Refuge in the Nativity

For this first Sunday after Christmas, our own Vica Jones lead the congregation through service, complete with compelling sermon. She preached from Matthew 2:13-23, which picks up immediately after the wise-men's visit. Having been woken up from a frightening dream, Joseph and family pack and head for Egypt to escape Herod's murderous plan. After they were told that it was safe, they returned to Nazareth. This scripture was able to focus us on Jesus as Plan A. 

There is nothing that God does not foresee and cannot work for good. 

The wise-men had visited and brought to Jesus the weirdest gifts someone could bring for a small child. Though, God knew what they would be needed for. The gifts were light in weight and would have been worth years of wages for Joseph and family. This gave the family money for travel, to live off of while in Egypt, and travel back to Nazareth. Money they needed in order to follow the ordinances they received through Joseph's terrifying dream.

We also looked at a piece of art from Sister Grace Remmington from the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa (pictured above). The picture is of Eve and Mary interacting with each other. Ultimately, where Eve disobeyed, Mary obeyed. Eve's first born was killed because of jealousy, Mary's first born was killed because of perfect love. Eve's yes brought sin into the world, and Mary's yes brought about the Savior who would defeat sin for good.

As we go into a new year, I challenged everyone to step with faith that God is, was, and ever will be in control even in the midst of chaos. Will you say yes even if it's the middle of the night like Joseph?

The children learned through the book "Refuge." It is a book about the Nativity story from an uncommon perspective, that of the donkey. It follows the family from the birth of Jesus through their frightful flight to Egypt as refuges.

Service was completed through the recitation of the Covenant Prayer of Wesleyan Tradition:

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.P
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, 
you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven. 

 Amen.

Patience in Advent

Not Everything has to be Instant

The season of Advent is all about patience as we prepare to celebrate the Christ’s entry into our world so long ago in Bethlehem and anticipate his coming in final glory at the end of the age when God establishes his Kingdom. The problem is that most of us (including myself) are not very patient. We live in the instant age where we can pull our smartphones out of our pockets and look anything up, anywhere and anytime. We can order something from Amazon and have it delivered the next day for $3.99 (if you are an Amazon Prime member). Amazon and Google have even rolled out same day delivery to select cities in the country so lucky customers only have to wait a few hours to receive their purchase. We can stream millions of songs instantly via Apple Music or Spotify and get sneak peaks at unreleased albums that the artist has just finished recording.   We can download a movie from the internet to watch in just a few seconds. No more driving to the video rental store and waiting in line to check it out. We can choose from a smorgasbord of pre-prepared meals from the the grocery store and pop them in the oven instead of diligently gathering the necessary ingredients and following the step by step instructions of a recipe and then waiting for it to finish cooking. For these and so many other reasons we are terrible at waiting and have become extremely impatient as a society.

Nowhere is this impatience more on display than the Christmas season for which retailers now start decorating the week before Halloween. My boys didn’t have a chance to collect their candy and come down from the resulting sugar buzz before Santa, Christmas lights and holiday music appeared in stores. Churches start singing Christmas carols on the first Sunday of Advent rather than dwell for a time in the slower, less joyful hymns of Advent. And so we rush around in a constant state of stress because we can’t and won’t slow down. Indeed some of us have forgotten how to do so.

However, we must recover the art of waiting and cultivate patience in this season of Advent if we are to truly experience the joy of Christmas and the birth of our Savior. The ancient Hebrews waited for centuries before the Messiah appeared. Surely we can wait a few weeks to bask in the joy of Christmas. Join me in trying to slow down this month and work to linger more in the moment. Let us try to recover what it was like to wait for something we knew we wanted and deeply needed. If we can do it we will find that Christmas is even more joyful and our shouts of praise will be even more exuberant when the Christ child is born into our hearts once again.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor John