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12/22/2015 0 Comments December 22nd, 2015 Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus!When you have a truck, you're everybody's friend! This is a truth I learned all too well as a young adult living in Atlanta. Whenever a friend or a friend of a friend or - let's be honest - even someone I barely knew was about to move from one apartment to another, I'd get a call - "You have a truck, right?" The answer always seem to obligate me to a day of labor for no pay other perhaps a couple of slices of pizza at the end. Oh well, that's the cost of having a truck, I suppose! When Christmas time came, it didn't matter that I had a truck or not - all that mattered was a I had a vehicle at all. The fact that I was one of the few folks around who drove back home for the holiday meant I was around long enough to be called on to give several friends a ride to the airport for their own journeys home. As Christmas day approached, I would get the calls - "You have a car, right?" Holiday traffic in Atlanta meant one thing - extreme gridlock. I eventually learned my way on the surface streets and alleyways to get back from the airport to my home quicker than taking the congested interstate. Of course, that quicker route took me through some of the rougher neighborhoods that I would have normally avoided. I was always struck by the poverty that surrounded the communities, the scrawled graffiti on every wall, the litter blowing down the sidewalk, and the painful stares of the homeless and the alcoholics. While I saw all of these things on daily basis in my travels throughout Atlanta, I rarely saw so much of it all together, and it saddened and overwhelmed me. It was not a part of how I understood life. Still, there was something else about those neighborhoods that jumped out at me. There was a spirit about the people who lived there that all that poverty could not overcome. People walked down the streets talking with one another, they came in and out of stores, they went to the church on the corner for Bible study, they lived in a light that no amount of darkness could overcome. In a way, those neighborhoods - on the surface so different from where I spent most of my time - were the same mixture of sadness and hope that fill all the world. They just opened my eyes to what I failed to see in the places I became accustomed to. Each year, as I would make those trips taking friends to the airport and return by this route, I was reminded of why Christmas matters. Christmas matters because Jesus came to a world that needed him and needs him still. If all were merry and bright, we would not need Jesus, but as it is we are in desperate need of one to save us from ourselves, to give us strength in the face of adversity, to instill in us a hope for the future, and to shed light in the darkness. No matter what neighborhood we live in or what circumstances fill our lives, we need Jesus to bring light in the midst of the darkness that surrounds us. And so as we await Christmas, we join the church throughout the ages in saying, "Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free!" May you remember why we - why you - need Jesus and see the light that he is shining into the world! Blessings on the journey, Jim God's Christmas List What would be on God's Christmas list? What did the prophets tell us God wants, and what was God up to just before the birth of Jesus? We are exploring these questions as we prepare for the coming of Christmas. Last Week's Sermon Snippet: Peace (Isaiah 11:1--9; Luke 1:57-80) The prophet Isaiah paints a beautiful picture of the peace that God wants to bring to our world - where the wolf and lamb can lie down together in peace, the lion eats straw like the ox, and a little child leads them, where no one hurts or destroys on God's holy mountain. What a world that would be! Unfortunately, we live in a world so far removed from that kind of peace. There are wars, acts of terror, violence in the streets, and people languishing as they seek to find a better place to make a safe home. There are plenty of people offering easy answers to these problems, but the problem of world peace is so much more complex than that. Where can we even begin? What can we possibly do to make a difference and help make the gift of peace a reality in our world? It starts with the little things we do. Simply choosing to be kind - even when we don't want to or feel like it - is a way we invite peace into our lives and spread the gift of peace among God's people. With Christmas coming this week, we will have plenty of opportunities to show kindness even among our families and communities. There are folks we know who have hurt us, whom we have hurt in turn, whom we hold a grudge against. What difference might it make if we forgave them and showed them kindness this week? Surely, it will not create world peace overnight or fix all the world's problems, but it would be the first step in cleaning up a mess seemingly too big to tackle. May there be peace on earth, and may it begin with us! Looking Ahead: Light and Life (Christmas Eve) and One Last Gift (December 27) As we finish off God's Christmas list, we find the greatest gift that God wants to share with us and for us to in turn and share with others. Join us Christmas Eve as we celebrate the "Light and Life" of Jesus Christ! Then this upcoming Sunday, as we prepare to say good-bye to the Christmas season, its bright lights, beautiful songs, and wondrous joy, we will discover "One Last Gift" we can give to God this year! Christmas Eve Service Join us on Christmas Eve at 7 pm for a service to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! We will celebrate with singing, communion, and candlelight. We will also offer a home-cooked Christmas dinner - ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, potato salad, and more! - before the service at 5:30 pm. We will need volunteers to help serve and clean up. We will offer an activity for kids between the dinner and service! Christmas Eve Offering for Others This year, our Christmas Eve Offering for Others will go to support the World Service Fund of the United Methodist Church. Through this fund, we support the work of our missionaries and our church's desperately needed mission work across the world. Their work focuses on developing Christian leaders for the world, creating new churches and renewing existing churches to bring in new people, engaging in ministry with the poor, and stamping out killer disease of poverty by improving global health. Thank you for making a special gift to God during our worship service this Christmas Eve! Bible Blast 31Kick off your New Year right with Bible Blast 31 - a one-month reading program to learn about God's story from Genesis to Revelation! By reading about one chapter a day - give or take half a chapter - you will hear the story from Creation to Community to Covenant to Church. Reading plans are available at the church and will be made available on the church website. Look for more details to follow! Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, December 23 Office Closed Thursday, December 24 Office Closed 5:30 pm - Christmas Eve Dinner 7 pm - Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service Sunday, December 27 9:30 am - Worship: "God's Christmas List: One Last Gift" 11 am - Sunday School Cancelled - Join us for a time of fellowship following the service! Upcoming Events
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12/14/2015 0 Comments December 14th, 2015 In the Singing If you weren't able to join us in worship this past Sunday, you certainly missed out on some powerful singing. As a part of our opening set, we sang one of my favorite Christmas songs - O Holy Night. It is one of those songs that is often reserved in church for the main solo during the Christmas Eve service, but we sang it perhaps a bit early and as a whole congregation. Hearing so many voices coming together to proclaim those gracious words, it was enough to give you chills down your spine. There is something about joining in the singing. A while back on a Sunday morning, I was in the office getting ready for worship. There was one other person in the office doing a little of last-minute preparation herself. As we heard the praise band practicing down the hall in the sanctuary, she noted that she had heard the song they were practicing on the radio earlier that morning. She then commented on how much better it sounds when our band plays it than it did when the "professionals" played it. I knew exactly what she meant. So many times when our praise band leads our congregation in a song, I am struck by how much better it sounds than when I hear it on the radio. What is the difference? While we have a great praise band, I figure that they are no more proficient at playing than the professional artists recording the songs. I also doubt that our congregation as whole - especially with me on the front row - are better singers than the recording artists who make a living at singing. So what is it that makes our singing so powerful - enough to give you chills down the spine? Maybe it's that we are joining together to make an offering to God. When we join together in the singing, what could have been merely a performance becomes true worship! It doesn't matter if the band misses the rhythm or if the preacher is singing out of key. It is an offering of the best that we have to God. I remember a worship teacher who once shared about his experience as a choir director in a large church that had several choirs. One of the choirs was made up of the best singers of the church who had auditioned. They were so proficient that they often traveled to put on special concerts at churches across the region. There was also a choir made up of anyone who wanted join in the singing - this choir was called "Joyful Noise." These choirs