The season of Advent is upon us. Advent is the first season in the church year, and is the season in which we prepare for Christ's coming at Christmas. Advent begins 4 weeks before Christmas Day, so this year it began on November 29. In November we hear apocalyptic texts that help us get ready for the coming Christ - both at Christmas, at the end of this age, and now as we meet him in our lives everyday.
Our Christmas Eve Worship is at 7pm on Dec 24. This is a full worship service with many Christmas-related readings and Christmas carols, as well as Communion. All are welcome.
ADVENT
The season of Advent is upon us. Advent is the first season in the church year, and is the season in which we prepare for Christ's coming at Christmas. Advent begins 4 weeks before Christmas Day, so this year it began on November 29. In November we hear apocalyptic texts that help us get ready for the coming Christ - both at Christmas, at the end of this age, and now as we meet him in our lives everyday.
We have special mid-week worship during Advent, on Wednesdays at 7pm. It is a short, reflective and meditative service that seeks to draw us deeper into this time of waiting for the coming of Christ our Light.
Blue Christmas
This year we are having a Blue Christmas worship service. This service seeks to make space for those who are feeling "blue" this Christmas, whether dealing with the death of a loved one, the death of a relationship (divorce or otherwise), the loss of a job, living with terminal illness, or the pain of depression and loneliness and even anxiety that we often feel this time of year. Christmas is not joyful for all people, and for some of us it can be down right painful. The Blue Christmas service seeks to be a place of longing and hope for living through the darker times of life.
A Blue Christmas service is typically on or near the winter solstice, the darkest and shortest day of the year. In the darkness of December, we anticipate the coming again of the Light of the world. In Advent's hope, we wait for the coming Christ.
If this idea resonates with you, come join us on December 20 at 7pm. All are welcome.
Get your ash in church!
Ash Wednesday worship on Feb 18 at 7pm
Ash Wednesday is a solemn day of prayer that begins the season of Lent, this year on Feb 18. We will gather for worship this night at 7pm. This is a special day in the church year where we confess our sin in a litany of repentance and receive the sign of the cross on our foreheads with ash ("remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return"). This ancient symbol of repentance reminds us of our mortality. Returning to God's mercy and grace, and marked with the cross of Christ, we make our way through Lent, longing for the baptismal waters of Easter, our spiritual rebirth. (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 248)
Holy Week begins March 20. Our worship times are:
- Passion Sunday (Mar 20) at 10:15am
- Maundy Thursday (Mar 24) at 7pm
- Good Friday (Mar 25) at 7pm
- Easter Vigil (Mar 26 at 7pm
- Easter Sunday (Mar 27) at 10:15am
We are in the church season of Lent. Lent is a 40-day church season, patterned after Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. There are five Sundays in Lent that do not count toward those 40 days; Martin Luther proclaimed those as 'little Easters' within a season of repentance. During Lent we are invited to carry out the Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and works of love. Find out more here.