Archive for January, 2011
Adult Bible Study
Our class begins @ 9 a.m. Sunday mornings. We invite members of all ages to join us for coffee and reviewing of religion topics as current events and interests. Our new study, “Following Jesus,” will start January 2, 2011. Come join us in fellowship.
The Season of Advent is now behind us and the Messiah, the savior of the world has arrived. We’ve been preparing, we’ve been watchful … and NOW HE'S HERE! And we cannot just toss out the season after the Christmas Service and begin getting ready for the New Year. Instead, we need to celebrate the arrival and consider what this SEASON means to us as Christians. Savor this time. We have twelve days from now until the EPIPHANY, during which we are called upon to think about what the BIRTH OF JESUS– the CHRIST—means to us. We’re called to think about the meaning all the time, but during this season in particular it’s vitally important to our faith.
Luke’s telling of the NATIVITY STORY is aimed at bringing us two very different but important messages. First, what happened that Christmas night, a little over two thousand years ago, was quite ordinary. A young man (Joseph, by name) took his even younger wife, Mary, and they travelled from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem, the City of David, because their government told them to do so. There was a nationwide census in this country that, for some reason, required all people to go back to their ancestral home in order to be counted. There was a lot of travelling in and out of this country. After they arrived in Bethlehem, their child was born.
Any of you who are parents know just how extraordinary the birth of your child was, even when you looked at the very ordinary occurrence of childbirth in general. The birth of a child—especially a first child—because it is such a new experience, is an amazing thing to the parents. But to the rest of the world, it’s not such a big deal. In this country, there is a baby born every 7.8 seconds. It literally happens ALL the time. But this baby WAS different. Joseph and Mary knew that this would be NO ORDINARY BIRTH, even to PEOPLE other than THEMSELVES. They knew that this birth would fulfill BIBLICAL PROPHESY, particularly that of Isaiah, who said, “For a child has been BORN for us, a SON given to us; AUTHORITY rests upon his shoulders; and he is named WONDERFUL COUNCILOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE.”
This most unassuming little baby boy, wrapped not in royal robes but in bands of unbleached linen; lying not in a royal bed chamber in a fine palace, but in a STABLE, surrounded by common farm animals; this little boy was the KING OF ALL CREATION.
In the Bible, it says that GOD became HUMAN and “lived as one of us, ….” Think about that for a minute; the same God who created the entire world took upon God's self our human nature and LIVED and DIED as one of us.
God became HUMAN. He and laughed and cried, and was hungry and full, happy and sad, cared for and lonely. God experienced what we experienced. Never before, and I dare say NEVER AGAIN, will a group of people be able to make such a claim.
Muslims have NO SUCH CLAIM. Mohammed was a PROPHET, NOT GOD INCARNATE. Rabbinic Jews have NO SUCH CLAIM. Abraham was OUR FATHER, just as he was THEIRS, and Abraham was a MAN, not God.
In the entire world, only Christians and Messianic Jews lay claim to the fact that God became HUMAN and lived among us. That is EXTRAORDINARY when you think about it.
After that long ago night, never again should we view God as some distant deity, removed from our problems and concerns, untouched by the reality of how we live. Our God is a LIVING GOD. As God’s FAVORITE CREATION, we have been given amazing blessings by our creator. We have this world in which we live, in all its grandeur and beauty.
We have people in our lives that delight us and sometimes make us laugh until we cry. We have comforts that people of past generations could not have dreamed of. All are GIFTS from the God of all. And everything in our lives should CAUSE US to give THANKS to the God who cares about us so deeply.
But what about those who have a horrible debilitating illness? And what about those who got laid off from their jobs a week before Christmas? What about WAR and all the other MESSES in this world?
That’s the other amazing thing about this story. God never promised to fix all of the things in the world that are broken, at least not within our lifetime. But God knows how we feel and what we are going through. God has experienced what we experience, and God has promised never to leave us alone in our despair.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to the end that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That’s the promise of the incarnate God.
This extraordinary little baby grew up, lived a life of doing good and bringing messages of peace and justice to the people, and then willingly laid down his life so that we might have life everlasting.
Don’t be in a great hurry today or through the next couple of weeks.
If you get in too much of a hurry when you’re cleaning up on Christmas Morning,
you can THROW AWAY something very important with the wrapping paper.
Don’t get in such a HURRY that you THROW OUT the GREATEST GIFT IN HISTORY—God becoming HUMAN and LIVING as ONE OF US; an extraordinary gift that we should CELEBRATE and CHERISH.
God loves you and so do I . . .
Pastor Ron
Monroe County Habitat for Humanity dedicated another new home on December 12th. Plans for two more homes in 2011 are in the works.
Zion Thrivent will again help with breakfast for workers; they will actually help in the construction this year!
We will donate $200 (or more), so please sign the 2X4 and donate $2 to this program. The 2X4 is used in the house construction!
Zion’s Food Pantry
Thanks to everyone who helps support our families in need by bringing in extra food. Food may be left in our kitchen or in the shopping cart at any time.