The
holidays are a time of the year during which we think about home. The twinkle of Christmas lights and strains
of an old carol bring a wave of nostalgia.
The traditions we introduce to our homes and families evoke the
traditions we grew up with. Every party
and every seasonal meal and every gift brings warm associations – thoughts of
home.
And yet
our nostalgia bears a bittersweet quality.
At every gathering there are empty spaces around the table. Every new home we create fails to fully
reproduce the sense of peace and security we associate with the homes in which
we were raised. There is always a
lingering feeling that something is missing.
This is
the human experience. The Bible teaches
that we were created for home. Home was
for us, in the beginning, a perfect unbroken connection with God. The Bible begins with a picture of God’s plan
for human life. This picture includes an
overabundance of the good things needed to sustain us; good gifts for us to
enjoy; true peace and harmony between people, the world around us, and
God. Kind of like our memories of
Christmases past. Imbedded in all of us
is a sense that this is what life should be like – not just during certain
seasons, but all the time. We’re left
asking two questions: first, what happened to that original, good state we
enjoyed? Second, is there a way to get
it back?
During the
season of Advent, our church will explore these two
questions, and provide answers that cut deeper than the songs you’ll hear over
the mall P.A. system. Join our congregation's Advent celebrations. Invite a friend. Or tune in online to hear the story.
Here’s our
Advent schedule:
Dec. 2:
Message: It Was Good (Passage: Genesis
1:26-31a)
Dec. 9:
Message: Are We There Yet? (Exodus
13:17-22)
Dec. 16: Meeting God (Exodus 19:1-9; 20:18-21)
Dec. 23: Looking for Lost Children (John 4:1-26)
Christmas
Eve – Dec. 24, 6:00 p.m. (Lessons and Carols):
A Place Called Home.
