To Remember and to Long

by Daniel Becerra

When was the last time you really looked forward to something? Perhaps it was a wedding day, a long-anticipated vacation, a family reunion, or the birth of a new child. These significant events have some common patterns. We think about them. We plan for them. We put a great deal of effort so that we are ready when that day comes. We do this because, in His infinite kindness, God has given us the gift of longing for good gifts. He wants us to long for good gifts.

And while there are plenty of good gifts, none surpass our true and better portion: the Lord Himself. If I’m honest though, I sometimes plan more for vacations than I do for eternity. Can you relate? It’s part of our broken humanity. Left to ourselves, we settle for too little.

So, what can we do? How can the season of Advent help? Allow me to suggest two ways.

1. It revives our hearts to the wonder of Christmas.

If your heart is like mine, then you can grow numb to the Christmas story. I catch it in my heart regularly. I lose my awe for what God has done in my life, and for what God has done in entering our broken world. He is a creator willing to be misunderstood and mistreated by His creation, including me and you!. He became an endangered child, an immigrant, a poor man, one who suffered a criminal’s death. In Jesus coming to the world, God fulfills His promise of crushing the enemy. The Creator rescues His creation from the very problem we got ourselves into.

Lead your heart to dwell on this: God gave it all up for the entire world, and for you and me. God loves each of us uniquely as much as He loves all of us collectively. Don’t miss how marvelous this is!

2. It points our hearts in the right direction

If your heart is like mine, then you are prone to wander. If the first part of Advent is remembrance, the second is longing and preparation. In this season, we are invited to sit in the tension of remembering God’s faithfulness even as we long for a greater, perfect future. We don’t normally do this. And so, we observe Advent because our hearts need it. In a time where we hurt so much, Advent can fill us with courage and hope. It can strengthen our weary hearts and help us live the values of the “Upside Down Kingdom.” It can help us fight for justice because we are reminded that this world is not the end. It can help us strive for purity because we know it will be worth it. And it can strengthen our resolve to make disciples because we remember He is with us always, even to the end of times.

In closing, it can be said that our city needs followers of Jesus that live in Advent season year long—disciples who remember and who long. It is the assurance of faithfulness past that help us believe and move toward a redeemed future. May we trust the Lord together for this.

Daniel Becerra is a missional team leader in greater Los Angeles with Cru. He and his wife Alice are members of Fountain of Life Covenant Church. Learn more about their ministry.

11-8-19

Meet the Pastor: Today
If you are new to FOL and want to learn more about our church, please join us in the cafeteria immediately after today’s service for a reception with Pastor John.

5000 Pies Christmas Cookies & Pies: December
5000 Pies is taking Christmas pie orders until Friday, December 20th. Pick up will be Tuesday, December 24th from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
Looking for gifts for coworkers, friends, or teachers? Look no further than 5000 Pies’ assorted Christmas cookie boxes and bags.
Order forms for pies and cookies will be at the Info Table after service!

Children’s Law Center (CLC) Gift Drive: December 15
We are partnering with CLC to provide Christmas gifts for kids in the foster system. You can participate in two ways: Purchase new toys, clothes, or board games and drop them by the Family Center before 5pm on Thursday, December 12th, or purchase items online and ship them to Myranda by December 12th (email luongm20@gmail.com for her address).

Family Center Christmas Party: December 12
The Tutoring & ESL Programs will host their annual Family Center Christmas Party in the Stephens Cafeteria on Thursday, December 12th from 5:45 – 8pm. If you are available to help with the party, please email Emily.

Tamal Class & Sales: December 14 & 15
The Well will host a tamal class for anyone interested on Saturday, December 14th at the Family Center. All money raised will go toward the Family Center remodel. Please visit the Info Table to sign up for the class (spaces are limited) and preorder tamales.

Outreach Sunday and Christmas Cookies: December 15
FOL’s Christmas outreach service is next week! Please invite family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join us. If you would like to bring cookies for the Christmas cookie bar, please sign up during or after the service.

Youth Weekly Events
Our last youth event of the year, the Middle & High School Youth Christmas Party, will be on Friday, December 13th at 7:00 pm at the Training Center!

