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Hi everyone! 

It’s December 19! Yikes!  I hope everything is coming together nicely for you as you prepare for next week’s celebrations. 

This will be my last newsletter note before Christmas (and, in fact, before the New Year—since Diane won’t let me work on such projects on Christmas and Boxing Day next week). So, let me take this opportunity to wish you and yours a wonderful, peaceful, and worshipful Christmas! May all your plans go smoothly. May your days be filled with a sense of our Lord’s presence and with the joy that comes of knowing that our Lord Emmanuel has come—for us!

Of course, there will be other opportunities to connect before the 25th arrives. This Sunday morning, we have church as usual—and here’s a reminder that we’re aiming to make the service as “visitor friendly” as we can. We’ll sing a bunch of carols, the message will be short, and we’re aiming to keep the whole thing under an hour. So, if you’ve got friends or family who don’t generally come to church but who might be interested in paying a visit for Christmas, this will be an appropriate service for them.

(If you’re wanting to read ahead again this week, we’re going to take a very traditional path and look at the Christmas story from Luke 2:1-16, with a special focus on the angel’s message to the shepherds.)

For those who are able, we’ll also gather on Christmas Eve, next Tuesday evening, at 7:00 p.m. for a time of carol-singing and candlelight reflection. (Aren’t we all glad that it’s not our tradition to meet at midnight as some do! I’m getting too old to be alert for worship that late in the evening.)  It’s always a lovely time together. I look forward to sharing it with some of you and wish the very best to others who will be off doing other things with family.

One other heads-up for coming weeks. We’re going to have another special Sunday service on December 29, the last Sunday of 2024. That week we’ll put a special focus on prayer: expressing our thanks to God for all He has done this past year and leaning on Him as we move into 2025. It will be a somewhat more participatory service than usual—though please don’t worry, it won’t be uncomfortable! I look forward to our time together. Come prepared to enter the presence of our Lord, who loves it when His children pray.

As I think about this Sunday’s message on joy, I can’t help but hum another favorite carol:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns. Let all their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy!

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found. 

He rules the earth with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove.
The glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love. 

May you know the joy of the birth of Christ the King in this week!

Pastor Ken