The Advent season draws to a close. Does that mean Christmas is here and we are finally free from waiting?!

Not. Yet. 

First, we have one more Advent theme to consider this Sunday — and a day later we must endure the longest night of the year. But we need not endure it alone! 

Recognizing that this year seems like the longest and worst many of us can remember, we are gathering electronically this Tuesday for a Longest Night Service. It will be a time of prayer, song, and silence acknowledging the losses we’ve faced and the grief we bear in the midst of this holy and hopeful season. We invite you to this experimental gathering on YouTube on Tuesday, December 22nd, at 7:00PM. 

First though, Sunday! Our textual guides for this fourth Sunday of Advent include one we would expect: Mary’s encounter with God’s messenger in Luke chapter 1. The other is much less likely. Yet, 2 Samuel chapter 7 also offers us an encounter with a messenger from God. 

What might these messages — separated as they are by a millennium! — have in common?

Here we are, with yet another millennium separating us from the latest of those messages. What could they possibly have to say to us today?

For what and for whom will we provide a place of rest? For what and for whom we will provide a place of healing? For what and for whom will we simply provide a place?

Pastor Dave will engage those questions and more this Sunday, December 20th, in his sermon, “Finding Home.”

Worship with us Sunday at 10:00AM — and again on Tuesday night at 7:00PM — on our Woodridge UMC channel on YouTube.