Though our Sunday School classes for December 20 have been canceled, we will meet to worship at 10:30 am. Join us as we look at how the Lord promised to turn the world upside down through the son named Emmanuel.

This Christmas Season we are reducing the scheduling of our normal weekly meetings in favor of opening up space and time for a purposeful and thoughtful celebration of Christmas. At a time of year when largess and leisure should be the normal experience, we are more often frenzied harassed. This is a far cry from how we should experience “glad tidings of great joy.”

One opportunity to lean into the Christmas Season is to host a Neighborhood Christmas Party. These parties are designed and planned to help you to meet and reach out to your neighbors. If you are interested in hosting a party or in learning more about them, GPC is hosting a training and informational meeting on Sunday, November 22nd at 2pm at the church building. Hope to see you there.

We are very excited to visit with our friends at Robinwood and celebrate our annual Thanksgiving Dinner together on Sunday, November 15 in their great room from 5 -7 pm.

If you have food items to contribute, please bring them by the kitchen at Robinwood by 3pm. Guests, servers, and hosts need to arrive by 4:45 pm.

Quick quiz. Why is Reformation Sunday, the Sunday following October 31?

Stumped? Reformation Day is also known as Halloween or All Hallows Eve or Hallow’s evening which is the eve of All Saints Day. On All Hallows Eve, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the Wittenburg Church.

The first of his Thesis was: “When Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said, “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” This concept shows the heart of the gospel–that faith and repentance is an ongoing calling for the Christian rather than a the first step to becoming a Christian.

In honor of Reformation Day and Martin Luther’s bold stand for the gospel and the purifying fire which followed, GPC will host a Reformation Party at the building Sunday evening at 6:30 at the building. Join us for shmores and music. Maybe we’ll even watch a movie

This weekend, October 24 and 25, is our annual missions conference, Open Doors. We have a number of events planned for all ages. Come and hear what God is doing as we rejoice and are glad in his salvation.

The weekend’s achedule will flow as follows:

Saturday, October 24 from 6:00-8:30

6:00-7:00 pm Dinner Theatre. in the Sanctuary for adults and youth 6th grade and up. Our own Grace Players wills present, “The Ledge”. Children will have their own meal and activities during the evening session.

7:00-8:30 pm Worship, Listen, and Pray. During the second half of the evening, we’ll hear from missionaries which GPC has been supporting over the past year.

Sunday, October 25 from 9:30-Noon

9:30-10:15 am We will have a combined Sunday School for ages Kindergarten through adult in the sanctuary.

10:30-Noon We will worship and hear from our missionaries. Our morning concludes with celebrating the Lord’s Supper and rejoicing in his salvation.

You may download our Sunday worship bulletin here. See you then!

(via Sean Michael Lewis) Some very helpful thoughts from Charles Simeon (in Hugh Evan Hopkins, Charles Simeon of Cambridge [Eerdmans, 1977], 134):

“The longer I live, the more I feel the importance of adhering to the rules which I have laid down for myself in relation to such matters.

1st To hear as little as possible what is to the prejudice of others.
2nd To believe nothing of the kind till I am absolutely forced to it.
3rd Never to drink into the spirit of one who circulates an ill report.
4th Always to moderate, as far as I can, the unkindness which is expressed toward others.
5th Always to believe, that if the other side were heard, a very different account would be given of the matter….

The more prominent any person’s character is, the more likely he is to suffer in this way; there being in the heart of every man, unless greatly subdued by grace, a pleasure in hearing anything which may sink others to his level, or lower them in the estimation of the world. We seem to ourselves elevated in proportion as others are depressed.”

You can hear or read an excellent biography of Charles Simeon by John Piper here.

There’s lots happening at GPC.

Wednesday evening (9/30) marked the first night of JAM (Jesus and Me). Middle and High School students are leading this time for Primary age children. Rumor has it that they were visited by a very special guest whose theme song can be heard here.

Men’s Breakfast is this Saturday morning (10/3) from 8-9 am in the fellowship hall, and on Sunday we celebrate God’s promise to bless the nations through the the seed of Abraham as the Maier’s present Beck for baptism.

On another line, there are a number of helpful posts out there in various blogs that some of you have been reading. Here are a few that I found helpful:

Tullian Tchividjian, pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian posts some thoughts on anxiety from sources which have been helpful to him here.

Paul Miller’s book, The Praying Life has prompted a lot of positive comment. I would encourage you to take a look at what Justin Taylor has posted on the book here, and what Sean Lucas has to say here.

And as you know, I’m a fan of C.S. Lewis, here’s a teaser trailer of an hour long documentary on his life. It looks like you can download the hour long feature relatively inexpensively.

Saturday morning (9/12) at 8 am is our monthly Men’s Breakfast in the fellowship hall. You are invited to join this band of brothers who gather to encourage one another in as a disciple of Jesus.

Christ, as he is God is infinitely great and high above all. He is higher than the kings of the earth; for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is higher than the heavens, and higher than the highest angels of heaven. So great is he, that all men, all kings and princes, are as worms of the dust before him; all nations are as the drop of the bucket, and the light dust of the balances; yea, and angels themselves are as nothing before him. He is so high, that he is infinitely above any need of us; above our reach, that we cannot be profitable to him; and above our conceptions, that we cannot comprehend him. Our understandings, if we stretch them never so far, cannot reach up to his divine glory. Christ is the Creator and great Passover of heaven and earth. His is sovereign Lord of all. He rules over the whole universe, and doth whatsoever pleaseth him. His knowledge is without bound. His wisdom is perfect, and what none can circumvent. His power is infinite, and none can resist him. His riches are immense and inexhaustible. His majesty is infinitely awful.

Things around the congregation are full of hustle and bustle as we make the turn into the regular programmatic year, and there are plenty of places for you to get involved, share your gifts, and be encouraged in your walking with Jesus Christ. Check out our church calendar here, and you can subscribe to categories for your own calendar if you are using Google Calendar.

We are very excited to be working towards hosting our first family as a part of our participation with Family Promise of Forsyth County.

Grace House Preschool opened its doors this week to new and returning students, and it is always an encouragement to see those young, happy faces learning and playing. Some how the building feels more ‘homey’–if you know what I mean.

Lastly, Wednesday nights begin on September 23. Middle and High Schoolers will meet from 6-7:30pm, Grace Kids (K-5) will meet from 6:30-7:30pm, and a class on finance and money management will be offered for Adults from 6:30-7:30. We hope to see you there.