We believe in God, the giver of life and grace, whose wondrous deeds bring hope and healing to people of all nations
We believe that God’s decision to be with us, in the person of Jesus, manifested God’s immeasurable love for humankind.
We abide in Jesus, the Beloved One, whose name is written upon our hearts.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is at work whispering words of hope, peace, joy and love to ALL people.
We believe in the church, the living body of Christ in the world, to which we belong.
As members of the body, we are called to minister to all people in Jesus’ name
seeking transformation for ourselves, the church, and the world.
And so it begins. Amen
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Joyful, Joyful we adore thee, God of Glory, Lord of Love; we unfold our hearts before you, welcoming your presence within. As we embrace the remaining days of this Advent season, let us be courageous and prayerful at work and at play, at home and in the company of strangers. Let the light of our faith shine through our stress, fatigue, pain and fear. Help us to fill the atmosphere around us with true feelings of hope and gratitude, peace and positivity, joy and gentleness. When we are moving ever-so-quickly through the countdown of days, threatening to outpace ourselves, cause us to pause for a moment and search for a memory that adorns our face with a smile. This we pray in the name of the Christ. Amen.
OFFERING INVITATION
There are 206 verses in the Bible that contain the word JOY. 119 verses contain the word mourning, 26 have the word grief, 13 verses sadness, and 46 sorrow, totaling 204 “unjoyful” verses. “Joy,” even though it’s only 3 letters long, seems to be able to carry it’s own weight. If one has experienced it, they know it refers to mirth, gladness and pleasure, all of which have more letters. “Joy” has the power to enliven prefixes, adverbs, suffixes, and nouns: overjoyed, joyful, joyous, joyride, joystick, and of course, the ever popular “enjoy.” Joyride and joystick, are more recent additions to the short list of joy-combos adding a sense of playfulness, to the word. Yup, I kinda think God would like playfulness to join mirth, gladness and pleasure in defining human joy.
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