More than most any other, this time of year tends to be strongly tied to familial stories and memories. The Advent season often evokes the wonder and nostalgia of family gatherings past, but for many of us, family now isn’t what family always has been, as loss and messiness can pervade.
Thankfully, at this time of year, we are also called to remember and tell the story of a similarly messy family—a genealogy of sinners that led to a lowly birth in a dirty manger. And God used such a family to bring about the Savior of the world.
We are called not only to remember this historically messy and miraculous family but also to be a part of a messy and miraculous family in the here-and-now: the family of God that is the Church.
This book is full of family-favorite traditions, recipes, memories, hymns, and drawings, all from members of our South Main family. During this Advent season, we encourage you to use this book as a reminder of the family that is all around us, living fully into the words that we will sing at the end of our worship services this month:
Once upon a family,
Messy and so lowly,
Came a child to be our King,
Glorious and holy.
Now the fam’ly’s all around.
We are called together.
Broken, mended, lost, and found,
Loving one another.
Thank You
Thank you to the Discipleship Committee for gifting our church family with this Advent book to guide our journey through Advent and deepen our celebration of Jesus’ birth.
