Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2022
This Sunday:
This First Sunday of Advent, Rev. Karen Campbell will preach from Isaiah 11:1-10 and Matthew 3:1-12 in our Prism combined worship service. Following the service, stick around for our annual Christmas brunch in the café (read announcements below for more info on this year’s Christmas Brunch).
This Sunday during our prism worship service, we have the great joy of celebrating the gift of God’s grace in the sacrament of baptism. We will receive into Christ’s church these young people: Amadu Bundu, Princess Bundu, Alusine (Junior) Bundu, Mariama Bundu, and Abby Drew. They met with a group of elders this past Sunday to share about their faith in Jesus and we are eager to welcome them into the covenant family!
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Children’s News:
Christmas Brunch with Children’s Crafts, Dec. 4. We’ll enjoy our annual Christmas brunch after the worship service (no Sunday school). Look for a table of Advent and Christmas-themed crafts for children to enjoy during brunch! We’ll also begin sign-ups and script distribution for parts in the Christmas Eve 5pm service at the Christmas Brunch! If you are new to COS we can’t wait to introduce you to this beautiful full-participation all-ages family Christmas Eve service!
Church News:
Current Giving for the Month of November: $102,808
Giving for the month of October: $122,219
Giving for November 2021: $86,525
Monthly budgeted General Fund Giving is: $118,873
2023 Pledges
8 pledges totaling $46,120
2023 Pledges: In celebration of our congregation’s 50th anniversary, COS leadership has chosen “Jubilee” as a guiding theme. When we support Church of the Servant’s mission with our time, treasure, and talent we are responding to God’s invitation to be a community “rooted in Christ, nurtured by the Spirit, to grow in God’s grace.” The Stewardship team is inviting each of us to make a pledge of our finances as we live out our commitment to “share gifts of refuge, fellowship, and hope.” Both in our year-end giving, and in the pledges for the 2023 General Fund that we make in December, we are showing ourselves to be people of Jubilee. Learn more about how to pledge here, and look for printed pledge forms at the church.
Christmas Brunch – December 4: Christmas is coming and it’s time for our annual Christmas Bunch to be held on Sunday, December 4, after worship. Just to remind all how this works: you will be assigned to contribute something based on your last name. Place your food in the café on one of the serving tables before the service. Have the food ready to be served—things cut, sliced, and uncovered. The ovens and fridge in the kitchen will be available as will serving spoons and knives. Enjoy the worship service and then head to the café to enjoy fellowship together. Your serving dish will be on a table near the kitchen.
Last names beginning A – E bread, muffins, bars or cookies
F – K veggies
L – R fruit
S – Z something brunchy—egg dish, deviled eggs, etc
O Antiphons Advent service at Church of the Servant – December 18, 2022 at 6 pm. The COS O Antiphons Advent service makes use of a series of medieval prayers referred to as the O Antiphons. They were composed for use in evening prayer services on the last seven days of Advent. They are best known to us as the seven verses of the advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Each antiphon is a petition for Christ to come, addressing the Messiah with a title from Old Testament prophecies. Learn more here.
Extra nursery help needed for our extra services. If you love children, are in high school or beyond, and want to serve our families with young children, please consider volunteering to serve in the COS nursery for our upcoming O Antiphon Service on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 6 pm. Contact Annette Ediger if you are willing to help. Thank you!
G.P.S. Schedule. GPS (God’s People Seeking) invites you to join us on Sundays in Fellowship Room 3 (next to the café) from 11:45am-12:30pm. GPS seeks to offer a space where friends and members of COS can build connections, expand their view of God, and grapple with faith.
“When COS Went to Prison” • 11:45-12:30 • Sunday, Dec. 11 and 18
On December 11, Prisoners in Christ team members Patrick Campbell, Lynette LaBine, Rich and Carol Rienstra, Arend VanderPols and Jennifer West will share some of the impacts that COS is having in and beyond prison. Consider chapter 5 of Nick Wolterstorff’s book “Beyond Imagining,” and hear about the monthly Monday restorative justice supper conversations that are drawing dozens of community members into the COS space of refuge, fellowship, and hope.
On December 18, COS members who have been involved in the Handlon prison book group, the Celebration Fellowship prison congregation and the Calvin Prison Initiative will give testimony about how their involvement inside prison has affected their thinking and living on the outside.
Prisoners in Christ Restorative Justice Suppertime Conversation, 5:30-7:00 p.m. Monday, December 12, in the COS living room. JD Chapman, founder of Realism is Loyalty, and Wanda Rogers, a counselor at Reconciliation of Life, will talk about bringing messages of hope and restorative justice to families and in neighborhoods impacted by crime and incarceration. To reserve a seat, email info@prisonersinchrist.org or call 616-724-6772.
The facilities Team is looking for some shoveling volunteers who will monitor the snowfall during Sunday services and Wednesday activities and be willing to clear the sidewalks. Contact Bob H or Monica S if you are willing to shovel snow.
It is the Season of Advent, the time we await the birth of Jesus It may also be a time of lament for you. Feel free to go to the chapel with your pain, grief, sorrow, loss, mourning or regret. Write these items on a slip of paper and prayerfully drop it into the container. God hears and sees your emotions.
Church of the Servant is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 New Psalm Contest:
First Place goes to “Blessing” (Psalm 20)
written by Greg Scheer and Kate Bluett.
Second Place goes to “I Wait for You in Silence” (Psalm 62)
written by David Hill.