Christmas is going to be very different this year. We aren’t sure what it will look like, but it will be different.

Family traditions of the season are very important. For many years Focus on the Family has encouraged families to develop traditions around Advent and Christmas. Before James Dobson retired from Focus he often talked about his family’s tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas day. That’s not my tradition. I go for the turkey. It’s easier. But hey, they ate Chinese in the movie A Christmas Story, so why not?

This year, however, traditions will be changed. And some of us may feel the absence of those traditions very sharply.
So let me make a simple but I think important suggestion. Develop something new. Make it a practice, throughout the seasons of Advent and Christmas, to deliberately and repeatedly focus on what Christmas is all about.

That suggestion is no surprise to you, so may I give you some specifics. First, a few seasonal details. Advent begins Sunday Nov. 29 this year and ends on Christmas Eve. It includes 4 Sundays. Christmas day begins the “twelve days of Christmas” season. That’s right, its not just a song, it’s a season, from Christmas Day to January 6, Epiphany. The visit of the Wise Men is celebrated on Epiphany.

Each week will focus on a scripture that is connected to worship at this time of year.
Nov. 29 and throughout that week read and reread, Isaiah 11:1-9. Advent means the King is Coming. What GREAT HOPE! The shoot of Jesse is Jesus. Notice how Jesus is described and what he will do when he comes. Make a list of both things, adding something each day.

Dec. 6. The king is COME. What GREAT JOY! Read Isaiah 9:1-7. Notice that light shines because a Son is born. Write down who the Son is.

Dec. 13 Jesus is God in flesh, What GREAT REDEMPTION! Read Isaiah 53:1-12. How is Jesus’ sacrifice described and what does it do?

Dec. 20 Jesus is with me. What GREAT STRENGTH. Read Isaiah 7:13, 14 and Matt 1:18-18. What does Emanuel mean... to you?

Dec 25 Jesus Christ is born! Read Luke 2:1-20. If you have kids, get them together AFTER the gift frenzy and read it together. Remind everyone on Christmas Day that Jesus’ birth is what we are celebrating.

You may miss seeing the relatives, but you may your sense of joy strengthen, as you focus on Christ at his birth.

​God bless you,
    ~Pastor Byron

Dear Friends – On July 19 Grace suspended in person worship for the second time. This was in response to Gov. Wolf’s renewed restriction of group meetings to 25 or less. I know many are missing in-person worship, and want very much to return to our sanctuary. The Worship Committee adopted a plan to do that on Sunday, Sept 27.

Here is an outline of the reasoning behind the suspension of in-person worship and the proposed date of our return:

• Gov. Wolf reinstated restrictions limit gatherings to 25 people or less.
• Churches were exempted from this restriction, but COVID-19 does spread in church gatherings.
• We chose to err on the side of caution rather than increase the possibility that worshipers could become seriously ill or even die.
• The Corona Virus is in Venango County. Though the spread has been slow we can’t ignore mitigation practices and expect that slow spread to continue.
• Because of the love of Christ the church has a responsibility to do what we can to limit further spread of C-19, perhaps even more than other organizations.

​
At this writing, I haven’t received any additional instructions regarding C-19 from Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi. Congregations have been urged to make their own decisions based on all the risk factors and mitigation practices.

The plan to resume in-person worship on September 27 is based on the Oil City Area School District’s plans for the beginning of school. OCASD students will be separated into two groups. Beginning September 1 half of the students will attend in-person classes for two days while the other half attends cyber classes. Then the second half will attend in-person for two days while the first group attends cyber classes. If this plan successfully limits COVID, OCASD will resume in-person education 5 days per week for all students on September 28.

The Worship committee felt that if OCASD can successfully resume in-person education, it will be safe enough for Grace to resume in-person worship at the same time. Therefore, the first in-person worship is set for September 27.

​We will, of course, continue televised and online worship each week. I am so grateful to our TV team for their diligent work.

Thank you for your understanding and support. Continue to pray for an end of this pandemic. God hears even BIG prayers. And continue to support one another. Make a phone call to members who may be experiencing loneliness. Pay special attention to shut-ins and anyone who is ill. And please continue to support your church financially.
www.graceoilcity.org

We will get through this with God’s help.
​  ~ Pastor Byron

Dear Friends –

Acts 8:1-4 reads “And Saul approved of their killing (Stephen). On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  (2) Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.  (3) But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.  (4) Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

Notice the word “scattered” in the first verse. It was a tragedy, the first great persecution of the church, that caused Christians to leave Jerusalem. The result of the scattering was that disciples spoke the word of Christ wherever they went (not the apostles - they remained in Jerusalem.)
The faith was spread in new ways, to new places when the church was scattered.

We are a scattered church, too. We can’t gather in our building to worship, meetings for Sunday school, choirs, Bible study, youth, Super Seniors, and Family Life are all canceled. Some of us are still working, others are laid-off and at home for more hours than we’d like. We are scattered, but we do not cease to be the church just because circumstances prevent us from meeting. Instead, we can learn, as did the first believers, to blossom where we are planted.

