Weekly Uplook December 3
Dear Saints,
It has been a couple of weeks since I last shared as we were traveling. Lori and I had the opportunity to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our son Joshua and his family along with others in Medford, Oregon. Medford is our hometown where Lori and I both grew up. We graduated from High School and University there as well and married and established our first home. It is there where I began to preach the Gospel and from there we departed to begin pastoral ministry nearly 35 years ago. Interestingly God allowed us to return there in 2007 as pastor where we served for nearly 7 more years before returning to Seattle in 2014.
Having moved a number of times it is good to return from time to time particularly to be with family, friends, and the saints as well as to cherish good memories. Lori and I took time one day to take a walk with our grandson Calvin. Their family happens to live near the cemetery where my parents are buried as well as my grandparents on my father’s side of the family and we walked through the cemetery on our way to the park. I was fascinated by the conversation after he looked in wonder at his own surname listed upon two headstones. His given name was on one of them as well as he is named for my father. We explained how one was my parents (his fathers grandparents) and the other a generation earlier and that down to and including him made five generations. After heading toward the park just as we were leaving the cemetery Calvin said…”I want my son to bury me someday nearby to your dad/mom.” My heart was touched by his simple but clear thinking. He was a part of something bigger than he really understood.
This Advent season leading up to Christmas, may we also take time to contemplate that we also are a part of something bigger than we may really understand. May we honor those who have faithfully waited for God’s plan to unfold in their own families. May we embrace that the God of the universe is still at work in the world even though things seem very dark at times and we’ve waited a long time. And finally, may we purpose in our own hearts to play our small part in God’s great plan of redemption for all the world.
Housekeeping/Schedule notes: There will be a box in the Narthex again this year in which you may place Christmas cards for any of the saints who regularly join us in person for worship. If you wish to send cards to those who are unable to worship with us in person you will need to use regular mail as we cannot forward them. Also…looking forward we are planning to have a “Carols & Candles” service on Sunday Evening December 18 at 5 pm. We will not be having regular Bible Study on Wednesday December 21 or December 28. There will be Sunday morning service only on Christmas Day (December 25) and New Year’s Day (January 1).
God bless you as we wait in anticipation to celebrate Christ’s first Advent and to experience his second Advent.
BB
Rev. William E. McKibben
Senior Pastor
It has been a couple of weeks since I last shared as we were traveling. Lori and I had the opportunity to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our son Joshua and his family along with others in Medford, Oregon. Medford is our hometown where Lori and I both grew up. We graduated from High School and University there as well and married and established our first home. It is there where I began to preach the Gospel and from there we departed to begin pastoral ministry nearly 35 years ago. Interestingly God allowed us to return there in 2007 as pastor where we served for nearly 7 more years before returning to Seattle in 2014.
Having moved a number of times it is good to return from time to time particularly to be with family, friends, and the saints as well as to cherish good memories. Lori and I took time one day to take a walk with our grandson Calvin. Their family happens to live near the cemetery where my parents are buried as well as my grandparents on my father’s side of the family and we walked through the cemetery on our way to the park. I was fascinated by the conversation after he looked in wonder at his own surname listed upon two headstones. His given name was on one of them as well as he is named for my father. We explained how one was my parents (his fathers grandparents) and the other a generation earlier and that down to and including him made five generations. After heading toward the park just as we were leaving the cemetery Calvin said…”I want my son to bury me someday nearby to your dad/mom.” My heart was touched by his simple but clear thinking. He was a part of something bigger than he really understood.
This Advent season leading up to Christmas, may we also take time to contemplate that we also are a part of something bigger than we may really understand. May we honor those who have faithfully waited for God’s plan to unfold in their own families. May we embrace that the God of the universe is still at work in the world even though things seem very dark at times and we’ve waited a long time. And finally, may we purpose in our own hearts to play our small part in God’s great plan of redemption for all the world.
Housekeeping/Schedule notes: There will be a box in the Narthex again this year in which you may place Christmas cards for any of the saints who regularly join us in person for worship. If you wish to send cards to those who are unable to worship with us in person you will need to use regular mail as we cannot forward them. Also…looking forward we are planning to have a “Carols & Candles” service on Sunday Evening December 18 at 5 pm. We will not be having regular Bible Study on Wednesday December 21 or December 28. There will be Sunday morning service only on Christmas Day (December 25) and New Year’s Day (January 1).
God bless you as we wait in anticipation to celebrate Christ’s first Advent and to experience his second Advent.
BB
Rev. William E. McKibben
Senior Pastor
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