Address
811 N. Catalina Ave. Suite 2006 Redondo Beach, CA 90250
Work Hours
Monday to Friday: 9 am - 5 pm and by appointment. We work remotely on Fridays.
Welcome to the Pacific Presbytery’s 2024 Advent Calendar
The Mission Interpretation and Promotion Committee invites you to join us in prayer this Advent season. We have created this calendar with a motive for prayer each day in Advent. Our hope is that it can be a way that we unite ourselves in prayer as we prepare for the coming of the Christ Child. Each week highlights a scripture passage and each day lifts up a particular ministry in Pacific Presbytery or an invitation to prayer.
We pray that it will nourish your Advent observance.
Theme: Hope
Scripture: Luke 1:46b-55 – Mary’s Song
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name; indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
DATE & TASK:
12/1
Pray for First Pres Hollywood’s Winter Refuge
Each winter, they welcome the gravely disabled off the streets and into their fellowship hall. They partner with LA County agencies to provide wrap-around support and with local churches to provide meals and fellowship. The whole effort is bathed in prayer.
RESOURCES/ NOTES:
First Hollywood’s Winter Shelter needs volunteers in January, February, and March. To bring a group from your church, contact aquigley@fpch.org.
Link to Homeless Count report from last year
The 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count results showed a decline in unsheltered homelessness. Los Angeles County’s Point-in-Time unsheltered estimate declined by 5% to 55,365, while the City of Los Angeles’ unsheltered estimate declined by 10% to 29,275. This year’s data suggested that unprecedented coordination among LAHSA and all levels of government on the homelessness crisis is reducing unsheltered homelessness.
DATE & TASK:
12/2
Pray for our churches that are working on getting Affordable Housing built on their campuses. May they navigate the process with wisdom and love, and may God provide trustworthy partners.
RESOURCES/ NOTES
More info from the POP Website on Affordable Housing
DATE & TASK:
12/3
Take a prayer walk around your block. You can walk at whatever pace is comfortable for you. Look for people or situations that are pregnant with God’s purpose. Lift a prayer in your heart for each person and situation you encounter. Just as Mary rejoiced in her role of bearing the Christ child, pray for God to fill in what is needed for each person and situation you come across.
DATE & TASK:
12/4
Pray for Long Term Recovery Response in Maui
One year after the devastating fires in Maui, the Long Term Recovery process of rebuilding and restoring communities begins. Pray for local leaders as they seek to build coalitions and provide housing for volunteers to come and build affordable housing for fire survivors.
RESOURCES/ NOTES
Link to Heidi’s blog in Maui
Contact Rev. Heidi about how to be involved: heidi@pacificpresbytery.org
DATE & TASK:
12/5
Pray for the Food Ministry Collective and our neighbors who don’t know where the next meal will come from.
Each week, churches and volunteer teams collect and share food with 20,000 neighbors across Los Angeles County.
RESOURCES/ NOTES
Email heidi@pacificpresbytery.org to find out how to support the Food Collective or to join the group.
DATE & TASK:
12/6
Take a photo of something you encounter today that speaks to you of hope. Share it with a friend and pray for them.
DATE & TASK:
12/7
Pray for those who remain without a home for years after disaster strikes, such as the people served on the Pacific Coast Volunteer trip to Oroville, CA. Together, they worked with community members to build homes in the fire-stricken area. Pray for God’s continued provision for communities as they rebuild their homes and their lives together.
RESOURCES/ NOTES
Link to trip reflection/report
Contact info to find out more about how to be involved: Heidi Worthen Gamble
Theme: Peace
Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
DATE & TASK:
12/8
Prayers of Lament for Palestine
We grieve the violence in Israel/Palestine and especially lift up the women and children of Gaza who continue to be killed and wounded. We pray for Doug Dicks, PCUSA Mission Co-Worker in Jerusalem, working with Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.
