Epiphany 2018

January 6, 2018 is Epiphany. Epiphany 2018

The holiday – the holy day – is very old, older than Christmas. Almost as old as Easter.

Yet, in America, few Protestant churches celebrate the holiday, for we have become over taken by the secular aspects of Christmas – gift-giving, Santa Claus, mushy-romantic television shows that celebrate romance and family more than Jesus Christ’s arrival on this earth.

And there are the celebrations of the football bowl season – parades, games, New Year’s Eve parties.

We’ve gone back to work and here comes Epiphany on the twelfth day after Christmas, January 6. Even in this church we celebrate Epiphany on the Sunday closest to January 6th, because, if the truth be told, very few people would show up for a special Epiphany service. Would you have come to a service on Saturday, even if you’d known about it?

Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

So what is Epiphany?

In the secular world, the word means “a sudden breakthrough or realization”, or “a sudden appearance”. In the church context, Epiphany refers to an appearance of God, and when capitalized if refers to the day that that the world first realized that Jesus was God – the day of the visitation of the wise men from the East, the Magi from Babylon, who brought three very appropriate gifts to Jesus and His family.

We know the story – how men in the east saw a star and traveled across the desert, dealing with shortages of water, sand storms, perhaps bandits, to Jerusalem, where King Herod the Great sat as king.

Herod was not Jewish, however. Herod was from Idumea, an area to the east of the Jordan Valley, in what is modern day Jordan. He was not from King David’s line – He was an outsider, a foreign king in the same way that King George of England was a German king who ruled over the English, which was part of the reason the English-American settlers in the New World rebelled against him. Herod was also an outsider and many of the people hated him for being from another country.

Likewise, the Romans had tampered with the office of the High Priest of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The High Priesthood should be for life, but the Romans removed men who were not sufficiently attentive to Roman concerns and replaced them with men who were more likely to act for the Roman conquerors.

The Magi, the wise men traveled to Jerusalem and they met with King Herod and his advisors who knew the Scriptures, who directed these men to Bethlehem where they found the young Jesus and Mary. After a journey of a thousand miles or more, they had arrived at the right village.

How many wise men were there? We don’t really know. A fourth century story decided, probably because of the gifts, that there were three men and even gave them names. But this is not based upon the rather simple Biblical record. Because they had traveled most likely from Babylon, where there was a group of men known as the Magi – the word from which we get our word “magicians” – it is likely that the party included at least a dozen or more people, perhaps a couple of dozen simply because the journey would have been very dangerous for a smaller party.

In Babylon, since the time of Daniel several centuries before, there had been a strong Jewish community. And the leaders of that community were known as the Magi, men of science and philosophy, of great Biblical learning who studied everything that could be studied. It is from this group of men that we likely get the expedition of the Magi.

No, they did not arrive on Christmas Eve. Because Herod asked when the star had appeared, and because after our passage Herod commanded all boys under the age of two to be killed, it is likely that the Magi arrived nearly two years after Jesus’ birth. You will notice that they did not meet Mary in the stable, but met her at “the house”, probably a house Joseph had built for the family over the months after their arrival in Bethlehem.

The gifts are important to the overall story of Jesus. He is given gold, frankincense and myrrh. But our culture has distorted the idea of gift-giving.

We give gifts, it is said, to show love to a member of our family or to a friend. And we go crazy with this at Christmas. We have lists and lists of people – we send emails to each other telling each other what members of the family would like for Christmas, we get upset when we don’t get the presents we want, and we also find ourselves in the dilemma of buying presents for people we really don’t know well – or like – because they are a member of the family. And so we try to estimate what the other will give us, because it just doesn’t work to receive a $50 gift but give a $9 gift, does it?

Gift-giving was a bit different in biblical times. In the Middle East and throughout the Roman world, gift-giving was a practical way of developing obligations toward you from the other. If you gave someone a nice gift, they were socially obliged to respond to you as a friend. For example, you might give a wealthy and powerful noble a fine horse – and he would in turn make sure that you were well-protected from bandits.

Jesus is given gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These particular gifts meant specific things in the world of the ancient Middle East.

Gold was given to a king, for gold is the way to pay an army and to buy weapons and horses. The Magi acknowledged Jesus as a king. They had traveled over a thousand miles to give a gift to the next King David of Israel, the man who would restore the line of David to the throne of Israel, the man who would make Israel great. This Jesus would be the rightful king because He was descended from King David on both his mother’s side and upon Joseph’s side – and His Father was the Holy Spirit of God. One day, Jesus would ride into Jerusalem at the head of a grand procession – but He would be on a donkey instead of a white stallion. One day, though, He will return in His full power and all will bow down before Christ.

Frankincense is the dried sap from certain trees that grow on the far coast of Arabia, in the area that today we call Oman. It was burnt in temples to cover up the odor of the sacrifices made. We don’t think about the smell of dozens of cattle and sheep and lambs being sacrificed and the smell of the unburnt blood. Frankincense was burned to give a sweet smell to the temple. It was the gift you gave to a high priest. The Magi recognized Jesus as their High Priest of God, the rightful intercessor between God and humans, the only one worthy to conduct the sacrifices that God demanded. And one day, Jesus would conduct a sacrifice, a sacrifice that would save not only the people of Judea, but all the people of the world.

And myrrh. Myrrh was from a different tree, also from Oman. Its deeper odor was used by those who would prepare a body for burial, embalmers, to cover up the odor of the dead body rotting like a deer carcass beside the road. It was closely related in the world to death and resurrection. When the Magi gave myrrh to Jesus, they recognized that He held the power over death and life, that He was God. And one day, Jesus would show that the Magi were correct, that Jesus did hold the power over death and life. He holds the power over our deaths and our lives.

And to make this clear, that the Magi “got it” about Jesus, Matthew tells us that the Magi “bowed and worshipped the child.”

Throughout the recorded history of the Bible, the Second Person of the Trinity had been to earth several times before. We know that God the Father is Spirit and we know that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit, but in the Old Testament, we find several circumstances where God walks with people. In the Garden of Eden, God walked among the Garden. Abraham encountered God walking with two angels at the trees of Mamre. Later, Jacob wrestled with God. And then Joshua encountered “the Angel of the Lord” before the battle at Jericho – and this Angel of the Lord is distinguished from other “mere” angels.

Christian theologians have mostly decided that these appearances are God the Son come to earth before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

But there is something unique here.

This time, instead of God in the flesh walking up to men, instead of God the warrior suddenly appearing before our heroes, instead of God the Son finding us and meeting us in the course of our adventures, wise men went looking for God. And they found Him and recognized Him as God even though He was a mere child, an infant, a toddler without power. They knew Who He was even before He could climb on a horse without help.

These Magi, they truly were wise men. They had studied the Scriptures – which in that day meant the Old Testament – and they knew God when they saw Him, even though He did not look like the King of Israel, the High Priest of God, the Wonderful Counselor that Isaiah had predicted.

For they knew their Scriptures and they listened to the Holy Spirit of God.

How about you?

Would you know God the Son if you met Him on the street? Do you know your Scripture well enough to recognize Him? Have you listened enough to the Holy Spirit that you can hear that still, small voice through the background clutter of our daily life of commercials, distractions, and fear?

