Join us on Christmas Eve for a service of carols and candlelight as we celebrate the birth of our Lord.
While the official beginning of this service is 7:30pm, the Christmas Prelude will begin at 7:15pm featuring: Linda Priebe Mezzo-Soprano, brass instruments, and the Calvary Chancel Choir. The service continues with lessons, carrols by candlelight, and Holy Communion.
Christmas morning worship will be held at 10:00am.
For the Wednesdays of December I will be sharing Advent reflections from Rev. Don Schaefer, Northern Region Facilitator for the Southeastern District. Pr. Schaefer has been in the area for a number of years and has a personal connection to Calvary – he served as Calvary’s associate pastor in the mid 70’s. These devotions are reproduced with permission. Enjoy!
Lectionary Reflections for Advent 3
“…living a life worthy of your calling” Ephesians 4:1
December 13th, Advent 3 Luke 3:7-18
The journey towards holiness
Is littered with acts of mercy
And words of compassion
That in-carnate God’s love
First hidden in a stable’s straw.
Being a Christian
Pulls you out of your self-security
Into the risky posture of servanthood
Where others needs outweigh your own
The answer then to the question
“What shall we do?”
Is to “live a life worthy of your calling”
Prayer
Creating and sustaining God
Turn us from things and people that distract
Whose cleverness pulls us in the wrong direction
Focus us in following your loving mercy
So that our words and actions daily repeat
The invitation to grace you first offered
Welcoming people back to your waiting heart. Amen
For the Wednesdays of December I will be sharing Advent reflections from Rev. Don Schaefer, Northern Region Facilitator for the Southeastern District. Pr. Schaefer has been in the area for a number of years and has a personal connection to Calvary – he served as Calvary’s associate pastor in the mid 70’s. These devotions are reproduced with permission. Enjoy!
Lectionary Reflections for Advent 2
“…Live a life worthy of your calling” Ephesians 4:1
December 6th, Advent 2 Luke 3:1-6
We spend much of our present
Preparing for our future
Celebrating Christmas brings a frenetic preparing
Demanding much of our time and energy
The result of which may or may not bring joy
John asks us to spend Advent differently
“Being” instead of “doing”, listening for and seeing
God’s quiet moving among us
That our whole lives might be immersed
In the mysterious love God offered in Mary’s child
So that we might more joyfully serve others in
“Living a life worthy of our calling”
Prayer
God of what was is and will be
Challenge the safe parameters
Behind which we live out life.
Call us to an awakening awareness
Of living with a holy vulnerability
Offering your love to a hurting world. Amen
For the Wednesdays of December I will be sharing Advent reflections from Rev. Don Schaefer, Northern Region Facilitator for the Southeastern District. Pr. Schaefer has been in the area for a number of years and has a personal connection to Calvary – he served as Calvary’s associate pastor in the mid 70’s. These devotions are reproduced with permission. Enjoy!
Lectionary Reflections for Advent 1
“…Live a life worthy of your calling” Ephesians 4:1
November 29th, Advent 1 Luke 21: 25-36
All of life is waiting for someone or something
And in the waiting lie our deepest fears and hopes
In this season people wait for Christmas
But Jesus’s words are about a different kind of waiting
Inviting us to wait hopefully for God’s gentle rule
To overcome all things and all time
While we wait for that ending
God has already made a beginning
Slipping down the back stairs disguised as Bethlehem’s child
God fully entered our chaotic and distracted world
Offering a love that fills our life now with a purpose
So that we might “live a life worthy of our calling”
Prayer
God of all beginnings and endings
Open the eyes of our hearts and minds
To see your presence around us
Give to us a focus in living
That joyfully offers glimpses of your grace
To a world that restlessly looks for something
To fill the god sized hole in its heart. Amen
Need a little solace amid the holiday rush? Join us on Wednesday evenings for a reflective, simple service of hymns and readings in the Calvary chapel. A light meal will be served at 6:30pm, worship is at 7:30pm.