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12/19/2016 0 Comments December 19th, 2016 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!This is our final Lighthouse for the year 2016, so I wanted to take a moment to go ahead and say, "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" It is hard to believe that we are already at the closing of this year and are getting ready for a new one in just a couple of weeks. As I reflect on this past year, I am in awe and wonder at all that God has done in and through our community. We have had two successful sessions of Wednesday at the Port and added an adult class this fall. We published our cookbook and held a potluck to sample a lot of the wonderful dishes included. We forged ahead with and even improved our Vacation Bible School despite some challenges with space availability at the school. The kids raised $2000 to help the hungry, about twice what they raised just two years ago! The youth raised over $3000 with their Chili Cook-off and Silent Auction for mission work this fall! We celebrated the 100th anniversary of the sanctuary, recognized several graduates, and welcomed new youth and adult members. It has been a full and blessed year! I am thankful for each and every one of you who has made our work together possible! God has another great year in store for us, because there is a lot of the work of Christ left to be one. May God bless you with rest, peace, and renewal over the coming holiays so that we get back to it in the new year! Blessings on the journey, Jim Unwrapping Christmas As we approach Christmas Day, we are Unwrapping Christmas to see what it is really about underneath all the paper and boxes. Sunday's Sermon Snippet: Bearing God (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:46-55) Among Isaiah's prophecies, we find this short promise of a young woman who would bear a child who would be called Emmanuel - literally, God with us. Isaiah gave this prophecy as a sign that God would save the people, but this is far more than just a sign; it is also a promise of hope. Fast forward a few hundred years, and we find a young woman named Mary minding her own business when an angel appears to her with the message that she would become the mother of God's son. Although confused and worried by the encounter, Mary responds, "I am the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Later, upon her visit to her cousin Elizabeth, Mary sings a song of praise to God in which she notes her humble standing in life and yet how God has chosen to honor her with this role of being the mother of God's son. For her part, Christians across generations have honored her as the Theotokos - "the Mother of God" or "God-bearer" in Greek. Mary is honored because she is the one to have brought Emmanuel - God with us - to actually be with us. The fact that God has come to live among us as one of us is amazing - God knows firsthand our joys and sorrows, our triumphs and follies, our love and our fear. What's more, though, is that in coming to be with us God has also done great things as Mary sings in her song - lifting up the poor and humbling the proud and showing mercy across the generations. All this because God became Emmanuel in the form of the baby Jesus. All this because of Mary - the God-bearer. Yet the work of God is not yet done. A mystic of the medieval days, Meister Eckhart, said, "We are all meant to be God-bearers, because God is always needing to be born." What does it matter if Jesus was born to Mary so long ago if he is not also born into our hearts today? What do all the presents, lights, and cookies matter if we do not bear God out into the world? We live in a hurting and broken world, and we are meant to be God-bearers carrying God out to those who need to see and feel the divine presence. Who are we to help bring life to the barren places, to shine light into the darkness, and to bring justice and peace to the oppressed? We are the servants of the Lord; may it be with us according to God's word! Living in CommunityThank you, Joe and Jean Bowman, for lighting our Advent candles this week! Thank you to Linda and a wonderful choir that shared the greatest story ever told at our cantata last night! Thank you to everyone who baked the delicious cookies and the folks who served them at the reception! It was a blessed night for all of us who had the privilege of being there! This Week at Port ChucrhMonday, December 19 Evening Bible Study at Dianna's Tuesday, December 20 9:00 - 11:45 am - Office Hours 7:00 pm - Longest Nights Service of Healing Wednesday, December 21 Morning Bible Study at Dianna's Thursday, December 22 Office Closed Saturday, December 24 7:00 pm - Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service Sunday, December 25 10:30 am - Worship: "Unleashing Christmas: Treasuring Jesus" Children's Church and Sunday School cancelled The Church Office will be closed the week of December 26-January 1 for the holidays. The Lighthouse will not be sent out next week. See you in the New Year! Looking AheadWednesday, January 25
Wednesday at the Port resumes!
