Last Minute Gift Ideas

On coming to the house, they (the magi) saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:11-12

 

It is a familiar story; these three wise guys arrive from somewhere far away and give Jesus and his family three gifts of overwhelming value.  You may have heard it so many times you don’t blink at the fact that a baby born to such humble means is given gifts that are typically reserved only for those of great influence and power.

 

As you read this you may be rushing to get your last Christmas gift for Grandma, or your Secret Santa at work.  I have an uncle and cousins who have a tradition of doing all of their shopping for their family bright and early Christmas Eve!!!  Maybe you are reading this as you run around scrambling to get ready for Christmas.  Each Christmas most of us share gifts with some number of people all around us.  You struggle to get just the right thing, that they will love.  You are always looking for that really thoughtful gift, something that is unique.

 

I love the Christmas carol, “Little Drummer Boy.”  The little boy in the song meets Jesus, and seeing all the valuable gifts being presented wonders what he could ever give to Jesus.  Then it dawns on him, I can play my drum for him, as best I can.  The song ends with Jesus smiling at the little boy playing his drums as best as he can.  I love the song because I often feel like the little drummer boy, wondering what could I ever give to God of any value? 

 

God, our Heavenly Father, has a simple wish list: time and a relationship with you.  God would love nothing more than to share a relationship with you, to talk with you, for you to read the Bible, serve others for Him, and for you to encourage others by using your gifts.  God wants to see your life transformed by His grace and love.  God wants to see your life look different today because you know Him.  It’s a simple gift, if you are still looking for gift ideas.  You can even take a few minutes right now to talk to God, say a prayer, and reconnect.

 

I pray that this is a wonderful and meaningful Christmas for you and your loved ones!!!  Merry Christmas!!

 

Pastor Bill

Plan J

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel, God with Us. Isaiah 7:14

 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. John 1:14

 

From early in Scripture there are calls for God to intervene in our broken world, calls of Hosanna, “God Save Us.”  Calls for God to get involved and to make things right.  But how?  How would God step in or what would God do to intervene into His fallen world?  Some people thought military might, a mighty prophet, or a political ruler.  Everyone had their own theory about how God should answer these prayers, but the prayer remained the same, Hosanna, “God Save Us.”

God’s plan was simple.  God did not have Plan A, B, and C.  There was just plan J.  The Jesus plan.  All in.  No holds bar.  God would send Jesus to become flesh and blood and dwell among us, as we hear from John.  Jesus came and pitched his tent by us.  To save God sent His son in flesh and blood to walk with us, to teach us, to feel our pain, and our hurt.  To experience growing up, banging his knee, and making friends.  God did not hold anything back, but sent his only son to become a person like you and I, so that He could save us and forgive us, so that we may experience grace, because of what He did for us on the cross.

 

The miracle of this Christmas season is that God sent His son to be born to a poor young couple of no stature or power.  God sent His son to a town of people who could never understand who He really was.  God sent His son here for you and me.  God sent His son to take on our sins, and our brokenness, so we might have a relationship with God forever.  We celebrate that miracle in this Holiday season.

 

Pastor Bill

You’re invited!!!

When I was in second grade a friend of mine from school, Tommy, was having a birthday party, but I didn’t find that out till after it happened.  I didn’t find out because I wasn’t invited.  The fact that I can tell you about that event from so long ago tells you the effect it had on me.  I was not invited, not cool enough, not a friend enough, not whatever enough to be at the party.  I struggled to go to school after that and talk to Tommy, because apparently we were not friends, why else would he have left me off of his invite list.

There is something powerful about an invitation.  I laugh thinking that I can remember not being invited to party years ago, but it shows the importance of invitation.  An invitation means you were thought of, you are accepted, you are welcome, your presence is desired, and that you belong.

When we read the Christmas story we hear some of the people who were left off of most people’s invitation list; magi and shepherds.  Shepherds were loners, at the bottom of the social ladder, and not just left off the invite lists, but just plain forgotten most of the time.  The magi were not invited into faith because they were cultural “outsiders,” or heathen.  These were just some of the people in Jesus’ day who were left off of invite lists for parties and gatherings.  So when Jesus arrives God sends out invitations for people to come and see his son.  So who does God invite?  Most would think the very best people, religious leaders, kings and rulers, and the powerful just to name a few.  But God has something else in mind; he invites the very people who everyone else does not invite, the lost, the least, the forgotten, and the outsiders.  He invites them all because as Jesus would later say, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Matthew 9:11-12, TNIV)  Jesus drive and purpose for his ministry was to come for those who had not been invited.  His ministry was meant to reach those who did not know God, and those who had been hurt and pushed away by the church.

In this Christmas season, and as we move towards 2011, take a moment to think about the power of invitation in your life.  Maybe you can think of someone it would mean the world to if you invited them to come with you to church.  It might mean that you befriend a co-worker who few others do.  And perhaps God’s invitation is for you.  Maybe you feel like you have been hurt or left out by the church.  God came not just for the select few; God came for all, that we might know His son, and that our lives might be transformed.  Perhaps this invitation is time for a first step, back to family, back to church, or back to God.  The invitation from God is there, but will you come?  And will you share it with others?

Christmas Time is Here

If I have not told you before, I love the Christmas season.  I love decorating my house with lights, putting up the Christmas tree, playing in the snow, seeing family and friends, and more.  So on the day after Thanksgiving I officially loaded all 250+ Christmas songs I have onto my iPod, and flipped all my radios to 24/7 Christmas Music.   No sooner did I flip on my radio station did the song, O Come O Come Emmanuel come onto to radio.   I remember singing that song for so long, and wondering to myself, what does Emmanuel mean?   I know they are talking about Jesus, but what is Emmanuel?  The root word is Immanuel meaning, “God is with us.”

John 1 puts it this way, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1:14 (NIV).  The word used here that to explain Jesus dwelling among is more than just Jesus coming here to visit.  The word used here in this passage means literally that Jesus took up residence, that he pitched his tent.  Jesus came here and settled in for a time.

Steve sat in his living room alone on a cold night, because his wife was out at church for a mid week service.  Steve never really went to church, all that stuff was just a fairy tale anyway.  I mean come on, God coming to earth, people raised from the dead, it was just not for him.  Steve was listening to the news reports that night talk of the record lows they were approached as he watched the wind and snow blow outside his window.  After a few minutes he began to hear thumps on his window, and as he looked out he saw a number of birds hitting his window, all just trying to get to the fire in his house and out of the cold.  Filled with compassion for the birds, he ran out to his barn and threw open the doors and yelled come on in birds, thinking it would keep them from freezing to death outside.  Yet no birds came, then he had a great idea, the birds were trying to get into the house because of the fire, so he made a fire in the barn and again yelled come on in birds, knowing the fire could keep them safe from harm.  Yet again no birds came in.  After a few minutes Steve was so frustrated he yelled out loud, If only I could be a bird.  If I was a bird I could show them all the way into the barn, out of certain death, and into life.  And then it hit him like a ton of bricks why God sending his son to Earth made all too much sense.

In this holiday season we sing and celebrate because God sent his only Son to make his home here in this world.  God sent Jesus to experiencing skinning his knees, feeling left out, and more.  He did it all so that Jesus would be one of our own, so that one of our own would show us the way to life and away from death, the way to God.  As we celebrate Advent at church we are not celebrating God removed from our world, but God who lived and dwelt in our shoes, who understand all of our pains and joys.  Feeling down or overwhelmed this holiday season, take it to God, he knows what that is like.  Stressed, confused, excited, anxious, he has been there.  And this is the reason that I get most excited about the Christmas season each year.