O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Desire of nations, bind all people in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife, and discord cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
The Advent and Christmas carols are arguably those hymns that we hold nearest and dearest to our hearts. They are certainly the most familiar Christians songs in the secular world. We not only miss being physically together in our sanctuary for worship, but we also miss lifting our voices aloud, singing these wonderful, cheerful Christmas carols. Our Worship and Arts Commission is brainstorming ways we can sing “together” virtually. There are few easy solutions, but we are confident that we’ll find a way. In the meantime, I encourage you all to take a few minutes each day or at least each week to sing a few carols. The Advent wreath you received also included a small worship pamphlet that included some carols. As you birth more joy into the world through the power of singing, I pray that God’s peace and hope will fill your hearts.
Happy Advent,
Jesse
UPDATES
This coming Sunday, the 2nd Sunday of Advent, December 6, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together at both our Facebook Live service as well as our Zoom service afterward. Please have some wine/juice on hand and some bread so that we may commune together. As always, all are welcome to join us for our Facebook Live worship service at 10:20 a.m. on Sundays. Invite your friends to join us!
Then, immediately following this service, all are invited to our Zoom worship service which begins around 11:10 a.m. You can find the link to this service, as well as two our other Zoom meetings (Tuesday Bible studies and Wednesday check-ins‚ both beginning at 11 a.m.) here.
Just a friendly reminder that Bethany’s Budget and Stewardship Commission volunteers are still eagerly awaiting your pledges for 2021 for the Stewardship drive. Please send them into Bethany’s main office as soon as possible so they can begin putting together our budget for 2021 (5625 24th St., Sacramento, CA 95822). Thank you!
Calling everyone with smart phones and tablets … Bethany’s Worship & Arts Commission is looking for your video(s) and photo(s) for inclusion in an our upcoming “pre-recorded” Christmas Eve service. Perhaps you might want to send wishes of peace and joy in front of your Christmas tree. You might also consider signing up to read a scripture passage from your front porch. It can be as simple as snapping a selfie or quick video snippet and sending it in. You can e-mail or text pictures/videos to (916) 832-3373; cathsap@yahoo.com. Be sure to say who is in the picture and give us your name when you send it! Contact Jim Guida if you have questions.
You can also share fun videos on our webpage. Check out what others are up to! If you have a bunch of pictures, we can edit them into a mini slide show/video to share on the website. Bethany folks are finding interesting ways to use their days of relative isolation during the COVID=19 pandemic and quarantine. Perhaps you have been doing arts and crafts … writing or composing … exploring family history … reminiscing about (or even “safely social-distanced” travel to) favorite places. Sharing your ideas and projects can help inspire and reassure others during these uncertain times. We’ve started a new gallery to help you express yourself. You can send in videos and photos for us to post. You are also invited to share photos, videos, poems, music, etc., at the Sunday morning Zoom worship services. Here is the link for this special page of our website. Here is a link to some instructions for how to send the videos to Cathy Sapunor.
Finally, we finished our third session of our book discussion of Ibram X. Kendi’s, “How to be an Antiracist” this past Tuesday. We continue to have very heartfelt discussion, and we continue to welcome newcomers each session. Our next session is on Tuesday, December 15 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. If you would like to join us, please contact Donna Tabaie and she’ll be in touch with further information. Contact the church office to get in touch with her.
