Mission Moment 1.4.23

Anna Anderson

CBF Field Personnel in Rocky Mount, NC

I recently attended CBF of North Carolina’s Annual Gathering. We had not been able to meet in person for the previous two years and this was a particularly special and wonderful time to gather again. The theme for this meeting was “The God Who Sees.” It was based on the story of Hagar, and how God came to her and how she actually named God, “you are the God who sees me.” The theme wove through sermons and workshops and stories about how God sees those who are often unseen, forgotten, outcast, ignored. We were invited to consider how God sees those with whom we regularly come in contact. This gathering moved me greatly as I began to think about how God sees me. 

We recently had an experience in which someone involved in an important local ministry to alleviate poverty came to speak with us. She said, “Something just told me that I needed to come and talk to LaCount and Anna.” 

She wanted to discuss with us an idea that would be mutually beneficial to our work and to hers and, more importantly, beneficial to people who are experiencing poverty in the community where we work. She felt that God had directed her toward us specifically. At the same time, I had been pondering our relationship with this organization. I felt like we had not been able to get the best information about their projects, or how we could collaborate. I finally realized that it didn’t matter: God had seen her. God had seen us. God had known this opportunity would be awesome. God saw all of it. 

I want to recognize every day how God is guiding, directing, moving in myself and those around me. When I don’t see it or recognize it, when I don’t acknowledge it, or when I can’t even stop long enough to be aware, it is happening, God is seeing. 

Thanks be to God for seeing me, for seeing you, for seeing all of us.

Pray...Give...Go.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Begin your family’s Christmas celebration with the story of Christ’s birth! Join us on December 24th for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Come early at 5:00 PM to light a candle in the windows in memory of a loved one and to hear Christmas music before the service. Then, beginning at 5:30 PM, our family-friendly service will capture the wonder of Christmas with familiar carols, the retelling of the Christmas story, and the glow of candlelight. Afterward, gather your family in front of our beautifully decorated Christmas tree for a classic holiday photo. Don’t miss this opportunity to create lifelong memories with your entire family!

Hurray for Our Nursery Workers of the Week!

Thank you to Autumn Burnes, who is on break from Appalachian State University, for serving in the nursery on December 18. We're glad to have you home for a few days, Autumn!

There is still room on the schedule to serve “the least of these”
on Sunday mornings.  It is a blessing to see their smiles and enthusiasm as you spend
time with our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. 
Please contact Cheryl Beck (cabeck@ncsu.edu) if you would like to help.

Christmas Week Schedule

  • Christmas Eve Service on December 25 at 5:30 PM

  • Sunday Morning Worship on December 25 at 10:30 AM (No Sunday School)

  • Office Hours for the week of Christmas: Wednesday, December 28 & Thursday, December 29, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM

  • Sunday Morning Worship on January 1 at 10:30 AM (No Sunday School)

  • The Church Office will be closed on Monday, January 2, 2023

  • Our next edition of the Chimes will be on Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The Lessons of Candlelight

 

“What has come into being in the Word was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
did not overcome it.”
 
John 1:3-5

Jesus to us: “You are the light of the world.” 
Matthew 5:14

When I was a child, I thought the Candlelight Christmas Eve Service was magical.

I still believe that it is. 

There's something deeply evocative about candlelight. No artificially made light can compare to a single flame's illumination. The flickering tongue pierces the darkness and casts long shadows with a breath of heat. 

The power of a flame, however, is equaled by its fragility. It doesn't take much for a flame to go out. An opened door, a drafty window, a poorly trimmed wick, and the flame will die. 

We are reminded of these realities when the lights are dimmed to match the deepening darkness outside, and we await the light from the Christ Candle on Christmas Eve. Alone, the light we carry is vulnerable to a world that wants to snuff it out. But together, surrounded by family, friends, and church fellowship, there is any number of ways that Christ's guiding and sustaining light can be shared with us anew. 

"Here," a friend whispers to us in the sanctuary. "Let me share my flame with you." 

Because we choose to share Christ's light with others, our sanctuary glows with a hundred flames dancing in time to the cadence of our singing. 

Each year's Candlelight Christmas Eve Service never fails to astound and delight. 

Neither does Christ's light and love.