How do you know you are alive? Though it sounds like a dumb question, philosophers have asked it for years. Come to think of it, aren't there times when you feel so alive that you have to "pinch yourself" to make sure you aren't dreaming?

     George Bailey faced this seminal human question. Near the end of the 1946 classic Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, ole' George (played by Jimmy Stewart) stands on a snowy bridge, believing he has lost everything. His beloved town of Bedford Falls has fallen into the alternate-universe-sin-pit of Pottersville. He has gotten his wish: he wished he had never lived. All it cost him...and his community...was the privilege of being alive.

     We've all stood on that bridge. Some linger a long time...a bridge to nowhere.

     For George, the bridge is the place he loses his old life...but also the place he finds a new one. He licks the blood from his cheek put there by a punch from a guy at Martini's Bar. He looks into the eyes of his worried friend Bert. And from the watch pocket of his pants, pulls the broken pieces of a flower. "Zuzu's petals!" he gasps, as an ecstatic half-crazed joy washes over him!

     Earlier, as his life began its downhill slide, his daughter, Zuzu, proudly showed him her flower from school...even as it was coming apart. George turns his back, tucks the fallen petals into his pocket, pretends to fix it, then tucks his daughter into bed.

     Through Clarence (angel, second class), George sees what a difference the absence of even his one broken life makes. He "lives his death." No friends. No business. No mother. No brother. No wife. No daughter.

     But then: Zuzu's petals! When he finds them in his pants pocket, he knows his nightmare is over and that his life---with its broken business, broken finances, broken future, broken past, and broken petals---is still broken, but bountiful! "No man is a failure," says Clarence, "who has friends."

     I still cry every time I watch the final scene. (I'm even crying as I write these words!) The whole town hears of George's crisis by filling his emptiness with their enthusiastic friendship. And surprise! His brother, Harry, flies in, lifts a glass, and makes a toast, "To my big brother, George, the richest man in town."

    The fourth Sunday of Advent is upon us. Soon we will fall headlong into the arms of Christmas. We will read the ancient scriptures, sing the familiar songs, and follow Advent's long night all the way to Christmas' Light.

     We will stand on the year-end's bridge. Pondering past and future, preoccupied over broken hopes and loves, we will pray a Christmas prayer...and then pull petals from our pockets. Though they are broken pieces, they are our pieces, our lives! At that moment, they and we are transformed. The pieces are parts of a whole, the whole world that is in God's hands. And in God's hands we discover afresh, just how alive we are.

 by Michael Gregg

"First Days and Last Days"

     I remember saying to Amanda on the Sunday evening heading into sabbatical, "This is the sweetest day I'll have on sabbatical because I won't have more sabbatical days than I do right now!" I took time to appreciate that first day. And then, on the final Saturday evening as I enjoyed some giggly time playing chase in the yard with my kids in the crisp November air, I soaked in the glorious last moments of sabbatical and eagerly looked towards regaining my connections with the church. It was a good last day. First days and last days tend to be God-infused, consecrated days.

     Pastor James speaks fondly of the liminal times, the thin thresholds between one world and the next. It is in these liminal moments that we encounter God a little more clearly than the chaotic, routine-laden, and distracted bulk of our lives. We pray for wisdom on the first day of classes and thank God when we graduate. We seek God to comfort our anxieties on the first day of a new job and celebrate the relationships we made when moving on to the next professional adventure. We are overwhelmed with joy when our kids are born and we cry holy tears when they leave for college. First days and last days tend to be God-infused, consecrated days.

     God shows up rather obviously among the first days and last days in the Bible. God hovers over the earth at creation, touching every plant, animal, and bit of soil. God breathes life and the divine spark into the first humans. God enjoys the product of creative toil and says, "It is good!" And God is also present in the last days when the trumpets sound and the dead will rise. In the last days, the love of God will shoot forth like stars and illuminate the shadows. God will lovingly redeem the world! First days and last days tend to be God-infused, consecrated days.

     Advent has begun. It is the first days of the Christian year. Jesus will be born and will take his first breaths of humanity in preparation for his last breaths when he returns to the Divine. Jesus is born and it is a good first day! For the first time, the Advent candles flicker brighter as they proclaim hope, love, joy, and peace. Ordinary time, the chaotic, routine-laden, and distracted bulk of our lives is left behind. Advent is the season when all of creation goes on sabbatical by celebrating the first days of God dwelling among us while anticipating the redeeming work of the Easter Christ. First days and last days tend to be God-infused, consecrated days. Let us take time to enjoy the first days and the last days this Advent season.

     NDBC'er Dr. Steve Sheeley will be writing devotionals through the Advent season. If you would like to be on his email list and receive his musings, you may email him at ssheeley4@comcast.net. May hope, peace, love and joy be with you this Advent season.

December 14, 21 & 28 @ 9:30 AM

Located in the Art & Soul Room (#202)

     With the Advent/Christmas season right around the corner now, things are very busy in the music ministry at NDBC. Our Sunday morning worship services during this season will be blessed once again this year by ten minutes of pre-service music, provided by members of the congregation.

