It’s only one month, but it’s a journey. Advent means “Coming” or “Arrival”; something’s coming up. In the Christian Calander it’s a time when we prepare for the arrival of Christ (both on the first Christmas and in the End Times). But it’s also an everyday preparation for the here and now. To look forward to an “Arrival,” we
need to know our destination.
To help us understand that destination and to guide us along the journey of this Advent Season, PUMC is organizing a series of activities. Officially, “Advent” starts on the Sunday closest to November 30 (St. Andrew’s Day) and ends on Christmas Day (for 2022, this is the period between November 27 through December 25).
During this period, our church offers activities and tools for worship, fellowship, and reflection. Attend these activities and make use of these tools to help you discover your own “advent” this season.
Home…
Advent calls us to long for a destination that we desperately want to reach. When someone is living out their last days in a hospital, they desperately want to go “home.” On one hand they want to reunite with a departed spouse on the other side of glory. On the other, they want to be with family in the house they call home.
Home….
This is the destination we all want to reach. Not necessarily heaven or house, but also a state of mind. To get home, we must clear our minds of selfishness, anger, and worry; the road to “home” is easily littered with the roadblocks of sin. But with God’s help, we can persevere around the roadblocks and reach a place where we’re “in synch” with God. When we’re in tune with God, we can experience the gifts of being “home”: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
Guideposts to Help us Find Home…
Here are some opportunities that PUMC is offering throughout the Advent season to help all of us “come home” by navigating through the roadblocks that dampen our connection with God.
Sunday Sermon Series…
During the 2022 Advent season, Pastor Jim will preach a 4-part sermon series on “Coming Home:”
- Week 1 (11/27): “Coming Home to Hope”
- Week 2 (12/4): “Coming Home to Peace”
- Week 3 (12/11): “Coming Home to Joy”
- Week 4 (12/18): “Coming Home to Love”
These four qualities are traditionally used to symbolize each of the four weeks in Advent. The Advent wreath consists of four outer candles which are lit on each Sunday. The candles are named “Hope”, “Peace”, Joy” and “Love.” In the center is the Christ Candle, which is lit on Christmas Eve.
The path around the wreath’s circle reminds us of our Advent journey. The theme of every sermon is that in order to experience the good things like hope, peace, joy, and love, we must come home to Christ. We must worship the God who created us, saved us, and offers eternal life. Then we must grow into the promises of hope, peace, joy and love by being conduits of hope, peace, joy and love.
The worship services during Advent are designed to give us a chance to do just that. A chance to “come home.”
Sunday worship services at PUMC begin at 10:15 AM (we currently only offer one service). The services are both “in-person” and “Live Streamed”. If you can’t make it in person, attend via our Live Stream page. If you miss the service, you can also watch a recording of it on our Live Stream page. Additionally, a Worship Guide (“bulletin”) is posted on this website. Click the below buttons to participate in worship:
Advent Devotional Booklet…
Members of PUMC and of many other churches have produced a booklet of daily devotions to help guide you through the weeks of Advent. It also takes you through the week of Epiphany. The booklets are available in participating churches, AND you can access it on this website. Click the below button to open an online version of the booklet:
Advent Missions…
Growing closer to God (finding “home”) requires us to grow closer to others. God is calling us to help “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31-46). 
Before Advent started, the Christmas Marketplace raised funds to help supply clean drinking water to people at home and across the globe. Last month, we packed shoeboxes of gifts for children as part of the “Operation Christmas Child” effort.
Throughout the Advent season, the “Star Tree” will give us a chance to purchase gifts for needy children. The “Mitton Tree” gives us the chance to give scarfs, hats, and mittens to the needy.
On Sunday December 11, our United Women in Faith will hold a “cookie walk.” Proceeds will support the Scholarship Fund. After church, you can purchase a 1 LB bag of cookies. By baking cookies and by purchasing them, you can show Christ’s love to students and help them “come home” to Christ.
