Celebrating Advent & Christmas

The Season of Advent is here!

“Advent” means “coming” or “arrival.” During the season of Advent, we celebrate Christ’s coming into the world and watch with expectant hope for his coming again. In its historical origins, the season of Advent was patterned after the season of Lent, a six-week period of penitence and preparation for Easter. Similarly, the four weeks of Advent present an opportunity for communal discernment and personal examination, as the church prepares to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord and looks with hope for Christ’s return.

We invite you to join us for worship and life together during this sacred time at First Presbyterian Church!

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The Season of Advent

We invite you to join us for Advent worship this year as we watch and wait for our coming King!
See below for various events, services, and opportunities to celebrate this special season.
Questions? Email the Church Office or call 828-586-4256.

This year’s Advent Devotional Guide is from Christianity Today. Copies are available in the entry hallway of the church! Suggested donation: $5 to the church.

Join us for a Pizza & Salad dinner with the Gieser family on Dec. 15 at 6pm! We will hear more from Jim & Julianna, and their children Timo, Mattias, Hawk, and Ruth, about the good work God is doing through them in Cape Town, South Africa.

Our Advent music program, “Care for the Stranger,” will take place Dec. 16 at 6pm. There will be a potluck finger food celebration following the program. The suggested donation is $5 but we will take any amount you can give. We would love your presence!

The Advent season is not always "merry and bright." Join us in the Sanctuary for a simple worship service of music, Scripture, and prayer as we walk through the darkness together and renew our hope in Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

All are welcome to this family-friendly service of worship on Christmas Eve! A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall.

December Pastor's Letter

Dear church family and friends,

December is here, and another Advent season has arrived. In just a few short weeks, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus and the coming of our Savior and Lord. In the meantime, what do we do? We worship, pray, and prepare. We decorate our houses and set our tables and open our hearts in wonder. We resist the all-consuming commercialism of our culture and make space for contemplation. We seek justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). In all this, we watch and wait for the coming of the King.

As we do, I want to invite you to trust, yet again, that this waiting time is not wasted time. As much as we want to rush the process and celebrate Christmas prematurely, God is up to something by inviting us into this time of anticipation. Just think of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, or crying out in exile. Think of Elizabeth and Zechariah, John the Baptist, and – of course – Mary and Joseph. Think of those shepherds, keeping watch over the flocks by night. The hope, peace, joy, and love of God’s people is always forged in the crucible of waiting.

I hope you will take a look at our church calendar and website. There are wonderful things taking place in the life of our congregation, and you are welcome to get involved in any of them. (If you need help, just let me know.) Together, let’s recommit ourselves to walking the dusty road of discipleship, trusting that Jesus was, is, and always will be leading the way.

Yours,
Blake

“As his sheep, we have been given a bountiful lot of prosperity and protection… What does this look like? We might imagine a herd of docile sheep resting freely under a shady tree as he stands with staff in hand, ensuring total serenity in his care. His peace ushers eternal shalom into every avenue of life.”

- from The Eternal King Arrives: Journeying Through Advent with Our Humble and Mighty Savior (our Advent devotional guide this year)

Pastor's Letter

Dear church family,

Advent is upon us! This is one of my favorite times of the year, and for good reason. While the world around us focuses on the commercial and sentimental aspects of the season (and we do, too), the church makes space for something deeper, richer, and more important: the remembrance of Jesus’ first coming and the watching and waiting for his coming again. Advent, therefore, begins in the dark and moves towards the light. But, as the preacher and writer Fleming Rutledge reminds us, we “should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness.”

For some people, this might sound a bit glum or depressing. “Acknowledge the depth of the darkness? Where’s the Christmas cheer?!” How easily we forget that Jesus was born to a world of conflict. The people of Israel were scattered and living under the thumb of the Romans. Hunger, sickness, injustice, and spiritual confusion were the norm. Those old enemies of sin, death, and the devil ran rampant. And still, he came.

Are we much different today? While we live on the far side of the manger, cross, and empty tomb, we still groan under the weight of discord and division. Don’t take my word for it; just scan today’s headlines. As I write this, I am seeing reports of a shooting in Colorado Springs. There is continued fighting in Ukraine. Many are worried about the spread of RSV, Influenza, and Covid. The list goes on. It seems we know something about sin, death, and the devil, too. And still – Jesus comes to us by his Spirit, and he promises to come again. This is grace.

