Pastor's Letter for December

Dear Friends,

As we enter Advent we begin a faith journey that will literally change the world. It starts with God overwhelmed by love for us, and overwhelmed by the cruel way we so often treat each other (John 3:16-17). If we shift our gaze from the heavenly realm down to the gritty world in which we live, the journey begins so quietly that if you weren’t right on the scene you would never have heard it. The Angel Gabriel comes to a young woman named Mary and tells her that she will bear a child and will name him Jesus (Luke 2:31).

After which, things begin to move quickly. When Joseph (Mary’s husband to be) finds that Mary is pregnant he decides to quietly break off the engagement.  However, an angel of the Lord informs him that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the scriptures (Matthew 1:18-23). Now together Mary and Joseph embark on a faith odyssey that will shake the very foundations of the world.

Traveling to their ancestral home, Bethlehem, they find there is no room in the inn and Mary gives birth in a cattle shed. In the night shepherds journey across many fields to come and see this newborn told to them by a host of angels. Within a year wise men travel thousands of miles to bring gifts to the child, but have to leave the country secretly in fear for their and the child’s lives. And Mary, Joseph and their son must travel to Egypt to avoid arrest and death.

These events also mark the start of Jesus’ journey. From a poor family, living in the incredibly poor town of Nazareth, with carpentry as a trade, Jesus heads off into the world. His journey winds its way to the cross, where if one sees with eyes focused only on this world, there could not be a more hopeless ending. But, as people of faith, we believe that we need to see with eyes set on this world and at the same time on eternal matters.

The journey that begins this week with Advent and ends in the most hopeless of all places — is the journey that shakes the very foundation of the world and brings a new way of living to all who place their faith in this little baby, born to poor young parents, wanted within two years of his birth by the law, convicted of treason and hung on a cross. A journey started by God, entered into by Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, twelve disciples and innumerable believers, and of course a small, small child. All are invited on this journey!

When we profess our faith in Christ we embark upon this faith journey as well. For each person it starts at different times of our lives, it goes in different directions, sometime it moves swiftly and other times it meanders like a river moving through flat lands, there are times that it consumes us and other times when we are hardly aware of it, but each journey is inextricably tied to the journey that started because, “God so loved the world …” and came to express itself most fully in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This Advent I would like to start the process of exploring our faith journeys. Whether we know it or not our journeys started long before we were born and will continue long after we have left this world. Our journeys spring from a community of believers some are with us now, others have gone before us and yet others are so far in the past that we don’t even know their names and there will be many to follow. Our faith journeys are like a beautiful tapestry; a tapestry that was started long ago, to which each of us will add our own piece.  

As the book of Hebrews tells us

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Join us on Wednesday evenings in Advent as we explore the Christmas journey and our faith journeys as well.

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Eric

Update on Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 3:03PM by Eric Markman

Our Christmas Eve Service will Saturday, December 24 at 7:30 p.m.  It is a beautiful multicultural service with Christmas Carols and Candle Light!  All are invited. Please, join us!