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12/12/2016 0 Comments December 12th, 2016 Driving ThroughWhat a wonderful job you all did with the Drive-Thru Nativity this year! Thank you to one and all that helped in so many ways! We had 100 cars come through on Friday night and another 140 on Saturday night. When we put on programs like this and Vacation Bible School, it is easy for us to be excited by and focus on the large numbers of people we are reaching. But I hope that we will not get lost in the numbers and forget the most important number: one! On Friday night, I spoke with people and gave them a program of the scenes that they had just witnessed. As one young woman pulled forward from the Wise Men scene - our last - she rolled down her window and stopped to speak with us. "Thank you for coming out tonight! Merry Christmas!" I said. "Thank you all for doing this! It was amazing!" she responded as she wiped away the tears from her cheek. "Merry Christmas!" She began to pull away, but then slowed and stuck her head out the window back to us. "Are you doing this again tomorrow?" Hers was only one of one hundred cars to drive through that night, and she was just one of the two hundred forty families to see our Nativity this weekend. While we celebrate the numbers, I pray that we also remember that those numbers represent a bunch of ones - people and families seeking to grow in relationship with God! May we reach every one of the many that reach out to us! Blessings on the journey, Jim Unwrapping Christmas In these weeks leading up to Christmas, we are "Unwrapping Christmas" to get past the beautiful wrappings to the true meaning of Christmas. Sunday's Sermon Snippet: Bringing Justice (Isaiah 11:1-9) A couple of weeks ago, we looked at this passage from Isaiah focusing on the new shoot from the stump of Jesse to help us understand how Christmas brings new life in the barren places of our lives. This week, we return to this passage to explore what Isaiah says about this new shoot - the new king for God's people. First, he would be a new kind of king - one crowned not with jewels but with the very Spirit of God that would allow him to rule wisely in a way none of his forebears had. Secondly, Isaiah tells us that he would judge the poor with righteousness. This is not judgment as we tend to think of it. The new king would not judge the poor as in a court of law to determine guilt but be like one of the judges of old. In the book of Judges, the people of God would come under oppression from some other people and cry out to God for help. God would then raise up a judge, not to determine who was guilty, but to bring God's justice into the situation by overthrowing the oppressors. This new king of God's people would be also be a new judge, one who would bring justice for those who are oppressed by others. Lastly, the result of this new king's rule would be a world of peace unlike any we can imagine - a kingdom in which the wolf and lamb live together and a child can put a hand in the viper's den without being hurt. This beautifully poetic world that Isaiah describes is wonderful perhaps but also absurd compared to the world in which we live. So far do we live from this kind of peace that it is hard for us to imagine how it could ever come to pass. Yet, that is a part of Christmas when we unwrap it of its outward trappings - it too is absurd. Christmas is about worshipping a child because we believe he could change the world like no one else could. It is about a birth long ago that we believe changed everything about how we live our lives. It may be absurd but it is Christmas at its most basic - God sending a child to bring justice and a new kind of peace to the world. May we join him in being judges for the poor and oppressed that bring justice and peace to this world! The Story of St. Nicholas Nicholas of Myra lived about 300 years after the time of Jesus Christ. He was born to wealthy Christian parents, but they died in a plague that hit their town. He went to live with his uncle, a man also called Nicholas who was a bishop overseeing the churches in the area. The boy studied under his uncle and was interested in the faith. He became a priest and eventually a bishop himself. Later in his life, Emperor Constantine who had converted to Christianity himself called a meeting of the bishops to settle the issue of certain beliefs thought to be heretical. Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea which developed the Nicene Creed to express what was thought to be the essential right beliefs about Jesus. At the meeting, the discussion became so heated that Nicholas punched one of the proponents of heresy in the face. Nicholas cared deeply for the people under his in care in Myra. One poor man had three daughters but could not afford the dowry for any of them to marry. Without marriage, the women would likely have been forced into a life of prostitution. Nicholas, having inherited his parents' wealth, wanted to help but did not want to embarass the man. So one night, he took three bags of coins and threw one into a window of each of the daughters' rooms. In the morning, the daughters awoke to find the purses to secure a better future. This first gift of Saint Nicholas was about seeing justice done for these young men. Living in CommunityThank you, Pam, for arranging our visit from Saint Nicholas this past Sunday! Thank you, Chris, for playing the part so well! Thank you to the Bowman family, especially Amelia and McKenzi, for lighting our Advent candles! Thank you, Davida, for organizing our Drive-Thru Nativity and to all the many hands that pitched in to make it happen! Thank you, Wanda, for helping us take a picture of the congregation for Tristan! Thank you, Amie, for putting together a great surprise for Tristan and including all of us! Please remember the family of Rev. Randy Arrington in your prayers upon his passing. This Week at Port ChurchMonday, December 12 Evening Bible Study at Dianna's Tuesday, December 13 7:00 pm - Cantata Practice Wednesday, December 14 Morning Bible Study at Dianna's 5:30 - 7:00 pm - Youth Group 7:00 pm - Cantata Practice Thursday, December 15 9:00 - 11:45 - Office Hours Friday, December 16 3:00 - 9:00 pm - Youth Service Project and Journey to the Manger Sunday, December 18 9:30 am - Worship: "Unleashing Christmas: Bearing God" 11:00 am - Sunday School 7:00 pm - Chirstmas Cantata Looking AheadTuesday, December 20
