November 27, 2022

This week's Thanksgiving celebration, as well as the upcoming Christmas and New Year's Day give us opportunities to get together with our family. And it often happens that some of the same stories are repeated over and over at our family gatherings. Children may roll their eyes and protest, "This again?" But those of us who are older understand the importance of shared stories. For these shared stories, our shared experiences, have made us who we are and continue to define us.

Our celebration of Christ's first advent is much the same. We gather as God's family, and retell the stories that have shaped us and continue to mold us. So as we enter into the Advent season, we remember the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this first week of the Advent season our meditations focus on the gift of hope. The Immanuel prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 was given to a nation amidst God's judgment. The coming of Immanuel would turn their sorrow and gloom into joy. So Israel hoped for the fulfillment of this promise.

But this promise would not be fulfilled in order to give earthly political relief to Israel. Rather, the Immanuel prophecy was fulfilled in Matthew 1:18–25, with the climactic announcement that Jesus "will save his people from their sins." Of course! Israel's very difficult predicament in Isaiah was the result of their sin. So what good is a political relief unless the problem of sin is dealt with? Indeed, Jesus came to deal with the root problem of sin, to save his people from it.

As we remember Christ's first Advent, we continue to hope. For we are not yet fully delivered from sin. While we are no longer condemned before God as sinners, and while sin no longer has dominion over us, we continue to struggle against sin, and we long to be freed from it. Indeed, our great hope is, as the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul" eloquently expresses it: "O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, "Even so" — it is well with my soul!"

Christ's first Advent reminds us that we are a people of hope. Hope, for those who have hoped in God for salvation were not disappointed. Hope, for we look forward to the glory of Christ's second Advent. Hope, because it makes us who we are.

Upcoming Events and Notices

Please join us for worship this Sunday, November 27, at 11 AM. You can find the order of worship and songs here.

December 11 (Lord's Day): Please join us for our annual Christ celebration after the worship service. We will feast, sing, and celebrate God's gift together. Please see Janny Ligtenberg to sign up.

December 25 (Christmas Sunday): Please note that our worship service will begin at 12 PM.

We invite you to join us for "12 for 22." Our aim is to read 12 great books for the year 2022. Whether you read all 12 or just one, you will find it well worth your effort. Please see the list here. For November we are reading "Work: Its Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation" by Daniel M. Doriani.

Thank you for your continued support of Grace Fallbrook (PCA). Your loving support makes the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of the saints possible. Our church website now features online giving. Please visit the church website and click on "Give" which you will find in the upper left corner of our church's website. When you click on "Give Online Now" button on that page, you will be directed to the PCA Foundation where you can give towards Grace Fallbrook (PCA).

Before We Worship

We continue to learn from our Lord Jesus how to pray. We encourage you to read this week's catechism lesson and learn what it means to pray "Thy will be done" and "Give us this day our daily bread".