Engaging Advent

ENGAGING

ADVENT

Dear CPC family,

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t’s so fun to imagine what God might do in your life this Christmas season. Known in the rhythms of the church year as “Advent,” the term reminds us this season is really about Jesus entering into our broken world to gift us with the new life we could never acquire on our own. Yet, a season that we see coming with visions of family and celebration ends up a rush of busyness, anxiety, and vapidity. When you’re standing on the other side of the season, we want you to feel content and not just satiated, peaceful and not at your wits end, joyfilled and not worn out.

In short, we want you to feel full. Full of what God wants for you rather than full of the promises of this world related to stuff and meaningless pleasure. Full of what God has done for you rather than disappointed by what others have done or left undone. To that end, we’re excited to preach through the possibilities of letting God fill our Christmas’ with His good gifts, and we’re excited for this guide you’re holding. Because we believe what happens on Sunday is meant to impact the rest of your lives, this guide is filled with opportunities to experience the fullness of Christmas beyond weekend worship. We have days that will guide you to read Scripture and encourage you to reflect on our advent sermon series intentionally. There will also be ways for you to practice your faith alone and with others, embrace the fun of Christmas and engage in different opportunities at CPC. May this season be exactly what you need, and Merry Christmas!

Petey Crowder, Senior Pastor

DECEMBER 3 Every Sunday of Advent, we light an advent candle in our worship services. We encourage you to take a few quiet moments to light a candle and re-read the liturgy from today’s Sunday services, as a way of re-focusing your heart towards the fullness of Christ.

THE LIGHTING of the ADVENT CANDLE

[WONDER] LEADER: As we gather, united by the Holy Spirit, we remember you, Jesus–the Savior of the world. You are the King above all kings, the Light that overcomes the darkness, the hope of the world.

UNISON: Jesus, fill our hearts with wonder as we worship You today.

LEADER: We focus our attention on You and ask that the Holy Spirit fill us with wonder and awe. Help us to stand in reverence before You, Jesus. Help us to see Your majesty and Your sovereignty.

UNISON: Jesus, we stand in awe of You. We give You our whole selves today.

LEADER: You bring light into the darkest parts of our world, purposefully unite our communities and our homes, and powerfully break addictions and strongholds in our lives. We are amazed by Your power, Your grace, and Your love for us, Jesus.

UNISON: Jesus, we love You and worship You now and always.

Amen

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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST PUT TOGETHER BY CPC STAFF FOCUSED ON WONDER.

DECEMBER 4 BIBLE READING PLAN

Isaiah 9:6

DECEMBER 5 The holidays can bring with it many emotions. From joy to grief and everything in between. Whatever you are feeling, we invite you to pray this prayer today, to trust God with your feelings today and everyday.

Abba Father, In our world filled with chaos and uncertainty I can be certain that, in Christ, You hold all things together. You know the end from the beginning. You are the first and You are the last. Your presence is with me. Your wisdom goes before me. Your strength holds me. The life of Christ is my source of life. I can trust You. In Your sovereign love, You take the bad and use it to make us good. Even creation itself will be made new in Your sovereign hands. Even when we cannot understand and ambiguity clouds our vision, we know, Abba, by the Spirit’s power, You bring all things together in Christ. I trust You. God, do you hear me? Derwin Gray, pg 45

In Jesus’ Name, AMEN

JOIN US THIS EVENING AT 7:00PM FOR OUR CANDLELIGHT MEMORIAL SERVICE

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DECEMBER 6

CPC 2023 CHRISTMAS OFFERING

ARRIVE MINISTRIES WELCOME HOME FUND Arrive Ministries is a refugee resettlement agency providing essential services and practical assistance to newly arriving refugees in partnership with local churches to extend love and friendship for the sake of mutual transformation. Arrive anticipates resettling 500 refugees in 2024, and one of the first, most critical needs is for safe, stable housing. Arrive’s Welcome Home Fund will directly support their goal of securing at least 100 homes for new arrivals, going toward furnishing and refurbishing homes, security deposits, emergency housing assistance, and maintaining a donation room.

