Sunday worship at 8:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. • Education for all ages at 9:30 a.m.
“In Darkness and Light” session three (and final)
Wednesday, December 15, 2021 • 6:30 p.m. • Life Together Hall
We gather around the table for Advent midweek worship, which is also a meal (dinner and Holy Communion) and a time of fellowship.
“In Darkness and Light” session two
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 • 6:30 p.m. • Life Together Hall
We gather around the table for Advent midweek worship, which is also a meal (dinner and Holy Communion) and a time of fellowship.
“In Darkness and Light”
Wednesday evenings • December 1, 8, and 15 • 6:30 p.m. • Life Together Hall
We gather around the table for Advent midweek worship, which is also a meal (dinner and Holy Communion) and a time of fellowship.
The MVLC Peace and Justice Ministry Group suggests a way that you can participate in the “waiting” of Advent, as well as help those in need: a “reverse Advent calendar.”
The Nourish Pierce County website has a list of most needed food and non-food items, which you can find HERE.
Join us for the online worship service and experience it in your own home.
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There are two steps that you need to take to fully experience worship.
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Step one. Worship folder.
Download/view the PDF at https://mtviewlutheran.org/adventmidweekthree121620.pdf
(You will need a PDF reader to view the worship folder. Most smart phones and computers come with a PDF reader installed.)
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Step two. Worship service.
View the worship service at 7:00 p.m. (or after) on Wednesday 12/16 in the embedded player below.
If you experience problems with the embedded player or you want another viewing option, you can also view worship at 7:00 p.m. (or after) on Wednesday 12/16 at the MVLC Facebook page or the MVLC YouTube livestream link.
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Join us for the online worship service and experience it in your own home.
—
There are two steps that you need to take to fully experience worship.
—
Step one. Worship folder.
Download/view the PDF at https://mtviewlutheran.org/adventmidweektwo120920.pdf
(You will need a PDF reader to view the worship folder. Most smart phones and computers come with a PDF reader installed.)
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Step two. Worship service.
View the worship service at 7:00 p.m. (or after) on Wednesday 12/9 in the embedded player below.
If you experience problems with the embedded player or you want another viewing option, you can also view worship at 7:00 p.m. (or after) on Wednesday 12/9 at the MVLC Facebook page or the MVLC YouTube livestream link.
—
Join us for the online worship service and experience it in your own home.
—
There are two steps that you need to take to fully experience worship.
—
Step one. Worship folder.
Download/view the PDF at https://mtviewlutheran.org/adventmidweekone120220.pdf
(You will need a PDF reader to view the worship folder. Most smart phones and computers come with a PDF reader installed.)
—
Step two. Worship service.
View the worship service at 7:00 p.m. (or after) on Wednesday 12/2 in the embedded player below.
If you experience problems with the embedded player or you want another viewing option, you can also view worship at 7:00 p.m. (or after) on Wednesday 12/2 at the MVLC Facebook page or the MVLC YouTube livestream link.
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For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
—ISAIAH 9:6-7
As we enter this season of Advent, I enjoy reading the Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Christ child. It reminds me of the importance of the prophets and of such great faith Old Testament believers had with little evidence a Messiah would actually be presented. It also sets a mindset of waiting for the advent of our Lord, as Christians have done for centuries before us.
In stark contrast to this faith-minded season, we also have the ongoing battle of the retailers desiring to lure us to their stores or websites to buy the best gifts. When did the adrenaline rush start coming from spending instead of from giving? How do we as 21st-century Christians navigate the commercial landscape in a prudent manner that demonstrates a certain caring of the welfare of others? I don’t have perfect answers to these questions, but simply pose them for your reflection.
One way that helps me move away from the commercialism of Christmas is moving closer to my church and church family in a spirit of thankfulness. Our pastors and staff do a wondrous job of setting the tone of anticipation and focus in the weeks leading up to the birth of Jesus. We are truly blessed to have the congregation and ministry of Mountain View.
Another way to enact the meaning of the season is to carefully and prayerfully consider the gifts we give and to remember the church on our gift list. When the church ends the year in a solid financial position, we fulfill the commitment we made to the spending guideline approved by the congregation the prior year, and, more importantly, it ensures continuity of the ministry we are faithfully working to accomplish.
In closing, I hope this letter causes each of us to reflect, to appreciate, and to perhaps give with new zeal as we look to live out our faith with childlike anticipation of the Savior to come. May the joy of Christ’s presence be yours; may it inspire you to act, and in so doing, may you inspire others into the same.
