Gift Intentionally

Before the Christmas rush takes over, we want to slow down and prepare our hearts on purpose. For the next three weeks, our Pre-Advent series invites us to gift intentionally, love intentionally, and worship intentionally. We start with a verse many of us know by heart: “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Paul meant something deeper than a smile in the offering line, because real giving starts with thinking about the person who receives the gift. Join us this Sunday as we learn to give with joy, both at church and under the Christmas tree.

Who taught you what you believe about God? Maybe a grandmother, a Sunday school teacher, or a friend who never gave up on you. In this Sunday's scripture reading (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17), the writer urges a young church to “stand firm and hold fast” to what faithful teachers handed down. This All Saints Sunday, we thank God for the saints who built the foundation under our feet and now live in God’s presence. Join us as we honor those in our congregation who have passed in the last year.

Picture a world where kingdom work counts as normal, everyday life instead of a Sunday-only habit. Jesus starts that kind of transformation with twelve ordinary people - teaches them, then sends them out with real power and authority. He does not skip the teaching step to rush toward the sending step. Our mission statement pushes us to go and make disciples for the transformation of the world, and that mission depends on our own discipleship first. This week, we explore what it takes to walk in that same pattern: called, taught, equipped, sent. We'll see you during our regular service times this Sunday at 8:30, 11:00, and 11:15 am.

Jesus' disciples pose a big question: who ranks greatest in the kingdom? He doesn't point to himself or to God the Father. Instead, Jesus calls a small child into the middle of the room and says whoever humbles themselves like this child becomes greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Loving these kids well starts with empathy, not lessons; we have to feel what they feel before we teach them anything.

This Children's Sabbath, a day set aside to honor and care for our children, we remember our role as stewards of a faith handed down to us. We owe the same gift to every child still to come.

Picture your worshipping community for a second. Most of us picture one room, one hour, the same familiar faces in the same familiar seats. Paul writes to Philemon from prison, begging him to welcome Onesimus home as he'd welcome Paul himself. Miles apart, they still belonged to the same family in Christ. On World Communion Sunday, we remember that our table connects us to believers past our own sanctuary walls. Come Oct. 4 and pull up a seat at that same table — it reaches farther than these walls ever could.

This Sunday is our final sermon in our Jonah series.  In our story timeline, Nineveh gets spared, and Jonah wants no part of celebrating it. His anger exposes the real issue: Jonah can't stomach a God who forgives people he's already decided don't deserve it. Most of us carry a version of Jonah's list — people or groups we've quietly written off as beyond grace. God never argues Jonah out of his anger; God keeps asking questions until Jonah faces why he still holds onto it. Will we be able to celebrate God's mercy, even when we don't agree?