The world is filled with many things that can take us away from Christ, that can send us to the wrong city, the wrong house, the wrong god. Yet the Magi show us the way of wisdom. Study the Scripture. Ask for guidance from those who have studied Scripture. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. And continue onward through difficult times until you find the Savior of the world.

If you will change one thing in your life this year, let me suggest that it be to begin reading your Bible every day. If you need help staying on track, join a Sunday School group, our Sunday evening dinner group at 6:30, or our Wednesday studies at 10 am or 6 pm. That’s the real advantage of a group – we work together to help each of us stay on track.

Look for God the Son. You will find Him in the most unlikely places.

A few years ago, I was in Italy on a required seminary trip. I was in Rome on Epiphany, which that year fell upon a Sunday, and I went to the second largest church in Rome, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. There, they had a full house, celebrating Epiphany with a huge choir, trumpets, a powerful organ. They went all out. Why not?

They were celebrating a very ancient Christian holiday, one that was celebrated before Christmas was even on the calendar. They were celebrating the day that a group of men – and a woman – realized that Jesus was God on earth, worthy of worship, our king, our high priest, our God. “And they bowed down and worshipped him.”

Will you do the same?

Simeon’s Prophecy

In our reading from Luke, Joseph and Mary take the baby Jesus from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, about a 6-mile walk, to be circumcised at the Temple of God on the eighth day as Moses commanded. Here they ran into a man named Simeon, who was devout, full of the Holy Spirit, and who listened to the Holy Spirit. Luke says that Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before the Messiah, the Savior of Israel would arrive.

Deuteronomy 31:9-13; Psalm 50; John 15:1-8; Luke 2:22-40

That day, he was led by the Holy Spirit to go into the Temple court and he was led to Jesus and His parents. The Child was here to be consecrated to God, set aside for God’s work. Taking the boy in his arms, he chanted over Jesus a song:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

What a prophecy! Imagine this happening to you and your child! Was Jesus just this beautiful? Or did Simeon have such a view of the future?

I think the latter, for Luke specifically talks about the relationship between Simeon and the Holy Spirit. Simeon truly was prophesizing, and he knew what he was saying. This child will be the glory – not “a” glory, but “the” glory – of Israel, and a light to bring revelation – the knowledge of God – to the Gentiles – all those people who were not Jewish. This child would be the salvation of humankind.

And Simeon now felt his life could end.

This is the degree of change finding Jesus can bring upon a life. When you find Jesus, you no longer fear your life ending. You are ready to move on in peace.

Those who fight growing old, who fear becoming older, who have a deep-seated fear of death – need to understand Jesus more deeply.

So Simeon was at peace with God and his life because he had found the Christ. Then Simeon issued a second prophecy:

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. “

Notice the odd word order. “Falling and rising”. Many will fall and others will rise.

The child will be a sign – of what? A sign that will be spoken against, and the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed by their words against Jesus.

So far, the prophecy is about others and their relationship to the child. How people speak about Jesus reveals their hearts. But now Simeon spoke ominously:

“And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

What frightening words for parents to hear! I suspect a deep worry set in their hearts, and that was why it was easy for Joseph to take the family off suddenly to Egypt a couple years later when Herod commanded the death of the young boys in Bethlehem.

And for us who know Jesus, swords pierce our souls, too, when a dear friend dies without knowing Christ. Our hearts ache for those who grow older and avoid church, for those who behave as though they will never die, for those who sit in the hospital or home in anger at growing old. Knowing Christ would erase the fear of death that underlies that anger.

Do such prophecies still occur, like Simeon gave about Jesus?

Denzel Washington claims that as a teenager, a prophecy was made that he would preach to the nations. Denzel became an actor, a filmmaker. His films can be rough, gritty, violent, bloody. But buried in his films are his intense faith that is preached to his audiences. These are not feel-good films – they are full of the life that is lived in the real world of the inner city, the apocalypse, the Third World. And yes! Christ is preached around the world in Washington’s films.

Yes, these prophecies still occur. And prophecy is just one part of a life committed to God – the icing on the cake, if you will.

A covenant is needed between us and God – a contract, if you will. God will fulfill God’s side of the covenant and give us eternal life, as well as substantial healing in this life. Will we fulfill our side by giving ourselves to God’s care, recognizing that we are too weak to live eternally on our own, recognizing that without God’s guidance we will continue to harm ourselves and others, recognizing that God is God – and we are not?

Christmas Eve 2017

Once again, it’s Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve 2017. Did you ever think we'd make it here?

Once again, we settle in with family and friends to hear a familiar story, to sing familiar songs, to feel the warmth of candles in our hands, to remember that one night, long ago, a small child was born who would change the entire world – for that child was God Himself in the flesh, soon to walk and talk and lead us, to perform miracles, to ultimately die for the crime of claiming to be God – and then to rise from the dead in three days and so prove to us that He, Jesus the Christ, was truly God and worth listening to.

We mostly know the story.

In Israel, in the land of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, during Roman occupation, a young man and an even younger woman – both descended from King David, the man who had ruled Israel a thousand years earlier – these two people had to travel from their home in Nazareth a hundred miles to the south to David’s city, Bethlehem, which was at the time a small hamlet a few miles outside of Jerusalem.

And we know that they stopped at the inn in the town and there was no room left, but the innkeeper referred them to the stable, which many believe was actually a cave, the same cave where David had hid out from his predecessor, King Saul.

And in that stable, Mary gave birth to Jesus.

A few hours later, a group of shepherds came rushing into the stable with a wild story about angels in the heavens, an order to find the baby, and Mary sleepily listened to them and remembered the angel that had visited her nine months earlier. And Joseph? He wondered too as he remember a dream he had had months before when he had considered sending Mary away, but in the dream an angel spoke to him, also. So many angels!

And we know most of the rest of the story. No – the wise men from the East did not stop that night – we think they stopped a couple of years later, as the Bible says, which led Herod to decide to kill all the young boys in Bethlehem and Joseph, warned by an angel, took the family to Egypt just in time.

We know that years later, Joseph and his family returned to Nazareth, that Jesus was supernaturally intelligent and wise for a child, and that eventually, as a man of about thirty years old, He began to teach and perform miracles, traveling around Israel to eventually enter Jerusalem at the head of a huge procession of people.

We know that Jesus often claimed to be God or to do the things only God can do. And the people watching, almost every time, picked up stones to kill Him because He was claiming to be God or have God-like powers.

We know His teachings were extraordinarily wise, but ran counter to the common sense of the day. “If a man strikes you on the cheek, turn your other cheek.” “Forgive people. Love your enemies.” In response to a question from one of his students, he said, “Don’t forgive a person seven times, but forgive him seventy times seven times.”

Perhaps most importantly he taught that those who break moral laws are not any worse off in front of God than those who tried so rigidly to keep those laws because everyone eventually breaks those moral laws. And so Jesus hung out with corrupt tax collectors, prostitutes, drunkards, and bar tenders – and reserved His harshest condemnations for those who were seen as religious teachers.

And then He was arrested and sentenced to die naked on a cross. And He died.

And almost everyone was happy, because He was clearly a blasphemer, a political troublemaker, a leader of a movement, a threat to the established Temple leadership and to the order of society.

But He came back to life, proving that He was God Himself, and our world has never been the same since. All of this is found in the Four Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament.

