Southside Family News (December, 2014)

Our Shepherds Grant Fowler Kyle Heffley Tom Williams Lawrence Waggoner Jim Canfield Jackie Chesnutt Bill Bohannon Keith Brown Lafe Caton

Holiday Schedule

Our offices will be closed the following dates:December 24th-25th

December 31st-January 1st

However, I am now leaving the living room to go visit a friend and her new baby- her new baby who came home from the hospital on hospice care. I will be the only repre-sentative of her hometown family there to see the baby this week. The small com-fort of a familiar face is all I can offer her. And today that is what I am called to.

God calls us to simple things in simple times. He also calls us to complex things in complex times. All of this happens on His time-line. It feels like he has no respect for our plans. But I have learned that His weekly planner is probably much fuller than mine. I choose to sacrifice my schedule to work in accordance with His. I am a planner. I AM spon-taneous. I am Southside.

DON’T FORGET!!

VETERAN’S LUNCH

DECEMBER 1ST

11:30

WILD’S FELLOWSHIPHALL

Holiday Schedule

21st- Christmas Family

Fun Hot chocolate/des-

sert fellowship

24th- Christmas Eve

Service 6:00-7:00

28th- All Family Worship

ServiceNo class or Bible

Hour

31st- No Activities,Teen Lock-in

No Early Bird Class and No FellowshipMeal on December 24th and

31st

Bibles and Basketball

Tuesdays 6:30 - 8:30 In the FLC

Weekly planners are my best friend. I ask for one every Christmas. It seems I can’t stand to go a day without mapping out a To-Do List. Currently, the space reserved for January 3rd already has seven events to be recorded in my 2015 plan-ner. I live my life two weeks in the future and it has served me well for the past twenty years. But I realized some-thing; weekly planners can-not account for Spirit activity. A few months ago, I heard a speaker say, “Ministry is the interruption.” My personality tends to plan everything out and stick to the plan regard-less of what pops up. I used to think of it as perseverance. But when I heard the speaker that day, I knew I had it all wrong. God has reiterated this thought to me in many small ways since hearing it. However, today I see the bigger purpose. With my week off from work, like most, I planned to spend the holiday with friends and family.

I AM SOUTHSIDE

SYDNEY NEWSLETTER vol 1. 2020

BaptismHaven Laney

(daughter of Randy & Kara Moss)

Responses for PrayerRana Weidman

Prayer ListGrady Morris

Jim & Hazel StewartDeb Woodhouse

Carol LittleKen Jordan

Dominique Ennis

Welcome to the family!!!

Condolences

- Kyote Holliday, Travis & Melissa Phillips and David Martin family in the recent loss of Dana Holliday.

Okay, I’m not going to lie. Frankly, I’m not a big fan of Christmas. It just wasn’t much to get excited about in my house growing up. Usually, the presents just reminded me that my parents had no idea who I was, my brother’s glut-tonous behavior pushed me to consider vegetarianism, and all the driving from one house to another to visit people I saw all the time just made me tired, (intro-vert problems). So, my family isn’t re-ally close. No bad feelings or any-thing, we’re just not that in to each other. And while I love spending time with my godsons and the family I have cre-ated in my adulthood. All the driving makes me want to cry and the anxiety of trying to buy the perfect gift for some-one, (because it MUST be the perfect representation of how I feel about them, right?), makes me severely anxious. Not to mention, the music. Ya’ll! Can

we just agree that it’s, well, it’s just not that good? I think Bach was the last person to write a melody used at Christmas that isn’t an assault on my musical senses. And the only reason a tree showed up in my house is because it was a hand-me-down, (thanks Denise Martin), and Becky Brown decorated it, (okay, Keith kinda helped). And I wouldn’t have done it at

all, but people we’re accusing me of not loving the baby Je-sus and, well, that would have made my job difficult., I sup-pose. But this past year, I‘ve worked on a rhythm to my spiritual life. This has included learning about and following the Christian calendar through

liturgy, study and practice. Church, this has changed me for the better! I have found a level of peace more consist-ently than I’ve ever had. And I’m excited about this season. About focusing on Jesus’ return through meditating on what it must have been like for the Jews awaiting Messiah. There’s so much rich history out there that I’m looking forward to diving

into. I encourage you to do the same! Presents, trees, gar-land, ornaments, all these things will fade, but the spirit of God lives forev-er! May we learn to practice holy expec-tancy, reawaken the joy of anticipa-tion and rediscov-er the real purpose

of this season: God with us. Emmanuel is here and will re-turn. So call me a grinch if you must, but I hope we can all slow down and really listen to what our hearts need this Christmas: less presents. more presence.

