Montgomery City Church of the Nazarene

God of Christmas Past and Christmases to come, Protect us from a celebration where you are not the reason. Remind us in every tradition, gift, and activity That we have come to worship You. Take our stable-homes and make them new birth places... For your transforming work. Whatever we are missing this year Fill that space with more of You That we may know a joy we cannot make for ourselves. Though we know the end of the story, Let us see its beginning with fresh eyes To take us deeper into the miracle reach You mastered to give us Jesus in human flesh. And when this day is over, May we leave like shepherds Who could not keep the Great Gift to themselves. Amen. by Debbie Salter Goodwin

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. Luke 2: 6 Today we celebrate the day before Christ came. It is the day Mary and Joseph entered crowded Bethlehem. It is the day they tried to find lodging more difficult than they expected. It is probably the day Mary began to feel the baby turning, restless, beginning a new journey.... It is the day before for us, too. The day you finish preparations. The day you may also find that some things don’t come together like you planned. It is the day you find substitutions. It is the day you hope that everything you have done will work. But the most important thing you can do this day before is to be ready for Jesus before you are ready for family or food, presents or anything else you expect Christmas to bring. This is your day to find a stable moment, when you ponder anew what the Almighty can do and remember that a perfect Christmas is always the one where your heart makes room for Jesus. A Simply Christmas Strategy Examine anything that pushes you to rush today. Prioritize carefully to allow for the unexpected that God wants to bring to your Christmas. Listen carefully for the unspoken needs of your family and make sure your day makes room for them. To emphasize your heart’s readiness to simply celebrate Christmas, repeat the simple prayer often, Come, Lord Jesus. by Debbie Salter Goodwin

Nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:35 When Mary wanted more details about these changes in her life, the angel settled her with the reminder that nothing is impossible with God. Remember that this message came on the heels of what God was going to do that Mary didn’t understand. This was the message sent to settle her spirit. What sounded impossible to her was possible because God was doing it. I think we sometimes get it backwards. We decide what God could do to cha...nge our circumstances. Then we attach this verse as if to remind God of its possibility. Isn’t that out of order? Instead, we need to rest in the truth that what God orchestrates is always possible. Our responsibility is to cooperate with whatever He is planning, just like Mary did. A Simply Christmas Strategy Take a long look at the stable of your nativity scene. What possibilities would you have seen there? Be reminded that simple, empty spaces become holy ground when God fills them. Isn’t that what you want this Christmas? Then, leave some stable space for Him to do His impossible work. by Debbie Salter Goodwin

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 3:11 What supports your life? Your career? Your family? Your finances? God says--not strong enough. While those components belong to the structure you’re building. they will never substitute for a foundation. Any homeowner knows that cracks in a foundation is a serious problem that will take more than wish and prayer to fix.... God sent Jesus into the world so that we could build our lives on a sure foundation. It is a foundation that lasts the test of time, economic depression, stock market plunge, war, divorce, job loss, disease, or anything else that threatens to take away our stability. This is no small gift during these days because it feels like so much of what we depended on is shaking from the core and ready to implode. We must gather this Christmas to sing: On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground IS sinking sand. The sure foundation has come! Don’t expect anything else to last stronger or longer. A Simply Christmas Strategy Think about how you want to retell the story that reinforces the foundation Jesus came to share. Tell it with a nativity scene. Use Christmas cards or pictures from a Bible Story book. Sing it in a carol or two. Do whatever fits your family to make the story come alive. by Debbie Salter Goodwin

How will this be? Luke 1:34 Mary makes a change here in the way she processes the angel’s message about becoming pregnant. There is no why in her question. Only how. She’s turned a corner more quickly than we do. She has accepted the strange news. She doesn’t understand it, but she isn’t fighting against it. How questions will always take us further than why questions. How questions give us something to do, something to hold on to. Why questions lead us down rabbit ho...les searching for answers out of our reach. What could happen this Christmas for you and your family if you ask God, How will Christmas come this year, in this pandemic? How has an openness to it where why easily disintegrates into a whine. Try more how questions and see if there aren’t more answers to your prayers. A Simply Christmas Strategy Ask your how questions today. Ask how of yourself as well as God. How should we celebrate? How much should I decorate? How can I involve my family in the meaning of Christmas? See what wonderful opportunities wait on the other side of How. by Debbie Salter Goodwin