My invitation for you this Advent is this: name the darkness in the world and in your heart, and turn your face towards the light yet again. Start with showing up on Sunday mornings – come to sing and pray, to listen and learn, to give and receive in the presence of God and others. Then start showing up during the week – come to Family Night Supper, our Christmas Music Program, and Worship on the Longest Night. Find someone to read our Advent devotional with you. Sign up to serve in the community. Or simply make space for silence in a busy season. Watch and wait for Jesus because, as John’s Gospel reminds us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Thanks be to God!

With you in Christ,
Blake

Advent 2022

Sunday, November 27 marks the beginning of the season of Advent, a time of watching and waiting for the coming of Jesus. We invite you to prepare for “the Promised One” as we move through this season together!

In-person worship services take place in the sanctuary at 11:00am on Sundays. We will continue live-streaming for those who prefer to worship from home via our YouTube page. Here are the upcoming Scripture readings:

• 11/27 - Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44 (1st Sunday of Advent)

• 12/04 - Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12 (2nd Sunday of Advent)

• 12/11 - Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11 (3rd Sunday of Advent)

• 12/18 - Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25 (4th Sunday of Advent)

• 12/24 - Isaiah 62:6-12; Luke 2:1-20 (Christmas Eve)

• 12/25 - Isaiah 52:7-10; John 1:1-14 (Christmas Day)

Need a guide through the season of Advent? We recommend The Promised One, a collection of devotions published by Christianity Today. We will have copies of this devotional available at the church (suggested donation: $10), or you can purchase an online copy here.

Our Christmas Music Program will take place on Dec. 11 at 6pm in the Sanctuary. Members of both our adult and children’s choirs will perform Advent and Christmas music for all to enjoy! We hope to see you there.

We are hosting a service of Worship on the Longest Night on Dec. 14 at 6:00pm in the Sanctuary. This will be a simple, contemplative service of wholeness and healing in which we share our grief, name our struggles, and claim the promises of God to make all things new.

We will also be having a Candlelight Service of Worship on Christmas Eve. We will gather on Dec. 24 at 6:00pm in the FPC Sanctuary, and a reception will follow in our Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome, of any age, from our congregation and community!

Advent 2021

You’re invited!

This Sunday marks the beginning of the season of Advent, a time of watching and waiting for the coming of Jesus. We invite you to “prepare the way of the Lord” as we move through this season together.

In-person worship services take place in the sanctuary at 11:00am on Sundays. Masks are required for worship and other gatherings, and we encourage you to socially-distance. We will continue live-streaming for those who prefer to worship from home via our YouTube page.

Please see the information below about upcoming events, and join us if you can!

Need a guide through the season of Advent? We recommend God is in the Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is a powerful daily devotional based on Bonhoeffer's writings. We will have copies available at the church (suggested donation: $10) or you can order your own through City Lights Bookstore or elswhere!

Join us for a Service of Worship on the Longest Night on Dec. 15 at 6:30pm in the Sanctuary. The holidays are not always "merry and bright.” Let's walk through the darkness together and renew our hope in Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

We will also be having an Outdoor Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve. We will gather on Dec. 24 at 5:00pm at the Phillips home across the church parking lot. Please bundle up and bring a folding chair if you'd like to sit (the service won’t be too long, so you are welcome to stand). Masks are optional, and candles and light refreshments will be provided. In the event of inclement weather, we will move the service into the Sanctuary. We will notify the congregation of any changes by noon on Christmas Eve.

Finally, we invite you to give to one or more of the following needs for Advent and Christmas as you are able:

• First Presbyterian Church - attn: Cornerstone Campaign

• First Presbyterian Church - attn: General Fund

• Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth, & Families

Thank you!

Pastor's Letter

“Ready or not, here I come!”

How many of us used to say this when we played hide-and-seek as kids?  How many of our children or grandchildren still say this?  I know my boys do as they play in our yard, with two of them hiding behind bushes while the third one is “it.” 

