GCD Weekly Newsletter — 12/04/20
Advent is here...
Dear Reader,
In my little neck of the woods it snowed this week. The fresh reminder of a new season and of new mercies came in with the cold and diminished the last vestiges of Fall. It brought the reminder that the season of Advent is here. And boy, do we need it! We need the slowing down, the anticipation of waiting to build, the eagerness for the coming of Christ to be satisfied. This year, maybe more than I can ever remember, we need the journey through Advent to help us hope again.
Although this isn’t a GCD resource, I wanted to encourage you to be reading Ronnie Martin’s daily Advent series over at For the Church. Ronnie has become a good friend and guide for me in walking through this Advent season. He writes today of the providence of God and our fallen condition,
So today, on the eve of a new year, with all of our rational and irrational fears dotting our hearts like the milky way, we remember that we don’t need to fear. The same grace that Joseph had on his brothers who meant him evil, is the grace that God has for us who were born
This Week at GCDiscipleship.com
We’ve published some articles of our own this week as well:
David McLemore, one of our staff writers, asks us to consider what might be missing from our prayers for our church. His refection on love from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippian church engages deeply The Kind of Love Every Church Needs.
Anne Kerhous perceives the lesson for us in the small things, even a haircut in a pandemic. Her article, Haircut Spirituality, draws out the metaphor of our growth in Christ, even in the uncomfortable setting of being of loss and pruning.
With the beginning of the Advent season, Barbara Reaoch invites us to consider the overwhelming amount of Christmas traditions and to identify a focus in them so that we experience the maximum impact of the season. She writes about How to Enjoy A Better-Than-Anything Christmas.
A Note on Giving
You may have received a full inbox of emails this week from businesses trying to capture the Cyber-Week deals, non-profits (including GCD) inviting you to donate on Giving Tuesday, and the likes of other entities making their year-end financial push. We recognize it’s been a hard year for so many financially.
I would ask, before you give to GCD or any other para-church ministry or organization, give well first and foremost to your local church in sacrificial ways to support your pastor and ministry leaders. If there’s anything left over to give, we would be grateful to enjoy and steward your partnership well for the year ahead at GCD.
If you’re looking for Christmas gifts, check out GCD Books, and maybe order a few to give away this year.
Let me leave you with a thought from David McLemore’s article this week,
We must pray this \[love] into existence. Your church may be excelling in love right now, as were the Philippians, yet Paul still prayed their love would abound more and more. For the Christian, there is no end to growth in love.
Let’s pray that love for our churches into being!
Thanks for reading!
Jeremy Writebol Executive Director | GCD
