by Amy Norton-Benfield, December 19, 2024
Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year, and this Advent, our aptly-named worship curriculum invites us to explore “Words for the Beginning: Advent Reminders for New Seasons.” From December 1st through January 5th, we’ll dive into the themes of blessing, companionship, risky hope, abiding love, holy laughter, crooked roads and a whole lot more! As we hurtle towards Christmas, we reflect on all that it took to get us to this point, and what I’m coming up with is ‘a whole lot of hope.’ And hope isn’t anything to scoff at, though it’s easy to give hope a bad… Read More
by Amy Norton-Benfield, December 11, 2024
Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year, and this Advent, our aptly-named worship curriculum invites us to explore “Words for the Beginning: Advent Reminders for New Seasons.” From December 1st through January 5th, we’ll dive into the themes of blessing, companionship, risky hope, abiding love, holy laughter, crooked roads and a whole lot more! “How do you eat an elephant?” the joke/proverb asks. The answer is “one bite at a time.” It’s a philosophical groaner, a wise un-joke that reminds us how to approach seemingly insurmountable problems, whether it’s the vast scale of injustice in our society, or the… Read More
by Kent M French, December 05, 2024
Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year, and this Advent, our aptly-named worship curriculum invites us to explore “Words for the Beginning: Advent Reminders for New Seasons”. From December 1st through January 5th, we’ll dive into the themes of blessing, companionship, risky hope, abiding love, holy laughter, crooked roads and a whole lot more! On Sunday we’ll visit a story not normally told in Advent, of Ruth and Naomi (Ruth, chapter 1). It’s a story about creating a chosen family vs. what cultural traditions might typically expect. It’s also a story about valuing friendship, companionship and leaning on others… Read More
