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Join us for "A Light in the Darkness," an Advent Teaching Series

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Advent is upon us! Join us for a season of preparation during the first four Sundays of December. We will recount the ancient roots of the gospel in the promises of God made to the Israelites and ask how we can look for the same sparks of hope in our worlds biggest and deepest challenges.

Sunday at 10:30 AM at the Oceanside Sanctuary or follow along on our podcast page every week!

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Reverse Advent Calendar

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Advent is here and this year we are inviting you to add an item from the list below each day into a box for Sarah’s Hope food pantry!

Then bring your box with you to one of our two identical candlelight Christmas Eve services at 4PM or 8 PM!

Share this with neighbors, friends, coworkers, and let’s fill the stage with food for our community!

Download and print the photo below and place it somewhere visible in your home!

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The Call To Constant Love

“Like good curators of God’s grace, use all the good gifts you have received to serve others.”

1 Peter 4:10

Hello OSC family,

October is our volunteer-drive month at OSC! Please click here to sign-up for a team today: https://www.oceansidesanctuary.org/volunteer

You may have noticed our little downtown church is growing! We have more families, more children, and more guests and visitors showing up for all our programs and gatherings. 

That means we need everyone to roll up their sleeves and pitch-in to make people feel welcomed, fill hungry bellies, teach children about God’s goodness, and help each other worship.

In the passage above, the Apostle Peter is writing 30 years after the death and resurrection of Christ to remind us that we have been called out of a life of self-service and into a Spirit-life of hospitality, serving others by God’s grace. 

Peter refers to this kind of service as maintaining “constant love for one another” (1 Peter 4:9). We give out of what we have from our time and talents to help the needs of others. 

In other words, we don’t just come to The Oceanside Sanctuary to hear good teaching or sing good songs, we come here to love each other by serving each other’s needs. 

That is the life of Christianity; the life of constant love. 

So this month, we are asking for you to commit to a team to provide the hospitality, assistance, and love for others that our church is known for across this City. 

Please click below to sign up for a volunteer team. We will train you and put on you a monthly scheduled so it will be easy to remember.  

https://www.oceansidesanctuary.org/volunteer

Blessings, 

Rev. Jason Coker

Lead Pastor

What Is Your Stance on the LGBTQ Issue?

What Is Your Stance on the LGBTQ Issue?

Hi Concerned Mom, This is such an important question. So many LGBTQ persons have been treated hatefully by Christians or abusively by churches or, at the very least, relegated to second-class status. I think all churches have a responsibility to clearly articulate their position on this.

Our church is a member of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which, as a denomination, has been open and affirming since 2013 – and that is our position at OSC as well. To be open and affirming means that an LGBTQ person is free to participate in all the rights and responsibilities of membership at OSC…

What Are Your Beliefs On the Afterlife?

What Are Your Beliefs On the Afterlife?

Hi Lisa, Honestly, in our church we don’t place much emphasis on the afterlife. We are much more concerned with how being Christian leads us to live good and ethical lives of impact here and now.

The possibility of an afterlife was a subject of much debate in the Judaism of Jesus’ time. In fact, Old Testament prophesies about the “new creation” don’t describe an eternal state of living forever, but rather an idyllic life lived on earth…one which eventually ends in death. Consider this passage from Isaiah…