I like to imagine Jesus saying the same thing before that first Christmas so many years ago.  The weary world had heard Isaiah’s call to preparation: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”  They had heard John the Baptist say the same thing on the banks of the Jordan River.  Then the Lord came in a way no one expected. 

I love the way Sally Lloyd-Jones puts it in The Jesus Storybook Bible:

“God was coming to help his people, just as he promised in the beginning.  But how would come?  What would he do?  What would he be like?  The earth held its breath.  As silent as snow falling, he came in.  And when no one was looking, in the darkness, he came.”

Ready or not, the long-awaited Messiah was born.  Jesus grew into a man who healed the sick, confronted the arrogant, and revealed the Kingdom.  He went to the cross to atone for our sins.  He rose from the grave to claim victory over death.  And now he reigns in heaven and promises to come again to make all things new.  

When you think about it, this teaches us a profound theological and spiritual truth regarding who’s really in charge.  God doesn’t wait upon us in order to act; he invites us to wait upon him.  God doesn’t look to us to set the world’s agenda; we look to him.  I think about it in terms of family dinner at the Daniel household: Erin and I prepare food and set the table each night, and we invite our boys to come and enjoy it.  In this, they learn how to be truly ready.  It’s not about control.  It’s about receptivity. 

And this is a lesson we’ve been learning all year long, isn’t it?  In this year of uncertainty, God has been teaching us a daily dependence on his grace.  It’s a lesson that we especially need to remember during Advent.  God invites us to be ready.  Not in a frantic and fretful way, trying to earn his blessing or his salvation – that’s already been given!  But in a curious, childlike way.  Such readiness looks like worship and daily attentiveness to the Word of God through prayer and Scripture reading.  It looks like service to our family members, friends, neighbors, and even our enemies.  It looks like reflecting on the four themes of our Advent wreath – hope, peace, joy, and love – and making them a part of our daily lives. 

Let’s live ready, not busy, friends – waiting in eager expectation for the Lord who is sure to surprise us.

Yours,
Blake 

Advent 2020

Advent greetings to you! We invite you to "live ready, not busy" as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. You can access our Advent Devotional by clicking here. Please see the information below about upcoming events in the life of the church, and join us if you can!

Join us for a Service of Worship on the Longest Night on Dec. 16 at 6:00pm. We will meet in our church Fellowship Hall (please wear a mask and bring a chair), with live-streaming available for those who prefer to worship from home. The holidays are not always "merry and bright," especially this year. Let's walk through the darkness together and renew our hope in Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

We invite you to an Outdoor Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve We will gather on Dec. 24 at 5:30pm at the Phillips home across the church parking lot. Please bundle up, wear a mask, and bring a folding chair if you'd like to sit (the service will not be too long, so you are welcome to stand). Candles and cookies will be provided.

We invite you to give to one or more of the following needs for Advent and Christmas:

• First Presbyterian Church - Cornerstone Campaign

• First Presbyterian Church - General Fund

• Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth, & Families

How to Make Your Gift:

Please send your contribution to the church (attn: Advent Gifts) and include whether or not you would like to give in memory or in honor of someone. (Click here for the contribution form.) The names of those memorialized/honored and the names of the donors will be noted in the Christmas Eve worship bulletin and the January newsletter. You may also offer a donation for our annual staff Christmas gift.

Thank you!

Advent Devotional - Writers Needed!

Dear church family and friends,

It's hard to believe, but Advent begins November 29! To celebrate the season this year, we are creating our own Advent Devotional booklet for First Presbyterian Church. And we need your help!

Would you be willing to write a brief Advent reflection to go in this booklet?

Our hope is to have one entry for each day in the Advent season - 27 entries total - with different church members contributing entries to capture the meaning and impact of different "scenes" from the Christmas story.

CLICK HERE to access a Google document listing these scenes and their corresponding Scripture passages, and please sign your name in the column next to an available passage.

As you consider writing, please keep these thoughts in mind:

• Due to space limitations, devotionals should be 350 words or less.

• Please include a brief opening or closing prayer.

• Feel free to be creative in your writing! You can include a poem of your own or another's, a piece of visual art, a first-person narrative, etc.

