2015-11-29 Worship Videos

Chinese Choir

Chinese Sermon

English Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2015-11-29

• Great Thanks...to Richard and Adrienne for picking up the beautiful greenery decorating our sanctuary, and to Daniel and members of the Mandarin Fellowship for hanging them and decorating the tree.
• "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" - You are invited to enter this special season by exploring some of its special music. This new 4 week Sunday School series will begin next Sunday, Dec. 6th. You are invited to gather, on time, at 9:30 a.m. ready to sing!
• Christmas Poinsettias-Connect with Laura if you’d like to contribute a poinsettia to our sanctuary’s Christmas beauty! Each plant is $10. Today is the last day to or-der!
• Gentle Reminder: Dec. 1st is #GivingTuesday! You are invited to double your impact by giving as soon as the "gates" open at 10:00 p.m. at www.umcmission.org/give! There are many, many worthwhile projects and missionaries to choose from. Please consider giving to Marilyn Chan, our covenant relationship partner in Cambodia.
• Start your holiday shopping at CCUMC and help support our school in Uganda at the same time. On Dec. 5-6 we will be selling goods from our YCVM benefit at reduced prices. Find jewelry, art goods, toys, and unique items. Sale runs from 11-3 on Sat. And noon - 2 on Sunday. Volunteers who can help at the tables should sign up with Peggy or Becky
• Save the Dates!

1. All Church Work Day - Saturday, Dec. 19th, 8:30 - 2:00 p.m.
2. Caroling - Monday, Dec. 21st, time tbc

Prepare the Way, Advent 2015

God is preparing The Way. God is an active God who loves and wants to be loved. God is a God who is near and amongst us. Being made in God’s image, God finds favor with us. And as the first Christians, often called the followers of “The Way,” glorified God through living their lives like Christ, how will we glorify God today? As God prepared the way for Jesus to enter into this world, and as we anticipate this birth, may you prepare the way for others to experience Christ and his love for them this Christmas season. During Advent this year, our theme invites us to dwell deeply in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. You are invited to spend the season savoring the stories and passages from this part of the Bible. Our weekly themes are:

Nov. 29th – Preparing the Way: God is Near (Luke 1:1-25)

Dec. 6th – Preparing the Way: God is Among Us (Luke 1:26-38)

Dec. 13th – Preparing the Way: God Shows Us His Favor (Luke 1:39-59)

Dec. 20th – Preparing the Way: God is Glorified (Luke 2:1-20)

This week, we explore the theme of how Advent cultivates the difficult discipline of waiting. But also how that waiting and hope find fulfillment with God draws near.

The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment...

Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and there-fore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is within her...

The whole meaning of Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait for that which we have already seen. Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously, so that it can grow and become stronger in us. In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us that allows us to live in this world without being seduced constantly by despair, lostness, and darkness. That is how we dare to say that God is love even when we see hatred all around us. That is why we can claim that God is a God of life even when we see death and destruction and agony all around us. We say it together. We affirm it in one another. Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment--that is the meaning of marriage, friendship, community, and the Christian life.

-Excerpted from "Waiting for God," Henri Nouwen. Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas.

2015-11-22 Worship Videos

(apologies to CM - the recording computer failed)

English Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2015-11-22

• Celebrating Thanksgiving - All are invited to a simple fellowship luncheon following worship today.
• Photo Shoots - Today we have a team of photographers ready to take your picture! We would very much like to update our "photo wall." PLEASE be sure to share a bit of time to have your picture taken. Both Sundays, you can take your picture between 10:30 and 11:00 in the upstairs Chapel, or starting at 12:15 in the upstairs chapel, main sanctuary, or outside in our court-yard. Gather your family and make sure to have a picture taken!
• Stewardship Response Cards - Our annual invitation for you to renew your membership commitments through your presence, prayers, gifts, service, and witness are available. Please prayerfully fill out and return today!
• Advent Begins - The wonderful season of anticipation and waiting for the birth of our Savior begins on Sunday, Nov. 29th. Our theme this year is Pre-pare the Way. Let us ready our hearts and minds to welcome the Christ child once again.
• Christmas Poinsettias - You are invited to contribute a poinsettia to our sanctuary's Christmas beauty. Each plant is $10. Sign ups will be taken through Nov. 29th. Thank you!

Thanksgiving - Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Generous God, thank you.

For the gift of life, the gift of creation, and this amazing world, thank you.

For the gift of lungs that know how to breathe without my telling them,

for galaxies that spin without my spinning them,

for living beings that surround me and give life, I thank you.

For the mystery of my life, the path that has brought me this far,

for all those who have been part of my story, all of them, I thank you.

I am grateful for loved ones near and far,

for those I live with and those I seldom see,

and those who have touched me only once,

for they are the tree that holds the nest of my life.

For the wonders that surround me, the beauty and strangeness,

the color and music of this life, I thank you,

and pray for eyes and ears of wonder.

For the mystery of your presence within me,

your attentiveness to my every heartbeat,

your unfathomable delight in my being, your forgiveness and healing,

for your gift of renewal and your resurrecting in me,

and for your energy in me, the shining sun of you in me,

I give you thanks and pray that I may always be mindful.

For all your gifts I am grateful, delighted and amazed,

and pray that I may ever be so.

For all that is to come, I ask not for goods or favors,

but only this: a heart of wonder, humility, gratitude and delight.

Amen.

2015-11-15 Worship Videos

Chinese Choir

Chinese Sermon

English Sermon