Update December 20, 2024

Hello Church! Our Worship Service and Children’s Program are at 10 AM. The service is also live virtually and archived on Facebook and YouTube. Connect with refreshments before and after the Service together.

All are welcome: believers, questioners, and questioning believers! We affirm the worth, value, diversity, giftedness, and belonging of all. Let us be there for each other! Your presence means everything to your pastor and your community! 🙂

Join us this Advent Sunday of LOVE! We continue in the gospel of Luke. Here is a ‘big picture’ view as written by the Salt Project Commentary/blog:

“1) If you’re lighting a traditional Advent wreath in your home or church, this week you'll light a candle of love against the shadows of hate. And in this light, reading Luke’s account of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth casts it as a story of a loving God who works through loving relationships — and at the same time casts “love” as an unfolding force in history, taking shape through generations of ordinary, unexpected, often vulnerable people.

2) The angel Gabriel has just delivered his astonishing news, and Mary has just delivered her world-changing “Let it be” (Luke 1:38). And now, immediately and “with haste,” Mary makes her way to Elizabeth’s house in the hills of Judea for a three-month stay. Scenes featuring women as protagonists with no men present are rare in the Bible, and Luke strikingly bookends the life of Jesus with two such scenes: at the end, the discovery of the empty tomb by a group of women, and here at the beginning, Mary, pregnant with God, visits her relative, Elizabeth. In this sense, Luke turns the marginalization of women on its head: at both of these crucial points in the action — birth and death, womb and tomb — it’s women at the center of the story.

3) Mary’s song — called the “Magnificat” after the song’s first word in the Latin translation — evokes and echoes its ancient forerunner, Hannah’s song of gratitude to God for the newness of life embodied in her son, Samuel. Hannah is a strong, bold visionary, and her story demonstrates that she is well-acquainted with the history of Israel’s relationship with God. Thanking God for Samuel, Hannah sings of divine majesty and power, painting a picture of God as a master of reversals: God “raises up the poor from the dust,” even as “the bows of the mighty are broken” (1 Samuel 2:1-10).

4) Musically, Mary's song is just the beginning. Luke includes no less than four songs in his Gospel’s two opening chapters: Mary’s, Zechariah’s (traditionally called the “Benedictus”), the angels’ song to the shepherds, and Simeon’s song (the “Nunc Dimittis”) (Luke 1:46-55; 1:67-79; 2:14; 2:29-32). Each of these songs, in its own way, is a love song. It’s as if Luke stages the story as a kind of exuberant musical, suggesting that the joyful mystery of God’s love can’t be contained or expressed by prose alone. Again and again, the power and poetry of music break through!”

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Your participation and presence on Sundays mean everything to your church community! Thank you for being a part of something greater when we all come together! We need each other:)

Christmas helps us recognize the remarkable gift of the infant Christ child, God with us. It’s in response to this mind-blowing gift that we share gifts. To share love! Together, we’re able to share gifts with our TSCC community, our chosen church family, and our greater community in need. Thank you for being a part of God’s mission in and through Tropical Sands Christian Church.

Here are just a few ways we have gifted others with love; in addition to prayer and caring ministries!…

--Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts for families in need in our community- through Operation Hope ($950).

--Our Love Fund has gifted many here in our church community and friends of TSCC,  with acute needs through the year and to help with the holidays (help with the acute needs of food, utilities, and medical prescriptions/copays).

--We’ve given to our other community partners- PEACE Justice ministry, The Palm Beach Children’ chorus, Mind Music and Movement organization, our log cabin and other Recovery groups, CROS pantries, and the Homeless Coalition.

--Special DOC Offerings throughout the year including Week of Compassion and the Christmas offering for Disciples in support of our own regional office and FL missions. TSCC has just given $3950 to the special Christmas offering. Our Treasurer, Barbara Sergent, can provide a breakdown of all TSCC mission giving upon request and our Governing Board meeting minutes are available for everyone on the bulletin board outside the Sanctuary.

--Your regular giving (as well as including TSCC in estate planning) helps with the mission of maintaining this amazing space and grounds for the many support groups, connections, gatherings, and of course studies and worship we are able to provide. We have been blessed to receive gifts from the estates of TSCC loved ones (Klara Kopocs, George McMeekan) as well as angel donors who help us. Thank you, God!

We gladly give, remembering we are the hands and feet of Jesus for others. With gratitude, thank you for your generous stewardship. Any regular giving is so important in budget planning, all ministries, and the future of TSCC! Please give what you can- everything adds up! Please consider a prayerful increase in giving as able. Your time and serving are important parts of stewardship. Your engagement will connect you with the TSCC community and the ginormous heart of our chosen church family. In January, giving statements will be going out. Please let us know of any address changes. Thanks!

Please reach out to learn of ways to participate. We have a set Hospitality schedule with a rotation (below). If you can join the point people scheduled to help before or after Sunday service, it would be awesome.

God’s Love Visible Christmas Offering. Link to learn more and give: https://disciplesmissionfund.org/special-offerings/christmas/ TSCC will be giving generously to this important offering and 100% goes to our Florida Region.

The Palm Beach Children’s Chorus Holiday performance is on Saturday, December 21 at 4 PM. All ages are invited for a joyful time and please invite friends:)

Welcome new TSCC member/ministry partner, Michael Dodds! Michael of course has been sharing his gifts of song and preaching with us. He is a French teacher at the Pine School. He is also an ordained minister in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ! We are thrilled that he will be involved in worship and preaching more in 2025. Thanks be to God!

Please let Pastor Chris know if you would like to be a TSCC member/ministry partner. We recognize any Sunday or ANY TIME through the week. On Sundays, we traditionally ask the question, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and desire to follow the way of Jesus in and through TSCC? If so, say “I do". If you say “I do” then you are an official TSCC member/partner! Praise God! We recognize that folks understand this and live this in different ways. We do not have lengthy creeds and doctrinal statements. We believe it is the love of Christ that binds us as we individually, and communally, follow Jesus in relationship together. Members/Ministry Partners are asked to attend Sunday worship regularly, pray for TSCC, invite others to worship and gatherings, engage in at least one ministry, and financially give regularly as per our means. Many of our regular gatherers are already doing this and we are grateful. We need you to be official Members, however, to help with the spiritual and governance areas. This includes having the ability to discerningly vote on issues and include your voice with many voices, as well as participate in leadership boards (Elders, Deacons, Church leadership positions and back-up positions). You have many gifts that we will help to develop, train, and support with love.

You are each dearly loved! Thanks be to God for this faith community and chosen church family. Newer faces and all faces, we‘d like to meet you where you are! Please let us know how TSCC can best meet your needs. Email Pastor Chris at info@tropicalsands.org.