December 24, 2021
Merry Christmas, Grace Vineyard and Friends!
It’s time for our weekly update, Christmas Edition.
Tonight we meet at Grace Vineyard from 5-6pm to begin celebrating Christmas Together
Please note the new location. We had been planning to meet at The River Gardens, but with about 100% chance of rain today, we decided to move the event over to our home at Grace Vineyard. It’s dry, and we have heat, and our building is beautifully decorated for Christmas, so it will be lovely. We’re still celebrating together with our friends from the River Family Church, just changing locations. We are planning a short service from 5-6pm, so you can start your evening with us, and then continue your favorite traditions for the rest of your evening.
There will be cookies (individually wrapped, if you care about the details), hot chocolate, etc. We’ll present the Christmas story through song and word, and as we do every year, we will finish the service by turning out the lights and lighting candles that each of us will be holding. It’s always so beautiful to see the “Light of the World”, Jesus, represented this way.
See you tonight!
“Unending Joy”, Sunday morning at 9:30
Sunday is the day after Christmas, and Grace Vineyard will be gathering for Worship! Sunday’s message is titled “Unending Joy!”, and is taken from James 1:2-4, which says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” We’ll also learn from the apostle Paul’s words in the letter to the Romans, 5:1-5, where he lays out the process of growing into the kind of spiritual maturity and character that empowers us to experience joy regardless of our circumstances and even trials and sufferings – “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
What powerful words! Pastor Steve Rogers will be bringing the message on Sunday and helping us learn and understand how we can enter into a life of unending joy.
As usual, we’ll have an online broadcast available for those of you who join us from home. Here’s the online information for your convenience: Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814. We’ll also be broadcasting the service on Facebook Live at http://facebook.com/gracevcf. I’ll be in Tampa, Florida on the 26th, so I’ll try to hop into the zoom meeting with you all!
A quick word about tithing and end of year offerings – First, Thank You so much for your faithfulness to be stewards of the resources God has entrusted to each of us. When we take those “firstfuits” of our income and dedicate them to the Lord’s church, I know He is pleased and is faithful to continue His promise of meeting our every need. For many of us, it’s a test of our faith in Him every time we write that check or click on that electronic giving link. Great job exercising your faith, Grace Vineyard! We know some folks like to give an extra year end gift, and we would certainly appreciate that as we still have some important building projects that are stalled until funding comes from our offerings – you and me (remember, there is no other source – it’s all on us, receiving from the Lord’s provision and giving it to His work). For those of you who are thinking about tax deductible donations, just remember that your donation needs to be received by the church no later than December 31st in order to count for the year 2021. You’ll find a donate button for electronic giving at the end of this email.
That’s all for this week’s update. See you tonight! Merry Christmas to each of you!!
with love and blessings,
Ron Ohst
Tithes and Offerings Online
THANKS for taking ownership in the life and ministry of Grace Vineyard – it takes all of us! If you’d like to give your tithe or offering online, click the donate button below. Please remember we are “getting our house ready for guests” and have several thousand dollars worth of important improvements waiting on our offerings. If your offering is for a specific purpose such as building or benevolence, please note that where it will prompt you with “what’s this donation for?” Thanks!