Order forms available in this Sunday’s bulletin.

IF YOU SELECTED A NAME FROM THE GIVING TREE OR A SIDEWALK SS SHOEBOX,
PLEASE RETURN YOUR GIFTS TO THE CHURCH BY THIS SUNDAY, DEC. 11TH.

SERVING IN MINISTRY

We also began displaying the giving tree in the sanctuary this past week, and in my observation, there are only 8 tags left, opportunities to make Christmas special and practical for orphans in Centro Santa Catalina.  That mission serves more than their capacity should allow, since the need is always greater than the capacity.  Some details about the mission as well as a newsletter are linked in this update, so take a look at the impact you are having there.

For at least the 9th year in a row, we will make sure Christmas is both special and practical for the children at Westway again this year. The shoe boxes will be in narthex/lobby of the sanctuary this week, and our only requirement is to return them next week to the altar for blessing and distribution.  If you’ve not been to a distribution and seen the ordered way in which the gifts are distributed and watched the gratitude etched across the faces of the recipients, volunteer to help this year by speaking with Jane LaGrone.  It will make your Christmas special too.  The growth of that ministry in the past 8 Christmas celebrations that I have known about it is wonderful, and teens who were once little ones on the carpets are still attending each week to hear the stories of the Bible and experience God’s love and care for them through us.

This week, there were even a couple of you who asked questions about how to be involved with McMurry University and its goal for McMurry in Motion.  Just a simple illustration from a message has turned into contributions that will aid  the building of young leaders as they navigate the college years.  The experiences they will have will help shape their lives and cause their leadership to go beyond career.  Hopefully, it will help make them missionaries for life and for the cause of Christ.

I pray you will be joyous this year as in all years, that the impact you make creates ripples of ministry, the final effect of which we may never know, but the God we serve always will. We hear his command to care for “little ones such as these” and then we practically do something to respond.  What better way is there to protest the culture than to undermine its selfishness?

This week in worship we will remember the prophet Isaiah and his words that were intended to make for peace. His picture of tranquility that is supposed to ensue when the servant of the Lord comes from the tree stump of Jesse is more than idealistic or utopian.  His picture of peace creates in us a longing that the world might be set right, that all of God’s creation might see the reverse of the Fall, and that all flesh shall experience the moment of shalom.  Shalom (Hebrew for Peace) is not just the absence of conflict, but  the absence of selfishness which creates injustice in the lives of others.  When God comes our selfishness departs, our distrust of God, one another and creation is surrendered and God’s intent for the creation comes into view.  Will we ever catch sight of what could be?

I hope you say a good word about the Lord Jesus Christ and Western Hills this week, and I pray you invite someone to be in church with you this week.  It is the season and time that people are looking for something more than the spiritually empty life of consumption.  Make sure they know there is another option.  See you soon, in the place where we will dine at His table, feed on His grace and hear His call to be people who are making a generous difference in the world.

Shalom,
Pastor Mark