would take turns leading worship - that is, whenever the auditioned choir was even in town. After a while, the music director began to hear from folks about how much better and more meaningful worship was when one of the choirs was leading - "Joyful Noise!" When they led, it wasn't about the performance but rather the worship, and people could feel that as they joined in the singing. There is certainly something to joining in the singing to make an offering to God! I hope that it is as meaningful to you to join in the singing here at Port Church - whether it is a new praise song or one of the old favorite hymns - as it is to me! Come and join in the singing whenever you can as we offer what we can to God. Blessings on the journey, Jim God's Christmas List What would be on God's Christmas list? What did the prophets tell us God wants, and what was God up to just before the birth of Jesus? We are exploring these questions as we prepare for the coming of Christmas. Last Week's Sermon Snippet: Joy (Zephaniah 3:14-20; Luke 1:39-56) Hope and love - the first two things we have found on God's list - are both things that God wants to give us through the gift of Christmas and wants us to share with one another. Is there anything that we can truly offer to God? God takes joy in seeing justice done - seeing the proud made humble and the lowly lifted up. God also takes joy in fulfilling the promises of old - some of them centuries old - that the children of God are finally ready to receive. God takes joy in seeing those children growing up to be the people that they were made and called to be. We can give the gift of joy to God as we commit to being the people God wants us to be - people of hope, of love, of peace, of light, and of contagious joy! Looking Ahead: Peace As we come close to the end of God's Christmas list, we find that one of the things that God wants most is peace. As we look at the world around us and all the conflict, arguments, and even war and violence that it contains, this gift seems to be one of the hardest to wrap up for God. How can we, just individual people in the midst of a complex world, even begin to think about creating world peace? Is this a gift we could ever possibly hope to give? Join us this Sunday as we find way to wrap up this great gift of "Peace" for God! Football in the Park Take a break from all the busyness of the holidays, and get some fresh air and exercise! Join us for a friendly game of football at the Grottoes Town Park this Sunday at 2 pm. We will play for about two hours. Older children, youth, and adults of all ages are welcome to play. Longest Nights Healing Service Are you finding the holidays to be a bit tougher this year? Have the circumstances of life stolen the joy you think you should feel? As the longest night of the year approaches, it is easy to think that the darkness - both physical and emotional - hold sway over our lives. Yet even on the darkest night, God's light still shines and brings us hope. Join us this Sunday at 7 pm for an informal service as we gather to celebrate the light and ask for God's blessing and healing in our lives! Christmas Eve Dinner and Service Join us on Christmas Eve at 7 pm for a service to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! We will celebrate with singing, communion, and candlelight. We will also offer a home-cooked Christmas dinner - ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, potato salad, and more! - before the service at 5:30 pm. Let Dianna know if you are planning to attend by Monday, December 14, so that we can ensure having enough food. Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, December 16 9:30-2:00 - Office Hours Thursday, December 17 9:30-12:00 - Office Hours 11 am Sunshine Seniors Christmas Party at Wood Grill Buffet Sunday, December 20 9:30 am - Worship: "God's Christmas List: Peace" Return your Bottles for Change to support AVA Care during worship this Sunday! 11 am - Sunday School 2 pm - Football at Grottoes Town Park 7 pm - Longest Nights Healing Service Looking Ahead
12/9/2015 0 Comments December 09th, 2015 Do Not Be Afraid... "Do not be afraid," the angel told Zechariah, the old priest who was about to receive a great promise. "Do not be afraid," the angel told Mary, the young woman who was about to be blessed with one of the greatest, most terrifying callings any person has ever heard. "Do not be afraid," the angel told the shepherds, those men watching their flocks by night who were about to hear the greatest news of all and see the glory of heaven's fireworks. Over the last month or so, we have been bombarded with news that is enough to make anymore cower in fear. From terrorist attacks to near-daily, senseless shootings, from the breakdown of civil discourse to rumors of economic uncertainty, the news leads us to all fear all the time. We never know what will happen next and when or where the other shoe will drop. It is only natural that we should be