Jesus lived such a long time ago, and we’ve watched so many movies and television shows, and seen so many Christmas’s, that Jesus has almost become a legend, a fable, a myth, one of those characters that only exists in make-believe land, like Santa Claus and his North Pole, like Dracula and his castle, like the Avengers and their world of Marvel Superheroes.

But there is one difference.

Jesus was and is real.

For a long time, the "experts" had decided that the Bible was a book of made up stories. Where, for instance, was this town Nazareth? We couldn't find it. Where outside the Bible was any mention of Pontius Pilate, the man who ordered Jesus’ execution? He couldn't be found. Where was any evidence of reality found in the Bible?

But in 1960, Nazareth was found. About the same time, a stone marker was found in a coastal city in Israel that read, essentially, “This amphitheater given by Governor Pontius Pilate” and the date was within two years of the traditional date of Jesus’ execution.

Since that time, dozens and hundreds of little items in the Bible have been confirmed by archaeologists and the discovery of ancient writings. And each little item adds up to the fact that the story we have of Jesus is true, that He lived, and that His followers – and others – were convinced that He was very special, God Himself walking upon the earth. Over 500 eyewitnesses saw Him resurrected, and a half dozen men wrote about it. And within 30 years, those Christians had spread so far as to cause trouble in Rome itself. Within eighty years, Roman governors were asking what to do about the Christians, and within 300 years, the Emperor was a Christian and Christianity was the preferred religion of the Roman Empire.

And so I ask you tonight…what does this mean?

If Jesus was truly God, then this important fact should roll your world!

For if Jesus was God, then everything He said is extraordinarily important.

If Jesus was God, then His words hold the keys to eternal life.

If Jesus was God, then something should change in your life.

What did Jesus teach?

Contrary to what most people today think, Jesus did not teach a system of do’s and don’ts, a strict moral law.

Contrary to what most people today think, Jesus did not make huge pronouncements about science and evolution.

Contrary to what most people today think, Jesus did not give a huge list of requirements about how good people need to be to follow Him.

No, Jesus’ main teaching was this:

Everyone disobeys God. Everyone sins. Everyone makes mistakes in their lives.

But God is a God of many chances.

And God wants to have a close relationship with you, like a good Father wants to have a relationship with a wayward son or daughter.

And like most good Fathers, there is a simple test our Father gives us to allow us to come home on good terms.

God’s three-part test is this:

First, will you apologize and ask forgiveness? Will you ask God to forgive you of the times you’ve disobeyed Him, the times you’ve hurt others, the times you’ve hurt yourself? Will you ask God to forgive you of the times you’ve turned your back on Him, trying to believe that He doesn’t exist, or doesn’t care? Will you ask for His forgiveness?

Next, will you follow the example and leading of God’s Son, Jesus Christ? Will you practice being kind to people, to treating even your enemies as you’d like to be treated.

And third, most importantly, will you try to learn what God desires of you?

Christmas Eve is the best night of the year to make your apology to God. Here, surrounded by the beauty, surrounded by the love of God, is the best time to come to God.

And if you are reading this today, now would be a great time to make your apology:

Almighty God,
I come before You as a sinner.
I have committed crimes against You.
I have committed crimes against my friends, neighbors, and family.
Some have become public knowledge;
Some are still private, known only to You and I.
Some crimes I thought were small;
Some crimes I thought were great.
But I recognize that all are worthy of Your Divine punishment,
For as Paul wrote: “The wages of sin are death”.

Please forgive me, and accept me back into your good will,
That I may live an abundant, eternal life following Your Son Jesus Christ,
Who lives and reigns, now and forever, and speaks through the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Where Shall Your God Live?

In Ancient Israel, when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt through the Red Sea and into the wilderness south of Israel, the Lord told Moses to build an ark, a gorgeous box in which we placed the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, as well as certain other holy objects. The box was decorated with gold, and the Israelite army carried this box, known as the Ark of the Covenant, before them wherever they traveled.

When they stopped in a place, a large tent, known as the Tabernacle, was set up. It had a specific design, once again specified by God, and access to the Tabernacle was limited. In the central room of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant was placed. And, it was said, that this is where God spoke to the people of Israel, their leader Moses, and their high priests.

Over the next few centuries, as the Israelites conquered Palestine and settled, the Tabernacle remained the center of worship for Israel. 

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26;Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

Finally, several hundred years after Moses, David established a secure kingdom based on the city of Jerusalem. He fought and defeated armies to the southeast, to the southwest, to the northeast and to the north. The people of Israel were united under David’s leadership. And finally, David built himself a palace in Jerusalem.

It was then that our first reading, the reading from 2 Samuel 7 is set:

After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

David was feeling guilty. He had a nice home – but in David’s mind, God’s home was simply a tent. He wanted to build a permanent temple to God in Jerusalem out of his guilt and gratitude.

Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”

But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

God points out that He had never asked any of the leaders of Israel to build Him a temple of fine wood. God continues:

“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you.

God says that God has always been with David, wherever he has gone, just as God has always been with us, wherever we have gone. God continues to speak:

Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you:

Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Rather than have David build a house for God, God will build a house for David.

Isn’t this the way we often worship? We want to do things for God, so we reach down in our wallets and donate something of brass or silver or gold or stone to the church. We think that this is the way to honor our God and the sentiment is right. It is only the execution that is going wrong.

Our God, you see, never asked to be located in a single place, even though God allowed David’s son Solomon to build the First Temple of God in Jerusalem, a Temple that was rebuilt and expanded about the time of Jesus’ birth as the Second Temple by King Herod. But God did not ask for His worship to be located in a single building or even in a single town like the little-g gods that men and women worshipped in ancient times in countless towns and cities.

Our God is not located up here at the altar – our God is not just in this sanctuary, for a sanctuary is not a place where God is protected by the people, but is instead a place where the people are protected by God. Our God does not even desire to be found only in churches.

Instead of a beautiful church to stay in, observed by the faithful, our God is present in the world around us, doing great works, making art work in the snow, in the clouds, in the slowly, ever so slowly changing shape of the mountains and valleys. Our God is even now looking over each of our shoulders, peeking into our lives, looking at what you are drawing on the bulletin, sitting with your relative at the nursing home, and knitting together wounds in the emergency rooms around the world.

Our God is on the high seas, listening to the prayers of sailors and fishermen. Our God is in Pakistan where a church is rebuilding from an attack a week ago. Our God is in the nearly empty cathedrals of Europe, comforting those few people who have chosen to go there in prayer.

It has always been this way and it is this way today. Our God is everywhere, watching and changing the world.

About the year 4 BC, a young teenaged girl was going about her business in the small town of Nazareth near the Sea of Galilee. Miriam was her name, the same famous name as Mose’s sister. Miriam – whom the Romans would call Maria and the English would call Mary.

Miriam was pledged to be married to a carpenter from Bethlehem, a man name Yusef, or Joseph. She had only seen him a couple of times, for he lived about 90 miles away, which was quite a walk in that time before automobiles – at least three days for a man in a desperate hurry, but more commonly a week’s journey.

As Miriam was doing her chores, an angel came to see her. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Yeshua”

Yeshua – Joshua – a name the Romans would twist to be Jesus.

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

Her cousin Elizabeth was an older woman, known for not having any children, but now Mary was learning that Elizabeth was well along in her pregnancy. And Mary was going to have a son – the son of God! How would she respond? She had been well-trained and was respectful in her answer.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

God was working in the world again. God was rebuilding the house of David, the ruling family of Jerusalem. And Mary was to be the new king’s mother.

