What is your foundation? Christmas activity is beginning to bustle and here at church we're heading into our Second Sunday of Advent.  This week, in addition to decorating our houses, making our shopping lists, and pulling out our festive sweaters, we ask ourselves what makes a good spiritual foundation as we prepare to welcome Christ into our world.  Spoiler Alert: your shopping list is less important than you think!  Our scripture focuses on the birth of John the Baptist, who laid the foundation for Jesus' entrance.  We'll be looking at Luke 1:57-80 In addition, this Sunday we will celebrate God's promised coming at the communion table with a sung communion liturgy. If you are watching from home, have some bread and juice (or another drink) ready and join us at the table.

When something hits close to home, it affects us deeply. During the Advent and Christmas season, we journey through scriptures and rituals that are tender, heavy with emotion, and vulnerable. We carry the memories and truths of this season close to our hearts. Our theme for Advent this year, "Close to Home" acknowledges the “already but not yet” tension of our faith: Emmanuel is with us, and yet, God’s promised day—our everlasting home—is not fully realized. It names our deep longing for God to come close to us. This week, on the First Sunday of Advent we'll hear hauntingly beautiful music and scripture verses that remind us we can sometimes feel far away from home.  Still, though, even when we are homesick, God has a hopeful message for us.  Our scripture for this week is the  “Little Apocalypse” in Luke 21.

Advent 2020- Christ the King 2021, a liturgical year in review. Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License A-734781. All rights reserved. CCLI Copyright License #11108520 and Streaming License #20460384.

This Sunday is Giving Sunday. Hopefully your prayers are helping to clarify how, with the Spirit’s wisdom, you can contribute to the ongoing returning and sending that makes Cobleskill UMC who we are today, and who we’ll be tomorrow.   Christianity was made for this: building bridges of homecoming and commissioning, sending and return, welcoming the stranger and being sent forth to visit the sick and imprisoned. Cobleskill UMC is made for it, too, as is each one of us, a child of God in the image of God. To be clear, though: we are made to do this together, offering up all our skills, our hopes, our ideas, our money, and our hearts to answer God’s call.

If there is hope in exile, there is surely hope in the return.  Right?  This week we'll look at the poetic verses of Ruth 1 to ponder what returning from exile looks like and what this means for our lives together as a church that sticks together in tough times.  As we continue in week two of our stewardship series, we'll also have another "Moment of Hope" featuring our children and youth ministries.  Our scripture passage is Ruth 1:6-18 Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License A-734781. All rights reserved. CCLI Copyright License #11108520 and Streaming License #20460384.