comfort

Good morning friends,
I'd like to thank everyone who helped or stopped by to see the living nativity last night. We had a great time sharing the story of Christ's birth with our neighborhood. If you missed it last night, or if you saw it but want to play a part this time through, we'll be back in the manger on Friday at 6pm. Our passages today talk about community and God's amazing comfort for us. The Psalm talks about the beauty of Jerusalem, a city that symbolized for Israel the home of God's temple and the community of faith. The passage from Isaiah proclaims God's incredible forgiveness for Israel and for the world. God reaches out to us and calls us to come home. God also calls us to proclaim the good news of hope to others. With all our faults and failings, we are the ones who will share God's love with people in need of that good news. For whom might you be exactly the right person to introduce them to God's love?

Blessings,
Sam

Isaiah 40:1-11

¹  Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
²  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her
   that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
   that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

³  A voice cries out:
   “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
   the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
⁵  Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,
     for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

⁶  A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”
   All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
⁷  The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; 

surely the people are grass.

⁸  The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

⁹  Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings;
   lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear;
   say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him;
   his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,
   and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

*Sunday

Psalm 122:1-9

¹I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"

²Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.

³Jerusalem-built as a city that is bound firmly together.

⁴To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD,

as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

⁵For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.

⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.

⁷Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers."

⁸For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."

⁹For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

more end thoughts

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Jesus continues his discussion of the "end of the age" in our passage for today. The big take away point to me is that the end will be scary and sudden, but God also takes our needs into account. It will also be a blessing because with the end, God's kingdom comes in power and everything will be made right. We can't predict the end, and Jesus himself felt it would come sooner than it has. We know God doesn't see time the same way we do.

The important thing when we think about judgment and the conclusion of history is that God will bring it at the right time. The appropriate attitude for us is trust because the end of time is in God's hands and God is more loving than we can imagine. There's also an appropriate level of urgency for our ministry because regardless of when the end comes, each day might be our last, so there's no point in waiting to do what we know we are called to do. Also, every day people we know face the day without the hope and joy that comes from knowing Christ. Today God might put an opportunity in your path to share a glimpse of that hope and love with someone.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 24:12-22

¹²And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold.¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

¹⁵“So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), ¹⁶then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; ¹⁷the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; ¹⁸the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. ¹⁹Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. ²¹For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.