All are welcome for the Sundays of Advent, 10:00 AM at VCRC!
November 30 – A Shoot from a Stump: A Sign of HOPE.
December 7 – From Repentance to Growth: PEACE.
December 14 – Wilderness of Despair to Flourishing of JOY.
December 21 – The Loving Gardener: LOVE.
A Year of Grounded and Growing
A flourishing faith is one that is both deeply rooted and reaching outward—grounded in scripture and growing in understanding. Colossians 2:6–7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (NIV). Throughout the year, we will dwell in this theme of grounded and growing, starting in Advent when we see the shoot from the stump, a promise of future flourishing. We will make our way to Lent, during which time we remember that the tree burns and becomes ashes; it is cut down, and yet it lives and comes alive again on Easter. And finally, we will make our way to the season of Pentecost at which point we will see a tree laden with fruit of the Spirit—the abundant harvest of a flourishing faith. Jeremiah 17:7–8 says, “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (NIV). We invite you this year to send out your roots and flourish: join us for a year of “grounded and growing”.
About the Advent and Christmas Series
In Advent, we start with the promise of a shoot in Isaiah and arrive on Christmas with the gift of the long-awaited seed. For out of darkness a light shines. From a dead stump a shoot grows. (Joyce Borger, Reformed Worship)