afraid: afraid for our lives, afraid for our children, afraid for our freedom, afraid for our home, afraid for our world, afraid, afraid, afraid. Everywhere we turn, it is overwhelming fear that we find. Yet the message we repeatedly hear as we approach Christmas reading Luke's account of Jesus' birth is "Do not be afraid..." It almost sounds absurd in the darkness of the fear we feel, but the message is there refusing to be ignored. And it is not a new message but rather one of the most ancient and consistent messages that God has given to the people of God. Time and again, the message is clear - "Do not be afraid!" - and there in the angel's message to the shepherds we overhear the reason why: "Do not be afraid... for today in the town of David a Savior is born to you!" Because of Jesus and what he has done for us, we have no reason to fear no matter how frightening the world may become. As Charles Wesley wrote in one of his great hymns, Jesus is "the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease." Jesus has freed us from the bondage of our fears so that we may truly love. As John wrote to the church, there is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out all fear. The angel's voice calls down to us through the generations: "Do not be afraid!" As we approach Christmas all the while continuing to witness the fearful news of the world, may the love of Christ so fill our hearts and cast out our fears that we may reflect his love into the dark fears that surround us! Blessings on the journey, Jim God's Christmas List What would be on God's Christmas list? What did the prophets tell us God wants, and what was God up to just before the birth of Jesus? We are exploring these questions as we prepare for the coming of Christmas. Last Week's Sermon Snippet: Love (Hosea 11:1-4; Luke 1:26-38) It is no surprise that we can expect that love would be on God's Christmas list. God wants us to be loved and to love one another. Yet love is one of those words that is so often misunderstood and sometimes even maligned. We often think of love as just a stronger version of the word "like" - I like ice cream, but I love mint chocolate chip. We believe that someone or something has to be good or special in some way to be deserving of our love. Love is often seen as weak and mushy. In real life, love is impractical because there are many people we do not even like and many times when getting even seems to be the only strong response. Yet the story of Hosea - at its core a love story - tells us about a different idea of love. Hosea was told by God to marry the prostitute Gomer. When she left him and went to another man, Hosea went after her and brought her back home. This is a symbol of God's love for us. We may stray from God, but God comes after us and does whatever it takes to bring us back home. Hosea 11 tells the story of God's love for us as a parent who tenderly cares for a child, teaching him to walk, healing his wounds, feeding him, and holding him up against a warm cheek - all this despite the way the child wanders off and ignores the care of the parent. These stories of love tell us the truth about love: 1) love says more about the one who loves than it does about the one who is loved, 2) love is strong because it fights for the beloved and has to endure the inevitable heartache that comes from truly loving with abandon, and 3) love seeks the best for the one who is loved whether they want it - or "deserve" it - or not. That is what God wants for us and from us - to be loved and to love with abandon. Looking Ahead: Joy Over the last couple weeks, we have looked at God's Christmas list in terms of what God wants to give us in the gift of Christmas. This week, we turn our attention to something God wants not just for us but to enjoy personally: "Joy!" God wants to take joy in us, who we are, what we do, and our relationship. What can we do to wrap up the gift of joy for God? Join us this Sunday as we continue reading through God's Christmas list! Bible Basics: How to Read the Bible The Bible is a special kind of book. We believe that it is more than just a book that tells us some facts about history or a list of rules to follow. The Bible is a living book - the Living Word - and it speaks to us in our lives today in new ways. How do we read the Bible for more than just information? How do we find comfort and inspiration and the challenge to live transformed lives in it? Join us in Sunday School this week as we explore the Living Word! Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, December 9 9:30-2:00 - Office Hours Thursday, December 10 9:30-12:00 - Office Hours Sunday, December 13 9:30 am - Worship: "God's Christmas List: Joy" Don't forget to bring you gently used winter shoes to share with those who are homeless and items for the Food Pantry Christmas Baskets. 11 am - Sunday School Join our Adult Sunday School Class as Pastor Jim teaches on "Bible Basics!" 6:30 pm - Christmas Program with Spotswood High Choir Come enjoy the music, sing along, and savor some homemade cookies! Freewill offering to support Spotswood High Choir. Looking Ahead
