The Family Table

LEFC Christmas Party: Next Sunday!

Join us after church next Sunday, December 7th. for a Christmas party! Lunch will be provided as we enjoy fun games and activities together and hear about ideas for celebrating the season of advent in your home. Your family won’t want to miss out!

This Week’s Challenge

If you’re like me (Jordyn), Christmas music has probably already filled the air in your home or car this year. But, have you noticed that the majority of the songs we hear the most frequently are often secular? While there is nothing wrong with listening to these, and many are fun, enjoyable, beautiful, and festive, I have had to take notice of what songs my boys are hearing the most during the Christmas season. While I love hearing them sing “Jingle Bells,” I want to be sure that songs celebrating our Savior’s birth are being etched into their minds even more. This week’s challenge is to incorporate hymns and songs about Jesus’ birth into your family’s Christmas playlist this year, and better yet, sing them together!

Not sure where to find some good music? Check out one of these:

This playlist, featuring modern Christmas worship music with a few hymns mixed in.
Shane & Shane’s playlist.
This playlist by Anthem Lights.
A mix of just about every Christmas hymn, found in this playlist.

Kids Christmas Presentation

All kids age Preschool – Grade 6 are invited to participate in a combined Adult Choir & Kids Christmas Presentation taking place during the morning worship service on Sunday, December 21st. Join us as we share the Nativity Story with songs, costumes and action!

Practices will be every Sunday from now – December 14th during the first 15 minutes of Kids Bible Class time in the prayer room. Dress rehearsal for both kids and adults will be on Saturday December 20th at 9:00am. If you have any questions, see Vicky Albert or Amy Jo Belko.

Youth Group Schedule

Youth Group is currently on a break, with the next meeting being December 14th. Would your student still like to engage on Sunday nights? Check out the pop-up class being led by Keith Hurley on Sunday evenings!

Send Pastor Matt Your Kids’ Sports & Activity Schedules

Winter sports will soon be here! Pastor Matt loves to drop in to see the kids of our church family play their sports, but he need to know when and where the games are. It’s hard to keep track of who is on what team.  Please send him your kids’ sports schedules for the new season so he can spend some quality time with your family. He is also interested in attending concerts, recitals, competitions, dramas, and musicals!

“Ezekiel Gave Hope” Kids Bible Class Devotional

You have free access to a family devotional based on the curriculum our kids are studying each week in KBC! It’s called “The Gospel Project at Home.” Today’s Bible Study is “Ezekiel Gave Hope” (Volume 5: Unit 15: Session 5), and the devotional can be found at this link.

Visit the Family Ministries page on our website for information about how to access The Gospel Project at Home for the first time.

And for Dessert…

This week’s recommendation for family discipleship is the LEFC Family Advent Readings for 2025.

For the last quarter of a century, I (Pastor Matt) have been writing a set of readings each Advent season for the church family to use in worship and family devotions. Each year I pick a new theme and write four short readings to correspond to each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. This year, the theme will be “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” inspired by the classic carol by Charles Wesley, first published in 1774.

Wesley’s hymn beautifully captures the eager anticipation that believers in the Old Testament had for the Messiah to come and, at the same time, the longing we followers of Jesus have now for His return. We are waiting for Him to arrive and bring ultimate freedom from fear and sin, rest from our enemies, and His eternal kingdom.

It’s a prayer for Jesus to come, which is what the word “advent” means. That’s why every reading begins, “Advent means coming.”

On Sunday mornings during worship, a different family unit stands up front each week, reads the short devotional, and lights the appropriate candles. You could do the same thing at home! I would recommend singing this carol every week or playing different renditions from a streaming service. [Here’s a nice one with a Celtic feel.]

We did that when our kids were little on Sunday evenings during Advent. Heather would pull out a wreath and stock it with fresh candles, and we’d repeat the reading from church that morning (taking turns as they grew in their abilities to read). After the reading, we’d sing a related Christmas carol. Sometimes we would ask each other questions about the meaning of the Scripture in that reading. Sometimes we’d ask everyone to talk about how it applies to our lives today.

This is a very simple way to prepare your family’s hearts for Christmas. Ready-made short devotions for family worship that emphasize the coming of Christ.

On Christmas Eve, my sermon at the LEFC Candlelight service (7pm) will (hopefully) pull the readings all together and remind us of who King Jesus truly is, what He has done, and what He will do when comes back to bring the kingdom of kingdoms. We may have to wait for it in long-expectation, but we have so much to hope for.

I think it would be great if those gospel truths were reinforced in every one of our LEFC families’ homes so that we all, young and old, pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Jordyn Skacel, Director of Family Ministry
Matt Mitchell, Pastor

P.S. Want a set of video LEFC Advent Readings? Back in 2020 when the pandemic was heaviest, we had families record them on camera in their homes including the Crumrines and J. Quicks (and check out Pastor Matt’s “Covid beard.”)!