• Keep the audience in mind. Remember that this devotional is for the entire church family. Please write simply in a way that engages our children AND adults.

• Feel free to focus on just one aspect of your scene, trusting that other important aspects in the story will come out through the devotions of others.

• In order for us to distribute the devotional in time for the beginning of Advent on November 29, we need to receive your devotional by Friday, November 20. (You can send it to Emily.)

Please let us know if you will be able to participate by signing up on the Google doc! If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact Emily in the church office. I think the final product will be a wonderful gift for our church family in this different and difficult Advent season.

Advent 2019

Another season of Advent begins this Sunday! What does that mean?

“Advent” means “coming” or “arrival.” During the season of Advent, we celebrate Christ’s coming into the world and watch with expectant hope for his coming again. In its historical origins, the season of Advent was patterned after the season of Lent, a six-week period of penitence and preparation for Easter. Similarly, the four weeks of Advent present an opportunity for communal discernment and personal examination, as the church prepares to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord and looks with hope for Christ’s return. (Read more here.)

At First Presbyterian Church we celebrate Advent for four weeks, from the beginning of December up through Christmas Eve. We light candles, sing hymns, hear Scripture passages, and join with ancient Israel in waiting upon the Lord. Come join us!

Advent Activities

• Luminaries in Downtown Sylva - Nov. 29 & 30 at 5:00pm

• Church Decorating - Nov. 30 at 9:00am

• Children's Christmas Play - Dec. 8 at 5:00pm

• Christmas Caroling - Dec. 14 at 2:00pm

• Worship on the Longest Night - Dec. 18 at 6:00pm

• Christmas Eve Worship - Dec. 24 at 6:00pm

Advent Scripture Readings

• Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44 

• Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12

• Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11             

• Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25         

Please call the church office (828-586-4256) if you have any questions. We hope you have a blessed Advent and a very Merry Christmas!

Worship on the Longest Night

First Presbyterian Church will be hosting "Worship on the Longest Night: A Service of Wholeness & Healing" on Wednesday night, Dec. 19, at 6:00pm in the sanctuary. This is a simple, prayerful service for those who struggle during the holidays. Are are welcome to attend.

Ready for Silence
Then hear now the silence
He comes in the silence
in silence he enters
the womb of the bearer
in silence he goes to
the realm of the shadows
redeeming and shriving
in silence he moves from
the grave cloths, the dark tomb
in silence he rises
ascends to the glory
leaving his promise
leaving his comfort
leaving his silence

So come now, Lord Jesus
Come in your silence
breaking our noising
laughter of panic
breaking this earth’s time
breaking us breaking us
quickly Lord Jesus
make no long tarrying
When will you come
and how will you come
and will we be ready
for silence
your silence

Madeleine L’Engle

Happy Advent!

December is here, which means Advent is upon us and Christmas is right around the corner.  Notice how I phrased that – Advent is here, and Christmas is not here yet.  Every year I need this reminder, don’t you?  It seems like our culture pushes Christmas on us earlier and earlier, from We Wish You A Merry Christmas playing on the radio to Santa Claus showing up over Thanksgiving dinner.  Call me a Scrooge, but I’m not ready yet.  I don’t think we’re ready yet.  I think the church knows what it’s doing when it sets aside four whole weeks to watch and wait for the coming of Baby Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem.

This is certainly what the Bible encourages us to do – to watch and wait for the coming of the Lord.  Indeed, the whole Old Testament can be read as a prologue to Jesus, setting the stage for Israel’s Messiah.  Even the New Testament doesn’t begin with Jesus’ birth, but with expectation.  Luke’s Gospel, which I’ll be preaching through all winter, starts with angel visits and John the Baptist and Mary and Joseph.  The point is, Christmas is not here yet.  We have to wait.

I think this is what Henri Nouwen had in mind when he wrote those words: “Life is Advent.  Life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.”  Nouwen knew that to be a Christian is to wait upon the Lord.  The Lord doesn’t wait on us; we wait on him, watching for his hand at work, listening for his still, small voice with patient yet eager expectation.  I wait for the Lord, Psalm 130 tells us.  My soul waits, and in his Word do I put my hope.  

