This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and when you arrive at Montclair Presbyterian for Celebration at 10:00 a.m. you will find that we have been visited by angels and poinsettias already! So even though the season of Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Christ child into the world again – it is also a season of joy and beauty made manifest in our sanctuary.

We will begin our service with a processional of the Advent wreath and then we will light the first candle – the candle of peace.

“The essence of philosophy is that a (hu)man should so live that his (or her) happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”- Epictetus

This Sunday we will spend a bit of time counting our blessings and pondering the meaning of things in our individual and common life as preparation for Thanksgiving the following week using Luke 12: 13-21 as our point of departure and a sermon entitled, “Foolishness on the Farm”.

Do join us at 10:00 a.m. with your blessings in mind!

Typhoon Haiyan presents a poignant opportunity for us as people of faith to exercise both our compassion and justice muscles. The devastation is catastrophic for cities that were in the direct path of the storm and the needs are overwhelming. Working together in times of crisis in our extended human family to pool our resources is yet another reason for “why church?” And because we regularly give to disaster ministries through One Great Hour of Sharing means that we have already prepaid the overhead for 100% of our special donations now to go directly to relief efforts.

You may also give on Sunday and write “Philippines Storm Relief” on the memo line of your check (made out to MPC). This is the work of compassion that is desperately needed for those who have been impacted.