Pastor's Penpoint - An Evergreen Advent - December 2012

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I make to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David: and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness.' Jeremiah 33:14-16

Several years ago, in the dead of winter, I arrived at the church early for a meeting and had forgotten my church keys. Dina keeps telling me I need to get a set of keys made and keep in each car ... after six years, I still haven't gotten around to it. There had been a snow that week, and it still covered the ground. Not wanting to sit in my car, I walked up to the entrance of the cemetery ... where the snow was still untouched. All was quiet, so quiet; you can hear the icicles creak, glassy pins dropping to the snow-white comforter below. The billowy quilt spread out across the ground, around every trunk, flung carelessly ever gray tombstones as if to warm every grave. Only one color imposes itself against the backdrop of that white and fray hued canvas. Small evergreen trees (fir?) dotted green across the white quilted ground like comforter knots, reminders that their roots were still very much alive, gently tossing and turning beneath her frozen covers.

Should it be any wonder that imaginative human beings for thousands of years have seen something profoundly meaningful in trees that can stay green in the dead of winter and be chopped down and grow new shoots?

Jeremiah uses the lesson of a tree branch to teach and early Advent lesson. He tells of a future time when the stump of Judah, cut down and carted into Exile, would sprout again as a "righteous branch." The New Testament writers saw this promised branch to be none other than Jesus Christ, Tree of Life, cut down, buried in a wintery grave, rising in resurrection life three days later.

When we enter the bleak mid-winters of our lives, we should look to the Tannenbaum, the evergreen tree, gracing the snow-covered gravestone and know htat resurrection life is near and at hand. In this season of Advent, at the height of the winter solstice, even as the days are shorter and the nights are colder, may we behold in every evergreen tree, a Christmas tree, our advent sign of hope.

Advent blessings ~ Pastor Todd  

Advent Dates to Remember

Here are some dates to remember during the Advent Season:

   December 2  - Children decorating the tree during Kids Korner
   December 9  - Christmas Caroling -  leaving from the church at 2:30pm
   December 14 - MMI and WMF missions groups Christmas meal at 6pm,
                         place to be announced later
   December 23 - Breakfast served by the youth at 9:30am, Christmas program at
                         10:30am
   December 24 - Christmas Eve service at 6pm

Operation Christmas Child

During the annual Mt. Olivet Planning Retreat, the group took time out to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

Thanks to all who donated items and helped with this.

Pastor's Penpoint - "Thoughts on Communion" - October 2012

It's easy sometimes, I think, to fall into a rut in our Christian lives. Even the most glorious of actions can become ho-hum and stale. That includes our prayer life, our worship experience and even those infrequent special events - like communion. Communion, or the Lord's Supper, only comes around in our church every three months or so. And it's interesting that we go solemnly through the motions as we consider what lay ahead for our Savior, Jesus Christ ... but my question is this - are our solemn actions respect and introspection or is it boredom? At the table of the Lord we find renewal, hope in not what Christ had to endure, but celebration and joy at what He overcame.

The first Sunday of this month is World Communion Sunday. All over this globe Christian churches are gathering at the Lord's Table to acknowledge our need for a Savior and wanting to sit at His feet. This event for the Christian community, communion, should serve to draw us nearer to Christ and to our sisters and brothers who like us, fall in the shadow of the cross.

Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American Christian pastor, preacher, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor. He is my favorite theologian and I quote him often in sermons. No surprise he has one of my favorite thoughts on communion. Tozer says:

     "What a sweet comfort to us that our Lord Jesus Christ was once known in the
     breaking of the bread. In earlier Christian times, believers called the Communion
     'the medicine of immortality,' and God gave them the desire to pray: Be known to us
     in breaking bread, But do not then depart; Savior, abide with us and spread Thy
     table in our heart. Some churches have a teaching that you will find God only at
     their table - and that you leave God there when you leave. I am so glad that God 
     has given us light. We may take the Presence of the table with us. We may take the
     Bread of life with us as we go. Then sup with us in love divine, Thy body and Thy 
     blood; That living bread and heavenly wine Be our immortal food! In approaching the
     table of our Lord, we dare not forget the cost to our elder Brother, the Man who 
     was from heaven. He is our Savior; He is our Passover!"

 Just as many wish that the joy, love and comfort we feel at Christmas would last forever - my wish is that the oneness and unity we feel on World Communion Sunday will last until the coming of our Lord.

God's grace & strength to each of you!
~Pastor Todd

Congratulations, Bonca!

Congratulations to Bonca and the Wilson Marching Band for their success in the band competition this week!

Annual Hayride

This was the largest group ever, 87 people, to go on the annual Mt. Olivet hayride. This year we rode again to Showalter's Corn Maze in Sangerville to have lunch and hang out for awhile. The return ride took us through the fall country landscape by Emanuel Church, down Bear Trap Farm Road, through Stokesville, then back to Mt. Olivet. We praise God for safety and a beautiful day.

 

Youth Lock-in

16 youth enjoyed a lock-in at the church last night. Pizza, games, pumpkin decorating, singing, devotions, a movie, a little bit of sleep, and breakfast. A whirlwind of activity. Whew!

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