Coming Up Sunday, January 23

On Sunday, we'll continue our series "Echoes of Comfort and Joy," exploring how we can keep the Christmas spirit throughout the year. In "Unshaken Consolation," we'll consider Paul's teaching preserved at the beginning of 2 Corinthians, in which he tells the struggling and fractious church in Corinth: "Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation" (2 Corinthians 1:7).

Beginning with inspiration from another popular Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," we will consider how the anxieties and afflictions of our lives threaten the spirit of comfort and joy that most of us enjoy during our Christmas celebrations. We will consider how our faith affects this, both in understanding our challenges and appreciating the hope we have through Christ.

In addition to the sermon on Sunday, we will have a special prayer time as part of the global Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We will again pray Jesus' prayer, recorded in the gospel of John, that "all may be one" through faith.