Beginning of Advent 2024

 Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. The sanctuary and the rest of the building looks beautiful! Thanks so much to the worship team who planned for the decorating and all of those who volunteered. The results look wonderful and help us to get into the spirit of the holiday.

It is that time of year when we think about giving to others. There are many opportunities for us to do so. Two that I want to highlight today are Project Evergreen and the Giving Tree. Project Evergreen is a community project where you can grab an ornament with either a gift idea or a clothing item with size that you can then purchase for a family in our community in need. Every year we designate the tree in the Fellowship Hall “the Giving Tree.” This year we are collecting items for the Danvers-Carlock Food Pantry. The Midwest Food Bank will be donating holiday meal boxes to local families in need. The items we are collecting are to supplement those boxes. Some of the ornaments suggest bringing in staples like flour, sugar, and eggs. Others suggest canned good or pasta sauces. Bring in your items and place them around the tree (except the eggs—put those in the fridge, please). These are both great ways for us to have an impact on our community.

Our Advent series is all taken from Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17. I know that’s a part of Scripture we tend to pass over quickly—“so-and-so was so-and-so’s father.” For the next month, let me invite you to slow down and pay attention to those names. I want you to notice the one’s that you may be familiar with—King David, Abraham, Judah, Hezekiah. Think about the stories attached to those names. There may be other names you aren’t as familiar with. Maybe choose a few to see what you can learn about them. There are some names in this list, especially toward the end, that we don’t know much about as well. Hopefully we’ll learn a lot about those who came before Jesus and the way they were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.

We had some great special music in yesterday’s service and there’ll be more to come. This will be a great time to invite some friends and family to come to worship with you!

Hope to see you next week!

God bless, Brian

Scripture for Sunday

Matthew 1:6-11—What stories do you know about these names? Why do you think this section ends where it does?

2 Kings 21:1-18—In a few words, how would you summarize Manasseh’s reign?

Luke 1:67-75—What is Zechariah’s understanding of what David’s descendant would do?

Revelation 15—What is being described in this chapter?