MID WEEK NEWS FOR DECEMBER 3 ** NEW ITEMS ARE ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS ** Older items are in regular case PRAYER REQUESTS JOHN MARSHALL at Corry Manor GINNY SUNDBERG Alexa Way Shazer Bob Peppel • BIBLE STUDY TONIGHT AT 7:00 PM. • AA Meetings, Wednesdays at 7:00 Pm. • GREETERS ARE NEEDED FOR DECEMBER 7TH AND 14TH. • ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTERS ARE NEEDED FOR THE 7PM SERVICE ON CHRISTMAS EVE. • CHRISTMAS COMMUNITY CONCERT SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7TH AT 3:00 PM AT FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ON WORTH STREET • THREE GABLES INN HOLIDAY HOME TOUR SATURDAY DECEMBER 6TH FROM 10AM – 2 PM. FEATURING FIVE LOCAL HOMES: RON AND CONNIE SITTERLEY, ROGER AND DEBBIE STRANAHAN, THE PENNSYLVANIA GAUS-HAUS; TOM AND JEAN VANTASSEL AND HOOP AND MARNE ROCHE. TICKETS ARE $8 IN ADVANCE AND $10 THE DAY OF THE TOUR. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT SOMETHING SPECIAL, WHISTLE STOP ANTIQUE MALL, BLOOMER’S FLOWER AND GIFTS, BOVA’S HARDWARE. AS AN EXTENSION OF THE TOUR, VISIT THE COBBLESTONE INN AND SUITES FOR THE CHINESE AUCTION. PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE JOHN KANZIUS TREATMENT CENTER THROUGH THE ERIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION. • The mission offering for December will not be monetary. Instead, there will be 25 tags on the Salvation Army angel tree from which you may choose if you wish. • Wholeness Service “Peace” Sunday, December 7 at 7:00 PM. • Committees Will Meet On Monday, December 8 at 6:30 Pm. • Newsletter Deadline for the January Issue Is Wednesday, December 10th. Any Items Not In By Wednesday Will Go In the February Newsletter. Due To The Busyness Of The Holiday Season, No Exceptions Allowed. • Soup for the Soul Wednesday, December 10th 5:00 – 6:30 Pm. Menu: Ham and Scalloped Potatoes. THERE IS A SIGN UP BOARD IN THE ENTRY WAY TO HELP PROVIDE ITEMS FOR THIS MEAL. • Shower Our Kitchen With Gifts This Holiday Season We Are So Thankful For Our Beautiful, Busy Kitchen At The Church! If You Find It In Your Heart This Holiday Season, The Kitchen Is In Need Of Some “Gifts”. Some Are Supplies, Some Are Talents. Supplies Needed: Aluminum Foil, Plastic Wrap, Plastic Bags (All Sizes), Wax Paper, Dish Soap, Paper Napkins, Leftover Containers. Please Put This Items In The Basket In The Entry Way. Talents Needed: Polish Good Silver, Clean Silverware Drawers, Clean Refrigerator, Clean Under Sinks, Clean Salt, Pepper, Cream and Sugar Cupboard If You Can Help In Any of These Areas, Please See Marge Harvey Sermon Cliff’s Notes: Isaiah 40:1-11 Mark 1:1-8 On this the second Sunday of Advent we light the candle of peace and celebrate the preparation ministry of John the Baptist. During this time of year we are engrossed in the excitement and traditions of the Christmas season which greatly overshadows the seasons of Advent and Epiphany. This Sunday, Eastertide should out shine them all as we explore repentance and forgiveness, as well as how God’s Word made this happen. God’s judgment had fallen heavily upon Israel as she found herself deeply exiled in Babylon lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Our passage this morning is a conversation among God, an archangel, an angel, the prophet, and the people of Jerusalem. God declares that Israel has served her punishment for sin, is forgiven, and is to be comforted, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins,” (vv. 1-2). An Archangel instructs that a smooth highway should be built from Babylon back to Jerusalem so God can lead his redeemed people back homeward again to their rightful place, “A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God… Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (vv. 3-5). An angel tells the prophet to, “Cry out,” and the prophet responds with, “What shall I cry out?” The angel gives the prophet his message which is, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever,” (vv. 6-8). If you will recall last week’s lesson also Jesus stated that his word would never end, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away,” (Mark 13: 31). Our New Testament lesson from the Gospel of Mark quotes this passage from the prophet Isaiah which instructs to prepare the way for the coming glory of God. Mark describes John the Baptist as the Elijah figure who was to return and usher in the coming Messiah. Mark records that John the Baptist is this one crying in the wilderness who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. John’s ministry centered on confessing one’s sin, repenting, and looking forward to the coming Messiah, “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins, (vv. 4-5). These passages that develop the themes of repentance and forgiveness help us to identify with the lighting of the candle of “peace.” We cannot truly find peace until we begin with the “peace with God” and the “peace of God.” In both types of peace, God has instituted a unique way in which we can realize these amazing gifts. God’s way is very different than the ways of self-centered and sinful human beings. On this second Sunday of Advent we look forward and backward to the coming Messiah to marry the baby in a manger and a sacrificial lamb on a criminal’s cross. Without Easter morning, God’s way would not avail to us the “peace with God” and the “peace of God.” As faithful Christians, we must always find ourselves in the Word because. “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” Let us follow God’s highway back to Jerusalem, “the city of peace.”
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 16:36:51 +0000
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