Combined Worship @ 11:00 in Sanctuary
Rev. Val Stewart, Associate Pastor
Have you ever lost something really important to you? Mary and Joseph once lost Jesus, but he wasn’t really lost—he was right where he needed to be! This Sunday, we’ll hear the story of how they found him and what it teaches us about growing in faith and looking for Jesus in the right places. We'll see you Sunday!

This Sunday Modern Worship will be holding a special service of scripture and contemporary Christmas music that tells the story of Jesus’ birth as we prepare our hearts to receive Jesus again. Come experience the nativity story through scripture and song as our Modern Worship band leads the music, and members of our congregation read the scriptures dear to our hearts. Pastor Val will bring a short message, “The Scandalous Birth Story” based on Matthew 1:18-25, and we will go out singing with joy, and filled with the hope, peace, and love of Christ in our hearts. 

Modern

John was waiting for this. He was born for this. He was living in the wilderness and making space for God to come to him. That’s what those wilderness times of life do for us. They fill us up and prepare us for our purpose. That’s what the wilderness had done for John. It had readied him and filled him to carry out his purpose. God had come to John the Baptist in the wilderness. 

Today, the word of God comes to us. God is God, so God’s word comes in whatever way God wants it to come. But the question is worth asking, “What are the ways God’s word comes to us?” John was in the wilderness waiting and making time and space for this event to happen, but what about us? When and how has God’s word come to you and me? What are the interior landscapes of our life today? How do these states of being within us relate to ourselves and others? As we consider the valleys, the mountains, and hills, the rooked, smooth, and rough places of life, we view life with the good news John brings from the wilderness, the good news of Jesus Christ.

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

Traditional
What does giving “your two cents worth” mean in a world that seems to value wealth and power over sincerity and sacrifice?
In this Sunday’s sermon, we’ll explore the striking contrast Jesus makes between the wealthy scribes and the humble widow in Mark 12:38-44. While the scribes parade their wealth, a poor widow quietly offers all she has: two small coins. Could it be that in her simple, wholehearted gift, we find a deeper call for our own lives?

Join us as we honor Veterans and consider what real generosity and sacrifice look like in the eyes of Jesus with Rev. Val Stewart's sermon, "My Two Cents Worth."