Mary was greatly troubled. Luke 1:30 Mary heard the words of the angel, that the Lord was with her. She took them first as a warning that something more was coming. They troubled her before they comforted her. We are not unlike Mary. We trouble easily. Something unexpected pushes us off balance, like this pandemic. We know how do to do what we plan and expect, but nobody plans for what will change what they want.... Today we are asking questions about what these strange times mean, what we are waiting for, and what will happen when this great cloud lifts. We are troubled. Remember that the angel did not leave Mary troubled. He left her favored, held, loved, strengthened, and called for a special purpose. If you are troubled today, don’t just throw yourself into Christmas chaos; keep listening so that the message God has for you today can take you to the next step. A Simply Christmas Strategy Remember last December when your calendar filled up quickly? Think about how much unscheduled time you have this year compared to last. How does God want to fill those empty places this year? Whenever you are troubled because of what you can’t do, ask God to help you remember what you can do. by Debbie Salter Goodwin

Jonesburg Elementary honored their Kiwanis Terrific Kids. The Terrific Kids is a student-recognition program that promotes character development, self-esteem an...d perseverance. Terrific is an acronym for Thoughtful, Enthusiastic, Respectful, Responsible, Inclusive, Friendly, Inquisitive and Capable. This program is sponsored by the Montgomery City Kiwanis Club. See more

Mary was going about her business on an ordinary day when her life changed. Nothing was normal after her angel visit. She was misunderstood, questioned, rejected, and judged. And yet, this visit from God’s messenger was the stabilizer she needed when everything in her world turned upside down. The Messenger knew where to start: The Lord is with you. If Mary could believe these words, if she could apply them to every question and assault, she would find a security and bala...nce that did not come from her circumstances. In these days when we live with so many words that steal normal, divide us, scare us, and change what we never thought would change; we need to hear words that settle and restore. There are none better than . . . The Lord is with you! The High King of Heaven is with you. The eternal Father, Son, and Spirit is with you. The never-sleeping watchman, the ever-present Helper, He is with you. This is the Advent message we need right now. There is no place where this message doesn’t bring healing, purpose, or security. Looking for what we need from any other place, person, or tradition will keep us fretful and unhappy. The Lord is with YOU! You, as you take new purpose in this season of waiting. You, as you make this your morning mantra and evening lullaby. He is with you to lead you to a place where your heart can worship, maybe not in gathered places like before, but in simple stable form, where the surroundings are not like you have always known. Where you let God fill the space with His presence before you expect that any added decoration or activity will make a bigger difference. This is the year of Simply Christmas. This is the year when you do things differently, but with a new purpose that gives space for God to add what He knows you need. As we walk with Mary this week, be reminded that in the middle of her simple life, her simple faith took her to new place where God brought all the extras. Can He do it again? For me? For you? Of course He can. A Simply Christmas Strategy At a family meal, talk about Mary’s understanding of the Lord is with you as she faced everything different. Go around your family circle and say, the Lord is with YOU. Commit to sharing this statement during the week with anyone who is having a hard time. By Debbie Salter Goodwin

Join the livestream for The Return: Next Generation!

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER EXTENDS AN INVITATION TO ALL MONTGOMERY COUNTY CHURCHES! The Return Saturday, September 26 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. ... (doors open @ 7:30 a.m.) REACH Church (100 Chamber Road, Montgomery City) Snacks and lunch provided See more

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. Matthew 1:23 Christmas is a fulfillment of everything God had been trying to say to our world. We live in the fulfillment of how Jesus made God’s promises come true. But do we live there fully?... Joseph reminds us that God’s fulfillment doesn’t occur in a vacuum. God fulfilled promise after promise as Joseph simply obeyed what God asked of him. Simple doesn’t mean easy. It requires rising above expectations, traditions, control, and self-centered perspectives. But when we do, we can live the fulfillment of every promise God made to us through Jesushope, peace, love, joy. God’s promises are not empty unless we empty them. A Simply Christmas Strategy As the decorations go up, let these early days help you review how God wants to fill your Christmas full of Him. What could you change to give God more room to fill this time with something God knows you need? Remember . . . God’s promises are not empty unless we empty them. By Debbie Salter Goodwin

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him. Matthew 1:24 What Joseph dreamed was so vivid and real that when he woke up, he knew God had spoken. The dream had not been some reality broken into unrealistic pieces as many of our dreams are. This dream was a reality come to take him on a new journey. He knew in the deepest place where his mind and heart processed reality, that this dream was a call to obey. According to Matthew’s account, he ne...ver questioned it. He woke up to his new reality. He woke up to his next step of obedience. Because he took God at His word, he took Mary as wife. We need to wake up to whatever God wants to say to us this Christmas. It probably won’t come in dreams. More likely it will come as a quick nudge or a whisper to our heart. The message could ask us to take some action that feels counterintuitive or it could ask us to address some frantic push that won’t help us celebrate. Wake up! What is God asking you to do? A Simply Christmas Strategy Wake up to the reality that most of us can’t possibly accomplish everything we think we should do each day. Here’s one way to address this unrealistic thinking. For every activity we add to our normal schedule, subtract something. Make no exceptions. By Debbie Salter Goodwin