WEATHER ALERT:

Due to weather conditions, all in-person daytime and evening programs have been canceled across the church’s locations for Wednesday, except for the Recovery programs and Food Pantry at Overland Park. Decisions for Thursday daytime programs will correspond with local school district decisions and will be posted on the church’s website.

IMPORTANT:

Scheduled programming has resumed for Thursday, February 13 at all Resurrection locations.

Weekly Update from Pastor Adam - November 29, 2024

November 29, 2024
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November 29, 2024
Dear Resurrection Family,

I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed. Thank you to all who prepared and donated food and groceries, and who served yesterday, blessing Kansas City area people with a Thanksgiving meal! I’m so proud of you.

This weekend Advent begins! Our sanctuaries at each location are decked out in greenery and lights, and we’ll be lighting the first Advent candle, and singing the Advent and Christmas carols all month long. This is my favorite season of the year and I’m so looking forward to worship this weekend!

THIS WEEKEND: ADVENT AND THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS

I wonder if anyone in your family has done a bit of genealogy work? My grandparents did this years ago when I was a kid, tracing parts of our family back hundreds of years. I wasn’t really interested when I was a child, but today I find it fascinating to learn about my ancestors. I joined a genealogy website last year, and recently sent off my DNA to learn more about my heritage.

This month we’ll focus on the Christmas story as recorded by Matthew’s gospel. Half of his telling of the Christmas story, 17 of his 37 verses, is Jesus’ genealogy. He records 42 generations of Jesus’ ancestors. Why did he devote so much of his telling of the Christmas story to this? And what are the surprises in Jesus’ genealogy? That’s what I’ll focus on this weekend in my message on The Genealogy of Jesus.

Our study of Matthew’s account of Christmas will reach its climax on Christmas Eve when we’ll turn to his telling of the wise men coming from the east to honor the newborn king. Only Matthew tells this story, and, like Jesus’ genealogy, there’s more here than meets the eye.

Worship each weekend of Advent will be filled with beautiful Christmas music, the lighting of the Advent candles and inspiring worship. Christmas is the perfect time to invite someone to join you for worship. Here’s the link to a short promo video for this sermon series that you can share with them.

INTERESTED IN JOINING RESURRECTION? JOIN US FOR COFFEE SUNDAY

If you’ve been considering membership at Resurrection, this Sunday is your last opportunity to join in 2024. Register here, and join us for Coffee with the Pastors on Sunday, Dec. 1 to hear about the church, meet the staff, and then at the end, if you’re interested in joining, we’ll have a short joining ceremony. We’ll have these membership gatherings at our West, Downtown, Blue Springs, Overland Park, Brookside, Spring Hill and Liberty locations from 12:30 – 2:30 pm, and at Leawood, Lee’s Summit (hosted at the Leawood location) and Online from 2 – 4 pm.

THE POWER AND JOY OF GENEROSITY: THANK YOU!

Thank you to those of you who returned your 2025 Ministry Fund Commitment Cards last weekend or completed the card online. So far, the number of commitments is up 15% over last year. It appears that many of you have taken a “step up” in your commitments. Thank you, this is needed and so important for our 2025 ministry.

If you have not yet made your 2025 commitment, would you take a few minutes today, tomorrow, or in worship this weekend to make your commitment to the ministry of our church for 2025? If you are able, I’m encouraging you to join LaVon and me in increasing your giving for 2025. You can make your pledge online by clicking here,  or we’ll have
commitment cards in worship this weekend.

If you make your commitment today, be sure to pick up your 2025 Resurrection Do Unto Others mug this weekend in worship! If you live out of town, we’d love to mail you the mug as a sign of our gratitude for your generosity and commitment.

THANK YOU BLOOD DRIVE DONORS AND VOLUNTEERS!

Thank you to everyone who has supported our Blood Drives this year. In our recent pre-Thanksgiving drive at five Resurrection locations we collected a grand total of 677 units of life saving blood which could potentially touch and save almost 2,000 lives. I am grateful for the way your always step up to serve our community!

RESURRECTION LIBERTY GRAND OPENING DECEMBER 8!

On Sunday, December 8, Resurrection will open our 8th location, in the Gano Chapel of William Jewell College. I will be preaching live at Resurrection Liberty that morning, and by video everywhere else. This is a unique model for a new location. The chapel is beautiful and right in the heart of the college. If you live in the Northland, or have friends who do, please let them know about our new location and invite them to be there for our official grand opening! For more information, or to talk to our Liberty Location Pastor, Shannon Starick, click here.

REDISCOVER WONDER, AN ONLINE ADVENT STUDY

Several of our pastors will be leading a special online Advent study, Rediscover Wonder, starting Monday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 pm CST. The three-week study will explore the timeless themes of hope, peace, joy, and love and help us focus on the Christmas story and experience the meaning of Christmas. Learn more and register register here.

