South Langley Church
20098 22nd Avenue V2Z 1X4 Langley, BC, Canada

Heads up! Due to technical issues our service this morning won't be on the main Youtube Channel until later, but the service will go live at 10am at the link below! Share this link with all your friends so no one misses out. Join us for our Worship Service at 10am, or tune in at 9:30am to see Kids Church at Home! https://youtu.be/Nbt1raKgEa8

Our Virtual Choir is back with O Holy Night, featuring a special verse written for our Advent Sermon series "Present".

As you’re participating in the Christmas Eve service, don’t forget to take a photo and post it online. Tag us in the photo and put #southlangleychristmas in the description!

Christmas Eve service is online on our YouTube channel! We encourage you to set aside 45 minutes today to tune in with your household. Stay safe, and merry Christmas! #southlangleychurchonline #southlangleychristmas

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT KITS As part of our Present sermon series, we’ll be creating a Christmas ornament over the course of the Advent season. Each household gets one, and slowly adds elements to it over the course of the sermon series, as part of our livestream teaching times. On Christmas Eve, it’ll be completed and you get to hang it on your tree. Ornament kits are ready to go. If you’ve signed up to get one, you can pick it up at the office between 10 and 4. (Message us if you need to arrange another pickup time.) If you didn’t sign up, you can still get one, but contact the office before you come in. #southlangleychristmas #southlangleychurchonline

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE Sadly, this year we can’t host an on-site Christmas Eve gathering. But we have crafted a short, engaging video service designed to be viewed at home, in your living room, as part of your Christmas Eve celebration. Service will be short (about 45 minutes) and engaging for the whole family. It is designed to be participatory. Christmas Eve service will be released on our YouTube channel at 10am on Dec 24. We encourage you to watch it at whatever time works... best for you amidst your Christmas celebrations. If you have kids, you could watch it in the afternoon, perhaps with some hot chocolate. If you’re having a dinner celebration, watch it between dinner and dessert. When you watch the Christmas Eve service, do it in the same room as your Christmas tree, and have your ornament kit handy. At multiple points during the service, you will be prompted to open up one of your items and add it to your ornament. Late in the service, you’ll hang it on your tree. MESSAGE US ASAP IF YOU NEED A CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT KIT. We hope this is a blessing to you this Christmas. Like and share this post! Merry Christmas, everyone! #southlangleychurchonline #southlangleychristmas

In yesterday’s service, Alicia led us through a powerful sung-and-spoken prayer for SLC, as we move through a time of transition. The text is below. Take it and pray it yourself, if you want. #southlangleychurchonline =====... For the church who wonders, wishes, and wants between the yet and not yet, the if and the what if, in the liminal space of the unsure. May we have eyes to see the goodness of tides, seasons, and all that changes to give life. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. May we ask ourselves honestly about holding on and letting go, with sensitivity to whom the holding and letting serves. May we count cost, mourn loss, and hold strong, together. May we the church understand that no matter the season, our perceptions of tomorrow are perceptions indeed. So may we seek first to observe, listen, and love well today and everyday, for tomorrow has enough worry of its own. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. May we dare to look inward before we look outward in search of the root of a problem. Search us and know us, O God to uncover the ways we get in our own way of loving deeply. Teach us what hinders us from trying to understand those who are hardest to listen to. Keep us brave, and wise as we live in light of our learning. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Praise, praise, praise be to God! for the gift of a rooted community for whom feelings run strong and deep. May we honour the strong feelings. To not judge those feelings as they come, but to welcome and honour them with grace. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Oh Holy Spirit come, fill us with curiosity, not dread, let our imaginations guide and not tire or dry, let visions dream, not die. Oh Holy Creator, who places loving relationship above all other commands...give us eyes to see what our next best step is here, now, as we walk on shifting ground. Lord, hear our prayer.

This takes under 60 seconds, and everyone who submits a video will be entered into a draw for a Starbucks gift card. DEADLINE IS SUNDAY 8PM!

This year, many of our celebrations and occasions have been cancelled or held virtually. As a society, we’re being forced to re-examine what it means to be present. And as we come to Christmas, there’s a certain irony. Right now we’re unable to be fully, physically present with others, but we’re trying to celebrate a story of heaven intersecting with earth. We’re trying to celebrate a story about God being present with people, and people being present with God. And through i...t, we’ll find that, no matter how isolated we are, God is with us. === ORNAMENT PROJECT How you tell a story matters. We may be tempted to remember 2020 with bitterness or regret. And while it’s healthy to acknowledge both our positive and negative emotions and memories, we also want to choose to remember that even amidst a turbulent time, God was with us. In the Old Testament, when God saw them through a difficult event, Israel would often build a stone monument in the wilderness. And whenever their descendents would see that monument, it would be a reminder of a time when God was with them. We’re not going to build a monument. But in the same spirit, over the course of our Present sermon series, we’re going to create a keepsake to remind us of God’s presence in 2020. It’s a Christmas ornament. We are creating free, take-home kits which you can pick up from the church office. It starts with a clear plastic Christmas ornament. And as we work through this series, you’ll be adding items to it. Eventually, in our Christmas Eve service, you’ll complete it and hang it on your Christmas tree. We hope you’ll take part in this, and invite your friends to do so, too. Everything you need is in the kit. Reserve your kit via the link in the newsletter, or just let us know here on social media! #southlangleychristmas #southlangleychurchonline

All joking aside, please do participate in our Virtual Christmas Choir. It's going to be amazing! We need your submissions ASAP. Instructions are in the newsletter - reach out to us if you need help!

Today, further restrictions were announced for British Columbia. As a result, the following changes are immediately in effect at SLC: - Sunday services will be livestream-only, with no in-person attendees beyond our staff and livestream crew. - Office remains open, but the majority of staff work will be remote. In the building, staff and visitors must observe the new mask requirements, and answer a screening questionnaire. - All in-person events are on hold right now, includi...ng youth group and our Christmas carol sing. We continue to encourage you to: - Be good citizens and to love your neighbours by diligently and proactively complying with public health guidelines. - Exercise wisdom and caution around misinformation and rumours. - Pray for Dr. Henry, Minister Dix, our frontline workers, and the scientists researching vaccines. - Connect with each other via phone and/or online. We human beings were built for relationship, but we need to find new, safe ways to connect relationally during this time. - Reach out if you need help. #southlangleychurchonline

This is important. #southlangleychristmas