Worship Services

Decem­ber 25, 2011
Christ­mas Day
Ser­mon: “Grace Has Appeared”
Texts: Titus 2:11–14; Isa­iah 9:2–7
In this inti­mate, fam­ily, “wear your jam­mies if you want”, ser­vice, we will remem­ber the pur­pose of this entire sea­son; to receive the Divine gift that saves. God is so gra­cious! Praise be to God!

Decem­ber 24, 2011
Christ­mas Eve
Join us for a cel­e­bra­tion of the scrip­ture and music of the sea­son. Many of the musi­cal groups of the church will be offer­ing their best Christ­mas music, and so will you!

Decem­ber 18, 2011
Fourth Sun­day of Advent
“Tapes­try of Light: A Celtic Christ­mas Cel­e­bra­tion”
A Christ­mas Can­tata
Christ­mas is a sea­son of light. In this can­tata spir­ited hymns, folk songs, and quiet car­ols are woven together in a musi­cal tapes­try of grace, light, hope, peace. Pre­sented by the Chan­cel Choir.

Decem­ber 11, 2011
Third Sun­day of Advent
“Nine Object Lessons and Car­ols”
Children’s Pageant
Each Sun­day we invite the chil­dren to come to the front of the church to hear a story just for them. This Sun­day it is the chil­dren who will tell the story, and it is just for you! Come ready for joy­ous news!

Decem­ber 4, 2011
Sec­ond Sun­day of Advent
Ser­mon: “Time’s Up!”
Texts: Isa­iah 40:1–11; Mark 1:1–8
In other reli­gions it is up to peo­ple to fix sin. They spend their days mas­ter­ing their lower natures. In Chris­tian­ity it is God who fixes sin. He mas­ters us. Advent is a time when we pre­pare our­selves to be spir­i­tu­ally cleansed, restored, repaired, and mas­tered. But don’t wait to be refur­bished. This is a lim­ited time offer!

Novem­ber 27, 2011
First Sun­day of Advent: Rev Matthew Olson
Ser­mon: “When God Has His Day“Text:  Isa­iah 64:1–9 (Tear open the heav­ens); Mark 13:24–37 (Jesus fore­tells of a world changed by the com­ing of God)
Theme: We all have a time when we get what we want, when things go our way.  God will have His day.

Novem­ber 20, 2011
Youth Sun­day
23rd Sun­day After Pen­te­cost: Mem­ber of the Senior High Youth Group
Ser­mon: “For­give­ness, Laugh­ter and Thanks­giv­ing”
Texts: Corinthi­ans and more
Theme:  “For­give­ness, Laugh­ter, and Thanksgiving”

“I Need A Mir­a­cle!“
Ser­mon Series, Octo­ber 16th through Novem­ber 13th
The gospel accounts of the mir­a­cles of Jesus are some of the most faith-stretching pas­sages of scrip­ture.  Some love the mir­a­cle sto­ries, find­ing great com­fort in them.  Oth­ers bris­tle at the very idea that mir­a­cles might be real and expected.  The ser­mons in this series will focus on: 1. The mean­ing of the mir­a­cles, 2. The place of mir­a­cles in mod­ern Chris­tian­ity, 3. How the mir­a­cles relate to the needs, prob­lems, and prayer life of a Chris­t­ian. 4. What the mir­a­cles say about our mis­sion as a church.

Octo­ber 30, 2011
20th Sun­day After Pen­te­cost
“I Need A Mir­a­cle!” Series (3rd of 5)
Ser­mon:  “More Than Expected“
Texts: Leviti­cus 13:38–46 (Reg­u­la­tions con­cern­ing skin dis­eases);  Luke 17:11–19 (Heal­ing of the ten lep­ers)
There are two mir­a­cles in this story.  One is the cure of lep­rosy, that most dreaded dis­ease of the first cen­tury.  The other mir­a­cle is the changed, thank­ful heart of one of the lep­ers.  Which is more impor­tant and miraculous?

Octo­ber 23, 2011
19th Sun­day After Pen­te­cost
“I Need A Mir­a­cle!” Series (2nd of 5)
Ser­mon: “The Mir­a­cle of a Changed Life“
Texts: Isa­iah 6:1–8 (Isa­iah is called to be a prophet); Luke 5:1–11 (Mirac­u­lous catch of fish)
Jesus used mir­a­cles as teach­ing tools.  With this mir­a­cle Jesus illus­trated the vast scope and breath of the king­dom of heaven.  He also shows us, as his fol­low­ers, how to part­ner with him in doing God’s work in the world.

Octo­ber 16, 2011
18th Sun­day After Pen­te­cost
“I Need A Mir­a­cle!” Series (1st of 5)
Ser­mon:  “Turn­ing Wine Into Water“|
Texts: Psalm 36:5–10 (Lord pro­vides a “drink from the river of delights”); John 2:1–11 (Water into wine at a wed­ding recep­tion)
Mir­a­cles, those unex­pected signs of God’s work and pres­ence among us, seem unavail­able to us.  As mod­ern peo­ple we have been trained not to expect to see them.  With the eyes of faith, mir­a­cles become faith-confirming moments in which the cre­ativ­ity of God is made man­i­fest to us.  We see a sign and believe.

Octo­ber 9, 2011
17th Sun­day After Pen­te­cost
Ser­mon: “What Are You Hun­gry For?”
Texts: Exo­dus 32:1–14 (the mak­ing of the golden calf); Matthew 22:1–14(Para­ble of the great ban­quet in which the invi­ta­tion is refused by some and grate­fully accepted by oth­ers)
We are par­tic­i­pants in the king­dom of God on the basis of God’s gra­cious invi­ta­tion to come and join the feast.  Even while inside the king­dom (“king­dom” defined as “God’s way of doing busi­ness”) we are still fal­li­ble sin­ners in need of for­give­ness.  We are here not on the basis of our own mer­its, but on the basis of God’s gra­cious love for us.

Octo­ber 2, 2011
World Com­mu­nion Sun­day
Ser­mon:  “At the Table of Jesus“
Texts: Deuteron­omy 16:1–7 (Passover ordi­nance); Luke 22:7–38 (Luke’s less famil­iar ver­sion of the Last Sup­per)
In this ser­mon we will gather with the disciples—not cleaned up in the “Last Sup­per” dis­ci­ples of Leonardo da Vin­cis’ paint­ing, but as the dis­ci­ples really were—and find our own place at the table.  With us will be Chris­t­ian peo­ple from all around the world.