Carol Powers
Council President
You can help beautify the Sanctuary for Christmas by donating toward the purchase of poinsettias, in memory or in honor of loved ones.
Visit the following link to fill out the online form and donate: POINSETTIAS.
“Narrowing down, focusing in,” says the author Isabel Anders in Awaiting the Child: An Advent Journal. What she means by the phrase is two-fold. She calls us during the Advent season to contemplate the beauty of the birth, the child born for us. Simultaneously, she also asks us, during the season, to “narrow down, focus in” on the promised second coming of the Christ child, the Lord of life. Essentially, Anders calls us to ponder the birth while considering a day when God will bring about a new creation fully realized.
We will be considering Anders’s call to listen to Advent’s dual themes of birth and rebirth during both our midweek worship services and our Sunday adult education. We will explore the wondrous paradox of God in the flesh and God the ruler of the universe. As a congregation, we have historically employed the Advent season for good and wondrous purposes. This year, “narrowing down, focusing in,” we will use the Advent season to listen deeply, pray faithfully, and, amidst all of December’s gods, quiet our souls in the child born to die, born to be raised, born to set us free.
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
1 Peter 1:12-21
Narrowing Down, Focusing In: Pay Attention
The author of First Peter believes his death is imminent. Simultaneously, it is his belief that he is received as an “eyewitness of Christ’s majesty” to remind his audience of the voice heard from the holy mountain. During our adult education time today, we will explore mortality, faith, and a hoped for future, reminding one another of the confident hope we live in and by.
Sunday, December 8, 2019
John 1:1-5, 14-18
Narrowing Down, Focusing In: Incarnation
As Isabel Anders accentuates the themes of incarnation and hoped for divine presence in the flesh; as she probes the themes of birth and rebirth, God in Christ entering time, God in Christ at the end of time; she would remind us today of the mystery and marvel of God deep in the flesh. As she prepares herself to give birth, she ponders the Virgin’s womb and the Word of creation residing in the flesh of Mary, the God-bearer. And in this child we would experience the heart of God.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Revelation 21:1-6; 22:16-20
Narrowing Down, Focusing In: Christ Coming Again
As we arrive on this Third Sunday in Advent, and draw closer to the Celebration of the Incarnation, we do so with an eye toward the future. Awakened by Advent’s hope, we cling to the promise of Christ coming again in glory. Such a coming, anticipated by a babe born to die, is our source of confidence in the current moment. Advent waiting is fraught with holy expectations and allows us to “narrow down and focus in” on the importance amidst the exceedingly unimportant.
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Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Romans 15:4-13
Narrowing Down, Focusing In: A Call to Hope
At this evening’s Advent midweek gathering we will hear from the compelling voice of the Apostle Paul a call to hope. The scriptures are written for encouragement that “we might have hope,” says the Apostle. Our hope in Christ Jesus is from birth to rebirth to death to rebirth in a resurrection promise. As a community of faith living into such hope we strive for justice, peace, and harmony.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Luke 1:10-15 • Luke 1:26-30 • Matthew 28:1-6
Narrowing Down, Focusing In: Do Not Be Afraid
As we ponder the Incarnation during this season of Advent, as well as the “promised coming again,” we hear the word of the angel to Zechariah, to Mary, to the woman at the tomb, each alarmed—“Do not be afraid.” As an Incarnation/Resurrection people, we are often perplexed and fearful in a world seemingly bent on it’s own destruction. Fear seems at the center of people’s lives these days. The angelic word during this midweek worship is a word spoken for our hearts today. Living in a confident hope, our faith dispels the fear-laden world we live in and brings us peace as the storms are quieted, peace as we narrow down and focus in.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
1 Corinthians 15:12-26
Narrowing Down, Focusing In: The Light That Shines
As we prepare the way of the Lord for both the celebration of the birth and the hoped for judgment, we trust in the light that shines in the distance but reflects on our daily lives. Such a resurrection light brings us life. Absent the same, we are surely the most to be pitied. On this, the final Advent midweek, we proclaim Christ as raised from the dead—from manger to cross to empty tomb to holy promise for a future—“Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:23). In joy we anticipate the resurrection from the dead as we proclaim he has been raised.
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Photograph by Tim Mossholder, https://unsplash.com/photos/zqDUmUtAN-w. Public domain, via Unsplash.
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