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Archive for Advent

Advent Journal Sales

Posted by Robb Serna on Sunday, November 8th, 2020 in All Church
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GET YOUR ADVENT CREATIVITY JOURNAL TODAY

LAUMC staff has created a brand-new project: creativity journals to be used through the season of Advent. Our Advent theme this year is “Awestruck,” referencing the reactions to Jesus’ birth in the Gospel as well as our own reactions to everyday miracles. Exercise your sense of wonder, to practice being awestruck, so that when Christmas comes, your mind and heart are wide open to the best gift the world has ever received: God coming to live among us. Hands-on daily projects invite and challenge us to search for God’s miracles through the four weeks of Advent.

Journals are available not just for the congregation but also for purchase as gifts for friends and family. Advent Journals are available for purchase at $5 each!

Can’t pick it up yourself?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. You can purchase your Journal (or more) and have them shipped to you, friends, and family. For shipping information please check the box below and we will get in contact with you.
Advent Journals will also be available on Amazon soon for $9.99 each. More information to follow.

To ensure we have sufficient copies available, please let us know if you plan to purchase copies by submitting the form below.

Christmas Eve Services

Posted by Robb Serna on Wednesday, December 18th, 2019 in All Church, Worship & Music

Join us in the Sanctuary for one of our special Christmas Eve services on Tuesday, December 24. You can also watch any of them livestreamed online at laumc.org/live. Descriptions of each service are below.

3:00pm – This will be a traditional family service. Nursery care is available for children up to age 2, but all children are welcome in the service. Come early to have your picture taken in our photo booth!

5:00pm – This will also be a traditional family service. Nursery care is available. Come early to try our photo booth!

7:00pm – This will be a contemporary family service. The youth choirs will sing. Nursery care is provided. Come early to take a picture in our photo booth!

9:00pm – This will be a traditional candlelight service. The adult choir will sing.

11:00pm – This will be a traditional candlelight service with communion and instrumental music.

For more information about our services, please contact the church office at (650) 948-1083.

The Longest Night Service, Dec. 19

Posted by Robb Serna on Sunday, December 8th, 2019 in Adults, Worship & Music
Hands holding candle

For many of us, days leading to Christmas are not filled with joy and celebration as much as feelings of sadness or longing. If this sounds familiar, or if you simply want a peaceful space, we invite you to join us for a candlelight service of reflection, The Longest Night, a Service of Solace, held on Thursday, December 19, at 7:00pm in the Sanctuary.

The Longest Night is a special service for those who need a place where they can be welcomed into the season exactly as they are, without having to put on a holiday face. It is also a service for anyone who would appreciate a little calm, reflective time of peace and worship in the midst of the hectic pace of the season. God comes to us wherever we are—even in our grief, even in our pain—and there is a place for you in this season, too.

Come Now and Set Us Free: Advent Worship Series

Posted by Robb Serna on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 in All Church, Worship & Music

There is an arc to the whole, grand narrative of God’s connection with human life. It is always about freedom, a consistent and repeated movement to liberate us from the troubles that humans make for one another and the chains with which we bind ourselves. The story of God’s coming to be with us in Jesus is the story of God’s yearning for us to be set free, so that we might live fully. How is God setting you free?

December 1: Freedom From Oppression (Exodus 3:1-12)

December 8: Freedom From Settling the Score (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

December 15: Freedom From Striving (Luke 1:46-55)

December 22: Freedom to Become (John 10:7-10)

December 29: On the Sunday following Christmas, we will have just one worship service at 10:00am. There will not be Conversational Church or an evening service that Sunday. Come for this special service as one church family, then we will return to our regular worship schedule in the new year.

Festival of Carols and Lights, Dec. 14

Posted by Robb Serna on Friday, November 29th, 2019 in All Church, Worship & Music

Christmas comes to life with the words and music of the season. You are invited on Saturday, December 14, at 5:00pm or 7:30pm to the Sanctuary to hear our youth choirs, Lightshine and Starfire, our adult choir, New Covenant, the Creekside Worship Band, and the LAUMC orchestra fill the Sanctuary with familiar carols and new Christmas anthems. This year, the Festival will feature the world premiere of Dirk Damonte’s new work, Benedictus. Come for an evening of wonderful, inspiring, hope-filled music!

Book Sale for Advent

Posted by Robb Serna on Tuesday, November 26th, 2019 in Adults

Gift yourself or others some time with God this Advent season. A variety of Christmas books and devotionals will be available for sale between worship services beginning December 1. Authors include Beth Richardson, Adam Hamilton, James Moore, Mike Slaughter, and others. Books cost $5–10 each while supplies last. This sale is sponsored by the Deepening Faith Practice Committee.

Little Hands, Big Hearts Christmas Craft Faire, Dec. 8

Posted by Robb Serna on Sunday, November 24th, 2019 in Children

LAUMC’s Children’s Ministries and the Children’s Center Preschool will be hosting a craft-making faire on Sunday, December 8, at 11:15am in the Children’s Center. If you remember Creekside Christmas from previous years, we will be bringing back some beloved crafts and also introducing some new favorites! Children and their families will get into the holiday spirit and have fun creating beautiful Christmas keepsakes and gifts, decorating cookies, and donating unwrapped toys to children in need.

Creekside Christmas alumni, would you like to share your crafting expertise? Contact Michelle Caudle to volunteer at a craft table or help out in another way.

The Hopes and Fears of All the Years: Advent Sermon Series

Posted by Robb Serna on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018 in All Church, Worship & Music

People—all people—stand, always, in a mix of hopes and fears. It was as true in the year Jesus was born as it is in this turbulent year. This is the world that God enters, just as it is. God pitches a tent right in the middle of that mix and lives alongside of us. What is it that the coming of Emmanuel—God with us—brings to help us find our way? You are invited to worship with us this Advent season as we examine our hopes and fears.

December 2: Hoping for Order, Fearing Uncertainty

December 9: Hoping for Approval, Fearing Failure

December 16: Hoping for Safety, Fearing Vulnerability

December 23: Hoping for Justice, Fearing Its Costs

December 30: Wear Love

Our services are at 8:30am and 10:00am in the Sanctuary and 5:00pm in Creekside. We also hold Conversational Church at 11:15am in the Live Oak Room.

We are a Reconciling Church

We believe all persons are children of God, and we welcome ALL, regardless of age, cultural background, disabilities, ethnicity, financial circumstances, gender identity, marital status, religious tradition, or sexual orientation. Learn more

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