Shepherd's Heart 11/21/25
I love Christmas. Not just because of the holiday and the lights and the presents. I love Christmas because I love Advent. Somehow, as I enter into this liturgical season each year, my weary soul finds its needed refreshment.
For many of us, these last few weeks of the calendar can become the most busy and draining of the entire year. Multiple Christmas parties, final exams, concerts and musical performances, Christmas lights and all the family get-togethers. These are good and joy filled things. You will definitely see me in my bright red sequined skirt many times in the next few weeks! But if we're not careful, the weeks can fly by and all of a sudden we miss the gift that Christ has prepared for you and for me.
For me, Advent brings a reset every year- a reset on my joy and peace and love for others. Liturgically, this is the start of the church calendar, this is the Christian New Year! Just like every God-instructed festival in the Old Testament, Advent is an annual invitation to return to Christ; to return again to the very reason why we celebrate, why we worship, and why we have hope.
When the year so far has held moments of great joy, Advent declares that Christ multiplies them. When the year has held great sorrow, Advent declares that Christ is our comfort. When the year had brought great confusion and mystery, Advent declares that we are in good company and Christ himself is our peace. Whatever your year has held, Advent declares that Christ has come, that Christ is here, and that Christ will return again.
This Advent, our hope is to create space for you to meet Jesus. The One who renews weary souls, restores joy, and speaks peace into the places we didn’t even realize had grown tired. As a church, we’re stepping intentionally into this season with opportunities designed to slow us down, reorient our hearts, and help us wait with expectation.
Our Advent sermon series utilizes Rich Villlodas' devotional, Waiting for Jesus. I have already been flipping through these pages in preparation for our series and I have been so blessed by the reflections and practices offered in this book. This devotional and sermon series will welcome us into this time of holy longing and guide us to heartfelt rejoicing as we behold God with us.
Alongside this devotion and sermon series, Ross Cochran and I have collaborated to create a weekly prayer podcast to guide you through Scripture and quiet reflection, simple moments to breathe deeply and encounter the presence of Jesus in your midst.
Our Family Advent Night on December 3 will offer a joyful, meaningful way for young families to remember the story together and will provide a take home resource for even our youngest disciples to experience the significance of this season.
And of course, Encounter Christmas and Blue Christmas remain important moments to corporately worship and experience the power of Immanuel.
I chuckle a little about all the things I just listed that Good Shepherd does during Advent. Just like everyone else, we don't slow down! But our hope is that these special moments of Advent provide an opportunity for everyone, no matter how you would describe your year, to find at least one space to encounter the renewal that Advent can bring. Our prayer is that these weeks will not rush past you but instead open before you- full of the gentle, renewing presence of Jesus who comes to meet us right where we are. May this Advent be your invitation to return, to rest, and to remember that Christ has come, Christ is here, and
Christ will come again.
Come and wait with us. Christ is near.
For many of us, these last few weeks of the calendar can become the most busy and draining of the entire year. Multiple Christmas parties, final exams, concerts and musical performances, Christmas lights and all the family get-togethers. These are good and joy filled things. You will definitely see me in my bright red sequined skirt many times in the next few weeks! But if we're not careful, the weeks can fly by and all of a sudden we miss the gift that Christ has prepared for you and for me.
For me, Advent brings a reset every year- a reset on my joy and peace and love for others. Liturgically, this is the start of the church calendar, this is the Christian New Year! Just like every God-instructed festival in the Old Testament, Advent is an annual invitation to return to Christ; to return again to the very reason why we celebrate, why we worship, and why we have hope.
When the year so far has held moments of great joy, Advent declares that Christ multiplies them. When the year has held great sorrow, Advent declares that Christ is our comfort. When the year had brought great confusion and mystery, Advent declares that we are in good company and Christ himself is our peace. Whatever your year has held, Advent declares that Christ has come, that Christ is here, and that Christ will return again.
This Advent, our hope is to create space for you to meet Jesus. The One who renews weary souls, restores joy, and speaks peace into the places we didn’t even realize had grown tired. As a church, we’re stepping intentionally into this season with opportunities designed to slow us down, reorient our hearts, and help us wait with expectation.
Our Advent sermon series utilizes Rich Villlodas' devotional, Waiting for Jesus. I have already been flipping through these pages in preparation for our series and I have been so blessed by the reflections and practices offered in this book. This devotional and sermon series will welcome us into this time of holy longing and guide us to heartfelt rejoicing as we behold God with us.
Alongside this devotion and sermon series, Ross Cochran and I have collaborated to create a weekly prayer podcast to guide you through Scripture and quiet reflection, simple moments to breathe deeply and encounter the presence of Jesus in your midst.
Our Family Advent Night on December 3 will offer a joyful, meaningful way for young families to remember the story together and will provide a take home resource for even our youngest disciples to experience the significance of this season.
And of course, Encounter Christmas and Blue Christmas remain important moments to corporately worship and experience the power of Immanuel.
I chuckle a little about all the things I just listed that Good Shepherd does during Advent. Just like everyone else, we don't slow down! But our hope is that these special moments of Advent provide an opportunity for everyone, no matter how you would describe your year, to find at least one space to encounter the renewal that Advent can bring. Our prayer is that these weeks will not rush past you but instead open before you- full of the gentle, renewing presence of Jesus who comes to meet us right where we are. May this Advent be your invitation to return, to rest, and to remember that Christ has come, Christ is here, and
Christ will come again.
Come and wait with us. Christ is near.
Elisabeth Lectka
Pastor of Family Ministries
Posted in Shepherds Heart