Christmas Eve
The final gift from Asbury’s 2023 Christmas Eve offering to Mobility Worldwide was $16,426, an amount that covers the cost of 38 handcarts. Gary Moreau, Executive Director of Mobility Worldwide, says “Asbury is lifting 38 persons off the ground.” Thank you for your generosity and for providing the gift of mobility and dignity through this offering!
While a final official total is still being compiled, we are so grateful to be able to report that as of last week, $14,436 has been collected for the Christmas Eve offering, 100% of which will be donated to Mobility Worldwide (learn more) Thank you for your generosity!
ABOUT MOBILITY WORLDWIDE
Mobility Worldwide’s goal is to provide the gift of mobility for all of God’s people in need. They create and distribute hand-cranked Mobility Carts, vehicles that allow those who are unable to walk to go where ordinary wheelchairs won’t go. There is no cost to the recipient. Since 1994, Mobility Worldwide has built 100,000 Mobility Carts which have been distributed in 106 countries.
Learn more about their mission and impact on their website.
Thank you for your support of this initiative to show the love of Christ to those in need.
This Christmas, join us as we remember the baby that was sent to offer us new life. With a full slate of service styles – featuring well-loved carols and modern songs – and a Christmas message about the “Good News of Great Joy” for us all, we’ll celebrate the birth of our Savior.
in the Sanctuary; all services feature candlelighting
1 PM Traditional Worship featuring a soloist leading the congregational singing of beloved carols
3 PM Service led by Children and Youth
7 PM Traditional Worship featuring the Chancel Choir
9 PM Traditional Worship featuring a soloist leading the congregational singing of beloved carols
1 PM, 7 PM, and 9 PM
at live.asburylv.org.
A conclusion to the Advent sermon series of the same name.
Charlie Brown, after being ridiculed for buying the worst Christmas tree imaginable, shouts out that famous question “doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is all about?” Today maybe you are asking the same question. Join us this Christmas Eve as we examine the true meaning of Christmas and how it can bring joy to your world.
People ultimately weren’t convinced to follow Jesus because of what he taught. They became convinced because of what they saw.
The movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a beloved Christmas classic. It’s the story of an angel sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. Join us this Christmas Eve as we look at how this movie points us toward the real Christmas story.
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On Christmas Eve, we pledged that 100% of the offering collected would be given to support Afghan Refugees as they resettle in the United States; and we are so excited to announce that the final amount has been totaled, and $19,187 will be donated towards this important cause.
Thank you so much for your support of this initiative!
The total will be split evenly between the United Methodist Commitee on Relief (UMCOR), which supports resettlement nationally; and Bethany Christian Services, which helps support resettlement more locally to our area. Thank you for your generosity!
Focused on Colossians 3:12-17, this Christmas message from Bishop John Schol will remind us that as God’s people we are to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.” Above all, Paul reminds us to “clothe yourselves with love.”
When Christmas Day is over, we start taking down the decorations and start preparing to move into a new year. But if we rightly understand Christmas, even though we put away our Christmas decorations, Christmas is not done at midnight on December 25th. That is just the beginning of Christmas. Join us Christmas Eve as we explore why December 25th is only the beginning of Christmas and what that means for us in 2022.
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One-hundred percent of the offering collected at Asbury on Christmas Eve will be donated to help Afghan refugees resettle in the United States. Learn more at asburylv.org/christmas-eve-2021-offering/.
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We will not have an on-demand service for 2022. Please join us for live streaming at 1 PM, 7 PM, or 9 PM on Christmas Eve at live.asburylv.org.
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!…
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
– Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
The words of the ancient prophet echo to us in these challenging days, as the whole world waited in darkness for the birth of our Savior. Today, more than ever, we cling to the promise that God has, is, and will do a “new thing” as Jesus comes onto the scene. Though we may be feeling broken and weary of the pandemic, we continue to trust that God is at work bringing peace, light, and hope!
As we hang on to that amazing hope, we communicate the following difficult decisions, which were made after much deliberation at the December 2 Church Council meeting:
• All in-person worship services are suspended effective December 6 and continuing through January 31. This suspension includes in-person Christmas Eve worship.
• Asbury’s preschool will begin an early Christmas break on December 18.
• The building will still be available for streaming worship preparation and recording. The online-only service will continue to be streamed at 10:30 AM.
• The scheduled final Bazaar pickup on December 12 remains on as planned.
• Our commitment to provide a meeting spot for Alcoholics Anonymous remains, and they will continue to meet on-site with additional precautions.
These decisions were not made lightly and included consultation with a leader in a local healthcare system. Additionally, our Bishop, Rev. Peggy Johnson, has encouraged all churches in the Conference to hold online services rather than in-person services.
Please be encouraged that these are temporary measures, taken for everyone’s safety and physical well-being. During this suspension period, Church Council has committed to regularly review the COVID-19 infection trends and will reevaluate when to safely resume in-person worship.
We still have some great events coming up as we prepare to celebrate the coming of our Savior and King! Watch for more information to be announced about:
• A no-contact outdoor “Drive-thru Nativity” being planned for Saturday, December 19.
• A streaming Christmas Eve service, which will be announced this Sunday in worship and in communications to follow.
The Asbury leadership asks for your continued prayers for wisdom and for suggestions for how we can continue to stay connected and support one another through this difficult time. We are all looking forward with great hope to the time when we can gather in person again.
God sent Christ into the world as our Savior. That’s what Christmas is all about. In turn, Christ sends us into the world. But do we really understand how, where, and why we are sent? This five-week, churchwide Advent study challenges us through story, art, and Bible study to discover what it means to be Christ’s hands, feet, head, and heart.
One of the unique things Christians believe is that God became one of us. And every December we celebrate this event. For thirty years he lived undercover as a carpenter, surfaced as a miracle worker and rabbi for three years, and allowed himself to die in the most degrading way imaginable. He came as one of us but was treated as less than one of us. So the question we have to ask is “why in the world would God do that?”
Every December, we sing the song “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” which reminds us that ‘he came to set his people free.’ And maybe you have sung that song for decades but you never stopped to ask the question “What does he set us free from?” So, what does he set us free from?
One of the unique things Christians believe is that God became one of us. And every December we celebrate this event. But what are the implications for us that God became one of us?
Through the lens of the prophecy of Ezekiel, we know that no circumstance is so dry, so despairing and so hopeless, that God cannot bring new life. As Christians, we live in the reality of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead and his promise of new life, and Christmas provides an opportunity for us to reflect on how that promise first came to us in the form of a tiny baby.
To understand Christmas, you have to understand waiting. And as we all know, waiting is not easy and it comes with strong expectations. We have so much hope and so much desire for what we want Christmas to be and then sometimes Christmas doesn’t live up to our expectations and we experience disappointment. And disappointment is a common emotion that we share with the people who were waiting with hope and anticipation at that first Christmas. On that first Christmas, no one was expecting a baby in a manger. That was not on their Christmas list. But one of the powerful lessons from the Christmas story is that sometimes what we want is not always what we need. Join us Christmas Eve to explore why the baby in the manger is just what we need.
We all long for that perfect Hallmark movie Christmas. But too many times our Christmas is filled with stress and anxiety. Don’t let stress and anxiety control your Christmas and your life – there is hope! In this message, we will find the message of hope in some of the traditional Christmas symbols. It’s through those symbols that you will be reminded that God is for you.
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