MESSAGE FROM PASTOR LIZ DAVIS
December 2024
Dear People of God,
Blessed Advent to you!
Advent is one of my favorite seasons, and I’m so excited that we will be grounding ourselves in “Words for the Beginning,” a series from “A Sanctified Art.” View the daily devotional and follow our Facebook page for daily prompts as you prepare your hearts to welcome Jesus!
“Advent is a season of endings and beginnings. As the calendar year comes to a close, a new church year begins. Christ’s birth ushers us into new ways of living and loving; and yet, the world as we know it spins madly on. In many ways, pregnant Mary was surrounded by endings—large and small, personal and political. But Mary proclaimed hope in a God who was and is making all things new. Christ’s birth offered a beautiful new beginning for shepherds and Magi alike—all the while, King Herod tried to bring Christ’s story to an end. When we ourselves navigate seasons filled with endings and beginnings, we need reminders. We need words that can feel like steady ground, like a path for our feet to find as we step forward into the unknown.
This Advent series is filled with blessings, with the scriptures and reminders we need to hear again and again as we begin a new season. These reminders root us in the fundamental truths of our faith. Many of them are life lessons we teach to children—lessons that adults continue to learn and relearn. They may resemble the blessings we impart to loved ones during special ceremonies like weddings, graduations, or baptisms. ...You are invited to move through this Advent season as if you are entering a sacred new chapter, holding fast to the reminders that will bolster you for the journey
ahead.” (A Sanctified Art)
Each of us is going through our own endings and beginnings, in family loss and birth, in transitions with new homes, changing abilities, and different jobs, and in many other ways. As a nation, we are preparing for new political leaders and the shifts we might fear or hope for in the year to come. In all
these changes, we need words to remind us of our grounding to have firm footing and know how to step into the unknown future.
The promise of this season is that God arrives among us to walk with us into that future. God will meet us in the days ahead. We are invited to become all the more familiar with God’s priorities and claim our work in the world as Jesus’ people. Advent is all about God moving towards us in love and
walking with us towards a good future. Each Sunday will focus us on a phrase of blessing that you are invited to carry into the week, guiding your hope and your response to God’s work in your life. May these words of blessing give you the courage to walk through your transitions and be strengthened for the journey ahead.
God is with you! -Pastor Liz
Blessed Advent to you!
Advent is one of my favorite seasons, and I’m so excited that we will be grounding ourselves in “Words for the Beginning,” a series from “A Sanctified Art.” View the daily devotional and follow our Facebook page for daily prompts as you prepare your hearts to welcome Jesus!
“Advent is a season of endings and beginnings. As the calendar year comes to a close, a new church year begins. Christ’s birth ushers us into new ways of living and loving; and yet, the world as we know it spins madly on. In many ways, pregnant Mary was surrounded by endings—large and small, personal and political. But Mary proclaimed hope in a God who was and is making all things new. Christ’s birth offered a beautiful new beginning for shepherds and Magi alike—all the while, King Herod tried to bring Christ’s story to an end. When we ourselves navigate seasons filled with endings and beginnings, we need reminders. We need words that can feel like steady ground, like a path for our feet to find as we step forward into the unknown.
This Advent series is filled with blessings, with the scriptures and reminders we need to hear again and again as we begin a new season. These reminders root us in the fundamental truths of our faith. Many of them are life lessons we teach to children—lessons that adults continue to learn and relearn. They may resemble the blessings we impart to loved ones during special ceremonies like weddings, graduations, or baptisms. ...You are invited to move through this Advent season as if you are entering a sacred new chapter, holding fast to the reminders that will bolster you for the journey
ahead.” (A Sanctified Art)
Each of us is going through our own endings and beginnings, in family loss and birth, in transitions with new homes, changing abilities, and different jobs, and in many other ways. As a nation, we are preparing for new political leaders and the shifts we might fear or hope for in the year to come. In all
these changes, we need words to remind us of our grounding to have firm footing and know how to step into the unknown future.
The promise of this season is that God arrives among us to walk with us into that future. God will meet us in the days ahead. We are invited to become all the more familiar with God’s priorities and claim our work in the world as Jesus’ people. Advent is all about God moving towards us in love and
walking with us towards a good future. Each Sunday will focus us on a phrase of blessing that you are invited to carry into the week, guiding your hope and your response to God’s work in your life. May these words of blessing give you the courage to walk through your transitions and be strengthened for the journey ahead.
God is with you! -Pastor Liz
