What Child is This? A Light for All People

The twelve days of Christmas are quickly nearing their end. Likewise, our worship series—What Child Is This—comes to an end today with the Festival of the Epiphany, a celebration of the first time non-Jewish believers worshiped the newborn Savior. They were guided by a special light in the sky to a child who would be a light for all people. We live in a world where sin can divide people along so many lines: ethnicity and race, rich and poor, red states and blue states, etc. The only dividing line Jesus cares about is the one that separated sinful mankind from a holy God. By his death and resurrection, he removed that line and united all believers into one kingdom. For that, we offer him our finest gifts.

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What Child is This? Our Substitute and Sacrifice

Already as a child, Jesus' saving work had begun. His entire life, he served as our substitute, perfectly obeying God's Law. Just think of how we often neglect the study of God's Word. Then look at twelve-year-old Jesus, eager to be in the temple learning more about Scripture. However, he would need to do more than be our substitute. Eventually he would lay that perfect life down as the sacrifice for our sin.

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Christ is Born!

For so many people all that Christmas is about is the trite and trivial—snowmen and Santa Claus, Rudolph and reindeer, Christmas movies and holiday specials. These things are fun, but ultimately, completely empty. But take a closer look at what happened today—and you will see that there is nothing trite or trivial about it: The deepest lowliness is but the mask for the greatest glory, the glory of him who came to be our Savior!

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Christmas Eve: The Greatest Gift

Our worship this Christmas Eve is an adaptation of the Lessons and Carols service traditionally held at King's College, Cambridge, England, on December 24th every year. "Lessons and Carols" was first held on Christmas Eve, 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who at the age of thirty-four had just been appointed Dean of King’s College after experience as an army chaplain.

Our focus, “The Greatest Gift,” is found in every lesson and song. The progression of lessons and songs will gradually reveal more and more about this greatest gift. Imagine yourself as someone who over centuries is trying to figure out the nature of God’s gift. Or, if the readings are not familiar to you, let the meaning of God’s gift become clearer and clearer to you as you hear each lesson and sing each song.

By trusting what God’s gift means for us, we look forward to seeing that gift in heaven where God’s “praise will sound” for all eternity!

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Jesus is Obedient for His Brothers

How come so many people then and now miss the point of Christmas? The real Jesus reveals and gives himself only through his Word. The Word of God reveals that the Savior was to come from Bethlehem.  Jesus was born a real child, in a real city, and became our real brother in order to win our forgiveness and salvation.

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A Wonderful Adoption

In our rush to get to Christmas, we often don't stay there very long. This, the first Sunday after Christmas, is the sixth day of Christmas. The wonderful gift God gave us in the fullness of time deserves its full time for our consideration and celebration. Today we remember that not everything was joyful when the Savior was born. With Mary and Joseph, Jesus fled to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath. Voices of sorrow were raised for the martyrs at Bethlehem who did not escape Herod's rage. So we, as God's adopted children, recall His gift, the fulfillment of the prophet's word, and grief borne by some before the joy could be known by the many.

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Christmas Eve - God So Loved the World

Welcome to worship this Christmas Eve. We trust that God will bless you in this service of lessons and carols/hymns. Our focus, “God so loved the world,” is found in every lesson and song. Christmas is not about a sentimental, warm, and fuzzy kind of love—although these ways that we show love to each other, especially in families, are certainly important. But the heart of Christmas is about God’s redeeming love—God’s rescue plan for a humanity alienated from him despite all claims of reform, goodness, or morality. The human condition of sin separates us from God, and only his action could have solved that problem. The life, death, and resurrection of his Son has solved the problem. By trusting what Jesus has done for us, heaven awaits us and we live life this side of heaven in loyal thanks for rescue. Our opening hymn puts it this way: 

”But our eyes at last shall see him Through his own redeeming love, For that child, so dear and gentle, Is our Lord in heav’n above.”

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A Message That Changes Everything

We are inundated by messages on a daily basis: e-mails, texts, tweets, phone calls, face-to-face conversations. Many of these messages are unimportant or irrelevant, and we forget them almost immediately. Other messages require more time and attention. “Will you marry me?” “There’s been an accident.” “We’re pregnant.” “God called him home.” In the minutes and hours after hearing such a message, we can’t think of anything else. But as transforming as these messages are, they have a somewhat small circle of influence. It would be a stretch to say that these messages change the world. Today, listen to the messages the children proclaim as if you are hearing them for the first time. Listen across the continents and the centuries to messages that are as relevant today as they were 2000 years ago. Listen for the power of God at work in the lives of his created beings. Listen to messages that transformed the world—messages that changed everything.

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Arrival - It's New!

Christmas is a time of anticipation. Looking forward to getting together with family, excellent meals, giving and receiving gifts. It was also a time of anticipation leading up to the birth of Christ. The coming of Jesus was prophesied for centuries until the moment that God finally sent Jesus to walk the earth. Now, we wait in anticipation of his glorious return. This week we hear about how our Advent King comes to renew. Because of his work here on earth, we can look forward to a new kingdom, where sin and its effects are gone; where peace and righteousness rule.

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Arrival - It's Time!

Christmas is a time of anticipation. Looking forward to getting together with family, excellent meals, giving and receiving gifts. It was also a time of anticipation leading up to the birth of Christ. The coming of Jesus was prophesied for centuries until the moment that God finally sent Jesus to walk the earth. Now, we wait in anticipation of his glorious return. This week, we are reminded of the imminent return of our Savior. Because our Savior rescued us from sin at his first coming, we have an urgent message to share: our God comes in judgment and grace! It’s time!

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