Weekly News | 12.19.25
Dear church,
Last week I highlighted our Christmas Eve services, and this week the staff team began preparing spaces to host worship.
Readying a space is not easy. There are blessed additions: taking out wreaths and nativities, lighting candles and treasuring Christmas cards. But there are also choices we make in tidying that are more (or less) in our best interest.
Will we shove the disparate debris of our lives into the hall closet, or will we clean?
Will we cull that which is unnecessary? Or will we hit “snooze”, and allow it to chime for our attention intermittently, interrupting us while remaining unresolved?
Of course, the literal tidiness of your home is not my concern (visit my home so I can prove it!). But the room we make in our lives, the soul and habit preparation we do in Advent, matters. We want to welcome the arrival of Jesus to the fullest, without hoping nobody looks in the closet.
There is deep goodness in readying a space. When a space is readied, the environment invites not our distraction, but our presence. Not our labor, but our rest. We are able to cry afresh, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
As we close in on the Feast of the Nativity, as we walk and wait this final week of Advent, may we ready ourselves.
Devotionally consider praying The Great Litany. Let the Spirit, in his love of you and goodness toward you, highlight and address places we might otherwise sweep into unseen spaces. God is offering forgiveness and connection in place of shame and estrangement. May we not miss it!
We may also get ready with Scripture and worship. You might meditate on the Scriptures from this past Sunday, or the Sunday ahead in anticipation. Worship at home with songs made for this moment, and come to worship on Sunday and let God meet you with his kindness and power.
May the Lord ready us together for his coming.
Walking and waiting with you,
Sarah+
P.S. We will be further readying physical spaces after the service this Sunday, so feel free to stick around! Also, looking for a last minute gift idea? A thoughtful member of our community gifted their spouse space to attend a J-Term! Consider it a low-cost-but-highly-meaningful way to treat yourself or someone you love.