SPREAD CHRISTMAS JOY THROUGH SERVING:  

PARTNER SCHOOL TOY DRIVE
This weekend through December 22, we’re collecting items for our 13 partner schools in KCMO, KCK, Olathe and the Shawnee Mission district as part of Joy in Serving. Your donations will support students throughout the school year, helping them grow and succeed academically. We’re looking for toys and other items that teachers can use as incentives in the classroom. Your contributions will directly impact students’ motivation and achievement. By donating, you’re helping kids in our community have a more positive and successful school year. You can pick up a bag with a list of items as you exit worship this weekend, or you can find a list of items here and purchase directly from an Amazon Wish List.

SERVE IN THE COMMUNITY
This holiday season is filled with opportunities to serve in our community. Take a look at the website website here and find a place where you might want to serve.

VOLUNTEER TO HELP US SHARE CHRIST’S LIGHT ON CHRISTMAS EVE 

In just a few weeks, we’re going to be hosting thousands of guests for Candlelight Christmas Eve, and you can be part of the team of friendly volunteers who will welcome them as greeters, ushers, candlelight passers, and nursery volunteers. I hope you’ll consider volunteering with us this Christmas Eve. To learn more andsign up here.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR YOU MIDDLE OR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

If you are a parent or grandparent shopping for Christmas gifts for your students, I have a great idea for you to consider: the gift of a summer serve trip to the middle school or high school student in your life. Next summer, our 7th and 8th grade students will be traveling to Little Rock, AR, and our high school students will return to Asheville, NC, and between now and January 1, we’re offering a 20% discount for registrations. Gifting these trips is one way to give the gift of serving to our students in a way that will shape the world for generations to come. Learn more and register here.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: THE POWER OF GRATITUDE 

On Monday, we released a new episode of my podcast Making Sense of Faith, with a conversation that explores the power of gratitude. Next week we’ll begin releasing episodes addressing Christmas questions. Click here to sign up to sign up to be notified when a new episode is released and to watch or listen to the earlier episodes. You can also download Making Sense of Faith on your favorite podcast app – again it’s called, Making Sense of Faith. Be sure to subscribe to be notified when each new episode is released.

PURCHASING A GIFT, HELP CHRISTIANS IN BETHLEHEM

One of my friends in the Holy Land is Wisam Salsaa. He is a Palestinian Christian who has served as a guide for Resurrection groups on many occasions. We have arranged to have small handmade gifts from Bethlehem available for sale in the Leawood bookstore as a way of helping and giving support to Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem. If you are looking for a meaningful gift that will lend support to those in the community where Jesus was born, please stop by The Well, our bookstore.

REVIEW OF BONHOEFFER: PASTOR, SPY, ASSASSIN 

LaVon and I went to see the film, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin last Friday night. I included a link to a review of the film and promised I would share my impressions today. I’ll offer just a few quick thoughts. Like many film adaptations of historical stories and people, it takes some liberties with the story and the filmmakers interpret Bonhoeffer through their own lenses. There are other valid criticisms of the film you can read in other reviews.

Here’s what I appreciated about the film: It portrayed how Hitler and the Nazi party managed to convince German Christians that they could embrace both Hitler and Jesus even though these two were incompatible. It gave a glimpse of the myriad ways that Nazism sought to manipulate and control the churches and religious leaders. And it highlighted the struggle some Christian pastors and lay people were willing to embrace in order to oppose the heresy of Nazism. Among the most powerful scenes was when pastor Martin Neimoller preached against Nazism to a packed out church and is arrested shortly after it.

I also found the film’s portrayal of Bonhoeffer’s own internal debate between his Christian pacifism and his willingness to support the effort to assassinate Hitler. Some have argued that the film’s portrayal of his role related to the plot to assassinate Hitler may be overstated. Perhaps. But I still appreciated the film capturing the struggle which Christians experienced between loving their enemies and stopping them from harming others.

The film invites us to think about the ways in which Christian faith can be distorted to justify and support unchristian leaders in the light of what happened in Germany under Hitler. It points to the allure a powerful and charismatic political leader (Hitler) had to some German Christians. It also makes clear that there were real Christians who were willing to risk a great deal to oppose Nazism. And it begs the question today: What “cost” would Christians, pastors and laity, be willing to pay to speak up were history to be repeated?

Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, can appreciate the importance of this film and asking the questions is generates.

I’ve got to run; I’m heading to the Chiefs’ game. But I look forward to seeing you in worship this weekend for the first weekend of Advent!

In Christ’s love,

Adam

Adam Hamilton

Resurrection Senior Pastor

Reverend Adam Hamilton is the senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection and the author of 22 books. He has been married to LaVon since 1982, and she has been a critical partner in every dimension of Adam’s work. They have two daughters and one granddaughter.

Adam’s writings are known for helping readers make sense of challenging theological questions, exploring the significance of the biblical stories, and equipping Christian leaders to be more effective in their work. He earned his MDiv from Perkins School of Theology and graduated with honors from Oral Roberts University with a degree in Pastoral Ministry.

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