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Join us!
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SUNDAY WORSHIP
Communion Sunday December 7, 2025 11:00 AM Vision of Peace Sunday’s Bulletin Rev. Dr. Chris Ponnuraj, Preaching Mr. John Strybos, Music Director Join us for our
Friendship and Fellowship Hour after 11:00 AM service in Bodge Lounge. Come and share the joy of Christ's love with us.
All are welcome! 
Join us for the next showing January 2026 Pot Luck dinner at 6 PM Movie at 7 PM All are welcome, admission is free. For more information or to volunteer, send an email to [email protected] |
The Board of World Service will be collecting toys and games for children and young teens which will be given to the Salvation Army to distribute to children in Yonkers.
Please bring an unwrapped present suitable for children from babies through teens to the church from November 23 to December 7. Monetary gifts are also welcome; you can write a check to West Center Congregational Church, noting "Toys" on the memo line. Thank you for helping to make a kid happy this Christmas! 
November 30 through December 14
Memorial Poinsettia Plants If you would like to donate a plant to decorate the church during Advent and Christmas season which would honor a loved one or friend, please add your name to the signup sheet which will be passed around during the coffee hours.
December 21
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~ All Year Long ~
Ongoing Food Collection
The Board of World Service collects
food donations for the
Yonkers Emergency Food Pantry,
which distributes them to families in Yonkers.
Non-perishable food can be brought to the church
any Sunday and left in the large basket
in the back of the Sanctuary.
Monetary donations are welcome, too;
checks can be written to West Center Congregational Church, noting "Yonkers Food Pantry" on the memo line and can be left in the offering plate on Sunday.
With the holidays coming up sooner than we think, the stores already have displays of side dish food for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners -- how about picking up a couple of things for the Food Pantry? No matter what you can give, all donations are much appreciated!
In all the gospels, we read about John the Baptist who comes before Jesus Christ and gives the people a message to get ready for the coming Messiah.
Our gospel passage for this Sunday is St. Matthews 3: 1-12, in which we read what John the Baptist, man of God, told the people of Israel to do, to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. There are four key words that are spoken in this passage, Prepare, Confess, Repent and Produce. If we wish to fully prepare for Jesus at this Christmas time, we must heed to these words.
The first word is Prepare, when it comes to getting ready for Christmas, we immediately think about putting up the Christmas tree, hanging the colorful lights, shopping and baking, but there is one thing that must be done before anything else. You must prepare your house to accommodate these desecrations. Mostly like the places in your house where you place your snowman, your snow globes, and your Christmas tree are occupied by other materials or products during the rest of the year. So, to have space to put your Christmas stuff out, you must get the other stuff out of the way. You prepare to rearrange the things accordingly.
In our Scripture passage we are told that John the Baptist is the one whom Isaiah spoke about when he told there would be a voice calling in the desert. St. Matthew 3: 3 is a quote from Isaiah chapter 40, “A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God”. Further Isaiah declares that “every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken”.
When we look at the word prepare closely in Hebrew, we find that it refers to a clearing out. We are to clear out a way for the Lord in the wilderness and make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. This refers to the ancient near Eastern custom of sending representatives ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch. Sometimes, they would even do work on the road to make it as professional as possible. They wanted to make a road that was worthy of their King, and sometimes, that involved removing fallen trees or filling in holes to make the path as good as possible. Prophet Isaiah tells us to prepare and make our paths straight.
The second word is Confess, in verse 6 we read “and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins”. Confession can sometimes seem like such a little thing to us. After all God is all-knowing, and He knows everything we do, so why is there any need to confess? So often when we go to God in prayer, we either skip confession completely or we give some generic prayer such as, “Lord, forgive me if there is any sin in my life. That is not really a confession.
To confess means to acknowledge or admit that you have done something wrong. If you say the prayer I mentioned above, you are not admitting or acknowledging any sin. To acknowledge or admit something, you must be specific. It’s not just good enough to be general in our confession. Confession, by its very definition, requires us to be direct and specific. If you would like to learn more about the other two key words: “Repent” and “Produce”, please join us in our worship on Sunday at 11:00 AM.
Our gospel passage for this Sunday is St. Matthews 3: 1-12, in which we read what John the Baptist, man of God, told the people of Israel to do, to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. There are four key words that are spoken in this passage, Prepare, Confess, Repent and Produce. If we wish to fully prepare for Jesus at this Christmas time, we must heed to these words.
The first word is Prepare, when it comes to getting ready for Christmas, we immediately think about putting up the Christmas tree, hanging the colorful lights, shopping and baking, but there is one thing that must be done before anything else. You must prepare your house to accommodate these desecrations. Mostly like the places in your house where you place your snowman, your snow globes, and your Christmas tree are occupied by other materials or products during the rest of the year. So, to have space to put your Christmas stuff out, you must get the other stuff out of the way. You prepare to rearrange the things accordingly.
In our Scripture passage we are told that John the Baptist is the one whom Isaiah spoke about when he told there would be a voice calling in the desert. St. Matthew 3: 3 is a quote from Isaiah chapter 40, “A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God”. Further Isaiah declares that “every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken”.
When we look at the word prepare closely in Hebrew, we find that it refers to a clearing out. We are to clear out a way for the Lord in the wilderness and make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. This refers to the ancient near Eastern custom of sending representatives ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch. Sometimes, they would even do work on the road to make it as professional as possible. They wanted to make a road that was worthy of their King, and sometimes, that involved removing fallen trees or filling in holes to make the path as good as possible. Prophet Isaiah tells us to prepare and make our paths straight.
The second word is Confess, in verse 6 we read “and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins”. Confession can sometimes seem like such a little thing to us. After all God is all-knowing, and He knows everything we do, so why is there any need to confess? So often when we go to God in prayer, we either skip confession completely or we give some generic prayer such as, “Lord, forgive me if there is any sin in my life. That is not really a confession.
To confess means to acknowledge or admit that you have done something wrong. If you say the prayer I mentioned above, you are not admitting or acknowledging any sin. To acknowledge or admit something, you must be specific. It’s not just good enough to be general in our confession. Confession, by its very definition, requires us to be direct and specific. If you would like to learn more about the other two key words: “Repent” and “Produce”, please join us in our worship on Sunday at 11:00 AM.
If you would like to learn more about the other two key words: “Repent” and “Produce”,
please join us in our worship on
Sunday at 11:00 AM.
Peace!
Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj
Minister
please join us in our worship on
Sunday at 11:00 AM.
Peace!
Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj
Minister
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Contact us: Church Office: 101 Pondfield Road West, Bronxville, NY 10708 Email: [email protected] Phone: (914) 337-3829 |
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our Missions during these trying times!
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our Missions during these trying times!
View other ways to donate to West Center.