Do the holidays have you down this year? Are you struggling with pain, grief, or doubt? Join us for our Longest Nights Service of Healing at 7 pm. Saturday, December 24 Christmas Eve Service at 7 pm Join us for carols, candlelight, and communion! Our Christmas Eve Offering will benefit our Window & Building Fund and our World Service Fund that supports missionaries around the world. Please consider giving a special gift to Jesus this Christmas. Sunday, December 25 Worship at 10:30 - Come as you are; pajamas welcome! No Sunday School. Wednesday, January 25 Wednesday at the Port resumes! 12/5/2016 0 Comments December 05th, 2016 Many HandsDecember is always a busy and full time of year, from parties to parades, from shopping trips to children's programs, from decorating to cookie baking. This year is certainly no exception especially here at Port Church! We have a lot of things going on each week between now and Christmas. During Advent, we are having special guests joining us for our children's message in worship. This weekend we have the Nativity followed by the Christmas Musical Program the next weekend. Throw in a Longest Nights Service of Healing and Christmas Eve, and we finish with a week full of worship. Of course, we have Bible Study each week in Advent, and this Sunday we are having a special Sunday School competition of Jeopardy based on Advent and Christmas. Even at Christmas time, Port Church says, "Go big and go home!" All of this and indeed all that we have done throughout the year would not be possible without the many folks who volunteer their time and energy. While I like to thank folks individually as often as I can, it is impossible to thank all of the many people who make our ministries possible. From the folks who come up with ideas of how to serve God in new ways and run with them to the faitful servants behind the scenes, from the folks who make phone calls and find volunteers to the people who make food to keep the volunteers going, from the ones who visit those in need in our congregation to those who cast a vision for what God is doing in midst, it takes many, many hands to complete the ministry to which we have been called. Thank you one and all for all the ways you serve God through our church! Thank you, God, for the many hands that the make the work light! Blessings on the journey, Jim Unwrapping Christmas In these weeks leading up to Christmas, we are "Unwrapping Christmas" to get past the beautiful wrappings to the true meaning of Christmas. Sunday's Sermon Snippet: Sharing Light (Isaiah 9:2-7) Isaiah promises that the people who are walking in darkeness and live in a land of deep darkness have seen a great light dawning. We face times of darkness in our lives: periods of doubt and wondering where God is, facing broken relationships, having poor health, enduring tragedy. We walk in our own darkness to be sure, but we also live in a shared darkness from things that affect us all like national tragedies or even personal circumstances around which we gather to share the burden. Isaiah tells us that the light is already there, and so people rejoice now. We know the light has come in Jesus Christ, and yet we still so often walk and live in darkness. Why is that? Have we not seen the light? Have we forgotten that we are called to rejoice? Perhaps it is because Jesus, although his light has dawned in this world, still has things to accomplish in our world. After all, is that not what we wait for in Advent - not just the coming of Christmas but the coming of the final Christmas when Christ returns to make all things right? As we walk through places of darkness in life, we need to share the light of Christ that is at the heart of a Christmas unwrapped! The Story of St. Lucia In the early days of Christianity, there were at times emperors of Rome who looked unfavorably upon the new religion, and the persecutions would grow to a fever pitch. Christians would sometimes take refuge in the catacombs - a series of tunnels and caverns carved outside the city for burial of their dead - or would use secret entrances to escape. During a particularly harsh persecution of Christian leaders, a young woman named Lucia (a name meaning light) would bring food to those hiding in the catacombs. In order to carry as much food as possible, she fashioned a wreath of candles to place on her head to free up her hands from carrying a torch for the dark passageways. St. Lucia Day - December 13th - is celebrated especially in areas in Northern Europe where the dark, winter nights are especially long as a reminder of God's light coming into the world. Living in CommunityThanks to all the folks who helped set up for the Nativity and to the ladies who provided a wonderful lunch beforehand! Thanks to Jason and Lauren for lighting our Advent candle this week! Thanks to Jason, Lauren, and Chris for helping to serve communion and to Donnie and Linda for setting it up! Thanks to Hannah for sharing the story of St. Lucia with us! Thanks to Amie for helping the children make ornaments for Tristan from the families of the church! Make sure to go by the fellowship hall this Sunday to be part of special holiday surprise for Tristan. This Week at Port ChurchMonday, December 5 Evening Bible Study at Dianna's Tuesday, December 6 9:00 - 11:45 - Office Hours Wednesday, December 7 Morning Bible Study at Dianna's 7:00 pm - Cantata Practice Thursday, December 8 9:00 - 11:45 - Office Hours Friday, December 9 & Saturday, December 10 7 - 9 pm - Drive-thru Nativity If you have a role to play, please plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before your shift in order to be in costume on time. Sunday, December 11 9:30 am - Worship: "Unleashing Christmas: Bringing Justice" Children are invited to bring a new, small toy to be donated to the Salvation Army. 11:00 am - Sunday School Youth and adult classes invited to join in a friendly round of Jeopardy: Advent & Christmas Edition! Upcoming Christmas EventsSunday, December 18
Christmas Musical Program at 7 pm Tuesday, December 20 Do the holidays have you down this year? Are you struggling with pain, grief, or doubt? Join us for our Longest Nights Service of Healing at 7 pm. Saturday, December 24 Christmas Eve Service at 7 pm Join us for carols, candlelight, and communion! Our Christmas Eve Offering will benefit our Window & Building Fund and our World Service Fund that supports missionaries around the world. Please consider giving a special gift to Jesus this Christmas. Sunday December 25 Worship at 10:30 - Come as you are; pajamas welcome! No Sunday School. |
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