Views from The Ridge 12.04.2024
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week
Wednesday, December 4 Elementary Girls’ Bible Study, 6PM, Charis Park
Friday, December 6 Camelot Christmas, 6PM
Saturday, December 7 Sunset Ridge Farmers Market, 9AM-1PM, Charis Park
Sunday, December 8 Scott Heare preaching: Matthew 6:19-24
9am Worship in the Chapel
10:15am Classes for all ages
Adult Class: Advent Conspiracy, Fellowship Hall
Women’s Group: Advent Conspiracy, Chapel Classroom
Youth Group: Advent Conspiracy, Rm 218
Roots PK-K, Rm 102
Roots 1-2, Roots Room
Roots 3-6, Rm 203
11am Worship in the Chapel
To view recorded sermons from Sunset Ridge Church, please make sure to add us to your subscriptions on YouTube.
Coming Up…
December 14 Second Saturday
December 14 Sunset Ridge Farmers Market 9am-1pm Charis Park
December 15 Additional contribution for budget shortfall
Around Our Community
Thank you so much for your donation of gifts and funds that have allowed us to prepare for Camelot Christmas happening this Friday! Our toy shop is filled with gifts we hope make this season a little merrier for the 107 families from Camelot Elementary.
We still need your help! If you are able to help set up Thursday night from 5PM-8PM, or during the event Friday, from 5PM-9PM, we are still looking for volunteers to help with crafts and games with the children, shopping with the adults, and of course, wrapping the gifts. Please fill out our volunteer sheet if you are interested or email Noelle with any questions you may have.
Awe
Mae Czarnecki, Communications Coordinator, Sunset Ridge Collective
This past Sunday, as we lit the first candle of Advent, Pastor Scott encouraged us to reflect on wonder. Using Psalm 150 as his foundation, he wove together the themes of worship and awe, inviting us to ponder: “When was the last time you truly felt awe?”
For me, the memory that came rushing back was last year’s total solar eclipse. Josh and I had planned an entire photography trip around the event, driving hours away to find the perfect spot to camp with some of his coworkers. San Antonio was under a blanket of clouds, and the hill country was being threatened with the same screen of obscurity. As the moon began its slow dance across the sun, we joined a chorus of strangers, united in hopeful murmurs, asking the same thing: Will the clouds part?
And then, just as the moment of totality approached, they did. The sunlight faded to an otherworldly twilight, and the sky unveiled its masterpiece. I remember the hush that fell over our group, the way time seemed to suspend as we stared in wide-eyed amazement. For a few perfect minutes, the heavens reminded us of how small and how cherished we are, as if God had peeled back the veil between the ordinary and the divine.
This memory lingers with me because it captures the essence of awe: being swept up in something bigger, something sacred, and responding in worship. In that moment, the only fitting response was reverence, a whisper of thank You.
Psalm 150 closes with the words, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” and I think awe is the gateway to that kind of full-bodied worship. When we stop long enough to notice, whether it’s the grandeur of the cosmos or the generational beauty of the poinsettias growing outside our chapel, we’re reminded of the Creator’s artistry. Worship flows naturally from awe because awe reminds us who we are in the presence of a God who spun the stars into existence yet knows each of us intimately.
This week, our Advent devotional, calls us to "worship fully." It’s an invitation to center this season on the wonder of Christ’s birth. How often do we rush through December, consumed by to-do lists, missing the awe that the Incarnation invites us into?
So, I wonder: how can we cultivate awe this Advent season? Maybe it’s taking time to stand under the stars or even under the twinkling lights around campus and the park. Maybe it’s simply being still long enough to let the wonder of Emmanuel—God with us—sink into our hearts.
This Advent, may we open our eyes to see God’s fingerprints all around us. May we find moments that take our breath away and allow them to draw us closer to Him. And may we, like the psalmist, let our awe lead us into worship, proclaiming with joy: “Praise the Lord!”
