shepherds keeping watch

Good evening friends,

I hope your Christmas was wonderful, as mine was. Today's reading tells the first announcement of the birth of Jesus. I love that God chose to announce this wonderful event first to shepherds, folks just working for a living, not anyone society considered important. May Christ break into your life in some unexpected way today too.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 2:8-20

⁸In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” 

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Good morning friends,

Merry Christmas to you! Tonight, I hope many of you can join us for Christmas Eve worship at 7pm. It's a joyful celebration of God's love with music and the wonderful story of Jesus' birth. Our reading today tells a piece of the lead up to that story. Joseph and Mary were engaged and Mary became pregnant, but not by Joseph. Mary knew this was from the Holy Spirit, but Joseph had to make the obvious assumption. As often, God doesn't leave this story the way it was going. Joseph is a character we don't learn much about, but this small story gives us some insight into this brave and faithful man. May you find new strength in the amazing gift of Jesus this season.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 

²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Come and see

Good evening sisters and brothers,
It was a blessing to serve with our friends at People's Ministry in Christ today giving away clothes and food to folks in the neighborhood. While some from Laurelton were serving there others were serving at Cafe, where we had 49 guests for breakfast. At the same time members of our congregation are getting ready to go to New Jersey to help folks rebuild from Super Storm Sandy. God is at work through our congregation, and that's an exciting thing.

As we think and pray about the mission God gives us, we also turn to scripture. Our story today is about John the Baptist introducing two of his disciples to Jesus and then those folks invite others. The invitation isn't pushy, it's just welcoming people to "come and see." We can invite people to come and see what it means to follow Jesus too. We don't have to have the answers, just welcome people to the surprising journey of grace which is discipleship.

God bless,
Sam

John 1:35-50

³⁵The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). ⁴²He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

following even if we don't know where we're going

Good morning friends,
Yesterday we read about Peter's vision of a sheet full of animals lowered from heaven and a voice telling him to kill and eat. Peter is shocked because many of the animals are off limits for Jews, but a voice from heaven tells Peter that we should never call something unclean if God made it clean. As soon as the vision is over, men sent by Cornelius appear at the door and the voice tells Peter to go with them. We see where the story goes from there.

I love that throughout the story people really listen, even if they have no idea what is happening. Peter sets off on a two day journey because God told him to go. Cornelius has assembled all his friends and family to hear a message, even though he doesn't know what the message is or even if Peter will show up. God is full of surprises, and I am so grateful for that. I pray that I would listen to God's voice too.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 10:21-33

²¹So Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?” ²²They answered, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” ²³So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him.

²⁴The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. ²⁶But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.” ²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; ²⁸and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. ²⁹So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”

³⁰Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. ³¹He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. ³²Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ ³³Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.”