If Mary had journeyed to Jerusalem, she would have found a great Temple under construction, a beautiful Temple, the Second Temple, glistening in the sunlight. King Herod began that construction which took forty years. Almost anyone would have pointed to that Temple as the most important location for the God of Israel in the world.

Yet, as usual, God had a different opinion. In God’s view, the most important location in the world was the womb of this young teenaged girl, filled with a new life growing. For God loved the world. He would not speak through the dead stones and gold of the great Temple – although His Son would later respond that even those dead stones would praise His Son if the people were silenced.

No, God would speak through the child that Mary would give birth to nine months later. God would speak through the man that child would become. God Himself would speak to the people of the world – because the child was begun by God and was God Himself walking upon the earth.

God would not be imprisoned in a Temple that well-meaning people fashioned. He would walk among His people as the God-man Jesus Christ. He would experience what it meant to be human – and then He would teach us in love what God expected of us.

To most people in this world, God is seen in one of several ways:

Many people see God as an idea, a vague personality-force-thing which is, to them, an idea about which we can each have an opinion, an idea, a claim. “I think God must be like this and that, while you think God must be like that and this. And since no one can truly know, your opinion and my opinion are equally good or bad. For nobody has met God.” My family and I have watched the Star Wars movies. God or the Force – who knows? That is what these people say. Whose opinion is right?

Other people think that God is a kindly grandfather, the person who listens to our wants and complaints and then either gives us what we ask for or doesn’t – and, just like Santa Claus, it depends upon whether we’ve been naughty or nice. This god probably even has a bushy full white beard!

Still, like Jim Carrey in the movie Bruce Almighty who runs into God, portrayed as Morgan Freeman, other people look at God as someone or something we may meet one day, but who hangs around churches and those people known as ministers, priests, or monks or nuns, or stays up in Heaven. This god is supposed to have a private relationship between a few people and himself – but most people can safely ignore him – unless you are one of the very few that God chooses to speak to, like in Bruce Almighty or in the earlier movies where John Denver’s character runs into God in the form of George Burns.

And then, there are those people who recognize the full force of Christian teaching, which is that God is not an idea or a force or a kindly grandfather, and God does not limit contacts to a handful of people, nor stay in Heaven, but each baptized Christian receives the Holy Spirit at baptism, that that Holy Spirit is a personality of the Three-Part God, that Jesus Christ was a second Personality of God who walked among us on earth, and that God the Father is the third Personality, and that that Holy Spirit directly connects all of us to God who is ready and willing to speak to each of us if we would just listen with confidence and faith.

Christian teaching is that the Holy Spirit now is connected to each of us, like a wireless phone is connected to the Internet through the data, and if we practice listening to that still small voice, that voice will become easier and easier to hear and understand, that we might always know the reality and the will of the God who is there, the God who is here with us today.

And it is the love of God that makes this possible in the first place. For God actually walked on earth and God talked to real men and women and God was born one night in a stable in Bethlehem to a young girl. That Personality of God became known as Jesus, the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah of the world, and He is every bit as much God as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

And so the question is this: Where shall your God live?

Will you pretend to keep Him in this building of wood and bricks? Will you pretend to keep Him at a long distance from you, up somewhere in Heaven? Or will you accept that God wants to live with you, connecting with you through the Holy Spirit, put there by your encounter with Jesus Christ and the people who act under His orders on this earth? God is, even now, right beside you.

Today is Christmas Eve.

In our churches, we keep God at a distance by sitting towards the back, away from the altar. It is something we do without even thinking about it, for we are like the ancient Israelites, afraid to approach God. We would prefer to lock up God in a building, in a sanctuary, at an altar where we cannot get too close to Him.

Yet God came to us at Christmas. He physically touched some, spoke to many more, and wherever He walked, He healed people in the person of Jesus Christ. He can, even now, heal you if you will allow Him to get close to you. Will you symbolically walk toward Him today, telling God, your friends and family, your self that you want to be close to God the Father, to Christ, to the Holy Spirit?

What a wonderful day to let go and follow Christ, to walk to the altar and ask Him for guidance, to come up front and tell Him of your fears and needs and desires, to listen to the Holy Spirit’s response when you come close to God at the front of the church instead of keeping your distance, because God does not want you to keep your distance but instead wants you to come close, ever closer to His wonderful love, as God did not keep His distance, but came to us on a cold night in the form of a tiny baby. Come forward to be healed, or bow down where you are.

Where is Your Joy?

I once met a woman named Gladys. I want to tell you Gladys’ story. It is a story of finding Joy.

Gladys was born in Indiana about the time World War I ended, around 1919 or 1920. Her parents were farmers, but they were not very successful, for, we believe, her father was a bit too fond of the bottle. When liquor was banned a year or two after Gladys was born, he was not happy. But he grew corn on his farm, like many in Indiana, so he found a solution to his problem with a coil of copper tubing and a bit of ingenuity. It is amazing how clever people can be when they want something bad enough.

When Gladys’ father had too much to drink, he would look around at his home and he could see everything that was not working well in his life. And, as most people do, he blamed others. In his case, he blamed his wife.

It was his wife’s fault for having children. It was his wife’s fault when the cow got out, it was his wife’s fault when the crop failed, it was his wife’s fault when he didn’t have enough money.

Mother took the children to church when she could on Sunday mornings, trying to get back home before Papa woke up from his Saturday night. But for just an hour or so, there was peace. But soon, things became the church’s fault, also. 

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; Luke 1:46-55

As the children grew older, they began to attract his drunken attention. And so, Gladys looked for and found a protector, and eloped with him when she turned fifteen, which was old enough to marry with Mother’s permission. But she always felt guilty about doing that.

As many girls do, she had unconsciously looked for a man like her father. And she found one. Except he was a bit more sober – yet just as controlling. She never went to church again while he lived, for he was a very jealous man. Despite this, she never left him, because she felt guilty over leaving her mother and father for this man.

Over the years, through World War II and after the war, Gladys and her husband moved. The eventually settled in Ohio and stayed there in a small house, never having more than a single car, because Gladys might leave if they had a second car. And so she spent her days and nights alone in that small home, raising her children, raising a garden, sewing and cooking and cleaning.

When Gladys was seventy years old, she began to notice a problem in her vision. The center of her left eye was sort of “fading out”, and eventually, she was able to get to the eye doctor. She had macular degeneration, which gradually robbed her of her sight. Everything gradually went dark.

Finally, one day, she found her husband dead and that burden of control was lifted. Yet what was she to do? She stayed alone in the house as the eye disease slowly got worse.

After a few more years, Gladys and her daughter decided that she could no longer live at home alone, for she was almost blind. She was eighty-eight years old.

And so arrangements were made and Gladys came to live at the nursing home. Once again, things didn’t get off to a very good start. Her first roommate died two weeks after she arrived.

And then she got a new roommate, Virginia. Virginia was 98 years old and could see just fine. Her mind was still sharp. She could barely walk with help, and she was nearly deaf. But Virginia could speak – loudly!

The first few nights were not good. Virginia would cry out in her sleep. But she talked with Gladys. Virginia talked about her church and God and the love of Christ. She loved Christ, you see, who had always taken care of her.

