Holy Seasons season.  They add flavor.  They preserve.  They heighten our taste.  They teach us to savor.

As we journey through this year's cycle of seasons-from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany---I invite the congregation to listen.  Sure, there's plenty to do: presents to buy, places to go, folk to host, gatherings to get to.  But the invitation is to encounter the Holy through hearing.

The God of the Bible talks a lot; and God's talking comes with a great deal of texture.  God asks, beckons, broods, shouts, whispers, commands, complains, repents, and calls.  God invites (or drafts, as the case may be) folk into the divine drama.  Jonah, for instance, would say it was a collect call!

As I pondered Advent's approach, I studied the season's scriptures and read again the words of comfort and challenge.  The prophets especially were big on calling: called to repent, called to hope, called to give care to the poor, called to hold-on.  The New Testament chimes in on this, as well.  "Harking" angels flap above sore-afraid shepherds.  "They-went-that-a-way," say the heavenly host, "So go to Bethlehem after them."  Elizabeth, Mary, John T. Baptist, Zechariah, Joseph, Anna, Simeon, the Eastern Wise Guys-all were on God's Will Call list.

So are you.

A thousand years ago, I came across an odd book edited by Will D. Campbell and James Y. Holloway.  It simply bore the name Callings!  The book contained testimonials of ordinary folk who believed in the extraordinary notion that they were called!  And I'm not talking about preachers.  I'm talking about everyday good folk who took the Bible's call/command to "be ye reconciled" and to "be reconcilers."  This is our true vocation regardless of our profession.

The thesis of Callings is: it doesn't matter to God what we do for a living...pump gasoline or preach sermon...the job doesn't matter...but what does matter is that we live our lives as reconcilers...that we work on maturing our own lives as we connect with God and others in this ole' world.  (Now that is a full-time job!)

We wish we could just leave the Baby in Bethlehem's manger as we ooh and ahh; but the Bible is pretty insistent on this call thing.  So I will try to preach about that.  Here are some hints at where the upcoming seasonal sermons are headed.  Let us make the journey together.

Called to Branch Out: Advent as Gardener
Called to Begin Again: Advent as Metallurgist
Called to Sing: Advent as Musician
Called to Testify: Christmas as Lamp-Lighter
Called to Question: Epiphany as Pilgrims

 

Joyous Toys Christmas Store---Buckhead Christian Ministry

 

Help Atlanta's children have a wonderful Christmas by supporting BCM's annual holiday program, Joyous Toys.

 

Please bring NEW, UNWRAPPED toys for children from infants to teens.  Gifts can be placed in the designated boxes in the Narthex and the Fellowship Hall. Please bring the gifts by December 6.

 
Contact: Donna McLarty  770-433-2771

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Winter Missions Offering
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship---Offering for Global Missions

 

CBF Global Missions field personnel share God's love as they minister to the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of the world's most neglected people.  From the Mississippi Delta to the Roma people of Albania to China's Sichuan province, field personnel are fulfilling CBF's vision of being the presence of Christ in the world.

 
Northside Drive's goal is $2,000.

Contact:  Barbara Atchley 770-436-0709
 
Mark your check or envelope CBF Global Missions.

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AN UPDATE ON CBF/GA

Many of you may be familiar with our mission and ministry partnership with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), but you many not realize that there is also a state-level CBF in Georgia (CBF/GA) that serves as a direct resource to partnering churches across the state.  Through the church budget NDBC contributes to CBF/GA, in addition to CBF National, so I felt it appropriate to share an update with you all on the ministry efforts of CBF/GA.

I had a chance to represent NDBC at the CBF/GA Fall General Assembly this past week in Dalton, GA.  It was a great chance to meet ministers and lay leaders from other local congregations across the state and learn about what's going on in moderate Baptist life from Blue Ridge to the Okefenokee Swamp.  This year, attendees were privileged to hear Dr. Tom Long, preaching professor at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, share pastoral insight into preaching comfort and conflict.  One of the special gifts of the meeting was attending a workshop on interfaith dialogue with the Jewish community.  One thing I learned from this session was CBF/GA's very active and ongoing efforts to dialogue with other faith traditions across the state, particularly the Jewish community.  The serious energy with which people across all generations encountered this interfaith discussion was very encouraging.

At the Dalton meeting, I was also reminded of the budget shortfall CBF/GA is experiencing this year-a reality many churches and non-profits are facing as well.  We all know the difficulty of a money crunch when we have such a passion and ideas for ministry in our communities.  That said, I would like to encourage each of you here at NDBC to better connect, in some way, with CBF/GA.  CBF/GA is a blessing to many of our efforts to connect youth across the state through sponsoring youth events such as March Mission Madness and the annual ReCharge spiritual formation retreat.  Our youth at NDBC grow through these events each year.  CBF/GA also assists with Touching Taliaferro with Love, a summer mission effort dear to the hearts of many Northside Drivers.  There are also other ways CBF/GA helps congregations across the state and beyond: disaster relief efforts, college/seminary scholarships for Baptist students, college campus ministries, lay leadership development, ministerial support and care, and many more ways.  You can visit www.cbfga.org to learn more (and you can even see some photos of Northside Drivers involved in CBF/GA ministries).

I know NDBC will continue to be blessed in the coming years by our partnership with CBF/GA, as we, too, provide a special gift and voice to our Baptist brothers and sisters across the state.

THE JOY OF GENEROSITY

By Dee and Nancy D. Davis
 
Generosity and giving are complimentary ideals which we become more intimate with the more we study the Bible, both Old and New Testament. The Bible speaks to us about money matters more than most any other topic. It makes a clear case that giving of ourselves in service and giving of our money are both expected of us as Christians. Learning these lessons become easier for us over time.
 
Recently as Nancy and I were concocting our family monthly budget we finally managed to make the budgeted amount work though we struggled from time to time not to overdraw the account. The top line expense was of course the mortgage payment since it was the largest. The rest were not ordered by amount, just randomly. Our church gifting line item was located well down the page in the middle somewhere around the "dining out expense", the "children's clothing expense," and the "vacation/travel expense." We even have an expense line item for "wine expense."
 
But something with the budget seemed askew. "How much more important to us is God and God's Kingdom (church) than these other items," we thought. "Where does God and our Christian faith fit in our life and how should that be reflected when we view our budget?" We promptly moved the church gifting line item to its proper spot - #1, right above the mortgage payment. In this way we can put God where we want to keep him on our priority list no matter what the circumstances. As far as investments in our future go, we believe this is the best one we can make.

The NDBC Preschool will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holidays Monday-Friday, November 23-27.

 

The church offices will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 26-27, for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

There will be a Hanging of the Green Pre-service Fellowship at 9:30 AM in the Narthex followed by our annual Hanging of the Green Service at 10:00 AM in the Sanctuary on Sunday, November 29. Worship Services will follow at 11:00 AM.

TRIPLE E Carols for Young and Old, December 8, at 11AM in the Fellowship Hall.  ENJOY a Christmas celebration and luncheon with your family and friends.  Bring grandchildren or other guests to share a time of carol singing and delightful Christmas music presented.