Good Friday morning Church Requel!
We have a fantastic weekend in store for us! Are you ready?
We begin tomorrow evening by serving a hot, free meal to those in our neighborhood. Don went shopping for all the goodies yesterday so I know it's going to be awesome! Thank you Don! We also will be handing out free coats, hats and gloves. Thank you all for your donations. I'm certain they will all be appreciated!
Show up no later than 4pm. We begin serving at 5pm. Bring your desserts to share. Let's make the night festive! Wear your Christmas clothing. Ugly Christmas sweaters would definitely be in order! Yours truly will be playing the ukulele and singing Christmas carols. Let's throw a Christmas party for our neighborhood and let them share our joy for this season!
Worship Plans For Sunday. What an exciting Sunday we have planned! I'm sure that the highlight of the morning will be Izzy Thoman's baptism. Izzy came to me a few weeks ago and we talked about baptism. She told me she really wanted to demonstrate this testimony in her life of the saving grace of Jesus and her intention to follow Him as her Lord for the rest of her life. Her enthusiasm is contagious! No way she wanted to wait until after the Christmas season. Honestly, I can't blame her. Why wait? And what could be more Advent-related that the celebration of a new Christ-follower?
We will open our worship service together with the lighting of the Advent wreath candle. We've asked John Vetter to light the candle this week. Nothing like a little bit of John's enthusiasm to get our worship started, right? (I'm still pumped up by remembering John's own baptism a couple months ago... in a full three-piece suit! YES!)
Here are the songs we plan to sing. I love this worship song set. The 2nd and 3rd songs were selected by Izzy as two of her favorites. Our songs Sunday morning will be: "Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)" by Chris Tomlin; "What A Beautiful Name" by Hillsong; "Reckless Love" by Cory Asbury; "River of Life" by Mac Powell; and "Nobody" by Casting Crowns.
Our sermon Sunday morning is entitled, "Decision Making When I've Been Wronged." Our Scripture will come from Matthew 1:18-25, the story of Joseph finding out that his betrothed wife, Mary, was already pregnant. From Joseph's example we will learn four godly responses to when we feel we have been wronged.
Want a preview of the sermon? You can read it in your Bible app under "Events" or you can view it in your browser with this link. http://bible.com/events/48810238
For those of you who cannot be with us in Mansfield Sunday, you can watch the worship service as it happens by going to our Church Requel Facebook page OR by watching on YouTube. Here is the link. https://youtu.be/NJxfvsaE4v8
1,000 Nativities From Around The World! Here is a great idea for those of you in Mansfield who would like to get a good start on the Christmas season! AND IT'S FREE! The next two Sundays, December 12th and 19th, from 2pm until 3:30pm, you can view 1,000 different Nativities, many from other countries. And while you are viewing, you can listen to Christmas carols performed by one of four different musicians. How festive!
Many of you know that Pastor Paul is a collector of Nativity Sets. In the past, many of them have been displayed at Church Requel. But this year, Paul has invited other collectors to join him and display their sets as well. Honestly, I've never seen so many different displays at one time in my life! And some of them are so unique! It really is quite amazing.
Yours truly has been invited to play and sing from 2:45 pm until 3:30 pm this coming Sunday, December 12th. So if you'd like to hear even more fantastic ukulele Christmas carols, come then! One time/date or another, though, don't miss out on this special opportunity. Your soul will be refreshed!
I continue to marvel how much God is blessing our church and its people! From your serving meals, to your baptisms, to your singing, to your fellowship, I'm simply blown away with love for all of you! Hope to see you this weekend - maybe many times!
Yours in Christ, Pastor Mark