And as Virginia talked, Gladys listened. And slowly, the darkness began to lift, for she began to realize that God didn’t hate her for getting married, and perhaps even, God was not punishing her directly for running off. In fact, through Virginia’s talk, she began to realize that she had punished herself through her poor decisions and God simply wanted her back.

But how could she get to church now, after all these years?

Virginia talked of her church and people from Virginia’s church began to visit Virginia. They brought gifts, they came and talked, they prayed, and they talked with Gladys. They were kindly people – not wealthy, not very well-off, - but they shared what they had with Virginia and Gladys. And what they had, more than anything else, was joy. And they prayed with Gladys.

And so, after about six weeks, when the pastor came to visit, Gladys called him over and said, “Pastor, I’d like to join your church.”

And the next week, a half-dozen men and women from Virginia’s church showed up at the nursing home with hymnals and they sang songs about Christ and the pastor read from the book and asked Gladys some questions, and Virginia laughed and Gladys said a bunch of “I will’s” and at the end, the pastor put some water on Glady’s forehead and Glady’s knew she was right with God once again. And you know, it was like a light switch turned on with Gladys.

Over the next months, the people continued to come and visit with her and Gladys, who had never laughed much, learned to laugh again, and she remembered sunny days when she was a little girl in Indiana. And she smiled much more than she had before.

After a few months, Gladys’ daughter found her a place with a private room in another town, and so she moved there. At that new place, she met a man who had trouble walking, so she would push his wheelchair while he told her where they were going, and they talked and talked and talked as friends full of joy will do...

You’ve seen other examples of joy. The fourth grader arriving home after the last day of school before summer break, the woman who has just given birth and holds her child for the first time, the man who has just been pronounced the husband of the bride he has been pursuing for years, the woman who sees her husband walk back through the airport, home from Afghanistan, the young man who just got hired into his dream job, the girl who was just asked to the prom by the high school quarterback. The family that was just baptized as a group, and the woman whose biopsy just came back negative for cancer. All of these are examples of joy.

Yet, there are those who have lost their joy.

You see, a life without God depends upon our own abilities. That’s usually just fine when we are teenagers or in our twenties, for we are still testing our abilities. But as we mature, eventually all of us come up against limits to what we can do.

For some, those limits hit us as teenagers in middle school, high school, or college. We are bullied, we fail in classes, others are picked for the sports teams we desperately wanted, the girl or guy we are interested in picks another. Life hits us like cold rain.

For others, it happens when we try for a job and are told we aren’t qualified or as well-qualified as others, or we get a job for a while and then are fired or laid off. We want to get married and the other just wants a fling. A loved one dies and there was nothing we could do about it. All of these force us to look at ourselves as having limits. And our joy flees from us.

But despite what all the commercials and movies and motivational speakers tell us – we were never supposed to be unlimited in our abilities. We were never supposed to be self-sufficient. We were never supposed to stand alone in the Universe, controlling our destiny.

No, our destiny lies in the hands of Christ. And, at first, that is a shock to us. For we have been bullied so much in our lives that we don’t want to let go of the control.

But those who know Christ’s character understand how wonderful it is that Jesus is in control, for Jesus is much wiser than we are, He is truly unlimited because He works with what God can do, and Jesus loves us much more than any other human can love another human.

And so, for those who truly know Christ, to relax into God’s hands after living in the world is like coming home from a two-mile walk with a light jacket in ten degree weather in the face of a 20 mile per hour wind ... and crawling into a king-sized bed with the softest flannel sheets freshly warmed from the dryer and covering up with a down comforter in front of a roaring fire.

Mary, the teenage mother of Jesus, encountered an angel who told her she would become pregnant through the Holy Spirit with a child who would save the world, and that generations of people would call her “blessed”. Her joy filled her to overflowing, for she had studied God’s character. As Luke tells us:

She sang:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
Why was Mary so joyful?

Because God had noticed her and she knew that God had noticed her. How can anyone help but be joyful who has been touched personally by the wisest, most powerful, and most loving Being in existence?

If you know God’s character, you will be joyful. If you don’t know God’s character, you might be suspicious, resentful, worried. If this is you, then perhaps you need to study more about God.

Most of us have met people that are always joyful, or almost always joyful. How could we swap out our sadness, our cynicism, our suspicion for joy?

Perhaps the easiest, the best way, the simplest manner is to practice a habit of gratitude. In the morning, at noon, and in the evening, as you begin to pray for the day or for a meal, practice listing three or four things God has provided you for which you are grateful. A warm house, a kitchen full of food, the telephone which allows you to speak to others, a home where you can look outside and see trees, clean water, chocolate…whatever you think of that day. Practicing gratitude will train you to recognize the works of God in your life and you will see that God is with you every day, like an excellent butler setting the table of your life even before you know that you will sit down at that table.

If you have trouble developing this habit, put a note on your mirror – “Have gratitude for the small things.”
And as you develop this habit of gratitude that leads toward joy, consider what Isaiah wrote, the words that Jesus read when He first began His ministry:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.

You see, the way to understand the character of God is to study God by reading about Jesus, for Jesus was God walking upon the earth.

Think, for example, of what Jesus did for you, personally, when He died upon the cross. He paid the penalty that was due from you for all those things you have done wrong to others, all those actions that hurt your parents, that hurt your siblings and friends, all that hurt your children. He paid the price for every unkind word you have said, a price that would have taken your life from you, for you and I have injured God’s images who walk around us. Jesus paid the price for the destruction you and I have caused in the world. And He did it gladly, because that is what a loving Person does for those they love – and Christ loves each one of us more than an excellent older brother loves a baby brother or sister.

You will notice that the Isaiah quotation begins, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me…”

When we were baptized, in addition to the water involved, the pastor prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon us. And therefore, this passage is true for each of us. Read with me:

the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.

Each of us has a purpose in life given to us by God individually. This passage applies to all baptized Christians.

Pastor, do you mean I have permission to do these things?

Folks, we not only have permission, we have been given the opportunity and the marching orders to do these things.

Can you imagine the joy you will received when you tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to the poor, that they are welcome among us? Can you imagine the joy there is when you tell someone of Christ’s love for them and they stop sobbing in sadness and their tears turn to tears of joy? Can you imagine the joy you will feel when someone who is mourning suddenly realizes that they will see their loved one again? Can you image the joy when someone who has been despairing suddenly in your presence starts to praise God?

Years later, after Jesus had left the building and returned to the Father, the Apostle Paul wrote of the wonderful nature of this mission and how we feel when we participate:

Paul wrote:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Yet Paul also understood how we can miss the joy, for he gave us a warning:

Do not quench the Spirit.

Do not put out the fire of the Holy Spirit. When you feel the Spirit moving – and you will, for YOUR spirit will rise with it – do not calm down. Don’t say, “I can’t do that” – for you can with the Spirit of God directing you.

Don’t say, “I’m getting out of control and need to stop.” - for sometimes this world needs someone a bit out of control, as the crowd at Pentecost was when they began to praise God to each other in dozens of languages.

Do not quench the Spirit – for the world needs more of the Spirit to be transformed into what God wants. And as you give thanks in all circumstances, as you pray continually, as you learn to rejoice always – you will become one of those wonderful people, a person filled with joy who spreads the wonderful knowledge of who God is to all the people you come in contact with. And the Psalm will be fulfilled.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

Be Joyful!

Who Will Proclaim?

