Christmas Tree

Opportunities for Worship during this Advent and Christmas Season

In the gospel of John we read: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 NIV)

Please join us as we look back in time and rejoice at the birth of our Messiah. For God himself took on human flesh and blood to take away our sin. In the season of Advent we have many opportunities to prepare for Christmas and for Christ’s second coming:

Midweek Advent Services

Our theme this year for our three midweek Advent services is The Miracles of Advent. Here are the times and dates:

Christmas Season Services

On Christmas Eve we will have a candlelight service. And on Christmas Day we’ll set aside time celebrate Christ’s arrival into this world:

Services after Christmas

As we say good bye to one year and welcome another it is good for us to pause and appreciate our Lord above who has given to us every blessing in the past and will continue to shower with his grace—his undeserved love.

Likewise, we conclude the Christmas season with Epiphany. On Epiphany we celebrate a Savior who came to us in humble flesh and blood, but he revealed himself to us through his word.

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Purple

Kings wear Purple

In front of our church this morning you will see the color purple. Purple is the color of kings. Royalty wears purple. In ancient times the color purple was very hard to find. And only royalty was allowed to wear purple. The Christian church has deliberately chosen purple for the Sundays leading up to Christmas (Advent) to remind us that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.

This might seem like a pointless gesture, but it isn’t. It is very easy to look at that infant being held by his mother and conclude that that is all he is–just an infant. But this purple color reminds us that Jesus isn’t just a perfect human. He is also perfect God.

The wise men never lost sight of this fact. For months after Jesus was born the Magi came from the east to worship the king: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”” (Matthew 2:1–2 NIV)

Not only did they come to worship a king. They also gave this infant gifts worthy of a king: “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” (Matthew 2:10–11 NIV)

Jesus was a king. But what sort of king was he? He is a suffering king. He conquered sin, death and Satan not by raising an army and forging weapons of steel. Instead, he conquered sin and death by being punished in our place. Matthew reminds us: “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.” (Mark 15:16–20 NIV)

Purple is the perfect color for our Christ. For he conquered death by dying. He won life for us by rising from the dead. He rules as our humble Savior and King.