Special Services to Celebrate Home…
All services will be held in our sanctuary, and all of them (except for the 12/8 Preschool pageant) will be broadcast on our Live Stream: Live Stream
Dec. 8 & 11: Preschool’s “The True Story of Christmas”
On Tuesday Dec. 8 (10:00 AM) and then again during the 10:15 AM service on Sunday Dec. 11, the four-year olds of PUMC’s preschool (Our Father’s House) will present their annual program, “The True Story of Christmas.” Because of the pandemic, this will be the first live presentation since 2019.
Sunday Dec. 18, 4:15 PM: “A Touch of the Messiah” (Cantata)
PUMC’s Choirs have long held a tradition of presenting a Candlelight Christmas Cantata on the Sunday before Christmas. The cantata has always been held at 4:15 PM (presumably at sunset so that the glow of the candles could be appreciated before interfering with our families’ Sunday dinner). Lately, we’ve developed a new tradition of assembling local choirs with our own to present Handle’s Messiah every five years. This year’s presentation will be slightly scaled back (no string orchestra this year), but it will feature a “touch” from our Lord and Savior (The Messiah). It will be held in our sanctuary (and shown on Live Stream).
Wed. Dec. 21, 7:00 PM: Blue Christmas Service
December 21 is the Longest Night (the first day of winter). Many of us have recently lost loved ones who have “graduated to glory.” On this special service, we will come to grips with our personal grief and celebrate eternal life.
Sat. Dec. 24, 7:00 PM: Christmas Eve Service
We will have one service on Christmas Eve. At 7:00, we’ll kick things off with music. There will be some familiar carols to sing, and the choirs will present some special pieces. After this musical gathering, the Christmas Eve Candelighting service will begin at 7:30 PM. Pastor Jim will preach a sermon on “Coming Home to Bethlehem,” and we’ll conclude by lighting candles while singing “Silent Night.”
Sun. Dec. 25, 10:15 AM: Christmas Day Service
Yes- Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. But that’s only more reason to worship our God on this special day. The service will be an informal presentation of hymns and carols.
Sat. Dec. 31: Silent Communion
The sanctuary will be open between 6:00-8:00 PM to give you a chance to quietly reflect on the past year. Communion elements will be available to enable you to pray and draw closer to “home” at the altar rail.
Traditions…
Here are a few glimpses of past Christmas at PUMC…
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What’s all this Advent, Epiphany, and Lent Stuff Anyway???
Confused about “churchy” terms like “Advent”, “Epiphany”, and “Lent?” Do you know what an “Advent Wreath” is? Open the below box to learn more about these seasonal traditions of the church…
Advent Information
How is Advent Like Lent?
In both seasons, we are called to prepare. Listen to some thoughts from Pastor Jim (given before his sermon of 12/6/15, entitled: “How Many Shopping Days are Left?”)….
What is Advent? What’s an Advent Wreath?
Advent is celebrated during the four Sundays preceding Christmas. One of the ways we mark each Sunday in advent is with the lighting of a candle on our Advent Wreath. Each candle represents a different attribute (or “fruit”) of our relationship with God. The center candle is lit during our Christmas Eve service; it represents that Christ is among us.
Check out the following video from “Chuck Knows Church”…
What Happens After Advent?
Sundays throughout the Christian Calendar have names that follow the season. For example, the four Sundays before Christmas are called “First Sunday in Advent,” “Second Sunday in Advent,” etc. But what happens when you have Christmas Day- usually in the middle of the week- and then you come back to church the next Sunday? That Sunday has its own special name: “First Sunday after Christmas Day” (not really imaginative…).
Epiphany
The next Sunday (the first one in January) is called “Epiphany Sunday.” Click Here for more info. For the next month or so our Sundays will be called the “__Sunday after the Epiphany“.
Lent
The season of Lent begins 40 weekdays before Easter Sunday (for some reason, Sundays aren’t included in this 40 day count). That first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday. In 2023, Ash Wednesday will fall on February 22, and Easter will be on Sunday April 9.
And so, on Sunday February 26 we’ll switch from “__Sunday after the Epiphany” to “__Sunday in Lent“. After that you get into Easter and Pentecost… but we’ll talk about that later.
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To learn more about worship experiences at Pitman UMC, click this button: Worship