Together, we can express God’s heart of compassion for displaced people and bear witness to His sacrificial love for all.

Begin to pray about your participation and partnership with Arrive.

Future days of Advent will continue to help you learn more.

cpcedina.org/give

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DECEMBER 7

Experience the WONDER of Christmas in the simple things.

Fill up the car and head out to go see Christmas lights!

Some fun places to see lights: GLOW Holiday Festival Winter Lights at the Arboretum Your own neighborhood!

DECEMBER 8 WONDER REFLECTION Take 5 minutes and reflect on what would make this advent season fulfilling.

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DECEMBER 9

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READ THE CHRISTMAS STORY - LUKE 2:1-21

n those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST HEAVEN, AND ON EARTH PEACE TO THOSE ON WHOM HIS FAVOR RESTS.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

If you don’t have a Bible or are looking for a kid’s Bible, check out Pathway Bookstore.

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DECEMBER 10 Every Sunday of Advent we light an advent candle in our worship services. We encourage you to take a few quiet moments to light a candle and re-read the liturgy from today’s Sunday services, as a way of re-focusing your heart towards the fullness of Christ.

THE LIGHTING of the ADVENT CANDLE

[CONTENTMENT] LEADER: O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

UNISON: We wait with anticipation and hope for the fullness of life that You offer to us in this season.

LEADER: Hear the words of the Apostle Paul: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all this through Him whogives me strength.”

UNISON: Today we light a candle to remind us to embrace giving, and offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God, for that is true worship.

LEADER: Please pray with me…Dear God, help us to store up our treasures in heaven that we may receive all that You have to give as we become more like Jesus. Make us ready to live into the fullness of this Christmas. We pray in the name of Jesus, the humble Servant…Amen.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST PUT TOGETHER BY CPC STAFF FOCUSED ON CONTENTMENT.

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DECEMBER 11 BIBLE READING PLAN

Matthew 6:24-33

WELCOME HOME

DONATION DRIVE

DECEMBER 12

Go shopping for our Welcome Home Donation Drive!

Each time a new family gets resettled, Arrive loads up a van with items to furnish their new home.

At CPC, we’re collecting the following items for Arrive during Advent: • Twin and Full Size Sheet Sets • Car Seats of any size/type (Small Groups: consider purchasing one together!)

• Kitchen Knife Sets •“ Going to Bed” Kits: a kid’s toothbrush, toothpaste, bar of soap, and washcloth in a gallon Ziploc bag (Families with kids, this could be fun to do together!)

Drop off at CPC through December 31.

All items must be new and unused.

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DECEMBER 13

READ THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Matthew 1:18-2:12 DECEMBER 14 CONTENTMENT REFLECTION Make some hot chocolate and take a few minutes to make a GRATITUDE list!

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DECEMBER 15

JOIN US FOR

MISSION SPOTLIGHT: ARRIVE MINISTRIES

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17 AT 10:00AM What is the current need for refugee resettlement in the US? Why are there more documented displaced people in the world today than ever before? Why should the Church care and how does Arrive Ministries’ work play a role in our community?

Join the Missions Team on Sunday, December 17 during Community@10 in Fellowship Hall to learn more about the work of Arrive Ministries’ and ways you can get involved in supporting new neighbors. Kids Care is provided.

READ ISAIAH 6:9 (NIV)

DECEMBER 16

“FOR TO US A CHILD IS BORN, TO US A SON IS GIVEN, AND THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE ON HIS SHOULDERS. AND HE WILL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE.” READ THE VERSE AGAIN. What word or phrase stands out to you?

Pray silently asking God to speak through His word to you.

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READ THE VERSE A THIRD TIME. Consider writing the word, phrase or whole verse on a notecard and taking it with you throughout your day.

