Thanks for joining us on this Advent journey!!!
May God bless you with peace, joy, love and the grace of his presence this Christmas now and always!!!
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!!!
Thanks for joining us on this Advent journey!!!
May God bless you with peace, joy, love and the grace of his presence this Christmas now and always!!!
Thanks for joining us on this Advent journey!!!
May God bless you with peace, joy, love and the grace of his presence this Christmas now and always!!!
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Advent Day 24: The Good News of Christmas Eve (Isaiah 61:1-7)
Isaiah 61:1-7
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
It's Christmas Eve! We hope you are able to be with loved ones this Christmas and that God's love, peace and joy abound in your life this Christmas and always!
This passage highlights something interesting: good news.
When you watch the news the broadcasters on NBC, ABC, CBS, or whatever cable news channel you watch are not the ones actually doing the noteworthy things that make up the "news." They are simply delivering the news. They are the medium through which the news about what is happening in the community or the world is communicated to you.
In this passage the prophet Isaiah is declaring good news. He is not the one that is doing the noteworthy things of God. Instead, he is much like a broadcaster who is declaring the good and amazing things that God is doing!
When Jesus shows up and begins his ministry it is this passage that he says, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21).
Jesus is the good news. Jesus is what God is doing. He lifts up the poor, heals the broken, and sets prisoners free. He is the presence and fullness of God's favor upon the earth to all people.
Why is that good news? Because it means that fixing this world does not depend on us! It is something that God is doing. God is doing noteworthy and amazing things. We can have faith that he loves us and is working out his plan in this world and in us.
While we humans do have the capacity to do good deeds and treat others with love and kindness. We still continue to hurt those we love dearly and do things on this earth that destroy life and make the world a worse place to live in. We need a savior and we need God to do what only he can.
That first Christmas was just the beginning!
Heavenly Father, we praise you as the shepherds did that first Christmas Eve for sending your Son to be our Savior and Lord. Give us faith to trust that you are working in us and in our world and help us to share your good news with all those around us. In Jesus' holy name. Amen.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
It's Christmas Eve! We hope you are able to be with loved ones this Christmas and that God's love, peace and joy abound in your life this Christmas and always!
This passage highlights something interesting: good news.
When you watch the news the broadcasters on NBC, ABC, CBS, or whatever cable news channel you watch are not the ones actually doing the noteworthy things that make up the "news." They are simply delivering the news. They are the medium through which the news about what is happening in the community or the world is communicated to you.
In this passage the prophet Isaiah is declaring good news. He is not the one that is doing the noteworthy things of God. Instead, he is much like a broadcaster who is declaring the good and amazing things that God is doing!
When Jesus shows up and begins his ministry it is this passage that he says, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21).
Jesus is the good news. Jesus is what God is doing. He lifts up the poor, heals the broken, and sets prisoners free. He is the presence and fullness of God's favor upon the earth to all people.
Why is that good news? Because it means that fixing this world does not depend on us! It is something that God is doing. God is doing noteworthy and amazing things. We can have faith that he loves us and is working out his plan in this world and in us.
While we humans do have the capacity to do good deeds and treat others with love and kindness. We still continue to hurt those we love dearly and do things on this earth that destroy life and make the world a worse place to live in. We need a savior and we need God to do what only he can.
That first Christmas was just the beginning!
Heavenly Father, we praise you as the shepherds did that first Christmas Eve for sending your Son to be our Savior and Lord. Give us faith to trust that you are working in us and in our world and help us to share your good news with all those around us. In Jesus' holy name. Amen.
Friday, December 23, 2016
Advent Day 23: The Free Feast (Isaiah 55:1-13
Isaiah 55:1-13 (ESV)
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
I posted the whole chapter because it contains such amazing promises. But I want to focus closely on the first verse.
Our
entire world economy is built on capital. Very few countries in the
world do not have some sort of currency that is exchanged for goods and
services. Nothing is free. Everything costs someone something.
But
in God's economy money is no good. Money cannot buy God's favor or
blessing because... God already owns everything! This is one of the
reasons why Jesus said, "only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:23).
It
shocks us when we get nice, valuable things, for free. We wonder:
"what's the catch" or "this must be worthless if they are just giving it away."
But
consider the 1987 film adaption of the story "Babette's Feast." It
gives a wonderful glimpse of what God's economy is all about.