Seventy-eight years ago, in early December of 1941, things were looking grim for England. The war that had started a bit over two years earlier had not gone well. Poland, then Denmark and Norway had been overrun by the Germans. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg were next, scarcely acting like speed bumps for Hitler and his army. In June of 1940, France had fallen and Prime Minister Winston Churchill considered England blessed to have barely pulled the army out of Dunkirk by sea. And then, the rest of that summer and fall were the nightly and daily air raids that were barely beaten back.

And the Americans just sat on the sidelines, trading them fifty old destroyers in exchange for long term leases on some ports and airbases, mostly in the Caribbean. Churchill had begged Roosevelt to enter the war, but Roosevelt told him that he could not fight unless Congress declared war, and Congress was in no mood to get involved.

1941 had also been terrible. Hitler had chosen to invade Russia and had the Russians on the run. His armies had driven almost to Moscow, deep in the heart of Russia, and there didn’t seem to be anything that would keep those armies from completely defeating the Russians in the spring to come. In North Africa, the German tank commander Rommel had pushed the British forces clear back to Egypt and were threatening to breakthrough to Cairo and then the Suez canal. And shipping losses were mounting. Churchill was being forced to make decisions between buying food and buying vehicles from America because of a lack of ships, the enemy submarines were so effective. And still, the Americans, with an economy as big as Germany and Britain combined sat on the sidelines, not at all interested in sending American troops to die in Europe for the second time in thirty years. 

And the bad news of the war was wearing on the politicians. Even now there were rumors from Parliament of some members who thought Britain should negotiate a peace treaty. There would be a vote of confidence in Churchill soon.

Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13;2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8

Late on December 7th, Churchill was sitting at home in front of his fireplace, drinking his whiskey and smoking a cigar that evening when the first phone call came around 8:30 pm. The Japanese had attacked Hong Kong, were in the process of sinking a British battleship near Vietnam, and were landing in the rubber-rich British colony of Malaysia. “And, by the way, sir, they appear to also be landing in the American-held Philippines and are bombing Pearl Harbor and the American Fleet. It looks bad!”

Churchill had been to America a few years earlier. In fact, he had been run over by a car and almost died in New York City while he was on a speaking tour. His mother was American, and so he had a deep knowledge of America – and he knew that if the Americans went to war, he had faith that they would fight hard and put everything into it.

That evening Churchill prayed.

Churchill had faith in Christ. And Churchill had faith in the promises of Roosevelt, who had told him that he would like to get more involved in the war, but was duty-bound to honor his Constitution that gave Congress the power to declare war.

Churchill had another whiskey and smoked another cigar while he thought about what the loss of the American battleships would mean for the Pacific. There would be no stopping the Japanese in cutting off his precious supply of rubber for tires from Malaysia. They would threaten Australia and even India, the largest and most important part of the British Empire. The night grew even darker as the fire burned low in his fireplace. Churchill brooded, with his brows frowning. He prayed some more.

And then, a bit after 11 pm, the phone rang. Churchill stood and walked to the phone. A familiar voice, Roosevelt, was on the other end. “You’ve heard about the attack this morning in Hawaii?”

“Yes, Mr President.”

“Well, Japan has declared war on us and tomorrow I’ll ask Congress to declare War on them. I guess we’re all in this together now!”

And after a few more words, they hung up the phone.

Churchill stood by the phone for a half a minute, thinking through the gravity of the situation. And then, a sparkle came into his eyes and he suddenly danced a jig for a moment. As he wrote in his history of the war…”We had won! The war was won!”

You see, Churchill had such tremendous faith that Christ was with them, faith in the ability of the United States and now faith in the desire of the Americans to win, that he knew the war was won. On December 7th, 1941, just as most Americans were realizing that they would be going to war, Churchill was celebrating the victory that he could see coming. For Churchill had faith.

It is no coincidence that just a few years later at a war conference, Roosevelt and Churchill were tag teaming the Communist atheist Russian leader Stalin about the truth of Christianity. Oh yes, Churchill and Roosevelt tried to personally convert Joseph Stalin. For, you see, they had faith, tremendous faith. And on Jan 29th, 1942 , the British House of Commons voted 464 to 1 to support Churchill in his prosecution of the war. The Members of Parliment reaffirmed their faith in Churchill.

Churchill and Roosevelt’s faith goes back a long way, clear back in time to a man standing beside the Jordan River in ancient Palestine, nearly 2000 years ago...

The man is odd looking. His hair is not trimmed – it is a deep black in color and hangs down to his waist. His clothing is not the ordinary, instead of linen, he is wearing a rough garment made of woven brown camel hair. He has a leather belt around his waist, not a linen belt. On that belt hang several pouches in which he keeps his food.

He doesn’t eat ordinary food – no beef or lamb or mutton for this man – instead he eats the pods from the Old World locust tree and covers them with honey he has found in the wilderness. The man is deeply tanned from years alone in the wilderness, his long black beard is uncombed. He is thin, but has a strong voice with an accent that tells you he is from near Bethlehem, in the are of Jerusalem.

“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. “ He speaks at length of the Messiah to come, the one Isaiah prophesied of 800 years earlier. His eyes flash and there is a crowd who is listening. “Repent”, he says, meaning to rethink what God wants. Someone asks him if he is the prophet Isaiah returned. “No," he shakes his head. "I am one calling in the wilderness,” and the crowd remembers what Isaiah had said about a man who would proclaim the arrival of the Messiah, who would go out ahead and order that the rough places should be smoothed over and the hills and valleys be graded to prepare a pathway for the glory of the Lord to be revealed.

John called upon them to repent again, to change their minds about God’s personality and to change their way of dealing with each other. They were not to treat poor people as dirt, but were to help each other. And when they had made that decision to repent, John offered to baptize them in the river.

Baptism. It was a young word. It had first been used about 150 years earlier to describe what happens when you put cucumbers in vinegar – they are baptized, they are cleaned and washed, but they also change their state. Several wonderful things happen to the cucumbers. They taste better. They are cleaned. They are safer to eat with the bad stuff washed off of them, in some way better than if you used plain water. And they are preserved, they don’t rot like cucumbers sitting around do.

John would baptize the people in the Jordan River, the holiest water in Palestine, the water that came from snows on Mt Hermon, high in the north, ran into the Sea of Galilee, and then fell down in rapids to the Dead Sea. The Jordan river, the river that Joshua - Yeshua - the leader of Israel had crossed to enter the Holy Land.

But John also spoke of the Messiah to come. “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

What was this Holy Spirit? Saul, the first king of Israel had received the Holy Spirit one day and he had prophesied with the other prophets, speaking on behalf of God. Over the centuries, that same Holy Spirit had come onto a few people of Israel and they had spoken on behalf of God as prophets. Now, John, this “one crying in the wilderness” said, “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

And we know the rest of the story. How John attracted disciples, including young men named Andrew, John, and Peter. How one day John pointed out another man, perhaps a bit taller, not as odd looking, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” How John’s disciples spent some time one afternoon with that man, who was also called Joshua, Yeshua, or as the Romans would say, “Jesus of Nazareth” and then decided to follow Him.

We know that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the savior of all Israel – and the world. We know that he taught for about three years, that he was John’s younger cousin by a few months, and that after John’s death Jesus’ ministry grew and grew until He also was arrested and executed by the authorities. But we also know that Jesus arose from death and was seen by over 500 people in at least eleven separate appearances and He walked with his students and talked with them and ate with them and even cooked several of them some fish just a few days after He came back from death.

