Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
Happy Thanksgiving and merry Christmas. It is already that time of year.
By the time you receive this issue of the Circuit Rider, we will already be into the Advent Bible study sign-ups, decorating the church for Advent, and getting ready to start lighting the Advent wreath in all of our Sunday morning services as well as on Saturday mornings at Story Church, our Cleveland campus.
This Advent we will be using Susan Robb’s book, “The Angels of Christmas - Hearing God’s Voice in Advent.” The book is described this way on the back cover, “The Angels of Christmas explores the angelic visits surrounding the birth of Jesus with Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds in the four-week Advent experience. In this study, the reader will explore the visits and dive deep into the history of the angel Gabriel and the other angels in the Bible.
The messages of the angels hold meaning for listeners both then and now.”
Please come and join one of the studies. Pastor Paul and I will also be preaching each week of Advent based on that week’s chapter of the book along with the Scriptures that it uses for its foundation. We have focused before on Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wisemen, but this will be the first time we dig deep into the words of the angels. What did they mean in the days of Jesus’ birth and what do they mean to us now?
Maybe you have been away from church for a while. Maybe COVID got you out of the habit of regularly coming to church to see what God has to say to you each and every Sunday. You have been missed. Use Advent as the opportunity, the reason, and the rekindling of your faith as you approach the stable in Bethlehem this Advent season. We already know that Jesus is a part of your story. He always has been and he always will be. Will you come to be part of his birth story this Christmas season? Come back to church this Advent.
The greatest gift you will ever receive is waiting for you this Christmas. It’s a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Will you be there?
Merry Christmas,
Rev. Dan