Admittedly, sharing Christ is restricted because we aren’t at the Y, or Belle Lettres, or other familiar haunts. But what if we took this time to build some relationships so that as the reopening progresses we will have some standing on which to offer Christ?

Here are just some thoughts:

• Bake cookies and take them to your neighbors in sealed plastic bags just to say “Hi.”
• Make soup and share that with your neighbors in a safe container.
• If you have some extra time, mow someone’s lawn or trim their hedges for free.
• Call families who live around you just to ask how they are.
• ​If you are going to the grocery store offer to pick up milk or bread for a neighbor.

The idea is to reach out in new ways. Because we are all feeling isolated it will be appreciated. And because this is a unique situation it won’t seem weird, but kind.

Then pray and look for a chance to share Christ. Apply Ken Wilson’s strategy to make an opportunity.

When the first church was scattered by tragedy the gospel was spread to new people. We are scattered too. Let’s take advantage of the opportunities this presents.
​
     ~ Pastor Byron

Dear Friends –
For so many of us, this has been the strangest Easter of our lives. Who would have
thought we would not only spend Easter Sunday at home, but the entire month of April!
As you know, families are educating their kids at home; college students are trying to
finish classes online that were designed to be in person; many of us are working at
home; our favorite restaurants are out of bounds; and our friends must be kept at a
safe distance.

We are worshiping from home. I have long been grateful for the visionaries who
launched the TV ministry so many years ago. Now, that ministry is vital for all of us.
Thank you to all the TV ministry volunteers who have given dedicated service over
many years and who now are keeping our church worshiping together.

In this strange environment you may feel like you are drifting. Waiting for the shutdown
to end, you may have put your life on hold, to be resumed only when things open
again.

Yet, regardless of our circumstances life goes on. What we are doing, how we spend
our time and effort, who we call, text or email, all this IS life right now. It is different
from everything we have experienced before, but it is life none the less. And that
means we Christians are called to live it for the Lord.

Colossians 4:5 includes this exhortation: “Make the most of every opportunity.” Make
the most of the time you have. Make the most of the moments you are given, make
them count.

One of the dangers all Christians face is to think of unplanned situations as interruptions
to life rather than life itself. But while it is good to have goals and to make plans,
remember life happens while we are planning something else.

Hopefully though that changes our perspective on our present reality. A new point of
view encourages us to see that this situation allows us to actually do things that our
“normal” schedule would prohibit.

This is especially true of our practice of spiritual disciplines. Are you watching more TV?
Then this is an opportunity! Put down the remote, pick up your Bible. Read the
passion, death and resurrection accounts in all the gospels. Turn what you read into
prayers. (Lord, you called your disciples to watch and pray. Teach me to do the same
each day. Amen. Lord, Peter denied you when he felt threatened. Help me to remain
faithful when I might feel embarrassed by acknowledging my faith in you. Amen.)

Spend time with the Lord while you can. You might find this interruption has been a
great opportunity in disguise.

— Pastor Byron

Dear Friends,

​Winter months can be long and dreary. Heavy clouds carry snow and rain, blocking out the sun. And its cold! And wet! And you’ve got to put on coats, hats, gloves, scarves and boots and you’re still cold. There is even a winter condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder - a depression related to lack of sunlight.

Getting through the dark weeks of winter can be tough.

Psalm 42:11 asks a poignant question: “Why, are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” It’s part of the human condition to become downcast. Some develop a more serious, clinical depression that may required medication, but everyone faces that downcast feeling.

Part of my downcast-ness, is from just trudging through day after day. When I’m in the middle of that, I will find myself walking down the alley on my way to the church on a beautiful, if rare, winter day. The sky is blue, the air is a little warmer, even the wind feels refreshing rather than freezing. But I still have my head down, picking my way through the slush. I’ve discovered that if I stop, look up, and let the sun shine on my face, something inside wakes up, like daffodils breaking through the snow.

So I suggest you break it up a little. Change up the way you trudge through these weeks of cold. If you aren’t outside from day to day, step out on your front porch and just breath. If you are home day after day, go somewhere. Make a point of watching for a good day, and taking the opportunity to go somewhere just to get out. It will feel like someone has broken a layer of ice off your soul.

In the movie, A Family Thing, Robert Duvall plays a man named Earl. Earl discovers that though he grew up with his white father, and his own skin is white, his real mother was a black woman. Earl goes to find his black family and meets his nephew, Virgil. Virgil is a young man with a grudge, hating every moment and everyone. Earl says to him, “There was a man in my town who owned a fix-it shop. He hardly made any money, but every month he would take his wife to the city and buy her something, a scarf, a new dress, something. As the trip got closer he had a light in his eye. After ten years or so his wife died. But he was approved to adopt a little boy. It started all again. Every fourth week they took a trip, and he bought the boy a toy or something. One day I asked him about it. He said, ‘Being happy ain’t nothing more than having something to look forward to.’” Then Earl said, “You need to find something to look forward to.”

Sometimes we need to find something to look forward to. So make a plan, build a hope, and smile even though it’s dark. 
     ~Pastor Byron