“Happy New Year!”

Dear Friends in Christ:
No, I did not make a mistake. The Season of Advent marks the beginning of “a new year” on the Christian Church-Year Calendar.

We will be celebrating this Advent Season during our Sunday Worship Services using the overall theme of “PREPARE”! The color for these four Sundays of Advent is blue, symbolizing “HOPE”. I hope that you will use this time to prepare your hearts and homes for a meaningful celebration of our Savior’s Birthday!

As you enter our Worship Center each Sunday, you will see something new to help you focus on this “Season of Preparation”. Each week as we light the 4 candles of our Advent Wreath, you will be asked to:

Week 1—”Prepare for the PROMISE!”

• Bible Reading: “...stay awake! For you do not know which day your Lord will come.” (Matthew 24:42)
• Prayer: Come, Lord, into the Advent of our lives. Come,
  open our eyes to see your hand in all things.
  Come, illuminate the paths we walk as we
  journey to your promised dwelling place. Amen

Week 2—”Prepare for the PEACE!”

• Bible Reading: “In those days John the Baptist appeared
  in the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, ‘Repent,
  for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This
  is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke of
  when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the
  wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make
  his paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:1-3)
• Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, restore our land and re-create
  our hearts. May we speak your word to those
  whose hearts have been hardened by despair
  and disappointment; may we create for you a
  highway of peace and reconciliation that passes
  through every heart and home. Amen.

Week 3—”Prepare for the PURPOSE!”

• Bible Reading: “Go and tell John what you hear and see:
  the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers
  are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
  and the poor have the good news proclaimed to
  them.” (Matthew 11:4-5)
• Prayer: O God, Giver of all good things, give us the
  purpose to be grace-filled givers this Christmas.
  Open our hearts to give to others the compassion
  and peace of Christ that transforms emptiness to
  wholeness, sadness to joy, death to life. Amen.

Week 4—”Prepare for the PRESENCE!”

• Bible Reading: “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in
  a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not
  be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
  For this is through the Holy Spirit that this child
  has been conceived in her.’” (Matthew 1:20)
• Prayer: Come, Emmanuel, and make your dwelling place
  among us. May we welcome you into our midst
  even when your presence is most demanding,
  inconvenient, and threatening. May we give birth
  to you despite our doubts and fears, our timidity
  and weakness. Amen

Please, save these meditations and use them in your home each week. Give thanks for God’s PROMISE, PEACE, PURPOSE, and PRESENCE in your life as you PREPARE!

— Pastor David Fetter †