There Will Be Signs

Modern

One of the signs of Advent is the Advent calendar. You may have one in your home today, or you may remember having one as a child. As a child, each day of the Advent calendar was a sign that Christmas was getting closer. We relished in the excitement and suspense of counting down the days. That’s what Advent was about back then. At some point in our lives something happened. Somewhere along the way adult life and circumstances got in the way. Real life took control, and Advent hasn’t the same carefree happy time of joy and anticipation it once was. Advent is no longer the season just before Christmas it was merely a countdown to the big, carefree Christmas holiday. Instead, Advent begins to describe the reality of life and the world. Luke’s scripture text takes on a personal meaning for us, and Advent becomes a season of personal change, of letting go and looking toward a future of hope in Christ. Come and hear how Jesus teaches us to interpret the signs in our Advent stories as Pastor Val Stewart preaches “There Will Be Signs” this 1st Sunday of Advent. Luke 21: 25-31

Long before there was a Methodist Church, there was just a movement — a group of people trying to live out their faith with passion and purpose. Jesus sent his followers out two by two, telling them to share the good news and bring God's kingdom near wherever they went. That same spirit shaped the early Methodists, who believed every person, not just the clergy, has a role to play in God's work. This week, we're digging into the history that shaped who we are, including a name you've probably heard before but maybe didn't know the story behind. Join us this Sunday as we trace our roots and discover where we came from.

Jesus told a story about a man who threw a big banquet and invited all his friends. One by one, they made excuses and didn't show up. So the host sent his servants out into the streets to invite anyone they could find — and the table still had room for more. This week, we're asking why that story matters for how we live as Methodists today. What does it mean to follow a faith that always makes room for one more person? Join us this Sunday as we explore what it means to have an Open Table.

We have no trouble asking God to forgive us. It is forgiving the person who hurt us — or wronged us, or disappointed us, or maybe just got under our skin — where things get complicated. This week, we land on the final lines of the Lord's Prayer and wrestle with what it really means to pray them honestly. Because a posture of grace toward others is not just a nice idea. According to Jesus, it is inseparable from the grace we ourselves have received.

We ask for daily bread — but if we are honest, most of us are living like we ordered the buffet. Somewhere between the original prayer and our modern lives, "enough" got replaced by "more." This week, we sit with one of the simplest lines in the Lord's Prayer and let it ask us a surprisingly uncomfortable question: what would it look like to truly want only what we need — and to make sure our neighbors have the same?

Every Sunday we say it together: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." But what if we stopped and asked ourselves — do we actually want that? Praying for God's kingdom to come means releasing our grip on our own kingdoms, our own agendas, our own definitions of what the world should look like. This week, we discover that the Lord's Prayer is not just a devotional exercise — it is a declaration of whose side we are on and what we are willing to do about it.