After much prayer and consideration, we are going to cancel worship for this Sunday and all First Church meetings and gatherings for the next 7 days.

Advent is here and in full swing. You don’t have to drive down Poplar Ave more than once to realize that Christmas is coming. In fact, every year the signs of Christmas appear earlier and earlier. They know that the earlier we start shopping, the more we can spend. While the Christmas season is apparent, I often wonder if most people are aware of the time many Christians call Advent. It’s easy sometimes to get stuck in my minister or Christian bubble not realize there are some things we do or celebrate most people outside the church don’t think about. I wonder if Advent is one of those things. To be honest, I have to stop and reflect each year to make sure I understand and emphasize the right things during Advent.

If you are familiar with the parables taught by Jesus, you are most likely familiar with the word "prodigal".(see Luke 15:11-32) While the word prodigal is actually never used in scripture, it is often used as a title for the parable often referred to as "The Prodigal Son" about a father and his two sons . In the story the younger son asks his father for an early lump sum payment of what would be his inheritance so he could leave and live independently of his family and the older son remained home and faithful to his responsibilities. Of course, the son who left fell into a spiral of selfishness and excessive living soon to find himself with nothing and nobody (so he thought).

Every-time I stop and think about the impact the ministries of this church in people's lives every day, I am so proud to be the pastor of First Church. There are so many people who come through our doors not only on Sunday mornings but all throughout the week. There are as many reasons people come in as there are people.

This last Sunday morning I referenced a former baseball player, Bill Buckner, in my sermon.

Unfortunately, Bill Buckner was most famous for an error he made on the baseball field during game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  This error contributed to the Red Sox losing that game. The Red Sox would go on to lose the series to the Mets.  Bill Buckner would never be able to escape the shadow of that one play.  His entire baseball career would be defined by most people only by his one error.