- Shane

SYDNEY NEWSLETTER vol 1. 2020

for more infromation and upcoming activities, check out our website at....

www.familyatsouthside.org

SOUTHSIDE FAMIly:

THE HOlIDAy SEASOn IS OF-FIcIAlly UnDErwAy nOw, AnD OUr cHUrcH IS bEgIn-nIng A nEw SErIES THIS MOrnIng - cHrISTMAS PrES-EncE. THErE IS nO MAnDATE In ScrIPTUrE TO ESPEcIAl-ly HOnOr A TIME OF yEAr cAllED “cHrISTMAS.” bUT THIS TIME OF yEAr AFFOrDS US An OPPOrTUnITy - TO En-TEr InTO THAT PArT OF THE gOSPEl STOry wHErE gOD PUTS On FlESH AnD EnTErS THE HUMAn DrAMA AS IM-MAnUEl, “gOD-wITH-US.”

wHAT DOES IT MEAn THAT gOD IS wITH US? JEFF cHIlDErS IS THE ASSIS-TAnT PrOFESSOr OF THEOl-Ogy AnD cHUrcH HISTOry AT THE grADUATE ScHOOl OF THEOlOgy AT AbIlEnE cHrISTIAn UnIvErSTIy. Dr. cHIlDErS SAyS THAT In cHUrcH HISTOry, THIS TIME OF yEAr HAS bEEn AbOUT THE “cOMIngS” (PlUrAl) OF gOD InTO OUr lIvES AnD wOrlD. HE SAyS cHrISTMAS HAS bEEn A TIME OF yEAr wHErE cHrISTIAnS rEMEM-bEr THAT THE gOD wE SErvE IS nOT A DISTAnT Or rE-

MOvED gOD, bUT IS InvOlvED wITH OUr lIvES, SO MUcH SO THAT cOMES TO DwEll wITH US. Dr. cHIlDErS SAyS THIS TIME OF yEAr IS A TIME TO rEFlEcT On THE cOM-Ing OF JESUS In THE bIrTH STOrIES, THE cOMIng OF THE HOly SPIrIT TO DwEll wITHIn US, AnD THE cOM-Ing OF JESUS AT THE EnD OF THE AgE TO “rESTOrE All THIngS” (AcTS 3:21).

AnD IF gOD HAS cOME, IS cOM-Ing, AnD wIll cOME AgAIn, wHAT DO wE nEED TO DO TO PrEPArE FOr HIS PrES-EncE? I THInk THIS TIME OF yEAr IS An OPPOrTUnI-Ty. THE wOrlD ArOUnD IS TUnED InTO THIS JESUS STO-ry, AnD wE cAn TUnE In AS wEll! lET US TUrn OUr AT-TEnTIOn TO JESUS. I wrOTE A SMAll cOMPAnIOn gUIDE TO THIS SErIES THAT IS AvAIlAblE FOr FrEE DOwn-lOAD On OUr cHUrcH wEb-SITE (FAMIlyATSOUTHSIDE.Org). I wAnT TO EncOUr-AgE yOU TO rEAD IT, AnD TO EngAgE In THE “cHrIST-MAS PrAcTIcES” AT THE EnD OF EAcH cHAPTEr. THESE PrAcTIcES HElP US MAkE rOOM FOr gOD In OUr lIvES.

I DOn’T knOw AbOUT yOU, bUT I AM TIrED OF wAkIng UP THE wEEk AFTEr cHrISTMAS FEElIng lIkE I HAvE bEEn rUn OvEr by A MAck TrUck FrOM THE bUSy HOlIDAy ScHEDUlES. AnD I AM TIrED OF THE SHOPPIng SPrEES AnD THE bIg cHrISTMAS bIllS wE rUn UP TO MAkE EAcH OTHEr HAPPy wITH “MOrE STUFF.” THIS yEAr, I DOn’T wAnT All THE PrE-SEnTS. I wAnT gOD’S PrES-EncE. THIS IS AbOUT PrES-EncE. nOT PrESEnTS. JOIn US On THIS JOUrnEy, AnD SEE wHErE gOD TAkES US!

PEAcE & EvEry gOOD EnDEAvOr,

JOE JAMES

(yOU MAy PIck UP A cOPy OF THE bOOk AT THE wElcOME DESk Or cOFFEE cOnnEc-TIOnS. yOU MAy AlSO DOwn-lOAD THE PDF On THE wEb-SITE Or PUrcHASE FrOM AMAzOn FOr $1.99 AnD THE PrOcEEDS gO TO SUPPOrT ADvEnTcOnSPIrAcy.Org)

SYDNEY NEWSLETTER vol 1. 2020

lADIES nIgHT!

bIg THAnkSTO

krISTIn PAgElInDSEy MITcHEll& wEnDI HUnTEr

wHO PUT THIS All TOgETHEr!

bE On THE lOOkOUT FOr THE nExT OnE!