RESOURCES/ NOTES:
Link to Doug Dicks PMA Mission site
DATE & TASK:
12/9
Pray to end gun violence
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a long history of supporting gun control legislation. Beginning in the late 1960s, in response to the assassinations of public leaders, the General Assembly called for “… control [of] the sale and possession of firearms of all kinds.” In 1988, these and other statements supporting gun control were again reaffirmed.
A fuller statement was approved in 1990. In it, the General Assembly went on record as:
“Support[ing] gun control at federal, state, and local levels as the most effective response to the present crisis of gun violence …”
RESOURCES/ NOTES
Click here to view PC(USA) Resources on Gun Violence
Read the PC(USA) resolution, “Gun Violence, Gospel Values.”
DATE & TASK:
12/10
Pray for the Immigration and Refugee Task Force
The Pacific Presbytery’s Immigration and Refugee Task Force meets quarterly and is active in immigration education, advocacy, and hospitality throughout the Southern California region. This partnership is between Pacific Presbytery and San Gabriel Presbytery’s Immigrant Accompaniment Organizers. We are guided by PCUSA policy statements that call for just and humane immigration law and policies.
Resource/Notes
https://www.pacificpresbytery.org/mission/immigration-the-pcusa/
DATE & TASK:
12/11
Take a photo of something you encounter today that speaks to you of God’s peace. Text it to a friend and pray for them.
DATE & TASK:
12/12
Pray for Pacific Presbytery Leadership and Staff
STAFF:
Rev. Linda Culbertson, General Presbyter; Rev. Jennifer Pattee, Stated Clerk; Rev. Heidi Worthen Gamble, Mission Catalyst; Shirley Velasco, Executive Administrator; Amy Bennett, Finance Director.
LEADERSHIP:
Moderator: Rev. Carlton Rhoden
Vice Moderator: Ruling Elder Lynn Mack-Costello
Chair of Presbytery Coordinating Commission: Rev. Lora East
And pray for the many committees, teams, and task forces of the Presbytery. To learn more about these groups, please visit: https://www.pacificpresbytery.org/groups/
DATE & TASK:
12/13
Pray for people seeking asylum
Immanuel Presbyterian Church, in partnership with Echo Park Immigration Center, hosts families seeking asylum in their church. Help with food and resources are always welcome. They have special events and community meals. All are invited!
Resource/Notes
Vist https://epicla.org/ to learn more
DATE & TASK:
12/14
Take a prayer walk around your block. You can walk at whatever pace is comfortable for you. Lift a prayer in your heart for each person and situation you encounter. Pray for the Peace of God to be upon them.
Theme: Love
Scripture: Philippians 2:1-8
If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
DATE & TASK:
12/15
Pray for St. Paul Presbyterian Church’s Caregiver’s Ministry. Once a month, they meet to provide love and support for caregivers. Remember all those who provide care for the sick and vulnerable.
DATE & TASK:
12/16
Pray for the Chaplaincy at LA General Hospital
Rev. Charity Ngaruiya bears witness to God’s love for the patients, their families, and the Los Angeles General Medical Center staff. This 631-bed, level 1 trauma center also provides medical care to county inmates and over 1 million walk-in clinic patients.
Remember all the chaplains among us in your prayers today.
RESOURCES/ NOTES
Click here to learn more about the LA General Chaplaincy
Here’s Rev. Charity’s email address in case you have any questions regarding her work at LA General or to send donations to AIN (Angel Interfaith Network).
DATE & TASK:
12/17
Pray for Angeles Mesa’s Ministry through the UCRF Grant
Angeles Mesa offered creative experiences to the church and community that focused on health and wholeness for the body, mind, and spirit. These included yoga classes, creating a Biblical garden, and healing works of song, theater, and art.
RESOURCES/NOTES
If you’re inspired to create a ministry like this one, please visit the Link to UCRF Grant to learn more
DATE & TASK:
12/18
Pray for Hope on Union’s table fellowship ministry through the LuLu Stevens Grant.