And then…He went away, promising to return some day.

While Jesus has been gone, the world has changed.

Unlike the men of ancient Palestine, men no longer fight with spears and swords much, but instead use guns and tanks and missiles.

Men and women no longer die much from a minor cut or illness, but people have discovered and produced medical treatments that mean a simple cut is no longer life-threatening – and people have even developed methods to replace kidneys and lungs and even hearts.

Today, in many countries, men and women do not die of starvation if they do not wish to, for men and women now select rulers for themselves who will take care of those who have no land, no farm, no wealth by taxing the well-off and giving to the less well-off.

And we rarely suffer from the cold in winter nor the heat in summer, for men and women have developed methods of keeping homes comfortable, of killing fleas and lice, of giving us clean water, and our clothing no longer takes weeks or months of work for a simple set of clothes, but now can be found for the equivalent of a half-day’s wages.

And the reason for all this change was the Messiah that John proclaimed at the River Jordan so long ago. The reason is that people understand they are to care for their neighbors as they care for themselves. medicine, representative democracy, comfort - all these things come from those teachings of Jesus that we should care for all people like ourselves, and that everyone is important in the eyes of God.

Today, our faith is tested. There are many in this world who look at those who trust in the promises of Christ with disgust. Our culture tells us to have faith in nothing but our bank accounts, our 401k accounts, the products that that particular commercial is selling to you. Our culture says that we should have faith on in “evidence-based studies”, in scientific studies that are funded either by political appointees or by corporations, by statements made only by those who are in power or have put others in power. Our culture says to not have faith in anything unless those without faith deem it a legitimate point of view.

But hope leads to faith, and experience leads to faith, and knowledge leads to faith. And we have encountered God in our lives and in writings that date far before our politicians and CEO’s took control of our information. And so we can have faith in what wise men and women whom we know can tell us.

If I were to run past the front of my speaking platform with my eyes closed, I would rapidly drop a foot or two, wouldn’t I? How do you know? You’ve seen similar things, you have knowledge, you’ve experienced the fall yourself when you were younger, you know of a force called gravity and you have faith that gravity always works, because in your experience it has always worked for you …and for others you know. And so your reason puts together what you see at this platform, it remembers what you have experienced, it pulls in what you have heard and read about that others have experienced, and says, “Don’t step forward unless you expect to drop suddenly down!” You have faith in gravity because of your experience and knowledge. Our faith is based upon facts.

And so there is the question of our faith in Christ and Christ’s return – and the promises He made to us. What, exactly should we have faith in? Consider these three points.

First, Jesus promised us that He will return. He promised us that if we follow Him we will have eternal life. We have faith that His promises were made.

Second, The Bible, the written testimony of those who knew Jesus when He walked upon the earth, tells us that God never lies, that Jesus never lied, and that Jesus is God in a particularly complex way. And this is confirmed by the experience of the godly men and women we know. Wise people tell us that Jesus and God always keep their promises. We have faith in the Biblical witness and so we have faith in the ability of Christ to keep His promises.

Third, we have each encountered the love of Christ, and so we have faith in His love. We have faith that Christ will want to keep His promises. Our faith is based upon our experience and our knowledge.

And if you find it difficult to have faith, there are probably two, interconnected reasons:

First, people have let you down in the past. For keeping promises requires that you have the ability and the desire to keep the promises. Many times, people don’t have the ability to keep their promises. Other times, they don’t have the desire.

But Christ, the Son of God always has the ability to keep His promises. And Christ, who showed his love for us in dying on the cross has the desire to keep his promises for us. Furthermore, by coming back to life, He showed his ability to defeat even death when He desired. Jesus alone is worthy of your faith.

Second, you haven’t learned enough about Jesus of Nazareth. You haven’t carefully read the four Gospel stories of the New Testament. You’ve simply relied upon others and don’t really know which way to turn, like a teenager trying to learn how to drive from teenage friends, .

Read the Gospels. Listen to a pro teach you. Take the time to learn in depth. Ask the questions. That’s one purpose of the various studies and Sunday School classes we have each week. It’s to go in depth. It’s so you can make your faith rock solid and then begin to tell others about Christ, to proclaim the Good News of Christ.

So now there is a new question.

Who will Proclaim that the Lord will return?

Who will Proclaim that Jesus keeps His promises?

Who will have the Faith to Proclaim in the face of ridicule, laughter, hardship, and trouble that following Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?

We have all met hundreds of people who are not worthy to lead us.

We have all met hundreds of people who are petty, nasty, and would sell their grandmothers for the right price.

We have all met those who blindly follow the devil into Hell. So who will stand up and proclaim, “Jesus is the way to life?”

About twenty years ago, Saundra and I went to see WVU play Florida in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. WVU got clobbered, so sometime around the beginning of the fourth period, Saundra and I left the stadium and drove down Bourbon Street.

The night was foggy and a bit chilly. There were already hundreds and thousands of drunk fans and locals walking around, so I drove very, very slowly, allowing people to cross in front of me. The fog was everywhere and we could only see about twenty feet, but there were neon lights and street lamps all around, giving the place an eerie red glow.

Suddenly, in front of us on the street corner surrounded by those drunks and partiers, was a sight I will never forget. Bathed in red light in the fog, there loomed up a dark man, naked from the waist up. He was at least 6’ 5” and must have weighed 275-300 lbs. This was a BIG man and he was holding up a 9-foot high cross. And from his deep voice came the words:

“REPENT! TURN FROM YOUR EVIL AND TURN TO JESUS CHRIST!”

And then, he would pause for a couple of seconds and repeat it: 

“REPENT! TURN FROM YOUR EVIL AND TURN TO JESUS CHRIST!”

That was faith in action.

I knew of another. In a small town I know, there was a man who owned a small shop. He rarely had more than one customer at a time, but when he did, his wife would help out. And when you went to that shop, you took your time, because sometime, somehow, he or his wife would turn the conversation around to God and Christ and Christianity. They always had time to talk about God – and God always gave them enough customers to live comfortably. They proclaimed Christ just as much as the man in the fog in New Orleans did. They just did it more quietly.

In Atlanta, there is a woman we know who meets young women and offers to spend an hour a week teaching them about Christ, about being a good wife, about being a Christian mother. Ruth is known all over Atlanta in the Christian community for her proclamation of Christ and for the young women who have graduated from her teaching. 

Proclaiming Christ is not a matter of how loud you are or how much you know. It is just a matter of priorities.

The man on the corner in New Orleans could have spent the evening with friends and family, but he chose to spend it with people who needed Christ. The couple in the shop could have chosen to sell more quickly, but they choose to talk about God and Christ. Our friend Ruth could spend her days watching television, but she chooses to find young women and teach them what she knows about Christ. Even Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt chose to proclaim Christ when they met with Stalin. It is a matter of priorities – teaching what you know to those who will listen.

That’s why I preach two sermons a week and lead three groups a week – Wednesday mornings and evenings, and Sunday evenings. If you want to learn, I willing to teach. It is a matter of priorities.

It is something you can do. For it is a matter of priorities. The knowledge comes after the desire and the desire leads to more knowledge. Teaching another teaches yourself. 

Each of us needs to find his or her corner, or shop, or living room in which to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and resurrection. Where is your corner, your shop, or your living room? To whom will you proclaim?

