Service Highlights or Announcements for this Sunday
Highlights of Worship: On December 27, 2020, We have been blessed to journey with you through this time of Advent.
We hope you have enjoyed the beautiful Christmas music as much as we did recording it for you. With this in mind, we have gathered to create a beautiful service of Word and Carols.
Join us for Christmas Eve Worship, Thursday, Dec. 24th at 12PM and after!
The Light Has Shined will be the theme of our Christmas Eve Video Worship service, a very special service of Scripture Lessons and Christmas Carols. Join us for a beautiful vision of candlelight increasing with each part of the Christmas story (Luke 2:1-20).
And, please remember to forward your Christmas Eve Service email to friends so they can worship with us on Christmas Eve!
Come check out our virtual Gather(ing) via Zoom on Wednesdays at 7 pm. We would LOVE to see you there. Come ready to discuss our scripture passage and raise our voices in song! If you would like the Zoom link, please sign up here.
Reflection of the Week
This Thursday the 24th we will welcome the Christ Child to the world and truly begin the Christmas Season. Sunday the 27th, as we begin this time of Christmas, we are blessed to have the California Pacific Conference and leadership lead us in worship.
Bishop Grant Hagiya will lead this first Sunday of the Christmas season, and Rev Trudy Robinson of San Diego First UMC, a gifted new pastor, will bring the message.
Then, during the Sundays of January, we will be blessed with messages by:
Sunday, January 3rd Rev. Darren Cowdrey
will bring the message, lead Holy Communion, and distribute the elements during Drive-Though Communion at 11 AM. (Please remember to receive your “stone of remembrance” for the following Sunday’s service.)
Sunday, January 10th Rev. Stephanie Rice
will bring the message on Baptism of the Lord Sunday.
Sunday, January 17th: Pastor MJ Buist
will bring the message “Listening for the Call.” Reflect on this passage in preparation for this message. I Sam. 3:1-10, the story of the call of Samuel.
I will then be offering the message once again on Sunday, January 24th!
Thank you to all who have helped make this time of Family Leave work so smoothly. This will allow me to turn my love and care to Serena in her time of healing.
Very Gratefully,
Pastor James
Scripture Passages of the Week
Psalm 148
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
He established them forever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!
Galatians 4:4-7
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Luke 2:22-40
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’
And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’
There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.
