The church calendar moves to a different beat. For a start, the church year begins not at 1 January, but on the 1st Sunday in Advent. (Which in 2006 is Sunday December 3). The season of Advent covers 4 Sundays and invites us to prepare our hearts for the first and second coming of Jesus. It proclaims that the most important thing for us as Christians is Jesus and so we as a church start our by preparing for his birth.
If Advent starts on Sunday December 3, 2006, that makes this Sunday, the November 26th, the last Sunday of the church year. So this Sunday invites us to look back over the year gone. Or in the words of the Psalm 90:12.
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
In order to help us “number our days,” ministry leaders and staff and others have spent hours summarising their ministry over 2006. Throughout the church are lots of lots of displays from all the various parts of our life. The invitation is for you, at your own pace, to walk through the displays. They will be up for Sunday and into the week.
Enjoy the creativity. Thank God for the life of Opawa in 2006. Give Jason King (Community Development Pastor), a word of thanks for all the co-ordination this has required. Ponder what God might have been teaching us over the year gone, so that we may gain a greater heart of wisdom as we enter into 2007.
Finally, between 12 and 1:30 pm on Sunday 26, there is a barbeque, live music and bouncy castle. All the congregations have been invited, as have a number of community ministries.