“So this is Christmas.” Great song, filled with peace and hope. But there’s more to the story that needs to be told.  Friends, family, loved ones and casual acquaintances: This message won’t be for the fluffy faint of heart. We’re talking reality, not to beat us up, but to wake us up and shake us up.

Fact: Here in the U.S., a child is born into poverty every 35 seconds. There are 1.4 million homeless humans here. Some of them live within a few miles of us.

Then there’s the rest of the globe—you know, that “whole world” Jesus told us to go into. Here’s the truth; be rattled:  This Christmas, let’s imitate the Servant-Jesus of Scripture. Instead of a stress-filled, shop-till-you-drop marathon, let’s turn Christmas into a time of open-handed reaching, stretching, giving, and sharing to total strangers – perhaps angels unaware — but to Jesus himself for sure. These biblical truths will radically change you, but only if you let them. And this isn’t my promise; it’s God’s. Merry Christmas.

See the “Christmas in Ruins” and “The Thanksgiving Chair” at http://c3tvchannel.com Click “Latest Messages.”

What is the “Thanksgiving Chair”? To get the full picture you’ll have to come out to find out. But know this much: It’s a hard chair yet the most precious chair ever. It’s a chair that doesn’t always make a whole lot of sense. But it’s the right chair. Just right. Learn why you should sit in it as often as possible, this Sunday morning at either of two services 9:15 or 11:00.

Honestly, you won’t regret this special pre-Thanksgiving message. The only regret you might have is not bringing a friend because the Thanksgiving Chair will rip your heart out and hand it back to you in the best, most loving way ever.

Find your chair: http://calvarycommunitychurch.com

And in case you missed it live, catch “Stretched Too Thin”
Parts 1 and 2 at http://c3tvchannel.com

Community Groups have four basic goals:

1. Spiritual Growth. While corporate gathering is important, the small group setting is best for growth and creative community service projects.
2. A Network of Care. Community Groups should be THE place of support for people going through hardship.
3. Relational Development. Since you can only get so friendly at church, Community Groups are where real relationships are developed.
4. Just Plain Fun. Community Groups are a place of refuge and fun.

All Community Groups are autonomous and choose their own studies. All prospective leaders of Community Groups must be vetted by C3 leaders. Community Groups may either be “open” which means they welcome new people; or “closed” due to the sensitivity of topics covered.

If you are interested in starting a new Group, call to set up a meeting with a pastor. If you qualify, then Julie Brown (jabnut@verizon.net)will publish your group (if “open”).

If you feel under-qualified to lead, facilitator training is available. If you aren’t interested inleading but just want to join one, see the Welcome Center.

This Sunday, in Week Two of “Stretched Too Thin” we’ll consider the discipline of narrowing the focus. Usually we stretch ourselves too thin because we think our needs won’t be met otherwise. So we work more hours, sign our kids up for more extra-curricular opportunities, buy more things, and somewhere along the line, God gets relegated to the back burner or forgotten altogether. So “narrowing the focus” starts with “seeking the Kingdom” And we’ll see what Jesus meant by putting that first.

So the discipline is to resist the A.D.D. smorgasbord approach to life and work towards simplicity. It’s natural to get sucked into complexity. And this gravitational pull is usually subtle and almost never intentional. Simplicity means proactively and constantlyguarding against the pull of complexity, and getting tenacious about simply living simply. We can either do one or a few things very well, or we can do it all poorly or at best, in mediocrity.

There is soooooo much more to this, so please join us this Sunday morning at either of two services, 9:15 or 11:00.

Missed last week? Catch “Stretched To Thin” Part 1 at http://c3tvchannel.com Click Latest Messages.

Find us: http://calvarycommunitychurch.com