December 1, 2025
Beloved of God,
December is the month of Advent and Christmas.
What is Advent?
It is the season, 22 to 28 days in length, that starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas (which this year took place on the last day of November) and ends on Christmas Day. It is the season to grow as people of faith in our appreciation of how God doesn’t expect us to come to Him – as if we could! – and how God comes to us in mercy and grace. In the past, two thousand or so years ago, God came to us in the birth of the God-Man Jesus Christ. In the present, every year and every second, God comes to us in loving pursuit of a friendship with us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. In the future, at a time and hour we do not know, God will come in Jesus’ return to earth to set all things right.
How do we do justice to Advent?
We ready ourselves to receive the God who comes to us, that He might find a welcome in our heart, govern how we live our lives and elevate our character and conduct. We prepare ourselves as we develop the anticipation of faith in God’s promises; keep ourselves focused, attentive and alert for God’s visitation; and take advantage of Covenant’s special Advent offerings: the Advent devotional in which each day a different member of our church community presents a reflection on a biblical theme related to Advent, a three-part sermon series on John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord, sermons on December 21st and Christmas Eve on Mary, Joseph and, most of all, Jesus Himself, a Christmas carol sing at 3:00 p.m. on December 14th, and holiday fellowship events such as the Cutters dinner following the carol sing.
Advent is also known as the season of giving in recognition of the great gift God gave in the birth of Christ. We invite you then to consider a special end-of-the-year gift in support of Christ’s mission through Covenant; or, if you have not yet made a pledge for 2026, to pick up a pledge sheet in the back of the Sanctuary or to ask us to send you one, that you might commit to ongoing giving to the church in the coming year. If we open our wallets to God’s work, we open our hearts to God himself.
What is Christmas?
It is the day (not that we know it happened on December 25th) on which we, with joyful gratitude, commemorate God’s joining the human race, getting down to our level in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth and moving in to our earthly neighborhood never to leave.
How do we do justice to Christmas?
We renew our commitment to let Jesus be born again in our soul, that He might through us bless our neighbors. We resolve to allow His Holy Spirit to take control of our lives and to re-incarnate in us His love, joy, peace and power for righteousness, justice, compassion and witness to the news too good to keep to ourselves. We sing that day, and from then on every day, songs of praise and hope to the One who keeps coming that we might walk with Him from now on and into eternity.
What a glorious blessing it all is!
Warmly in Christ,
Pastors Adele & Rob Langworthy
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