Back again for another Monday message from me! I’m hopeful you all had a great weekend! I enjoyed getting a chance to finally finish decorating our house, even though now I’m even more behind on the laundry! I’m just happy to see the lights glistening on the porch! This weekend included some birthday celebrations for my nephew, which was a fun addition to our week. I also enjoyed an evening with the ladies of our congregation as we enjoyed the annual Pine Trail. Thanks to the organizers and the hosts!
We’re shifting gears now to the Live Nativity this week. You can be prayerful over cooperative weather, health of the volunteers and many to come to experience the gift of Christmas! Those who are acting should take note to try on their costumes and be here around 3:30 to practice and enjoy a meal together. Invite your friends! There is a Facebook event that you can share as a way to spread the word!
We’re also looking for help with the finishing touches of the Kid’s Wing. We have some very small painting projects, furniture that needs to be assembled, design concepts to be hung, bulletin boards, white boards and TV’s that need to be mounted among other projects. We’re also looking for people who would be available to help Wee Friends Preschool Teachers move their classroom materials into the Kid’s Wing next week during the mornings. If you’re available and interested in helping in any of these areas, please reach out or sign-up in the Gathering Area! We are excited about the likelihood of a New Years move in! Thank you to all who have been patient, flexible, generous and prayerful thus far in this project.
I spent some time this week preparing for next year’s plan for my Tuesday night women’s Bible study. Our group is committed to read the Bible chronologically using The Bible Recap. I’m really excited about doing this in community with others, others are excited too, so I’ll be offering a Tuesday morning gathering too. If you want to read through the Bible in a year with other ladies, let me know! We’d love to have you join Tuesday mornings, or evenings!
What WE’RE Learning This Week: A nugget of what our Lil’, Youth and Adults Roots heard this week
Our Family Theme: Preparing for the Messiah
Our Root Text: Luke 1:5–24, 57–80
Verse of the Month: John 3:16
How Every Generation Lives This Out: Discuss how we can always believe God because He has kept His promises.
Check Out This Week’s PARENT PAGE
*This can also be accessed in the D6 Family App
What I’M Learning This Week: Sharing what I’m reading and listening to lately
I’ll share with you this little Advent devotional that popped into my inbox. It’s short and sweet and based on Psalm 23:3 "He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."
“This beautiful time of living in the already but not yet. Where it’s 2024, and
though Jesus was born and lived and died and rose again many, many years ago, we who believe continue to create space for the practice of waiting.
Advent: The season of waiting.
Waiting is complicated. For kids, waiting is the worst. It fuels impatience, strengthens impulses, and creates a playground for imaginations to run wild, often making an ask for forgiveness sound waaay better than an ask for permission. For adults, it’s not much different. Rare is the grown-up for whom waiting doesn’t feel like excruciating inaction. And when trials are too much, or tasks seem trivial - that’s the height of our desire to just do something.
The problem is, those somethings we do aren’t always in line with our Lord. In fact, little else feeds the imbalance of our record to go rogue than when we have to wait. In these moments, we hold a great propensity to flounder instead of follow, completely forgetting that waiting with the Lord isn’t inaction at all.
Waiting with the Lord presents a perfect opportunity for restoration.
Think about it: Waiting offers concentrated time to pause and reflect on whether the path we’re walking is God’s or our own. Waiting can lead to listening, where we can work out if fear or loneliness is speaking louder than the comfort, guidance, and strength that our very present God supplies.
Advent: A reminder that we get to live differently than the rest of the world, and that includes how we wait.”
It finished with some reflection questions about “waiting well.” In a season of such
hurried anticipation, Lord, find us faithful, waiting well.
Make Every Week Count: Parenting, Grandparenting & Spiritual Mentoring Resources
Check out the 2024 Roots Gift Guide! A tool to help you gift purposefully as you help make disciples of the kids and teens in your life.
How Can You Pray? Prayer Requests and Praises from Roots Ministries
PRAY for another Adult Sunday School class! Pray the FaithBuilders, a class made up of ages 62+ Church Members, in all stages of life.
PRAISE for the opportunities for Christmas-themed fellowship many MGCB groups have had this week!