Letter From the Pastor
December ushers in the season of Advent. When I was a child, my mother had a long red stocking that she hung in in the kitchen. This stocking had white string, each numbered 1 through 25. We would buy little candy canes and tie them to the stocking, and then take turns untying the candy cane as a way to countdown to Christmas Day. It was a way for us to get ready for Christmas, to prepare for the season.
Advent is a season of waiting and of anticipation. We are waiting for Christ to be born in the manger, while at the same time waiting for Christ to burst into our lives again. Pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer says that Christ does this every day with every person that we encounter. He writes: As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor, as one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you. That is the great seriousness and great blessedness of the Advent message. Christ is standing at the door; he lives in the form of a human among us. Do you want to close the door or open it?
It may strike us as strange to see Christ in such a near face, but he said it, and those who withdraw from the serious reality of the Advent message cannot talk of the coming of Christ in their heart, either…
Christ is knocking. It’s still not Christmas, but it’s also still not the great last Advent, the last coming of Christ. Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate runs the longing for the last Advent, when the word will be: “See, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
May we wait and watch together this Advent season. And may we see the face of Christ in all that we meet.
Session Update and Financials
November Session Update
- Heard a report regarding officer nominations.
- Heard plans for a Congregational Christmas Caroling Event Sunday December 16 at 3:00 pm
- Received an update on the newly designed church website. Please visit the site at www.covenant-church-spartanburg.com
Financial Update as of October 31, 2018
October Income- $11,846
- YTD $112,116
- $13,698
- YTD $109,940
- ($1,852)
- YTD $2,176
December Usher Duty
- December 2: Bob McMichael, Carole Sanders, and Jim Bleiler
- December 9: Russ Sanders and Nancy Biggerstaff
- December 16: Callaway Alford, Henry Polston, Terry Terawaki
- December 23: Cynthia Bridges and Jim Fraley
- December 24: Bob McMichael, Carole Sanders, and Jim Bleiler
- December 30: Russ Sanders and Nancy Biggerstaff
Prayer Requests
- Covenant Presbyterian Church
- Shelly Akers
- Alexis Bezilla (friend of the Bleilers)
- Kathryn Clark
- David and Catherine Dedmon
- June Garren (Cathy Baldwin’s Mom)
- Zeverly Glenn
- Taylor Goode (M) (Bleilers’ Son)
- Rev. Charles Hall (Eddie Hall’s Dad)
- Mary Harris
- Jay Jeter
- Sandra McKinney
- Thad Strickland
- Charles and Miriam Turner
- Remember our shut-ins
- Families who have lost loved ones
- Our President and officials in Washington
- World Peace
(M) Indicated Military
Upcoming Events
- Covenant’s Small Group will have a Christmas celebration on Sunday, December 9th at 5:00 p.m. at the home of Anne and Paul McChesney, 314 Holly Drive. Everyone in the Covenant family is welcome to join the fun and to bring a friend. Feel free to bring a favorite hors d’oeuvre, a Christmas story from your past, and a photo of you from your younger days.
- Interested in going Christmas caroling? A group will leave from the church at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 16th to sing Christmas carols around the community. Please feel free to join the fun! Depending on numbers, we will carpool or take the church bus to our stops. We will enjoy a pizza meal afterwards at the church. Please email or call the church office if you are interested.
December 2018 Calendar
