ST. MATTHEW'S ANGLICAN CHURCH
WEAVERVILLE, NC.
THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I hope that all of you had a festive Thanksgiving with family and friends, and that all of your travel plans came together in good order. This Sunday is the first Sunday in the Advent season. Advent is is a penitential season meant for you to prepare your heart for the arrival of the Christ Child. For those who wish to follow this ancient tradition, Wednesday's and Friday's are meant to be fasting and abstinence days. During the rest of the week, if one wishes, one may observe a fast, which is a single meal in prayer. Sunday's are always feast days. Traditionally the exhortation is said on the first Sunday in Advent.

Potluck:
This Sunday is Potluck Sunday. Alma bids all to bring your leftovers from your Thanksgiving feasts.

This Sunday at St. Matthew's, The First Sunday in Advent, November 28, 2010:

10:00 am. Bible Study with Russ Scott on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
10:00 am. Youth Sunday School with Paulette Sackett in the Parish Hall.
11:00 am. Children's Sunday with Larry Allison and helpers in the Parish Hall.
11:00 am. Holy Communion with Sermon & Music. The Hymns are 2 (vs. 1-4), 62, 197, 2 (vs. 5-7). The Old Testament Lesson is Isaiah 28:14-22. The Psalm is 97. The Collect, Epistle and Gospel are found on pages 90-92 of the Prayer Book. The Ushers Walter are Erikson and Henry Mienken. The Greeter is Bettye Erikson. The Acolyte is Eli Sackett. The Reader is Paulette Sackett. The Chalice Bearer is Jim Tucker. The Teller is Rick Benfield and the Checker is Cecil Beumer.

Articles of Religion, beginning on page 603 of the Prayer Book. Article IV:
OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. "Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all the things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature; wherewith He ascended into Heaven, and there sitteth, until He return to judge all Men at the last day."

Reminder:
This Wednesday will begin a weekly Communion service at 6:00 p.m. with Evening prayer leading into Holy Communion. Please come and join this mid-week service  and set your mind on the things of Christ.

FOOD 4 THOUGHT:
The Anglican form of worship is not for the appeasement or benefit of God. Jesus Christ is the PROPITIATION for our sins (the appeasement and satisfaction of God's wrath). Our worship is for our benefit. It is meant to cure our souls and bring us into humble submission to God as we make amendment of life in Christ. It is our Christian duty to submit to this rule of life in order to gain mastery over our flesh and separation from the world. This happens when we choose to conform to God through submission to the worship of the Church. Our worship is timeless it does not conform to culture, but transcends the boundaries of time and space as we ascend to the heavens. By changing our worship to conform to "Contemporary" fads or pop-cultural trends we tie ourselves to the ideology of that day or time, thereby making worship conform to the whims of the world in time. By choosing to worship and conform to the Church, we choose Life itself.  (Christ said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.") If we refuse to conform, we are choosing to worship the world, which always leads to the death.

See you all in Church this Sunday!

Fr. Don Sackett  

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"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20