November 28, 2016 – 26 Days Until My Head Explodes, Or Devotions to Prepare Us For Christ’s Coming

“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Matthew 9:9-13

Well, I think someone really just had too much time on their hands, or too much scrap wood. This little Christmas decoration is called a “Scrap wood Christmas Tree”. Really, you just couldn’t burn the scrap wood, you had to be creative with junk. Why not include the toilet paper roll and the empty water bottle with your little Christmas tree decoration. Charlie Brown called and said your tree is pathetic. “Merry…..(hack) (hack) Christ………” sorry I have a splinter in my joy…….
“Jesus says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Doing something for others always presents a small problem. It is so easy to slip into the mindset that our “doing for others” is some type of appeasement to G-d – that in doing something good for others we have made our “sacrifice” to G-d and therefore we are in good standing with G-d. Our “good works” have no more effect on G-d than this pitiful Christmas tree has on my joyful spirit. G-d does not need our good works. G-d desires one thing: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:15-17) That is all G-d needs, a heart that desires to put others first. But if you still want to burn an offering to G-d, I would start with this tree……

Pastor Dave

November 27, 2016
1st Sunday in Advent Year A

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Matthew 24:36-44

“Jesus has made it abundantly clear in his life, death and resurrection that the earth is his home. It’s a dual citizenship, certainly. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. But why we always short-shrift the Earth part, I couldn’t say. The entire Book of Revelation describes Jesus coming to live with us forever, here on Earth. “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:3). And in the Apostle’s Creed, we proclaim that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, and from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. We do not say he will then turn back around again and go back. So…can we stop all of this Left Behind nonsense already? Why would you want to go somewhere else when Jesus just got here to stay?” (Let’s All Get Left Behind: WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?, November 25, 2013 by Danielle Shroyer)

Advent was created, intentionally to mimic the season of Lent. There are times in our lives when we need to have purposeful, meaningful, sacred time for preparation, and Advent and Lent are exactly what we need in the Christian church. As we all know, Easter and Christmas are the two most important Christian Holidays, which is why we encounter the “C and E’ers” every year (those of our fellow brothers and sisters of Christ who come to church twice a year). Although Lent and Advent are both seasons of preparation, that is where their similarity ends. Lent is a penitential season. During Lent, we remove things from the service, we drop the absolution, we remove the Alleluias, remove the flowers from the altar and eventually strip the altar bare. And during Lent we sing songs that are penitential in nature – all in preparation for Christ’s death on the cross. Advent, of course, is much different from Lent. In the service, we add the lighting of the Advent candle – and we sing the occasional Christmas carol. In the sanctuary we hang the greens and put up the Christmas tree along with a Crèche. So everything we do in Advent is to prepare for the birth of Christ – knowing full well that this will not be the only Advent of the Christ.

So, yes, in Advent we are preparing for Christ to come, but we also expect him to come one more time to stay – forever. Anticipation – and Expectation: two of our Advent themes. Don’t wait for Christmas and Easter to darken the doorway of a church. Instead come and visit throughout the entire year – and you may find some friends and some words that give you hope and healing the whole year long.

Pastor Dave