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Advent is a season of endings and beginnings. As the calendar year nears its end, a new church year rushes in. Christ’s birth ushers us into new ways of living and loving – and yet, we feel the weight of many things coming to an end. The world as we know it spins madly on. Advent starts as another election season is ending. We want to ponder together all we will need in order to move faithfully through this threshold.

Our visual theme for the season is inspired by quilting because we want this this series to feel like a blanket wrapped around us, providing warmth and comfort as we begin again. Like a quilt formed by scraps of old fabrics and meaningful family items, this worship series stitches together the ancient scriptures and reminders we need to hear again and again. The medium of quilting is an ancient craft – dating as far back as 3400 BCE – but it is seeing a modern-day resurgence. Quilts have been used for physical protection, comfort, ceremonies, abolition, family heirlooms, advocacy, and more. Quilting is a medium that transcends countless cultures, regions, and time periods, but is a craft rooted in community and storytelling. The first quilt square is a simplified abstract image of the angel Gabriel who tells Mary she is “blessed among women.”

Weekly Scripture – Isaiah 43:1-4, Luke 1:26-29, & Luke 1:26-38

Today we celebrate the Reign of Christ – which is a challenge and offense against the principalities and powers of this world. It is the culmination of the Chrisitan year.

Here is some of the gratitude you have expressed this month:

For All of God’s blessings, Attending Church, and Chickens;

For Comfortable retirement, the seasons, and Freedom;

For Gathering and sharing remnants of our garden, Health, and Hearts of gladness and hope;

For Kindred spirits to share Hope over hate and Love over fear, Mom, and Music;

For Nature, Opportunities to serve, and Peace that passes all understanding;

For Plastic milk jugs and containers, Power of love, and Practicing hospitality;

For Refrigeration for food, Sharing music with our friends living in long-term care homes, and The Lord;

For Walla Walla and Warm fuzzy blankets.

For Autumn, Children’s spouses, and Dogs;

For Opportunity to enjoy God’s creation, PUMC, and PUMC Book clubs;

For Spouses and Work.

For Abilities, Children, and Financial security;

For Good food, Home, and Church family;

For Friends and Stable Loving family

For all this and more, O God:

We give you thanks.

Weekly scripture – 2 Samuel 23:1-7 & John 18:33-38a

As this worship series: “Do unto Others” draws to a close, we may feel more, or less, resolved in our openness to each other. Loving our neighbors – including relatives, coworkers, acquaintances, strangers – as ourselves is no simple task.

We need God. We need the love of God to show us mercy and strength to love as God loves. We need the story of Jesus – the one who loved across the lines that had been drawn in the society of his day but who also stood up for the least and the lost. We need faith that no matter the strain of differing positions, policies, and politics, we will move forward in love.

Disagreeing need not be antithetical to love and grace. And indeed, our world depends on all of us working for a better world filled with more kindness, compassion, humility, respect, and love.

The act of simply coming together is “revolutionary,” which in its earliest form meant “finding a course around a central point.” We gather around the Light of Christ as the center and guiding light of our lives. This becomes our point of reference for our relationships and our love in the world. This is our “love revolution.”

Weekly scripture – Matthew 22:34-40

Today, we continue our worship series that invites us to extend ourselves beyond the divisions we feel in this world. This week, we consider what it means to respect each other, irrespective of our differences. “R.E.S.P.E.C.T., find out what it means to me,” so sang Aretha Franklin. And she convinced us that it means a lot. Sometimes we think having respect means to agree or be the same.

But that is not actually the depth of what respect is about. It comes from the Latin respectus which means “the act of looking at one often, to consider, to observe.” We are called to respect by tending to one another–regarding each other, considering each other–early and often. The reality is that common ground is sometimes not possible. As so as we live on uncommon ground, what can we do to keep tending to one another as “kin” worthy of respect despite our differences?

Weekly Scripture – 1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Today, we continue our worship series that points us toward connection in a world of divisions. The root of the word “human” is the same as the word “humility.” It all means literally “on the ground.” From dust we came, and to dust we shall return. When we hear each other’s fears, anxieties, and pain, we can return to the ground of hope… that we are all experiencing the pains of being human. This week, we remember to look first at our neighbor as a person, not a position. Beginning conversations this way may help us to stay human and “on the ground” with one another rather than needing to come out “on top.”

Christ has broken down the wall.

Christ has broken down the wall.

Let us join our hearts as one,

Christ has broken down the wall.

Weekly Scripture – Ephesians 4:1-7 & Luke 18:9-14