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Amidst this season of Advent, where can mainline church leaders find hope amidst headlines in many churches’ magazines reporting the steady decline of church attendance and membership? In one study, church American membership has dipped below 50% in contrast to close to 70-75% in previous decades.

“I think that was probably the best dinner we’ve ever had with your parents.” Stephen finished wiping the counter and then turned the dishwasher on. “It was really great to have them over.”

“They certainly seemed to enjoy themselves and even Dad was talkative,” Molly gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for cooking.”

“My pleasure, I enjoyed it.” Stephen paused. “I think I could go for a bit more pie.”

Molly rolled his eyes. “Really?”

Stephen rubbed his stomach and then grinned. “Yeah, I think so.”

Object: You need pieces of clothing to dress two children. One is to be dressed in nice clothes, and the other in ‘not-so-nice’ clothes. You could either dress them like they were in Jesus’ day or as they might look today. For Jesus’ day, you might dress one child in a nice robe, with a fancy hat and staff, like a king, and the other just wrapped in something like burlap with a rope belt, like John the Baptist. For today, you might dress one child in a jacket or nice suit, and the other in old, torn jeans and a baggy, ragged shirt, or sweatshirt.

Call to Worship:

With John the Baptist, in our worship today let us prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.

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Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, we are not worthy to undo the strap of your sandals.
Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, we repent. Forgive our sins.
Christ, have mercy.

Jesus, baptise us with your Holy Spirit.
Lord, have mercy.

The voyage of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his 28 men aboard the Endurance bound for Antarctica, which began in 1914, is a story too few know but all should hear. The Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition, under Shackleton's command, was the first British Antarctic expedition after Norwegian Ronald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole in December 1911.

Bright Lights, Big City is Jay McInerney's searingly-witty, emotion-ripping novel of one man's perilous drift down an alcohol and white-powder-polluted stream of delayed adolescence. The young man is bright, creative, and desperately lonely. His language is marked by the kind of sarcasm which forms at the intersection of keen intelligence, comic conceit, and human desolation.

Somewhere today a woman picks up another dirty shirt and tosses it into the laundry basket. She shakes her head and thinks, "I've got to get out of this marriage! He treats me like dirt! I deserve someone better, someone who really loves me! God knows I've put up with more than anyone needs to."

But she sees the picture of their wedding day on the dresser and stops. She remembers the promise she made that day: "...for better, for worse...." And she decides to stay and see if she can make this thing work.