One
day a woman by the name of Babette appears at the door of two elderly
women in rural Denmark. She offers to be their housekeeper for free and
lives with them for 14 years. One day Babette finds out that she has
won the lottery in her native France. Without telling anyone she begins
preparing a feast for the two women and the members of the Protestant
pietist sect that their father had started many years ago. The feast
would be in commemoration of their father's 100th birthday.
At
the end of the story the sisters and their guests find out that Babette
had once been the head chef of a great restaurant in Paris and had
spent all 10,000 francs she had won to pay for the meal they had just
eaten. It was an extravagant act of love. The people sitting their
paid nothing for it. (This very brief synopsis does not do the film
justice. Please go watch it!)
Jesus has prepared an incredible
feast for us. He offers pure water that quenches our thirst for free.
He prepares the best wine we will ever taste at no cost to us. Our money is no good in God's economy.
But there has to be a catch, right?
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Advent Day 22: Mission:Forgiveness (Isaiah 53:1-12)
Isaiah 53:1-12 (NIV)
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This (long) passage that is most often associated with Good Friday (the day we celebrate the death of Jesus) is still important for us during Advent because Jesus did not come the way most people would have expected.
Just think of all the time, effort, money and planning it takes for the President of the United States to visit another nation. The costs of some of those trips are gargantuan! Just the bill for the secret service detail to go ahead of the President and prepare for his arrival is huge. That is what we expect from presidents, royalty and other very important people!
But according to the Bible, the God that created everything, the sun, moon, planets, and all living things, came in a way that no one expected. As Isaiah said, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him." Why? His mission was not to impress with power, majesty and awe, but to suffer and die in order to bring forgiveness and adoption into a new family.
So God became weak to show us that He loves us in a way that is not manipulative or oppressive. God became weak so that we would understand that power is meant for service and authority is meant for justice. It was God's will for Jesus to be an "offering for sin" and give forgiveness to all those who desire to be reconciled to God through faith.
Ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, humanity has tried to find meaning, purpose, and glory through our own efforts. We reject that God loves us, cares for us, and knows what is best for us. We reject that God has authority over our lives.
But faith says, "I don't have everything figured out. I need help. I believe that God loves and forgives me and wants me to be a part of his family."
So at Christmas, because Jesus came with the mission to forgive our sins and give us a new relationship with the Father we can sing loud and strong as members of his royal family:
Hark the herald angels sing , "Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild . God and sinners reconciled"
Lord of grace and mercy, we praise you for showing us your great love for us through the suffering that you endured on the cross. Help us at Christmas to be remember that you came not in power, but in weakness in order to serve us by offering us forgiveness and adoption into the family of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This (long) passage that is most often associated with Good Friday (the day we celebrate the death of Jesus) is still important for us during Advent because Jesus did not come the way most people would have expected.
Just think of all the time, effort, money and planning it takes for the President of the United States to visit another nation. The costs of some of those trips are gargantuan! Just the bill for the secret service detail to go ahead of the President and prepare for his arrival is huge. That is what we expect from presidents, royalty and other very important people!
But according to the Bible, the God that created everything, the sun, moon, planets, and all living things, came in a way that no one expected. As Isaiah said, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him." Why? His mission was not to impress with power, majesty and awe, but to suffer and die in order to bring forgiveness and adoption into a new family.
So God became weak to show us that He loves us in a way that is not manipulative or oppressive. God became weak so that we would understand that power is meant for service and authority is meant for justice. It was God's will for Jesus to be an "offering for sin" and give forgiveness to all those who desire to be reconciled to God through faith.
Ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, humanity has tried to find meaning, purpose, and glory through our own efforts. We reject that God loves us, cares for us, and knows what is best for us. We reject that God has authority over our lives.
But faith says, "I don't have everything figured out. I need help. I believe that God loves and forgives me and wants me to be a part of his family."
So at Christmas, because Jesus came with the mission to forgive our sins and give us a new relationship with the Father we can sing loud and strong as members of his royal family:
Hark the herald angels sing , "Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild . God and sinners reconciled"
Lord of grace and mercy, we praise you for showing us your great love for us through the suffering that you endured on the cross. Help us at Christmas to be remember that you came not in power, but in weakness in order to serve us by offering us forgiveness and adoption into the family of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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