A Cosmic Christmas

Leave a comment

This week we continue our Advent series, When Heaven Met Earth. As promised, we are going to be taking in a story of Jesus’ birth that probably doesn’t fall on your radar when you think about your favorites. Yet this story, for as different as it is, may be the most important of all the stories of Jesus’ birth in terms of giving us a bigger, fuller picture of the reality of what was happening in the universe at large when God came to be with us as a baby. Read on (or listen!) as we marvel at the fact that Christmas is bigger than we realize.

A Cosmic Christmas

Paul Harvey was famous for telling “the rest of the story.” He would take a story that many people know a little bit about, and then explore some surprising or encouraging element of it that not nearly as many people knew. The combination of the creativity of his reporting with his absolutely classic voice made his stories a true delight to all those who got to hear them. Sometimes his stories introduced people he thought should be better known. Sometimes they gave details about something or someone that made it even more impressive than it already was to most people. They always left you feeling not just better informed, but encouraged about the state of the world than you were before listening to them. Harvey was doing Gospel good with his reporting. A good story that lets us see things from a different angle or a bigger picture often does that. 

Read the rest…

Songs of the Season

Leave a comment

“For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s the third Friday of the season of Advent, and that means it’s time for our final Song of the Season for this year. Christmas is a wonderful time for many, many people. There are just so many different things to look forward to. But it can also be hard. It can be hard when those elements weren’t ever present in someone’s life. It can be hard when they once were there but are gone now. For most people, there is at least one memory of a Christmas past when everything was perfect. It probably really wasn’t at the time – no time ever is – but it is frozen in our memories in such a way that all we see is the good. Christmas is often a time when we long for that. Today’s song takes us there. Pull out your tissues because this one might draw up some tears. Let’s listen to Freeze the Frame by Michael W. Smith.

Continue reading “Songs of the Season” →

Advent Reflections: Matthew 2:4-6

Leave a comment

“So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. ‘In Bethlehem of Judea,’ they told him, ‘because this is what was written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the most difficult groups of people to minister to as a pastor are cultural Christians. These are folks who, though, they don’t harbor any real animosity toward the church, nevertheless don’t meaningfully participate. But they were generally raised in the church in some capacity. And if this was a Baptist or at least a baptistic church, they probably walked an aisle and got baptized at one point in their life. Because of this, they call themselves Christians in spite of having almost no meaningful engagement with Christ in their lives. They have all the advantages of the faith at their fingertips, but are largely clueless as to what it means. Jesus was born into this kind of a situation too. Let’s talk about why claiming belief in God and actually embracing the Gospel are two different things.

Read the rest…

Advent Reflections: Luke 15:7, 10

Leave a comment

“I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance. . . .I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Kids have a built-in desire to do what makes their fathers happy. There was a time when I was growing up that I said I wanted to be a lawyer. Why? Because my dad is an excellent lawyer, and I wanted to be like him, to make him happy. I soon thereafter realized I was built to be a teacher, and thankfully he gave me the extremely significant gift of supporting me in whatever I pursued, so all was well. But that desire to please him never really went away. I suspect that if you have a healthy relationship with your dad, you’re the same way. Well, God is consistently described in the Scriptures as our heavenly Father. Let’s talk about something that makes Him happy.

Read the rest…

Advent Reflections: Luke 15:1-4

Leave a comment

“All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

While we love stories of broken people being made whole, we don’t actually love broken people. We push them to the margins of society. If they are bad enough, we ship them off to places we don’t have to see or think about. We certainly don’t do many meaningful things to pull them out of their brokenness. The season of Advent, though, is all about preparing for the arrival of God’s plan to do just that. Jesus was sent to save broken people. This idea lies right at the heart of His mission. Let’s talk about it.

Read the rest…