This Sunday's Worship Materials can be found in the "Featured Sermon" below. We meet in person at Harper Park Middle School, and the service is also livestreamed on our YouTube channel.

Heart Prep for Sunday, December 13th

Well, it’s been a crazy week, but thankfully, once again we’re able to meet in-person this Sunday.  Therefore, we are going to have our congregational meeting during the Sunday School hour where we’ll have our annual report, discuss the budget, and vote on my call for next year.  We start at 9:30 am and we really need you there in order to have enough votes to make it official. 

The Governor of Virginia issued a more restrictive executive order Thursday, and while it won’t affect our ability to worship on Sunday, the new limit of 10 people in a social gathering may affect the ability of Community Groups to hold Christmas events.  While only one of our groups has more than 10 people in it, when you add additional family members at these holiday events, then these new restrictions may apply.  Please act wisely in these matters.

This week we’re continuing our Advent series, “Unexpected Joy: A Christmas with Jonah.”  We’ll be in chapter 3 and looking at one of the great scenes of repentance in the Bible.  This chapter has been called the John 3:16 of the Old Testament.  We often get focused on either Jonah and/or the Ninevites but miss the behind-the-scenes work of our God.  This dramatic scene — the repentance of a wicked, evil people — reveals the great compassion and mercy of the Lord. 

In this chapter, there’s issues of obedience, repentance, and trust — things we all need to practice.  But there’s also issues of oppression, injustice, and prejudice — things we all need to be more aware of.  Many of these issues have been front and center in our society this year … with great impacts on the church and on all of us as Christians.  So, I think there’s much for us to learn from this chapter of Jonah. 

More than ever, while we’re in this Advent season of waiting, we need to know and see the great compassion and mercy of the Lord.  See you Sunday, Dr. Dave