Hope on Union collaborates with a chef, local artists, and students to host a free, weekly “Jubilee Cafe” on the USC campus. The cafe features live performances from the “Jubilee Stage.” This ministry provides an opportunity to learn about the gospel and other on-campus ministries, free vegan meals, and a safe, creative space for building relationships in the community.
RESOURCES/NOTES
Link to Lulu Stevens Grant
Follow Jubilee Cafe on Instagram to learn more
DATE & TASK:
12/19 Pray for St. Mark’s Housing the Homeless Ministry
The Mighty Women of St. Mark’s is a team of women who visit an encampment weekly in Lomita. They partner with outreach workers and case managers to house people out of the encampment and into stable, supportive housing. They have housed several people off the streets and into homes and now meet regularly with a group of now-housed women called “The Free Butterflies” for prayer, Bible study, crafts, service projects, and support.
RESOURCES/NOTES
Read about their ministry HERE.
St. Mark’s ministry was resourced by the Presbytery’s Homeless and Housing Task Force. Please join our HHTF on Zoom on the last Thursdays of the month. Email heidi@pacificpresbytery.org for more information.
DATE & TASK:
12/20
Pray for the Earth Care Team
The Earth Care Team (ECT) of the Presbytery of the Pacific is a community of connection and inspiration for individuals, churches, and faith communities across the country who are called to protect the future of God’s earth through education, advocacy, and as a witness to our faith.
We seek to be rooted in our biblical belief and identity as followers of Jesus and clear about our call to shift from being consumers to caretakers of the earth.
We are dedicated to the intersection of environmental justice and anti-racism. We are grounded in the faith that everything and everyone in God’s creation is interconnected.
RESOURCES/NOTES
ECT meets once a month on Zoom and has many activities throughout the year, the latest of which was the LA County Coastal Clean Up Day.
All are welcome. To get involved, email heidi@pacificpresbytery.org
DATE & TASK:
12/21
Pray for the community of Wilmington and the youth of Calvary Presbyterian Church.
The community of Wilmington in LA County within the Pacific Presbytery’s bounds, is the most polluted city in the U.S. with five oil refineries operating there. It is the community with the highest cancer rates in Southern California.
The youth have been active in raising awareness and partnering with STAND LA and the Earth Care Team with this excellent video and call to action, which can be found in the link below.
RESOURCES/NOTES
Link to urban oil drilling video
To learn more, please email heidi@pacificpresbytery.org
Theme: Joy
Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11
I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
DATE & TASK:
12/22
Pray for all of our Presbytery’s churches, which can be found in the link below.
RESOURCES/NOTES
CLICK HERE for a complete list of all the churches in our presbytery
DATE & TASK:
12/23
Take a prayer walk around your block. You can walk at whatever pace is comfortable for you. Lift a prayer in your heart for each person and situation you encounter. Pray for God’s joy to be complete in them.
DATE & TASK:
12/24 Christmas Eve
Take a photo of something you encounter today that speaks to you of God’s joy. Text it to a friend and pray for them.
DATE & TASK:
12/25 Nativity of the Lord
Advent invites us to remember with joy the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph over 2000 years ago. Prayerfully consider how God calls you to be a midwife to the birth of God’s love in our day and time.
DATE & TASK:
12/26
Every day, Jesus is born
Prayerfully consider your home, neighborhood, church, county, country, and world. Invite God to illuminate the places where the love of God is incarnate. Where are the places you notice the love of God being born? What can you do to nourish and support the ministries in your world?
We are grateful to have journeyed in prayer with you through the season of Advent. Our prayer for you is that the fellowship nourished your Spirit and kindled the Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy of Christ Jesus in you. If you would like to discover more about the many mission ministries in the Pacific Presbytery, please get in touch with Rev. Heidi Worthen Gamble, Mission Catalyst, at Heidi@pacificpresbytery.org
Blessings and Peace,
Mission Interpretation and Promotion Committee of the Pacific Presbytery
Christmas 2024