I wonder: How do you wait for the coming of the Lord?  With eagerness?  Giddy anticipation?  Impatience?  Indifference?  Waiting is hard, isn’t it?  It’s one of the hardest things we must do, at any point in life.  Whether you’re a child on Christmas Eve or an adult at the DMV, we all find ourselves chomping at the bit for what’s next.  Why is that?  I tend to think it’s because when we wait, we are not in control – and lack of control is a scary thing.  Waiting forces us to be on someone else’s timetable, in someone else’s care, under someone else’s watch. 

This Advent, as we count down the days to the birthday of our Savior, and as we look forward to his coming again, I invite you to wait.  As you do, trust that waiting time is not wasted time.  For in the midst of waiting, we prepare.  We prepare our homes through decorations, food, candles, and calendars; and we prepare our hearts through prayer, contemplation, worship, and fellowship.  We wait and prepare, so that when the Lord Jesus arrives on Christmas, in his humility and in his glory, we will be ready.

Yours in Advent hope,

Blake

Keeping Time Like a Christian

This coming Sunday (Dec. 3) marks the end of "ordinary time" and the beginning of "Advent."  What in the world does that mean?

For centuries, the church (meaning the whole church, Christians everywhere) has kept time in a unique and particular way.  We Christians have our own calendar, distinct from the Roman calendar used throughout Western civilization.  This Christian or "liturgical" calendar reminds us of our identity as God's family and attunes us to the rhythms of God's salvation story. 

Here is how Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove explain it:

“If we in church are going to take our citizenship in heaven seriously, we must reshape our minds by marking our calendars differently.  We must remember the holidays of the biblical narrative rather than the festivals of the Caesars, and celebrate feast days to remember saints rather than war heroes and presidents.  Our inception as a church was on Pentecost, not on July 4... The point is to keep God’s story at the center of our lives and calendar.  And it is through the lens of Jesus that we read history and interpret whether an event is good or bad... When we look at the Christian calendar, we are reminded that we are in the world but not of it.  We are citizens of the kingdom that transcends time, but we sojourn on a time-bound earth.  Without liturgical time, we can easily forget our eternal identity.  We can get lost in the hustle and bustle of business and efficiency that shapes our culture and society.  Likewise, without the cosmic calendar, we can become so heaven-bound that we ignore the hells of the world around us.  And the glorious goal we are headed toward is not just going up when we die but bringing God’s kingdom down - on earth as it is in heaven.”

— Common Prayer

As a pastor, I don't consider myself a high-church traditionalist (for example, I don't regularly wear a robe and colored stoles and preach through the Revised Common Lectionary).  But I do believe deeply in the church calendar as a tool that that grounds us in the truth of the Gospel and unites us to all Christians everywhere.  I very much agree with what Lauren Winner writes:

“I want the Christian story to shape everything I do, even how I reckon time. I want it to be truer and more essential to me than school’s calendar, or Hallmark’s calendar, or the calendar set by the IRS. I want the rhythms of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost to be more basic to my life than the days on which my quarterly estimated taxes are due.”

— Living the Christian Year

So you will notice the church calendar being referenced this time of year at First Presbyterian Church.  The songs and anthems will all reflect the Advent season (and notice, it's not the Christmas season - that comes on Dec. 25!).  The banner and parament colors will change to purple as a reminder of the royal birth of King Jesus.  The Advent wreath will be lit each week as a reminder of the light Christ brings.  I will be preaching through the assigned lectionary Bible texts to help us remember Israel's hope for the long-awaited Messiah.  None of this is for the sake of rote traditionalism.  We don't do it because it's what we have to do to be good Christians.  Rather, we do it for the sake of a lived faith, learning from those who have gone before us so that we might worship the Lord with gladness today.  I hope you'll join us during this beautiful time in the life of the church, so that all of us may be shaped by the Spirit in rhythms of grace.

- Blake

P.S. - Looking for more resources on this topic?  Check these out:

• Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year
• Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
• Bobby Gross, Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God
• The Calvin Institute for Christian Worship, especially their resource The Worship Sourcebook (edited by John Witvliet)
• What in the World is Worship?, a document I put together to explain our services at FPC