in the offering plate this Sunday, or hand it to Mitch Kenfield or Charles Kinney or, e-mail your pledge directly to our Stewardship and Finance Ministry at 2009pledge@brookhavenchristian.org With each of us doing our part, we can and will assure that the ministries of BCC continue to witness to the power of God to all who need that power in their lives.
Also, this Sunday November 23 is Thanksgiving Sunday. Our Tween class, led by Mary Margaret Heaton and Jim Mowrey, will be putting together Thanksgiving Baskets for the families at the Interfaith Outreach Home, and you can help. IOH is a transitional housing and training program for intact families who have found themselves homeless but desire to work their way back to financial stability. BCC is one of the founding members of the home. Bring canned goods and produce this Sunday and bring it forward during our traditional “Procession of the Bounty” at the beginning of the service. Anything not used for the IOH families will supplement our donation to the Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church Food Pantry.
The Christmas Trees are coming! But first, we need some help to get things set up. This Saturday, November 22nd, all who can are asked to come set up the tent and fencing to prepare the upper parking lot to become the Christmas Tree lot. We will gather at noon on Saturday and work until about 3:00. Then, on Sunday, folks are needed to help finish the set up right after worship. Then, on Friday November 28th, the sale begins. If this year is like the last two, we should be done by about Sunday December 7th…so PLEASE, go to the website www.brookhavenchristian.org and click on the Christmas tree on the far right of the home page and sign up for helping set up, 2 or 3 selling shifts or to provide an evening meal for workers during the sale. By all of us pitching in, we can sell the trees, and maybe even more importantly, let the people of the community get a chance to meet us and find out who we are. Please sign up today.
Finally, on November 30th, the first Sunday in Advent, our Adopt A Child Tree will be set up in the narthex. Each ornament on the tree will contain a gender and age of a child in need, an identifying number for each child, and a short wish list for each child. Take an ornament…or 2…or 3…purchase presents, and bring them unwrapped, along with the identifying number for each child by Sunday December 14th so they can be distributed to the families. This project is being coordinated with the help of the Brookhaven Child Development Center. Help make a child’s Christmas as bright as possible this year by participating.
I hope you can join us this Sunday as we celebrate “Thanksgiving Sunday” together. The sermon title is “Thanks and Praise” and the scripture is 2 Chronicles 20:14-21. Have a great rest of the week!
Be peaceful,
Brad | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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