Advent Wednesday and Christmas Day Worship 

(Wednesday Potluck Supper at 6 p.m. & Worship at 7 p.m.)

This Advent Wednesday series will look at three father-son relationships found in the Old Testament. These stories will explore the hopes and expectations that the fathers had for their sons but will especially look at the disappointment that each father faced as his son failed to meet expectations. What is our hope when expectations aren’t met and we face deep disappointments? Ultimately, our hope is in the perfect Father-and-Son relationship: the one shared by our heavenly Father and His only begotten Son upon whom God smiled and said, “This is My Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

November 30 • “This Is My Son: Cain” (Genesis 4:1-16): Our hopes and fears are real. They can distract us from God’s promises. God’s promise was from the beginning spoken to Adam and Eve. Salvation would come through the woman’s offspring (Genesis 3:15). But it would not be Cain, the son of Adam. The true Son of Adam is Jesus, the Son of God. Our attention and faith directs our hopes and fears to God’s Son, in whom we receive adoption as sons and daughters in the family of God.

December 7 • “This Is My Son: Ishmael” (Genesis 16:1-16): Like us, Abraham struggled as God’s promise seemed less likely to come about, especially as the years passed into decades. As our faith may at times grow weak, we are tempted to take matters into our own hands, only to discover that our efforts fail. God’s Word and Spirit strengthens our faith, even in the face of all doubts, to wait upon God's sure and gracious promises. The true Son of Abraham is the One whom God has sent and designated, saying, “This is My beloved Son.” Jesus brings all of God’s promises together to make us sons and daughters of God.

December 14 • “This Is My Son: Absalom” (2 Samuel 18:24-33): We often pin our hopes on passing things and even on people who cannot save. God’s promise of a Savior from sin and death, first given to our first parents and then again to our “father in faith,” Abraham, was increased to the great king David, whose hopes were dashed with tears at the death of his son Absalom. Faith must hang on to the depth of God’s promise. It would be generations before God would finally send His own perfect Son, whose Baptism, suffering, death, and rising would bring forgiveness, life, and salvation to all who are children of God by faith in Jesus, great David’s greater Son.

December 25 • “This Is My Son: Jesus” (John 1:1-18): The ultimate gift of God, promised at the very beginning of our need for a Savior from sin and from the last enemy, death, who comes as the offspring of the woman, was fulfilled through the house and lineage of David in the Son of Mary of Nazareth, the Son of God. On Christmas Day, we celebrate God’s ultimate gift–our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

(Christmas Day Worship at 9:30 a.m.)