12/2/2015 0 Comments December 02nd, 2015 A Gift for Jesus With Thanksgiving last week, the holiday season is officially here. With it comes the shopping for, wrapping of, and exchanging of gifts! It is always a joy to receive something special this time of year and an even greater joy to see the wonder and excitement of others as we offer our own gifts to them. I always love seeing the boys on Christmas day (and on other days with family) as they open their gifts. But two of my favorite parts of Christmas has become two gifts that our family gives each year. Several years ago, Courtney and I read about the challenge to match Christmas spending dollar-for-dollar with an offering to God's work in the world as a present to Jesus on his birthday. Since then, each year we have invited our churches to join us in supporting a Christmas Offering for Others. This year is no exception, and we plan to collect an offering at our Christmas Eve Service to support the World Service Fund of the UMC - a fund that supports missionaries and mission work where they are needed the most across the world. I hope you will consider making a gift to this important work along with us. The second thing we have enjoyed for the last few years has been taking time on Christmas Day to thank those who give part of their day to serve others - emergency service workers, gas station attendants, and nursing home staff among others. The boys have made cards and goodie bags of cookies or candy to give to these workers as we visit these places on Christmas afternoon. The smiles and surprise that we get makes us know that this truly a gift for Jesus. There are so many ways to offer a gift to Jesus this holiday season. I hope that you will join our family in adding him to your holiday list. Blessings on the journey, Jim God's Christmas List What would be on God's Christmas list? What did the prophets tell us God wants, and what was God up to just before the birth of Jesus? We are exploring these questions as we prepare for the coming of Christmas. Last Week's Sermon Snippet: Hope (Jeremiah 29:10-14; Luke 1:5-24) In the midst of the world falling apart around them as the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and hauled them off into captivity, Jeremiah - so often one with words of doom and gloom - offered words of hope: that God wanted to give them hope and a future. Hundreds of years later just before the birth of Jesus, Zechariah and Elizabeth, an older couple yearning for a child that never came, received the promise of a child to call their own who would bring hope not only to them but to all the people of God. One of the things we're likely to find on God's Christmas list is Hope! God wants us to have hope in the midst of the brokenness and hurts of our lives and in the midst of the violence and hopelessness that fills our world. Looking Ahead: Love Of course, we all know that love would be on God's Christmas list. God wants us to be loved and for us to love another. But love is one of those words we have used so often in so many different ways that we sometimes lose sight of what love really means. What does it really mean that God loves us unconditionally? How can we love someone we don't even like or know? Join us this Sunday as we explore why "Love" makes the cut for God's Christmas List! Bible Basics: How to Read the Bible Have you ever thought about reading the Bible more but you weren't really sure where to begin? Have you ever started reading the Bible from the first page and trudged halfway through Exodus before just plain giving up? Is there a better way to read the Bible? How can I best learn about what's in the Bible? Join us in Sunday School this week as Pastor Jim leads a discussion of how to read the Bible! Christmas Eve Dinner If you do not have any family plans on Christmas Eve, join us for dinner before our worship service. Last year the Christmas Eve Dinner was a great time of fellowship and celebration together, and the only complaint we got was that you wanted more time to visit with your church family before the service. So we are moving the mealtime to 5:30 pm with the service to follow at 7:00 pm. Dinner will include ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, and fresh bread. If you would like to join us for the meal, please let Dianna know by December 14 so that we can plan accordingly to have enough food for everyone. We hope to see you there! Living in Community
This Week at Port ChurchWednesday, December 2 9:30-2:00 - Office Hours Thursday, December 3 9:30-12:00 - Office Hours Sunday, November 29 9:30 am - Worship: "God's Christmas List: Love" 11 am - Sunday School Join our Adult Sunday School Class as Pastor Jim teaches on ""Bible Basics!" Looking Ahead
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