December 2011
Everything was created through him; nothing – not one thing! - came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; The darkness couldn’t put it out.”
John 1: 3-5 The Message
This is the season of expectation; the season where light blazes out of the darkness! This is the season to expect the Life-Light!
The month of December is often filled with busy-ness, shopping for the perfect present, finding time for family and friends—and all of this in the midst of everyday life! Despite that craziness, most of us still describe the season as a magical one—many of our most special memories are rooted in family traditions and we still feel a warmth in our hearts at the thought of the sheer joy of children on Christmas morning. Busyness, family, friends, memories—these are the things that we have come to expect out of the Christmas season. In the Mt. Zion family of faith, we too will be living into expectation- expectation of the Life-Light! Each week in worship we will be challenged to consider what it really means to expect hope, expect peace, expect joy, expect love; what it really means to live our faith in light of these expectations that become realities in the Christ-Child, the true Life-Light.
December 4th, 11th, and 18th we will have worship services at 8 AM and 10:30 AM to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming Christ. We invite you on December 11th from 2 to 4 to join us for the Advent Faire—a time to purchase handmade items to benefit Mt. Zion’s ministries. The youth group will also be collecting baby products for a local agency. For a complete list of items, please see reverse page of the newsletter. The Compassion York Food Run will take place on December 18th. This year, the blessings at Mt. Zion have been great—and we invite you to consider using the attached envelope to give a gift to continue these ministries at Mt. Zion.
Christmas Eve (on Saturday, December 24th) brings three opportunities to celebrate the birth of Christ with services at 3 PM, 7 PM, and 10 PM. We invite you to join us! We will have one worship service at 10:30 AM on Christmas Day (Sunday, December 25th).
We pray that this season of Advent is one that is filled with blessing—with all the friends, family, and community that you hope for… but also the peace, compassion, and love that we need. Wherever your journey takes you this month—may it be filled with God’s love and wholeness, as seen in the gift of grace given to us in Christ Jesus.
Blessings,
Pastor Cathy and Pastor Danielle