View this email in your browser A Midweek Message for December 9, 2020Hello everyone at St Paul, This second midweek Advent we continue to follow the poem series from the Rev. Sarah Are. I hope this poem finds all of you doing well and finding some joy as you prepare for a very different holiday season. Thank you to everyone who helped prepare our Christmas care packages! Don’t forget to join us tonight online at 7:00 PM or at any time on FB or YouTube. Remember to keep dreaming! In the name of Jesus, Rev. Aaron Baughman   At-Home Communion for Everyone Would you like to participate in communion from home? St. Paul is now offering at-home communion to everyone who is worshiping from home. Simply send an email to Jeanine at jeanine_secretary@sbcglobal.net or call her at 614-563-3230 to sign up communion kits will be blessed by Rev. Aaron before distribution. Be sure to note how many people are in your family when you reply to Jeanine so that we can be sure to get you the right amount. Our next installment will be for Christmas Eve and the whole Christmas season. Be sure to sign up to receive your candle for the at-home candlelight service, included in our next communion kit. If you are interested in helping with distribution please let us know! Christmas Eve Service This year we hope to have one Christmas Eve Service at 6:30 pm. Due to coronavirus restrictions, available seating (sanctuary + Multi-Purpose Room) could be insufficient to meet demand, so advance reservations will be required. Reservations will be accepted beginning on December 1st. To make a reservation, please make your request with Jeanine Sherman, via email at jeanine_secretary@sbcglobal.net (preferred method), or telephone (and voicemail) at (614) 563-3230. Be sure to provide your name and the number of persons who will be attending the Christmas Eve Service in your party. Reservations will close on December 20. If we happen to go live stream only for Christmas Eve, if you make a reservation, you will receive a gift basket so you can follow along with the service. We are going to do a live stream for the Advent services on Wednesday and the Christmas Eve service. 1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with[f] water; but he will baptize you with[g] the Holy Spirit.” – Excerpt from Mark 1  The First Week of Advent – PREPAREMy dad built me a changing table.For nine months, my mom watched her ankles swell and her belly grow.For nine months, my dad would come home from work, kiss her on her forehead—Pressing bangs to the skin—and tell her she was beautiful. Then for nine months, he’d slip into the garage to build sawdust sandcastles and a dresser out of dreams.I imagine she smiled, perched in that rocking chair. He was in his woodshop, preparing the way. Eighteen years later I left for college. As I packed my bags, my mom baked blueberry muffins for the road—the smell of home. She wrapped them in foil and placed them in a cardboard box, Willing similar layers of protection to be wrapped around me, her little girl. She was preparing the way. My aunts and uncles bought sweatshirts in my new school colors. My dad taught me how to change a tire. My mom gave me the earrings I’d been sneaking from her jewelry box for the last four years. I hid sticky-note love letters on the kitchen door for them to find when they returned home. We were quiet in the car. My brother cried. We were all preparing the way. And through these moments, I have come to see, That preparation and love can be the same thing. For there is something about love that makes us want to prepare. There is something about love that compels us to throw open the doors, yell it from the rooftop, Set the table, Decorate the nursery, Leave love notes on the back door, Build the changing table, Trim the tree, Bake muffins for the road, And when it’s time, If you must, Let go. Preparation and love can be the same thing. Sarah Are | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org  This Sunday will be live stream only: Instructions to watch Live Stream. You don’t have to watch it live. You can watch it anytime during or after the service.You can go to youtube.com and search: “St. Paul Lutheran Church New Rome, OH” You can subscribe and get an email when we are live. It is also posted on our website and Facebook page.Facebook-www.facebook.com/stpaullutherancolumbusohiochurch website: http://stpaulnewrome.comHere is the link for our worship on 11/15/20 for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost: https://youtu.be/F4ZX0JpPL THIS COMING SUNDAY HYMNS GREETING HYMN ELW 264 Prepare the Royal Highway Advent Hymn ELW 240 v. 2 “Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah” HYMN OF THE DAY ELW 490 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence BENEDICTION ELW 247 “Come Now, O Prince of Peace” |
Midweek Message from Rev. Aaron Baughman (12/9/20)
- Link to service: (12/6/20) 2nd Sunday of Advent @ 10:00 am
- Link to service: (12/9/20) Wednesday Advent Worship @ 7:00 pm