ADVENT BEGINS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2

Our family will gather Thursday for Thanksgiving.  I love it!  It will be a wonderful, chaotic, noisy gathering where we laugh, enjoy each other’s company, and enjoy wonderfully prepared food.  Maybe we will watch a football game or two.  Certainly, there will be a small football game in the front yard.  What is not to love?

But then comes Friday.  Not black Friday.  I am talking happy, happy, happy Friday.  I’m talking “Noah, granddad, and grandma” Friday.  The Christmas tree goes up, and the Brown’s home gets ready for the Christmas season.  Noah and I, for several years, have taken on the task of decorating the Christmas tree.  I tell Noah about the many ornaments given to us by friends and family over the years.  We hang the hand-made crochet candles Mrs. Ruth Salley made for us when she was 100 years old.  I show him the ornaments celebrating his mother’s birth into our family.   I tell him about family members no longer with us.  Of course, we hang the ornaments from Disney World!  We relive the trips that we made together.  And then, when it is all said and done, we wait for that moment when no one is around.  We both hang a “Christ nail” on the back of the tree.  It is out of view, but it is there.  It is a reminder of the reason for the season.  Once the tree is decorated, we put the train track around the tree and grandma comes and sets up the village.  Grandma does the pretty touches and gets things ready, then Noah and I will arrange the Nativity scenes.  Really, there is an easier way to do all this, but I do not know of a better way.

We take the same loving approach with our church family.  Our team will have the church decorated for the first Sunday of Advent.  What a wonderful job they do.  Like so many of our teams, they work behind the scenes, then beginning December 2, we will focus our worship services on the coming of Christ…The Advent.  We will use candles to symbolize that Jesus is the Light of the world.  Scriptures will be read reminding us of part of the greatest story ever told.  We will do our best to help call our attention to the reason for the season.

Let this Advent season enrich your Christmas celebration.  Refuse to become a Grinch.  Go ahead and say it…   “Joy to the World the Lord is come!”  Now sing it.  Go ahead.  Sing it.  I don’t care if I go shopping or not on Friday.  What I do know is this…good Lord willing, I will be making memories with my family and teaching the joy of the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving…and I can’t wait to say “Merry Christmas!”

Pastor Tom

On Celebrating Advent…or one of my favorite puns: “Advent is Coming”

I have made a commitment to not skip Thanksgiving. Even though many stores already have Christmas decorations up, I will try my best to focus on giving thanks.  I do not want to skip right over Thanksgiving.  Now, come the Friday after Thanksgiving… “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”  It’s on.

I have already started planning this year’s “Advent Celebration.”  Don’t let naysayers or anyone else rob you of this meaningful time of worship.  While some Baptist did not grow up observing the Advent season, we have made some of its rich traditions ours.  The word “advent” comes from the Latin word “adventus.”  It means arrival or coming.  In this case, it refers to the arrival and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Advent begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas day.  This year that will be December 2.

In a season of rush and an often embarrassing commercialization of Christmas, what a great idea to have moments of reflection.  The Advent season is a call to Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.  It is our privilege to call our church family and friends to remember the true meaning of the coming of Christ. What a wonderful opportunity to worship and to teach the greatest story ever told.  We use Advent to teach the Word of God and the Mission of God; to help families find balance in a hectic season; to encourage giving to the poor and to others with a generous and thankful heart.  The Light of the World came…it is worthy of celebrating with the Word, with candles, with prayers, with gifts, and with whatever Christmas trappings can help us celebrate His advent.

Our family joyfully celebrates the Christmas season.  We build our celebration on the traditions of Christmas from the Word of God, from believers through the centuries as well as our own family traditions.  We have created some traditions built on the personal joy of what God has done for us in sending his Son as our Savior.  It has led us to give to others because God gave to us.  We sing and listen to great Christmas music because our hearts are filled with joy.  We light Christmas Lights celebrating Jesus as the Light of the World.

As the Under-Shepherd of this church family, I will lead you to do the same.  A friend of mine told me that we should not use pink candles in the advent service.  His reasoning was that over a thousand years ago, some pope used a pink candle in some insidious way.  My response…we will not let that pope light our candle!  Pink was God’s color long before it was the color of choice of some misguided person.  Don’t get distracted by those who take joy on raining on your Christmas parade.  March on; stay faithful to God’s Word; give thanks and be joyful; give to those in need…but don’t forget Thanksgiving!

See you Sunday, Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

Only Two Sundays Away

One of the most joyful services of the year is our annual Thanksgiving Worship Celebration.  It takes place on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, November 18th.  There are many reasons this is a Sunday of Thanksgiving.  I hope each one of them leads you to express gratitude and deep appreciation for all God has done for us.

First, there is only one worship service on Sunday, November 18th.  We will all combine for a united day of thanksgiving.  The 8:30am group and the Chinese Fellowship will join us at the 11am service.  This is one of the few times during the year that we combine our worship services.  The Chinese Church is planning to sing two songs during the service.  This is always a favorite.

Second, we will celebrate the two ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  If you are waiting for baptism or are interested, please call the church office at #762-0244.  It is always a moving part of worship to welcome new believers and new members into the family of God here at James Island Baptist.  We will also celebrate the Lord’s Supper as Eucharist…thanksgiving.  Reflect on what God has done for us in sending His only begotten Son.  Remember the ultimate love Jesus showed in being obedient even to the point of death on a cross.  Hallelujah, what a Savior.

Third, we will have the recognition of all new members since last Thanksgiving.  One of the blessings we are most thankful for are the new members God has brought into our church family.  If you have joined JIBC, one of our connection groups, Sunday School,...etc, we would like to welcome you and give God thanks and glory.  Janie and I, after the Celebration of Communion, will invite all of our new members to come and join us.  We will have a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.  It really can be a moving moment to see how the Lord has blessed.

Fourth, we will have a church wide Thanksgiving Meal.  Our fabulous Kitchen Krew is preparing food for the entire church family.  It is not necessary for you to bring anything.  If you would like to, why not bring a dessert or one of your favorite dishes.  Just take it back to the Fellowship Hall, and they will put it out for everyone to enjoy.  Trust me; it will be a feast and great fellowship.

Last, if you have any strength left, the annual James Island Community Thanksgiving Service.  This year, the service will be hosted at St. James Presbyterian Church located at 1314 Seccessionville Road.  You are invited to bring a canned goods and a financial offering for the James Island Outreach.  This is always a great gathering of the family of God here on James Island.

Give thanks; this is the will of God for your life!  See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom