Dear Calvary Church,

Hopefully your Thanksgiving Day was filled with the joy of connecting with family and friends. And now, with thanksgiving, we begin to pivot toward Advent. Can I encourage you to go online and purchase the resource materials that we will basing our Advent sermon series on? Our focus will be Jesus as Prophet, as Priest, as King, and as Messiah. In addition to daily devotionals for the whole family, there are sections on How to Study the Bible, a Timeline of Major and Minor Prophets, Prophesies Fulfilled by Jesus, a Verse Mapping tool to help us study to better understand (and apply) the context of Bible verses—plus a lot more. You can check out the options here.

One of my favorite Advent verses is from Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the New Testament, The Message (MSG). John 1:14 reminds us that, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” In the midst of all the hustle, bustle, and consumerism of the Advent Season, I would encourage us all to find those quiet moments, as well as time with family and friends, to quietly remind ourselves of the reason for the season. Making church a priority is one of those ways.

Good Gossip

  • Because this was written earlier in the week, and we didn’t have a formal staff meeting we didn’t have time to generate a list for you. I can say, however, that Brenlie, her team, and the high school students did a marvelous job with the Turkey and Trivia Night last Sunday. It was a joy to interact with both the students and the other 50-plusers.
  • After 25 hours of labor, sweet baby Blakey Donn Croston was born last Tuesday morning. Congratulations, Brittany and Markel!

I do hope that, if you miss a Sunday, you will make an effort to keep up with the sermons. We are careful to prepare sermons and sermon series based on seeking to respond to what we believe the Holy Spirit is saying to Calvary Church. You can catch-up here.

See you on Sunday!

Pastor Gregg