DECEMBER 17 Every Sunday of Advent we light an advent candle in our worship services. We encourage you to take a few quiet moments to light a candle and re-read the liturgy from today’s Sunday services, as a way of re-focusing your heart towards the fullness of Christ.

THE LIGHTING of the ADVENT CANDLE

[JOY] LEADER: As we gather, united by the Holy Spirit, we remember You, Jesus—the Savior of the world. You are the King above all kings, the Light that overcomes the darkness, the hope of the world.

UNISON: Jesus, You are the true source of Joy. LEADER: We worship so many other things, besides You, Jesus.

We try to obtain joy through material things, experiences, and other people. They all fall short eventually—showing us that nothing here on earth can sustain us or strengthen us. It’s only You who can. We rest in You joyfully, our Savior and friend.

UNISON: Jesus, You are the home in which we rest.

Be our true joy and freedom today.

LEADER: Let Joy overflow in us, Jesus. Give us an abundance of Joy so that our lives may be beacons of hope in our world—that Joy would run deep in our souls.

UNISON: Jesus, we worship You and You alone.

Be our Joy today as we draw closer to You. Amen.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST PUT TOGETHER BY CPC STAFF FOCUSED ON JOY.

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DECEMBER 18 BIBLE READING PLAN

Luke 2:8-14

DECEMBER 19

DECEMBER 20 JOIN US FOR

MAS T S I R H C ST! PLAYLI

KIDS CHRISTMAS! Kids have a way of uniquely spreading joy during the Christmas season.

All ages are welcome.

6:00PM at CPC.

CLICK

cpcedina.org/christmas 11

HERE

DECEMBER 21

This Advent season we’re learning more about the work of our mission partner, Arrive Ministries. As we seek to build relationships and serve with people who are resettling here in the US we stop to consider what the Scripture teaches us about displaced people.

What does Scripture teach us about displaced people?

READ LEVITICUS 19:33-34, MATTHEW 2:13-18, AND MATTHEW 25:31-40.

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hroughout Scripture, we are told repeatedly that God loves and cares for the foreigners and forcibly displaced. In the Old Testament, Israel is to take special care of those most on the margins, including orphans, widows, and foreigners—all groups of people who lacked the networks and social protection that would ensure their well-being. The reason God’s people are called to care for this “trio of the vulnerable” as Walter Brueggemann puts it, is because they themselves have experienced God’s care and welcome toward them when they were foreign slaves in the land of Egypt and delivered into a new homeland. Their own experience of God’s care and welcome is the logic that drives Israel’s care and welcome of others.

Then, in Matthew 2:13-18, we learn that Jesus Himself, along with his family, are forcibly displaced when the murderous King Herod, after learning of the birth of a rival “king” Jesus, authorizes the horrific slaughter of all boys in Bethlehem under two years old. In an act of radical identification with the vulnerable, God in Jesus Christ, becomes a refugee. The Lord of all Creation, the One who welcomes outsiders, becomes Himself an outsider, inhabiting one of the most fragile conditions of human existence. This opening note of humility, vulnerability, and fragility in the life of Jesus is the signal that this is a very different kind of King—one who will redeem His people through sharing in their sufferings, entering into the worst of human experience in order to remake it from the inside out. Later on in Matthew, Jesus will say that when we welcome the stranger, we welcome him: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in.” (Matthew 25:35)

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DECEMBER 22

Lord, Help me to walk in Your ways today, to put my faith in You. Open my eyes to see Your hand at work in the simple parts of my life. Be the source of my joy and the source of my delight.

AMEN “Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience.”

Eugene Peterson Perseverance: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

DECEMBER 23 JOY REFLECTION: Spread JOY by baking (or buying) Christmas cookies and sharing them with a neighbor or co-worker!

Invite someone to join you for Christmas services.

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DECEMBER 24 Every Sunday of Advent we light an advent candle in our worship services. We encourage you to take a few quiet moments to light a candle and re-read the liturgy from today’s Sunday services, as a way of re-focusing your heart towards the fullness of Christ.