If you would proclaim, come see me. Join in our Wesley dinner group that always meets at 6:30 on Sunday evenings at the church and then goes out to dinner at some local restaurant. For the purpose of that group is to help you find your way, to find your own corner or shop or living room to proclaim Christ throughout our land.

In Isaiah, Chapter 6, Isaiah reports these words:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Who will proclaim?

Advent Series: Days of Light and Darkness

When I was a little boy, we lived on Pike Hill, on Green’s Run Road a mile outside of St. Marys, WV off of Rt 16. Our home was 600 feet above the Ohio River valley, on the very top of the hill, and on cold December nights we could look out our front window and see the moon reflecting off the river, or perhaps it would make the fog that had formed in the valley from the warm river air glisten in white, while patches of snow sent moonbeams into our eyes. Out back, there was a hollow we looked down upon with a pond at the bottom under maple trees empty of leaves since the wind and rain had come in November. And across the hollow, beyond the next hill several miles, on top of King Ridge, there was a microwave relay tower that the phone company had installed years before, and on top of that tower was a blinking red light.

And that blinking red light was my Hope. On Christmas Eve, I thought that light was Rudolph the reindeer. I’d stand by the back door, looking out the window, and there was that blinking light! And then, the grownups would ask me to come back into the main room, where we’d watch a show and the lights on the Christmas tree would be flashing, but I knew…I knew!... that Rudolph and rest of the reindeer were bringing Santa.

And you know, sometimes I’d be awake, and the big man in the furry red coat would arrive while I was still awake. At that time we didn’t have a fireplace, so we’d hear a thump on the back porch and THERE HE WAS!

Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19;2 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37

But other Christmases, we’d set out cookies and milk, and he must have come during the night, because in the morning my sister would run into my room, blast me in the face by turning on the bright overhead light, and wake me up when I put the pillow over my eyes to stay in the darkness, because “the cookies and milk are gone and there are toys around the Christmas Tree that say ‘from Santa’ on their tags!” She did not want me to miss Christmas!

Those nights waiting for Santa, I remember the light. And I remember how dark the days were as I waited for Christmas. OH how dark the days after Thanksgiving were, with rain and snow and heavy clouds. Not enough snow to cancel school…just enough to melt on your clothes and make you cold. And when we sat in kindergarten and elementary school, we’d look outside and see rain, and dreary clouds and darkness came soon after we got home from school. For you know, the longest night of the year is just days before Christmas, the day Jesus arrives.

And, you know, this is the way the Christian life is.

The early Christians met Jesus in the flesh. They heard Him teach them for three years. They saw the brilliant, beautiful day, filled with light when they marched down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem as he rode in on a donkey’s colt. All that week, they heard Him teaching in the Temple, surrounded by adoring crowds.

And then the night came when He told them He would be leaving them, and they watched and ran as the guards arrested Him, and some followed that terrible night to watch Him beaten and bloody. And the next day, when His death sentence was pronounced for simply claiming to be God…and He was executed on the cross, killed for telling people who He was. And they saw Him die as the darkness descended upon the earth…it is there in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 27 verse 45 ”From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.” And that evening as the sun was setting, they buried Him and the darkness fell.

But Sunday morning, as the sun rose, so Jesus rose and announced Himself to the women and to Peter and the men on the road to Emmaus and then to the assembled disciples and it was a bright, glorious day!

And soon thousands had believed and as they each came to believe, their darkness fell away from them, they had Hope and they joyfully told more people and their light became the light of thousands of candles, then of hundreds of thousands, then millions of people and the world was changed because they KNEW that Jesus was returning soon.

And slowly, surely, people began to die as we waited for Jesus, we waited…and we waited…and we waited…

Mark was the first one to doubt that he would be around when Jesus returned, and so he put the Good News on paper. Then Matthew and Luke and finally John, His best friend, put down on paper what had happened that had lit up their lives and taken them out of the darkness. They wrote the Gospels, the first four books we find in the New Testament. Perhaps you might want to read a Gospel each week as we wait for Jesus, as we wait for Christ to return, as we wait for the light that shines on Christmas. Perhaps you might want to read these short books to your children or grandchildren or other children or to each other. It will make the waiting easier.

For this is Advent, the time of preparation and waiting.

What are you waiting for?

Are you waiting for baby Jesus to arrive, to lie in the manger in Bethlehem again?

Although we can remember that story, about how He arrived the first time, He will never be in that manger again, for He has grown up.

Are you waiting for Santa Claus, St Nicholas, the modern vision of the great Greek Christian saint who gave money to three girls so they could survive honorably and is still honored as the one who gives gifts to children?

Or are you waiting for Jesus the King, who will return “in clouds with great power and glory”?

For our days can be dark with wars and rumors of wars, with the deaths and illnesses of friends, with the coughs and pains and loneliness of old age coming upon us. Hear the words of Jesus Himself, as reported by Mark in the 13th chapter of his Gospel:

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.

20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

24 “But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

And then Jesus tells us to always watch for His return. “Don’t fall asleep,” Jesus says. Be ready for His return.

Now this doesn’t mean you can’t sleep, but it DOES mean to not give up on Jesus. We are always to be ready. Are you ready, or have the passage of years made you treat Jesus as a fairy tale, a myth, just another story, a nice idea? Do you read your Bible regularly? Do you join with other Christians a couple times a week, do you talk about what you’ve read or heard about in the story of Jesus? Are you actively telling every person you meet about the light that lit up your life years ago, the part of God we call Jesus Christ?

Or are you sleepily allowing people to doze in the darkness, never bothering to wake them up to see Christ, to know who Christ is, to experience the joy of meeting Christ?

Can you imagine a child growing up without ever hearing about Santa? Would you let them miss Christmas? Yet St Nicholas himself would never let a child grow up without understanding Jesus.

Yet there are many about us still in darkness. The people who walk in darkness, when will you bring them a great light to awaken them? Will you wake them up in time that they will not miss Christ’s Return?

Yet, the bright light of Hope is yet to come in its full intensity, waking us up, for one day Jesus will shine His face upon us, God Himself will be the light in our new home of New Jerusalem, and it will be time to go home with Christ.

And for those who don’t know Christ, who haven’t chosen to follow Him, who think He is simply a story told about a made-up character….there will be darkness. Eternal darkness lit only by fires. Eternal darkness without God.

By my count, it has been about 725,000 days since Jesus left Planet Earth. During that time, more than 10 billion people have lived. About 7 billion are now alive and about 2 billion of them are followers of Christ. In this county of roughly 60,000 people, two-thirds, or 40,000 don’t have a home church. As Isaiah said,

7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;

That means that most of them will be left behind in the darkness with no Hope when the Christ returns.

You can bring the light to them. You can simply talk to all the people you meet in the check out lines, in your neighborhood, at your school functions. You can say, “what church do you attend?” and then listen. If you find they don’t go to church regularly, if you find they don’t believe, if you find they offer excuses such as “I don’t have a way.”, you’ll have an answer this year, for you have learned to speak of Christ to people.

Our task is to simply talk to people, make friends, and talk about Jesus and what He has done for us. It all begins with saying two simple words, “Praise God”.

And the light switch flips on. For God shows up when people praise Him.

Let us leave no one in the darkness, no one. Not one soul left behind.

Bring the light of Christ to their dark night.