THIS WILL BE A LIVE FACEBOOK AND RECORDED SERVICE. NO IN PERSON WORSHIP THIS DAY.

What will Advent and Christmas look like this year? Will we be able to sing carols and light candles? What about sharing the Wassail Bowl together? There are so many meaningful traditions at church around the holidays! Will it even feel like Christmas this year? 2020 has been such a difficult and scary, life-interrupting year, we need a Christmas of light and life, peace and joy, hope and love this year. This year, more than ever, we need the message “Fear not!” as we wait for the dawn of a new day, a return to a more “normal” time. Jesus was born into a world like ours in many ways. He faced political upheaval and social unrest and He called people to a new way of right relationship with God. He called people to paths of hope, love, joy and peace. The Bible says that as God sent His Son into the world, the world was filled light, that Jesus, the ‘Light of the World’ came to shine light into the darkness. So this Advent and Christmas season, I am going to try and do the same- to fill the darkness with light! Even though we are still separated in many ways, and perhaps feeling a bit discouraged by these long months of sheltering in place with the ongoing pandemic, I hear the reassuring Word of God, “Fear Not!” I invite you to join us this Advent/Christmas season for inspiration, for hope, for light, in whatever way you are comfortable doing! In this strange and challenging time of pandemic, our creative God is at work! I’m hoping we can find new ways to be and ‘do’ church this year. Stay tuned as I share with you some different ways for you to get involved as we embrace the weeks of Advent and what they have to teach us.

(Ann Marie)