A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: GATHERING IN COMMUNITY
Grace and peace to you,
In the coming week we will have two opportunities to experience Advent worship together in community.
This Sunday, Dec. 14, we will gather for one 
service at 10 a.m. in Fellowship Hall. Come and explore this third Sunday of Advent where we reflect on the theme of how to respond to God’s call on our lives even as fear might grip us. What can we learn from the Prophet Jeremiah and from Mary, as even through their fear, they were able to say yes to God’s call? In Jeremiah’s own words, he is just a child. Mary, an engaged teenage girl, is asked to bear the Son of God!
Both are gripped by fear, both ask questions, both consider the invitation from God and both come to a “Yes, I will move forward with you God.” Is that possible in our own lives? What fears grip us as we consider where God might be calling us as individuals or as a community of faith?
Then on Tuesday, Dec. 16, we will gather in Fellowship Hall at 7 p.m. for our Longest Night Service, a time to give space to all who find this Advent and Christmas season difficult due to grief, loss, fear, sadness.
This more contemplative service invites us to slow down and to acknowledge and process how we are feeling in this season. Through readings of Scripture and poetry, song, reflection time and candle lighting, we will keep vigil together, inviting God to join us in our journeys. We will also light candles, and as each candle is lit, the light multiplies, wrapping the entire community in its warmth.
The darkness further illuminates the flicker of the candles. We pray that in this service, grief and fear can dance with gratitude and hope, and that in community we might find courage and unity, being reminded that God is indeed near.
Both of these services will be livestreamed on our Facebook page and website (fpc-bethlehem.org).
Come and see, come and explore as we continue to journey through Advent.
Blessings,
Pastor Karen