December 21 - Parker Holloway, piano

December 28 - Alan Johns, organ

December 21 @ Shane's

Christmas Eve Family Vespers

Wednesday, December 24, at 4 PM

    Do you need a Christmas Eve Service designed especially for your kids? If so, make plans to attend Northside Drive's Family Vespers Service at 4 PM on Christmas Eve. We sing kid friendly carols, have a costumed Christmas pageant, partake in family communion, and see the Pastor juggling while telling a Christmas story. Northside Drive Baptist Church has designed this unique service with the whole family in mind.

Lessons, Carols, and Communion

Wednesday, December 24, at 10:30 PM

     As midnight approaches on Christmas Eve, the world is dark. One by one, candles begin to light up the darkness as Silent Night, Holy Night resounds in the air. The Christ child is coming and the people will soon break forth with the jubilant hymn, Joy to the World! Join Northside Drive Baptist Church in a beautiful Christmas Eve service of Lessons, Carols, Communion and Candlelight. The Christmas story will be read from Scripture and the familiar carols will wrap us in the hopeful warmth of a Savior to be born.

    2014 Season of Advent & Christmas

4th WEEK of ADVENT - Sunday, December 21

  9:30 AM - Advent Combined Adult Church School

11:00 AM - Worship: "The Wonder of Love"

Christmas Eve - Wednesday, December 24

  4:00 PM - Family Vespers

10:30 PM - Lessons, Carols, and Communion

1st SUNDAY of CHRISTMAS - Sunday, December 28

  9:30 AM - Church School

11:00 AM - Worship: "The Wonder of Christmas"

EPIPHANY SUNDAY - Sunday, January 4

  9:30 AM - Church School

11:00 AM - Worship: "The Wonder of Epiphany"

*Chrismon Pamphlets and Buckner Daily Advent Guides are available in the Narthex and also at www.northsidedrive.org.

     The next Church Council meeting will be Monday, January 12, at 7 PM, in the Art & Soul Classroom, #202.

     *The Church Council consists of the Moderator, Senior Pastor, Treasurer, and Church Clerk, the chairs of the Diaconate, the Finance, Personnel, and Nominating Committees, the Adult Education, Children's, Communications/Technology, Facilities Management, Grounds, Landscaping, Hospitality, Marketing, Membership Development, Memorial Gifts, Missions, Preschool Liaison, Worship & Music, and Youth Ministry Teams, and the Auxiliary Triple E.

The Mysteries of Federal Monetary Policy and Its Impact on Our Lives

Jack Guynn, Federal Reserve (Retired)

January 13, @ 11 AM, Fellowship Hall

     Jack, an NDBC member, was part of the Fed's policy making group for many years under both Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke before he retired. He will share an insider's story about how policy really gets made and how it impacts the economy and our individual lives. 

Submit YOUR pledge FOR

THE 2015 CHURCH BUDGET

through any of these ways:

   1- You can return your pledge card by "snail mail".

   2- You can pick up a pledge card at the door of the church office, fill it out on the spot, and leave it in the envelope on the Business Manager's (Rose Hidlay) door.

   3- You can pick up a pledge card in the Narthex, fill it out and drop it in the offering plate (or hand it to an Usher).

   4- You can call the church office (404-237-8621), ask for Rose, and tell her your pledge (or even leave her a voice mail).

   5- You can e-mail your pledge to Rose at rose@northsidedrive.org.

   6- You can pledge via our website (www.northsidedrive.org) by clicking on the "Giving" link on our home page.

SAVE THE DATE...January 25

Our Annual "Souper Bowl Sunday"

     Volunteers are needed to either prepare a pot of soup or chili, or to bake cookies or brownies! If you are not fond of cooking we can always use help with set-up or clean-up. Whatever your talents are, join us that day for fellowship and fun. The donations we collect that day help support the Hunger Fund. To volunteer contact Mona Stines at mona.stines@att.net or 404-936-8812.

     We meet weekly (EXCEPT Dec 24 & 31) from 10:30-11:30 AM, in the church's Conference Room. We study the texts selected in the Revised Common Lectionary for the next Sunday. Large print editions are available each week and for the upcoming Sunday. Discussion is deep and wide and lively. All are invited.

SUNDAY, December 21

  9:30 AM - Advent Adult Church School

11:00 AM - Morning Worship

12:00 PM - Northside Kid's Family Lunch

  5:00 PM - Northside Drive Ringers

TUESDAY, December 23

10:00 AM - Staff Meeting

WEDNESDAY, December 24

  Church/Preschool Offices Closed

  4:00 PM - Family Vespers

10:30 PM - Lessons, Carols & Communion

THURSDAY, December 25

  Church/Preschool Offices Closed

FRIDAY, December 26

12:30 PM - Church/Preschool Offices Close Early