BRANCHES December 2015

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SOUTHWOOD overview CONTENTS 3 pastor's note BRANCHES DESIGNER Phillip Lackey CONTRIBUTORS Will Spink Sarah Niemitz James Parker Niña Banta Nicole Lucas Barbie Sumner PHOTOS Phillip Lackey Winnie Winford Nicole Lucas FEEDBACK! We want to hear from you! Please send your suggestions and comments to branches@southwood.org 1000 CARL T. JONES DRIVE | HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35802 (256) 882-3085 | WWW.SOUTHWOOD.ORG ADVENT READINGS IN THE GUEST CENTER CHURCH STAFF NIÑA BANTA Director of Children ELIZABETH BUTZ Receptionist JANICE CROWSON Director of Facilities/Finance KIM DELCHAMPS Administrative Assistant TERRI GOOD Accountant/Bookkeeper PHILLIP LACKEY Graphic Designer NANCY McCREIGHT Assistant Director /Children/Nursery SARAH NIEMITZ Director of Community Development/Assimilation JAMES PARKER Chief Musician MELISSA PATTERSON Interim Administrative Director WILL SPINK Associate Pastor/Shepherding WINNIE WINFORD Assistant Director/High-Life BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD: AN ADVENT NARRATIVE BY RUSS RAMSEY Drawing from the hallowed pages of Scripture and with an eye toward both wonder and ground-level detail, Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative brings to life the people, the places, and the earth-shaking significance of the greatest story ever told—the true tall tale of the coming of Christ. COVER PHOTO James Parker playing piano in the sanctuary USES ADVENT WREATH! 4 session update Keeping you informed 5 christmas family traditions Recounting Christmas traditions past and present 6 the word became flesh Christmas devotionals about the incarnation 8 fa la lodge An exegesis of a yuletide carol 9 fall retreat 2015 Photo montage 10 incarnational ministry Reflecting Christ in our lives 11 all that is fair Surprise Ending UPCOMING EVENTS No Christian Education December 20 & 27, January 3 Fa La Lodge December 20 at 5:30 and 7:30pm Christmas Eve Services December 24 at 5:30 and 7:00pm Express Grace Conference January 16 and 17 PREPARE HIM ROOM: CELEBRATING THE BIRTH OF JESUS FAMILY DEVOTIONAL BY MARTY MACHOWSKI This brand new, four-week devotional guides your family on an unforgettable Advent journey, exploring some of the most wonderful prophecies in the Bible and how God fulfills them in Christ. Prepare Him Room helps you build family Christmas traditions around Christ. The memorable and meaningful activities, songs, and stories of Prepare Him Room will become the fabric of your family's Christmas memories. USES THE JESSE TREE! 2 DECEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG UNWRAPPING THE GREATEST GIFT BY ANN VOSKAMP Person by person, story by story, retrace the lineage of Jesus. Fall in love with Him all over again as you experience God’s plan of salvation for us―from the Garden of Eden to the manger and beyond. This book is a gift your whole family can unwrap each day leading up to Christmas! Preschool Calendar Included THE CHRISTMAS PROMISE BY ALISON MITCHELL A captivating retelling of the Christmas story showing how God kept His promise to send a new King. Superb illustrations by Catalina Echeverri and faithful, Bible-centered story-telling by Alison Mitchell combine to make this a book that both parents and children will love. This book helps pre-school children discover exactly how God kept His Christmas Promise.
PASTOR’S NOTE What Child Is This? There is some mystery and excitement around the birth of any baby. Boy or Girl? What will the parents name the child? How will the child’s life go as he grows up? Whom will the child look like and act like? It is such a special day—and that new life is so special—that we celebrate the birthday every year for perhaps even 100 years. But we are still celebrating today the birth of one child over 2,000 years ago. In fact, in a variety of unique ways, his birth will be celebrated around the world once again this year. In many ways it’s fair to say that his birth and life altered the course of world history— as both those who follow him and those who don’t have acknowledged. In light of these realities, the question asked by the traditional carol seems quite appropriate: “What Child Is This?” What did the parents name the child? More significantly, what is it that makes this child so special? That’s what we want to take some time to ask during our sermon series this December. We want to look at the identity of Jesus and see what God’s Word proclaims about this unique child. In particular, we’ll use Isaiah’s prophecy as our launching point—where Isaiah famously writes of the promised child to come, “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). We’ll look at each of those four titles and ask what they tell us about the child born that first Christmas and how we see those titles expressed in the life of Jesus as he grows up. If there is another question more important than “Who is Jesus?”, however, it may be “Who is Jesus to me?”. I don’t mean by that question that each of us gets to define Jesus in our own terms and make him whoever we would like him to be; that would be more ridiculous than each of us getting to have our own name for any other baby! We don’t unilaterally decide his identity and make him whatever we want him to be. We do, however, have to decide how we personally respond to who Jesus is. That’s what I mean by the question “Who is Jesus to me?”. It’s the difference between merely identifying someone as a great chef and actually tasting and savoring the food he has cooked. It’s the difference between merely identifying Jesus as the Prince of Peace and actually experiencing him as one who brings peace in your heart and life. I hope you’ll join us for this exciting study of the identity of the baby in the manger. More than that, I hope you’ll consider as we go what the identity of Jesus means in your own life. There are no more important questions to answer. Will Spink Associate Pastor If you would like to contact Will, use the following: will.spink@southwood.org @WillSpink I’m really excited about this time together because I love Christmas in general, because I’ve always loved Handel’s Messiah and having these names of Jesus ring in my ears, and particularly because I’m not sure there’s any more important question for us to ask and answer than the question of the identity of Jesus—“What Child Is This?”. For thousands of years, individuals and world religions have offered different answers to that question, and it is one well worth our time to consider. DECEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG 3
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BRANCHES December 2015

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