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Whether you come in your ugly Christmas sweater or your best dress, we invite you to bring your friends and family to our very special Christmas & New Year’s Celebration services.

Christmas Eve celebrations at 4:15 pm & 5:30 pm.
Christmas Day at 10:00am.
New Year’s Day at 10:00 am. (brunch to follow)

Download: New Hope 2011 Come As You Are Christmas Invite

3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. 4 Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, 5 for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:3-6

Paul’s greetings were always warm in his letters to the churches, but you can tell there is a special place in his heart for folks at the church in the city of Philippi. Just the mere thought of them caused him to smile, pray, and thank God for these relationships in his life. He knew that even when he was far away they were spreading the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the city. He knew they weren’t perfect, but were being perfected. That God was working in their city was a true because God was at work in them.

Sometimes road or bridge improvements seem to take forever and often seen as a major inconvenience. It means major detours that are often confusing. It means planning ahead because our normal routes or routines are disrupted. I have often ended up lost when following detour signs due to road construction simply because I was used to the old way of travel. In the back of my mind though I know its going to be worth it. When it’s all said and done the road or bridge will be safer, smoother, and improved.

As I looked at the 100 or so servant leaders that showed up to our Annual Volunteer Christmas party at the YMCA I couldn’t help but feel exactly what Paul is expressing here in his letter. I was overwhelmed with joy and gratefulness for these partners in the faith. Each of them serve tirelessly and faithfully throughout the year extending the love of Jesus in practical ways through and to each person that walks in through the doors of the church. In fact new people keep walking into church because they show Jesus where they wake and work as well! We are a bunch of imperfect people being perfected by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives! If a person was able to see what was going on in the spirit they would see many detour signs, bright yellow “God At Work” signs, arrow signs with lights pointing in new directions, large and small machinery doing messy but necessary work in our lives. Sometimes it’s noisy and loud. Sometimes what’s going in our lives is frustrating and seems like it’s going to take forever. Sometimes we wish we would have never started the improvements in the first place and would have just settled for the potholes and broken bridges that had become characteristic of our lives prior to Christ’s intervention. It’s easy to stand back and look at the roads and bridges of others and think they have it much easier then we. It could be that area of their lives has already been repaired and we simply don’t see the section of the road God is working on currently. When we feel this way we must simply remember Paul’s encouraging words: “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.”

Lord, I am so thankful for this amazing group of people you have called into community with. I love seeing the work You are doing in their lives and mine! As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of another would you encourage each and every one of them who wish that they were farther along or that everything was “back to normal”. Remind them that You are at work and are making us more like Your Son Jesus. No matter how dusty, dirty, and detoured things look right now, You will not leave us in this state. You will complete that which You have started and in the mean time we can each wear our large “God At Work” sign as a badge of honor!