(rUMOr HAS IT THEy’rE DOIng cAkE POPS wITH

cHArIcE cUrTIS)

SYDNEY NEWSLETTER vol 1. 2020

SYDNEY NEWSLETTER vol 1. 2020

December’s character trait is PATIENCE

NOVEMBER 30 - The Patience of Israel (400 Years of Silence)

This is one of those “unspoken stories” in scripture. Between the pages of the Old Testament and the New Testament is a story. Often times, people who publish bible’s will place a blank page between the two testa-ments. That blank page actually says a lot. For 400 years, God’s people had not heard a word from God. No prophets. No miracles. And hope was beginning to fade. They were waiting for the promised Messiah to restore them and bring life and renewal. Think about being one of those waiting Jews in the middle of that 400 year period. Your entire life you wait and you don’t receive what you are waiting for. I once heard a theologian say that God uses silence to smash our idols. It’s like we have these expectations of God - “God should behave this way, or do that.” But he doesn’t. And just when God’s people had run out of ideas about how God should be or behave, he says, “Now! I give you my Son!”

Our memory verse today is from Isaiah 64:4 “No one has ever seen any God besides you, the God who works for those who wait for him.”

DECEMBER 7 - The Patience of Elizabeth & Zechariah

So for 400 year God’s people wait patiently in silence. And then one day, Zechariah is faithfully and dutifully doing his work in the temple and an angle comes to him and announces that the time is NOW! God is about to do his new thing, and Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are going to give birth to the Messiah’s forerunner. Elizabeth and Zechariah are getting on up in years and this seems unbelievable to him. It is understandable that Zechariah would doubt. Afterall - it has been 400 years since God ahs spoken. And they are old. How will this happen? Zechariah gets the gift of 9 months without speaking to think about how God can do things we cannot imagine possible! And when his faith becomes sight, he blurts out the God-given name for his new son, JOHN! Patience teaches us that we can trust our good God.

Our memory verse this week is Luke 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and saved them!”

DECEMBER 14 - The Patience of Joseph & Mary

Similar to the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, is the story of Jesus’ birth to Mary and Joseph. After so many years of silence, God comes to Mary and tells her he has chosen her as his humble servant to give birth to Hope in the world. Think about being Mary and Joseph. You are surrounded with accusations of scandal, the empire wants to kill your child, you are on the run, you are not welcome back home. Yet you patiently wait and trust God will redeem you. And Mary reacts with this song, and this week’s memory verse: “My soul magnifies the Lord... for the Mighty One has done great things for me!” (Luke 1:46, 49)

DECEMBER 21 - God is in the Manger

This week we will cover the actual birth narrative of Jesus. And our focus is this: “God is in the manger.” When God comes to us, in-the-flesh (Immanuel - “God with us.”), he comes in the form of helpless humanity. He becomes weak. He becomes human. God is now among us, one of us, with us. Tell the story of Luke 2:1-21 to your children with great passion. It is a really important story. All the kings and rulers of this present evil converge to kill this child. Meanwhile a small, humble group of people gather to worship their newborn King. After all these years, 400 years of silence, God has not abandoned us afterall! He is now with us! And he is our King!

This week’s memory verse is Luke 2:11, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Mes-siah; the Lord.”

Wednesday Night Schedule

4:30-Early Bird Class w/ Jack Hammond 5:30-Fellowship Meal in the Wild’s

($2/person, $5/family suggested donation)6:30-Class Time

No Early Bird Class and No Fellowship Meal the 24th and 31st.

Christmas Eve Service (the 24th) 6:00-7:00

11/2 11/9 11/16 11/23 Bible Class 289 244 227 257 Worship 517 451 425 493 Giving $15,302.55 $13,565.29 $12,188.17 $16,019.87 YTD Giving: $695,397

Southside Church of Christ919 S. Dixieland Road • Rogers, AR • 72758

(479) 636-1156www.familyatsouthside.org

Golden Age Group- TBD

Teen Events- No TNT in the month of December.- New Years’ Eve Lock-in, December 31at- Winterfest- January 17th-19th

December Events List Evening Meal every Wednesday at 5:30 - Wild’s Hall Tuesday Ladies’ Class (TLC) continues; 10 AM; Wild’s Fellowship Hall Bibles & Basketball; Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30 in the FLC

● 1st: Veteran’s Lunch at 11:30 AM in the Wild’s Fellowship Hall● 21st: Christmas Family Fun Night; 6:00 - Family Life Center● 24th: Christmas Eve Service; 6:00-7:00; Worship Center● 25th: No church activities● 28th: Family Worship @ 10am. No class. No Bible Hour● 31st: No Class or Fellowship Meal