THE LIGHTING of the ADVENT CANDLE

[PRESENCE] LEADER: O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

UNISON: We wait with anticipation and hope for the fullness of life that You offer to us in this season.

LEADER: Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel—God with us.”

UNISON: Today we light a candle to remind us that heaven has come to earth through God’s power and God’s purpose, to fulfill God’s promise, and make known God’s presence among us.

LEADER: Please pray with me…Dear God, as we celebrate Your light shining into our darkness, may Your Spirit’s presence open our hearts that we may have life in You, the Word made flesh.

Make us ready to live into the fullness of this Christmas.

We pray in the name of Jesus, the Light of the world. …Amen.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST PUT TOGETHER BY CPC STAFF FOCUSED ON PRESENCE.

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DECEMBER 25

READ THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Luke 2:1-21 Head back to December 9 (page 5) for the full text!

DECEMBER 26 PRESENCE REFLECTION Where have you sensed God’s presence this Christmas season?

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DECEMBER 27 BIBLE READING PLAN

John 1:1-14

DECEMBER 28 As you eat a meal in your home or with others today, consider praying this prayer for refugees from the Church of England: Almighty and merciful God, whose Son became a refugee and had no place to call his own; look with mercy on those who today are fleeing from danger, homeless and hungry.

Bless those who work to bring them relief; inspire generosity and compassion in all our hearts; and guide the nations of the world towards that day when all will rejoice in your Kingdom of justice and of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN 16

DECEMBER 29 Participate in an outdoor activity you can do with the people you care about. Consider sledding, ice skating, building a snowman, or going for a walk!

Something simple that allows you to be present with the people in your life and aware of God’s PRESENCE with you.

READ MATTHEW 1:21-23 (NIV)

DECEMBER 30

SHE WILL GIVE BIRTH TO A SON, AND YOU ARE TO GIVE HIM THE NAME JESUS, BECAUSE HE WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.” 21

ALL THIS TOOK PLACE TO FULFILL WHAT THE LORD HAD SAID THROUGH THE PROPHET: 23 “THE VIRGIN WILL CONCEIVE AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON, AND THEY WILL CALL HIM IMMANUEL” (WHICH MEANS “GOD WITH US”).

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READ THE VERSE AGAIN. What word or phrase stands out to you?

Pray silently asking God to speak through His word to you.

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READ THE VERSE A THIRD TIME. Consider writing the word, phrase or whole verse on a notecard and taking it with you throughout your day.

DECEMBER 31 Every Sunday of Advent we light an advent candle in our worship services. We encourage you to take a few quiet moments to light a candle and re-read the liturgy from today’s Sunday services, as a way of re-focusing your heart towards the fullness of Christ.

THE LIGHTING of the ADVENT CANDLE

[GOOD NEWS] LEADER: O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

UNISON: We give grateful thanks for the fullness of life that You offer to us each day.

LEADER: Hear the words of the Apostle John, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.”

UNISON: Today we light our candles to remind us that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, giving His life as a ransom for us.

LEADER: Please pray with me…Dear God, as we move into a New Year,help us learn how to serve one another with love and humility, as You have done for us. Make us ready to live into the fullness of life that You have for us now and forevermore.

We pray in the name of Jesus, the Servant King…Amen.

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January 1 BIBLE READING PLAN

Philippians 2:1-11

New Sermon Series on the Lord’s Prayer starts January 7

January 7 • 12:00PM Arrive Ministries Volunteer Interest Meeting in Westview

CHRISTMAS at CPC 12/20 • 6:00PM KIDS CH R I S T M AS 12/24 • 9:00AM TR A DITI O NAL* 12/24 • 11:00AM CON TE M P O R AR Y * 12/24 • 3:00PM CON TE M P O R AR Y * 12/24 • 5:00PM TR A DITI O NAL* 12/24 • 10:00PM L ATE NIGH T CO NT EM P O R AR Y *Kids’ Programming (Birth - 2 yrs)

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6901 Normandale Road • Edina, MN 55435

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