URC Weekly 12/19/10: O Holy Night!
Hi Family,
What an amazing retreat. It was more than what we prayed for, and the One who answered our prayers deserves every ounce of praise. (Psalm 150) Praise Him for using Dave to speak to our hearts about the simple but unbelievable Gospel once again. Praise Him for freeing us to sing songs of adoration. Praise Him for fellowship where we enjoyed one another so much, we never wanted to stop being together (even if it cost us all of our sleep!). Praise Him for the spirits that were renewed, friendships reunited, and blessings poured down as we prayed for one another. Praise Him for our beautiful kiddos getting along so well, allowing our parents to really be part of worship. Praise Him for safe travel through the crazy elements and even making it on a spare tire! Praise Him for beginning the process of rebuilding our church from the ground up. Praise Him for all of you. We ended by coming together in a circle, praying for our church, including all of you who couldn’t make it, and Grace and I will always remember the the image of that circle and the power we felt being part of it. Praise Him.
So much thanks to all of you who helped with moving equipment, media, pictures, discipleship, snacks, driving, taking care of our kiddos, unloading at church, and covering our retreat in prayer. Your service truly empowered our ministry.
Whether at the retreat or not, let’s commit to “living in the Father’s house” and gathering with our church every time possible. Let it begin with remembering how “this man welcomes sinners,” which is possible because of that Holy Night of our dear Savior’s birth:
1) CHRISTMAS EVE FESTIVITIES: THIS FRIDAY @ 6:45 PM @ ENGLISH CHAPEL. Our game plan is to sing “O Holy Night,” with Charlene as the soloist and ALL of the rest of us as the background choir. When we practiced at the retreat, and there we girls AND GUYS harmonizing, it sounded phenomenal! I’m really excited for how we’ll glorify the Lord for the first time as an entire URC through a live song, but we need to practice. Please be at our sanctuary by 6:45 PM on Friday, and WEAR DARK PANTS (JEANS OK) WITH A SHIRT THAT’S WHITE, RED, OR GREEN. Also, since it’s a song of worship and not a show, let’s pray that we inspire our congregation to “fall on our knees” before our Jesus.
The Christmas Eve Celebration will begin at 8:00 PM, and our worship service will be at 10:30 PM.
PARENTS, remember to bring a wrapped gift for Santa to give to your kiddo.
2) YUN-SOO’S DOHL: A WEEK FROM THURSDAY (12/30) @ 6 PM @ THE DRAGON RESTAURANT. Dave Choi would say “Dole” in the worst Korean accent imaginable, ahahha. If you haven’t received an Evite, please let me know right away, and if you have, please RSVP, so we know how many to expect. More than just celebrating our daughter’s life, we wanted to celebrate our church family and thank you for the constant love you’ve poured into our lives.
3) NEW YEAR’S EVE FESTIVITIES: A WEEK FROM FRIDAY (12/13) @ 7:30 PM @ CHURCH. 7:30 PM (Ttuk gook dinner!), 8:00 (Yoon Roh Lee: No, that’s not a new member of our URC, it’s a pretty fun Korean game we always play on this day), 11:00 (New Year’s worship).
4) LEES LAST SUNDAY: THIS WEEK. If I write too much on this, I might literally cry while typing on my computer. I’m gonna avoid that and just ask that you try your best to be there for our final worship with each of you. You know me, showing up means a lot, and we’d be so grateful to worship with you one last time.
5) SCRIPTURE READING/OFFERING: Grace Lee
6) DEVOTIONS: Jonah 4-Micah 5. From Micah 5, a prophecy of Christmas:
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins[c] are from of old,
from ancient times.[d]”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be their peace.
MERRRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS, AND SEE YOU ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!!
