Advent letters–Week 3

And just like that, comments are on! Fun! So I’ll reiterate this regarding comments: If something here moves you or engenders a question, I hope you’ll comment. I also hope this caveat is unnecessary, but…comments that belittle or insult anyone will not be tolerated.

Dear found family of faith,

This Christmas and holiday season, as pressure and responsibilities ratchet up, it can be quite difficult to respond well to God’s incredible gift of self-revelation that is the Incarnation in Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us. My hope for you is that you will give yourself some gifts.

Give yourself the gift of stillness and honesty. At its core, that’s what our Longest Night worship service is: Time to allow yourself, your body, to be still. Time to allow yourself, your spirit, to be honest about whatever you are experiencing. This year, the timing works out perfectly and we get to hold the Longest Night service actually on the winter solstice, the shortest day and thus the longest night of the year, Saturday, December 21st at 6:00pm. (Bonus! Here’s a tremendous opportunity for those of you who have been missing a Saturday night worship opportunity!)

Give yourself the gift of contentment. Helping neighbors meet their basic food needs is the very essence of living our faith in Jesus. Soon you will receive Minooka UMC’s Christmas letter inviting you to our worship services and inviting you to participate in our Christmas Offering. I won’t spoil the whole letter here, but I will share this: As you know, we’ve dedicated a lot of time this year to considering what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Giving is one of our discipleship commitments. So a tithe (the first 10%) of the Christmas Offering will go to our partners at Helping Hands Food Pantry of Minooka. 

Give yourself the gift of inspiration. Did you know that two different anonymous donors have stepped forward to fund a fully electronic sign for our congregation? Isn’t that incredible? That project will take a few months, but it is underway! Speaking of projects underway…thanks to your faithful giving to the Ridge Road Fund for the last few years, construction on the north wing progresses! We don’t yet have a completion date, but I hope we will be in that wing in 2025. Is there anything more inspiring than stories of great generosity?!

With that, we are all caught up on the letters I’ve sent each week. Should be new content from here on out. Thanks for reading!

Plotting Goodness,
Pastor Dave

Image credit: A Sanctified Art LLC sanctifiedart.org