Enjoy the Story

by Heather Larson

A few years ago, I discovered that I had stopped reading fiction. Oh, not completely, I suppose, but all the voracious and fascinated fiction-reading of my childhood and young-adulthood had been replaced by books about how to do things (parenting, writing, art, cooking). How could I have changed so much, I wondered.

Last night I read a story by George MacDonald in which a character stops reading fiction (he had been a fan of Milton and Spenser). Then he stops reading history, and eventually reads only politics and current events. He finds that “he had been growing fonder of business” which the author tells us is a bad sign for a man like him. The story made me think of that year when I realized how little fiction I had read. I, too, had grown “fonder of business”—of figuring out how I could get things done well. Feeling very responsible as a parent of young children, I gave way to the American worship of productivity and the practical. After a time, it was only attractive to read or think about things that would make me feel competent, and books that I would do something with. 

So how did God rescue me from my growing narrowness? I made some efforts to change my patterns that year, but I was not very effective—when habits have become tastes they are hard to change. God’s rescue came from my desire to read to my children. I wanted to give them the joy I’d had in stories, and reading to children seemed a responsible, practical thing to do. I did it for the children’s sake, but God used it to work on my heart. Again and again, over the years since, I have found myself crying, worshiping, or convicted. I am more alive and open to the Spirit when I have set aside self and entered into a story.

How on earth does this relate to Advent? It relates because Christmas is, above all, a time to read and enjoy a particular story: the story of Jesus’ birth. On the other hand, it is also a time of year when over-allegiance to productivity becomes very tempting. There have been Decembers when I have spent more time reading my To-Do list than my Bible. In a “To-Do” mode, it is easy to start treating Bible reading itself as a kind of productivity: checking it off a list, or feeling the pressure to wring a daily application from a very familiar text. Jesus’ story is not like the parenting and cook books; it’s not a story to do something with. It is a story to be enjoyed. We need to open up the beginning of Matthew, and the beginning of Luke, and enter in like the child with a favorite storybook. We need to lay aside self, and let the story—and the Holy Spirit—do something to us.

12-1-19

The Well Christmas Movie Night: December 6
Women of FOL: Join us for a screening of “Elf” and Christmas goodies at the Training Center on Friday, December 6th at 6:30.

Family Center Christmas Party: December 12
The Tutoring & ESL Programs will host their annual Family Center Christmas Party in the Stephens Cafeteria on Thursday, December 12th from 5:45 – 8:00 pm. The party committee invites FOL to help set up, serve food, lead crafts and games, and connect with our many Family Center families. If you are available to help with the party, please email Emily.

Tamale Class & Sales: December 14 & 15
The Well will host a tamale cooking class for anyone interested on Saturday, December 14th at the Family Center. The class will be $10/person and the tamales will be available for sale at FOL on Sunday, December 15th. All money raised will go toward the Family Center remodel. Please visit the Info Table to sign up for the class (spaces are limited) and preorder tamales.

Outreach Sunday and Christmas Cookies: December 15
FOL’s Christmas outreach service will be held on Sunday, December 15th. Please invite family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join us. If you would like to bring cookies for the Christmas cookie bar, please sign up at the Info Table.

11-24-19

Fostering and Adoption Resources: November
Are you interested in learning more about fostering or adopting? Please visit the Info Table this month to pick up local resources and chat with a FOL foster/adoptive parent.

Family Center Christmas Party: December 12
 The Tutoring & ESL Programs will host their annual Family Center Christmas Party in the Stephens Cafeteria on Thursday, December 12th from 5:45 – 8:00 pm. The party committee invites FOL to help set up, serve food, lead crafts and games, and connect with our many Family Center families. If you are available to help with the party, please email Emily (emily@folcov.org).

Tamal Class & Sales: December 14 & 15
 The Well will host a tamal cooking class for anyone interested on Saturday, December 14th at the Family Center. The class will be $10/person and the tamales will be available for sale at FOL on Sunday, December 15th. All money raised will go toward the Family Center remodel. Please visit the Info Table to sign up for the class (spaces are limited) and preorder tamales.

Outreach Sunday and Christmas Cookies: December 15
 FOL’s Christmas outreach service will be held on Sunday, December 15th. Please invite family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join us. If you would like to bring cookies for the Christmas cookie bar, please sign up at the Info Table.

Youth Weekly Events

  • High school youth meet on Wednesday evenings.
  • Middle school youth meet on Friday evenings.