Hey St. Catharines,
please join us for a "Home for Christmas" gathering. Christmas music, media and message that will help you celebrate the birth of Christ.
The Third Chair Gallery Cafe will be open for specialty drinks along with a holiday photo booth.
See you at 4pm December 24th, 89 Scott Street.
Merry Christmas!
please join us for a "Home for Christmas" gathering. Christmas music, media and message that will help you celebrate the birth of Christ.
The Third Chair Gallery Cafe will be open for specialty drinks along with a holiday photo booth.
See you at 4pm December 24th, 89 Scott Street.
Merry Christmas!
CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL
Dear church family and guests,
As we approach this Advent season, I am sure there are all kinds of things going on in your mind and in your heart concerning this Christmas season. There's no doubt that the last three years have been a bit different in this area.
But one thing that is for sure, we still have that anticipation as believers in Christ, of our loving, gentle baby Jesus coming to this earth. What a JOY that is.
As a leadership, we would like to recommend this ADVENT Devotional for your use as we kick off the Advent season in the month of December. May these daily devotionals remind you and I of what life is truly about, when it comes to Jesus coming to this world. ENJOY the journey!
Pastor Craig
A message from John Piper;
I feel like the apostle Peter at the end of his life, as he wrote
his second letter. Twice he told his readers why he was writing
to them. In the first chapter he said, “I think it right, as long
as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder” (2 Pet.
1:13).
Then, in the last chapter, he said it again: “I am stirring
up your sincere mind by way of reminder” (2 Pet. 3:1).
His aim was first to remind them. And then, by reminding
them, to stir them up. That’s what this little book of Advent
devotional readings is for—reminders and stirrings.
The Greek word for “stir up” is used most often for waking
someone from sleep. That’s the way it’s used, for example, in
Mark 4:39: “[Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind.” Peter assumes
that his Christian readers need to be wakened.
I know I continually need awakening. Especially when Christmas approaches.
I am prone to be dull, spiritually drowsy, halfhearted, lukewarm.
That is the way human beings are, including Christians,
even about great things. Peter knows it and is writing
to “awaken” or to “stir up” his readers so that they don’t just
know but also feel the wonder of the truth.
What Peter really means, and what I mean, by being “awakened”
or “stirred up” is to feel some measure of the joy God
intends for Christmas to bring. “Behold, I bring you good news
of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Not small joy. Not modest joy. But
“great joy.” If we don’t feel this when we ponder the incarnation
of the Son of God, we need “awakening.” We need to be
“stirred up.”
I feel like the apostle Peter at the end of his life, as he wrote
his second letter. Twice he told his readers why he was writing
to them. In the first chapter he said, “I think it right, as long
as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder” (2 Pet.
1:13).
Then, in the last chapter, he said it again: “I am stirring
up your sincere mind by way of reminder” (2 Pet. 3:1).
His aim was first to remind them. And then, by reminding
them, to stir them up. That’s what this little book of Advent
devotional readings is for—reminders and stirrings.
The Greek word for “stir up” is used most often for waking
someone from sleep. That’s the way it’s used, for example, in
Mark 4:39: “[Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind.” Peter assumes
that his Christian readers need to be wakened.
I know I continually need awakening. Especially when Christmas approaches.
I am prone to be dull, spiritually drowsy, halfhearted, lukewarm.
That is the way human beings are, including Christians,
even about great things. Peter knows it and is writing
to “awaken” or to “stir up” his readers so that they don’t just
know but also feel the wonder of the truth.
What Peter really means, and what I mean, by being “awakened”
or “stirred up” is to feel some measure of the joy God
intends for Christmas to bring. “Behold, I bring you good news
of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Not small joy. Not modest joy. But
“great joy.” If we don’t feel this when we ponder the incarnation
of the Son of God, we need “awakening.” We need to be
“stirred up.”
