First Congregational Church ~ Terre Haute

 

Everyone wants Christmas to be meaningful. 

Instead, it becomes shop, shop, shop

until we drop, drop, drop. 

Sometimes, we’re just glad to survive it all!

 

The presents and the tree and even some of the hustle and bustle are great, but they’re not what Christmas is all about.

 

Christmas is about family and friends, but most of all, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  We do pretty well with the family and friends part, but the Jesus part has gotten lost in the midst of wrapping paper, ribbons, to do lists and packing.

 

This year, we invite you to join us as we do things a little differently – recapturing the true meaning of the season through our

reLIVING CHRISTmas

worship series of services and activities.

 

Just imagine… what if… we actually

Worship Fully… Spend Less

Give More… Love All

 

What if we think about

reLIVING CHRISTmas

LIVING CHRISTmas

LIVING CHRIST

As we move in the Advent Season, the choir graced us with a lovely and prayerful anthem.

Walking with God may be the most important journey we ever undertake – a journey that isn’t promised to be easy, but is promised to bring us everlasting joy.  Walking with God is about having the dedication of Enoch; the perseverance of Noah; the endurance of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.  Walking with God is about practicing the observation skills of Moses; the curiosity of Rahab and the boldness of Esther.  Walking with God is about remembering, as David did, the power of God’s forgiveness.  Walking with God is about being as quiet as Job and listening for God’s voice.  Walking with God is about having the conviction of our beliefs as Daniel and his friends did and the hope in the future that Isaiah spoke about.

And walking with God is about doing it - with faith and hope, in justice and mercy - knowing that God is there, every step of the way.  We are invited on this walk.  Let's take God up on the invitation and spend the rest of our lives on this journey - walking with God.  

 

Today the choir graced us with yet another beautiful anthem.  

Dan's offertory was another of the incredible selections with which he blesses us on a Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get the title.  So... name that tune.  :)

Daniel and his friends - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - have so much to teach us about dealing with adversity and the ability we have to stand strong in faith, even when the odds are against us.

Today's anthem was worthy of the standing ovation the choir received.  The solos by Kristina Major and Whitney Kos were spectacular.

Once again, Dan made our offertory a time of prayer with Bach's beautiful Minuet in B Minor.

We continue our sermon series with a reminder of how we deal with the struggle in life.

We were blessed with music this morning.  Doug's offertory solo, Sento nel core, by Alessandro Scarlatti, was lovely.  The choir's rendition of Swingin' with the Saints celebrated the day while getting our toes tapping and our hearts pumping.  We are BLESSED!