Letter to Congregation 12-23-2020
Pastor Letter 12/23/20
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
This advent, we have redefined and rediscovered peace in the midst of this life’s storm, joy in our discouragements and love in our differences in this time of division. Now the peak of the advent season is almost here. In just a few days, we will be celebrating the best gift ever given to us, the gift who ushered in God’s kingdom on earth. At the same time, we celebrate with anticipation of when Christ will come again and God’s kingdom fully realized. It is the time when we have our traditional Christmas eve candlelight service and share Christ’s light with others. Just like we had to redefine and rediscover the Advent themes in the context of 2020, we will also have to rediscover a new way of sharing the light of Christ during our Christmas Eve service.
This week, both services, Christmas Eve and our regular Sunday service, will be special and similar, but redefined and rediscovered in a new way. Both will continue under our phase 1 hybrid worship. For the regular 7:30pm Christmas Eve service, there are a few extra instructions to share. For those of you who are worshiping with us remotely, please take a candle and a way to light it to your worship space along with communion elements, as we will be celebrating the Lord’s supper. If you are worshiping in person, please also bring along your communion elements and pick up the provided candles on your way in. Additionally, I would ask that you keep your coats and all belongings with you at your seats. We will be exiting in a new way that prevents the opportunity to stop and grab coats. The Sunday service will be our traditional Christmas carol hymn sing, but again, it will be a little different as we will have designated singers for the hymns. As we have discovered, the events of 2020 shaped our usual Advent and Christmas traditions in new ways. It does not mean we cannot glorify God by celebrating in these rediscovered and redefined ways.
In Christ Peace,
Pastor Nicki
Some helpful links…
Click on the link below near the time the service begins at 10:00am to watch the live stream https://www.facebook.com/espresbyterian/
YouTube recording can be found at https://www.espresbyterian.com/worship/ or https://www.youtube.com/user/ESPresbyterian
Additionally, bulletins and an online hymnal have been put on the website and can be found at https://www.espresbyterian.com/worship/sunday-bulletin/
