Dear friends,
Does the list down below sound like you?
- Born to a mother.
- Enjoys a good party.
- Rejected by friends.
- Turned off by greedy religion.
- Feels sorry for the lowly.
- Kept awake at night by concerns.
- Known to doze off on trips.
Many of the items sound like me! I was certainly born to a mother. I really don’t like it when I hear religious leaders talk about their personal quest for more money. There are nights that my brain is moving too fast to consider sleep. And if I’m not driving on a car trip, I’m probably sleeping in the back seat.
The list above isn’t meant to describe you or me. This list was put together by author Max Lucado to describe Jesus. And isn’t the list somewhat surprising? We tend to describe Jesus with fancy titles: the Alpha and Omega, the Lamb of God, Son of David, the Bread of Life, Son of Man and the Light of the World. These titles are helpful in identifying how Jesus cares for us. However, they don’t always communicate clearly how Jesus was a person just like us.
The goal for Advent is to be ready for the gift coming to us on Christmas: Jesus. God is with us—Immanuel! It is very comforting to know that Jesus lived in a family (like us), went to school (like us) and had all kinds of life experiences (like us). Jesus can relate to us in every way.
Advent reminds me of the moment when our clocks are set back. My senses are extra heightened the first day that the clocks go back an hour. I become more aware of the darkness. My stomach is thrown off as I think that lunch should happen sooner than what the clock shows.
Allow this Advent to heighten your senses. A change is happening. Life makes us think that we are left to ourselves. Life can easily lead us to points of despair. The splintering and brokenness of it all leaves us lonely. Advent sets our internal clocks back to realize that God is with us! Jesus was born in a manger for us. Jesus died on a cross to take on our sin. Jesus rose from the grave to pave the way for us to overcome death.
Our Worship and Bible Study plan in December are designed to encourage us that God is with us. We will be offering in-person Advent services on the Wednesdays of December 1, 8 and 15 at 7 pm in the sanctuary. The Worship will be in the form of Holden Evening Prayer.
The Sundays of Advent will be focused on getting to know Jesus, the gift of Christmas. Join us as we celebrate!
Merry Advent and Christmas!
Pastor J
Peace by the Numbers
Adult Bible Study Plan: “Getting to Know Jesus”
Plan for Worship
Ladies Guild News
There will be a meeting on December 2 at 1:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall. This will be a Christmas Party; everyone is asked to bring a pair of socks to exchange. Janette Payne is the hostess for the December meeting.
Red Cross Blood Drive
We have a Red Cross Blood Drive on December 22nd. Celebrate Christmas with the lifesaving gift of a blood donation, or support the event with treats (small oranges, homemade cookies, bananas) for the donors, and prayers for a successful blood drive.
Men’s Breakfast
Men’s Breakfast: Please mark your calendar for December 4th, for our Men’s First Saturday breakfast. This will be dedicated to Craig Starr, who recently passed. Craig always enjoyed the men’s breakfasts and was going to provide Biscuits and Gravy for our next breakfast in April 2020, which never happened do to the COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Craig’s wife Sharon has brought the gravy which Craig had already purchased for that next breakfast. She has also provided the biscuit and sausage. Topic for this month’s breakfast will an open discussion. Coffee on at 8:00, breakfast served at 8:30 and topic time at 9:00 – 10:00. Please let me know whether you can attend so we can prepare enough food. Questions call Oscar Gutbrod 541-231-3954. Looking forward to a good attendance.
Holiday Bazaar
An Overwhelming Success. Thank you doesn’t fully capture my heartfelt appreciation for all the generous giving to make this year’s bazaar a huge success. The large number and quality of the donations and the time spent to assemble everything in all areas enabled this large event to happen smoothly. Your volunteer efforts made it possible to give back to our community and make it a better place. To those who went above and beyond, I give an extra special THANK YOU. Many hands make light work. Jani Burton.
Vina Moses Center Christmas Program
For many years, Peace has supported the annual Vina Moses Center Christmas program. This year will be no different. Traditionally, a Christmas tree is placed in the Narthex that contain tags with the Christmas gift wishes of children from financially challenged families in Benton County. This year will be a bit different. We have placed the tags on the side windows of the front doors. We hope that you will take a tag or two. If you do not have an opportunity to get a tag but still would like to participate, we are asking you to consider purchasing a new toy, game, book, or puzzle for the program. The children participating in the program are between infancy and 18 years of age. For many children, the gift that they receive through this program will be the only gift they receive this Christmas.
Please bring the toy, game, book, or puzzle (unwrapped) to the worship service on Sunday, December 5th. Nicholas Abele will collect them in the Narthex.
If you are unable to bring the toy to the service, please contact George Abele at 541-730-0476 or [email protected] to make arrangements to pick up the toy.
PCS Holiday Cheer Program
Philomath Community Services is again collecting baskets of hygiene items for people in need in the Philomath area this holiday season. (See the following flyer.) Please bring whatever you can to support our community. Items need to be brought to the church not later than Monday, December 6. Thank you for helping support this mission.
Decorating For Christmas
We will be putting up the Christmas tree this week. The decorating get-together will be Friday, December 3rd at 6:00pm in the sanctuary. You are very welcome to attend and help decorate our Christmas Tree. Also, you can expect to see the outside Christmas lights go up on December 8th or 9th.
Peace Lutheran Backpack Ministry
Hello! Thanks to the donations, both monetary and clothing/supplies, we have put together 27 backpacks and 4 boxes of clothes/supplies for the homeless this week. As the weather gets colder, we are hoping that God will guide us to get these backpacks into the hands of those who need them the most.
The Backpacks contain: Tarp, Blanket, hat, gloves, socks, New Testament, flashlights with extra batteries, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, mask,
A toiletries bag: soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, chap stick, wash cloth, sewing kit, trash bag, zip ties and twine
A snack bag: two sources of protein, several granola bars, fruit snack, crackers, fiber fruit bars
As I have shared with some of you, sometimes I am overwhelmed by the number of homeless in need. I am comforted to know that together we are making a difference. We are not able to meet all the needs of the homeless, or even to help every homeless person in our area, but to those we are able to reach, we have made a difference.
I am hoping to set a time in early January perhaps, for anyone who would be interested in helping, to meet and put another 25 or so backpacks together. I am hoping that we can find a time and that the pandemic would allow us to do this in the church with masks on. If you are interested in helping, please email me [email protected] , and I will let you know when the date and time has been determined. It is fairly long work…but with a group of us, it will go faster, and I hope you will find it very rewarding work. I would ask anyone who is able to donate non-perishable snacks and especially protein (individually wrapped meat sticks, tuna, nuts). If several of us donate even enough for 10, together we will fill the need. We always need gloves, hats, socks, coats, handwarmers and blankets.
If you have donations or would like to send a check to help purchase supplies, please drop them off at my front door or send a check in the mail. My address is 2223 Applegate St, Philomath, OR 97370 (just about 3 blocks west of the church).
Please feel free to contact Diane Crocker if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you all!
28th Corvallis Nativity Festival
