​SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

SUNDAY SERVICE
​December 8, 2024
11:00AM

Make Ready

Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj, preaching
​
Sunday's Bulletin
​Lighting of the Advent Candle
​

Mr. John Strybos, Music Director, Organist


​
Choir: Robert Orbach,
​ Jesse Malgieri,
Julia Suriano,
Lauren Mitchell, Susie Reisinger

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!
Upcoming Events

All are welcome, admission is free.
For more information send an email to
[email protected]

Next Showing
Saturday
​December 7, 2024
It Happened on Fifth Avenue

Pot Luck dinner at 6 PM
Movie at 7 PM

Don DeFore, Ann Harding and Charles Ruggles star in this comedy from 1947 about the second richest man in the world who leaves his mansion on Fifth Avenue every year to spend the winter in the South.
​ While he is away, two homeless men and a dog occupy is his home, with more "guests" arriving to spend the winter there, including even the owner himself. ​

CHRISTMAS IS HERE!
​CONCERT


Kelly Guerra Sedgwick (mezzo soprano)
and ERIC SEDGWICK (pianist)
​will give a Christmas Concert
​at West Center
at 2 o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, December 15th.​

The program will also include the singing of familiar carols,
led by John Strybos, the organist & director
of music at West Center Church.

There will be a reception with light refreshments
following the concert.
The concert is open to all with free admission.
(Donations gratefully accepted)


TOYS FOR KIDS!

Once again, our Board of World Service is sponsoring a collection of
Toys, Games and other Gifts
for needy Children of All Ages.

The gifts will be distributed by the
Salvation Army in Yonkers.

Please bring your unwrapped gift to
West Center Church by
Sunday, December 8, 2024,
So that our gifts can be distributed in time for Christmas!

If you want to give a monetary donation, please make your check payable to
West Center Congregational Church and note
“Toys” on the memo line.


​Make Ready

Short Sermon
​Rev. Dr. Chris Ponnuraj, Preaching
​
On the second Sunday of Advent, we will be meditating on how to prepare the way for the Lord? When God comes to us, He will transform and renew our Lives. God has a solution for all our problems. God wants us to grow spiritually. God could do something about the people, places, and possessions in their lives. Let us remember that God could fix all our problems, but we fail to recognize and ask Him for help. Please note God does not just fix the external problems we face; He wants to change us from the inside out. We must allow God to make spiritual transformation in our lives.

The gospel reading for the second Sunday of advent is taken from St. Luke 3:1-6, which explains to us about how to be ready or prepare the way for the coming of the Lord? In ancient times, when a king was to visit a city, a messenger would go before, telling the people to get ready. The people of that city would then get busy preparing the road along which the king would travel.

In verses 4 and 5 St. Luke rewrites in his gospel what was written in the book of Isaiah the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.” Isaiah prophesied there would be a messenger, who is John the Baptist, sent by God to warn the people to get ready to welcome the Messiah.

John the Baptist’s message was plain, but not easy. His instructions were clear, yet difficult. God created man to be perfect and a reflection of His glory. Everything He has ever done, is doing or will ever do in the future is done so He might be glorified. But mankind has sinned and marred God’s image. Human beings are no longer a reflection of God’s glory. We have exchanged the glory of God for our own glory.

Today Christ is speaking to you through this message, and He wants to come into your life. He has announced His coming; but are you willing to make the necessary preparations? John preached “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” In other words, he preached that those who claimed to be ready for the king were going to do more than say so, there would be an obvious outward display of repentance and faith.

There are valleys to be filled, valleys of depression, despair, loneliness, grief, pain, any of which can keep us from the rich relationship the Savior offers and that keep us from enjoying the fellowship of the faith. There are crooked places to be made straight. Yes, there is perversity, even among those we might never imagine. Fine exteriors mask rotten interiors of abuse, neglect, and immorality, even violence.

There are rough places to be made smooth, rough places that have come because of oppression and injustice. There is work to do! God needs voices to speak for Him in the wilderness in which we live. We are needy people living in a world of other needy people, people who need encouragement, people who need direction, people who need to hear from others about a faith that stays with them through really hard times, a faith that makes a difference. Here is God’s method.

Here is His way of working among us. Perhaps today you have placed your faith in Christ, but you have never demonstrated your desire to live for Christ by being baptized. Come today and follow the Lord in baptism. Others of you have been saved for years and years, but there are potholes in your life that need to be filled. There are high places in your life that need to be leveled; crooked places that need to be refocused or rough areas of your life that need to be submitted to Christ. It is time for you to come out from the privacy of your pew and act!

When John the Baptist preached that we need to raise the valleys, he was saying that we all have areas in our lives that are in decline; where we have fallen short and are living far below God’s standard for us. These low areas may come about because of neglect of our spiritual lives, neglect of our family lives, neglect of relationships, disobedience, unconfessed sins, failure, hurt, un-forgiveness or any other things that haunts us.

​If you would like to learn more,
about how to “Make Ready” to meet the Prince of Peace,
​please join us in our worship on Sundays at 11:00 AM.

Peace!
Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj

CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS

​If you like to donate poinsettia plants
​ ($20.00 for each plant) for this Christmas,
please add your name to the signup sheet in Bodge Louge and give your money to Ms. Georgia LaBlanc on or before 12/15/2024.
Or you can
​Mail a check or make a donation through
your online banking service.
Make the donation to: West Center Congregational Church.
101 Pondfield Road West Bronxville NY 10708
​

Your Donations help us to continue with
our Missions during these trying times!

View other ways to donate to West Center.


​Contact us:

Church Office: 101 Pondfield Road West,
Bronxville, NY 10708
Email: [email protected]
​Phone: (914) 337-3829