Christmas Preparations at 1st United Methodist, Kennett

November 27 – Open Up…Expectation

Mark 13:32-37 (CEB) “But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the angels in heaven and not the Son. Only the  Father knows. Watch out! Stay alert!

• Advent begins with an unexpected theme – the “end of time.”
• We have decorated the church, our homes and the local stores have been ready for Christmas for weeks. The Christmas spirit is all around us.
• What can or will we do while we wait? We must do more than sitting and waiting.
• Be alert. Keep awake. What will we do while we wait?
• This year instead of focusing on the waiting, be the Church.
• This Christmas, think outside the box! Be bold and daring in your Advent / Christmas planning.

 

December 4 – Open Up …Acceptance

2:00pm – United Methodist Women’s Christmas Tea

Isaiah 40:1-6a (CEB) Comfort, comfort my people! says your God. Speak compassionately to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her compulsory service has ended, that her penalty has been paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins!

• “Comfort, comfort my people.” These are life-giving words. What a joy to know God desires to comfort us, even when we wander and stray.
• We have been challenged to think outside the box as we wait. Waiting is never easy. Sometimes in our journeys, we stumble into the wilderness. What happens in the wilderness? Recall the Israelites. Remember Jesus’ temptation. Deep spiritual transformation can happen in the wilderness.
• Think about those who are new in your community. Think about those who are new to our country. Think about the homeless and those who live in the margins of life. They too, are living in the wilderness.
• Hear the Good News that Isaiah proclaims: God is here. God is present, and God is reality in this life.

 

December 11 – Open Up … Family

“Star of Wonder” – Chancel Choir (Children 3rd – 5th grade) lead worship

Christmas Nativity Program at 5:00pm – Pre/Early Elementary children tell us The Story

Isaiah 61:1-4 (CEB) “The LORD God’s spirit is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news

• Advent reminds us that we are still in waiting for the birth. Isaiah proclaims that God’s spirit has come upon him. We are called to step into, and live outside, any boxes that attempt to contain our faith. That includes living outside society’s materialistic approach to Christmas. The phrase, “bind up the brokenhearted,” gets at the heart of the church being the church. Rethinking church involves being in mission, and being the ministry that we espouse even as we seek to gather and cultivate new believers.
• What new tradition can your congregation or family start?

 

December 18 – Open Up… All History

“Lead Me Back to Bethlehem” – Sanctuary Choir (Adult)  lead combined worship at 10:30am / Carol Choir (Pre-school – 2nd grade) call us to worship

” Prime Time Christmas” – Youth Dinner Theater at 6:00pm

Matthew 2: 22-23 (CEB) “Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, And they will call him, Emmanuel. (Emmanuel means “God with us.”)

• So there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the exile to Babylon to the Christ.
• Soon we will be celebrating the birth of Christ.
• John tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning.  Everything came into being through the Word,  and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness,  and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
• John hears Jesus say, “Look! I’m coming soon. My reward is with me, to repay all people as their actions deserve. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Favored are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right of access to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

· What do you plan this week that will show others all you believe about Christmas?

 

December 24 – Open Up… Yourself

Christmas Eve at 5:30pm and 11:00pm

2 Samuel 7:1-3 (CEB) “When the king was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look! I’m living in a cedar palace, but God’s chest is housed in a tent!’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go ahead and do whatever you are thinking, because the LORD is with you.’”

• David is resting and relaxing in his palace. He was enjoying the many gifts he had received from God. After taking inventory of his blessings, he expressed a sense of embarrassment…thinking, I am living in a palace while God lives in a tent.
• Christmas…the birth of Christ. David’s impulse should be ours this Christmas, to think about giving God our best, not necessarily in the form of a temple, but perhaps in meaningful shelter for outsiders.
• Get outside the box of your traditions and rethink Christmas with ‘the least of these’ in mind.

 

December 25 – Open Up … God-With-Us

One Service at 9:30am; a wondrously special journey through that first Christmas Morning that ends at The Lord’s Table.

Luke 2:9-14 (CEB) “The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.’

 

What Will You Take out of

the Box this Christmas?