God is with us!

The lights were dimmed and the candles gave off a warn and welcoming glow.  My fellow students and I were positioned on the steps leading up to the chancel area of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Tucson, telling in Scripture and song the story of the birth of the Christ child.  We sang with all the faith and joy our hearts could muster:

O Holy Child of Bethlehem

  Descend to us we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

  Be born in us today.

I didn't appreciate then what I do now - we kids were given the opportunity to proclaim a message that provides hope in the best and worse of times.  God is with us! 

We need not be afraid - God is with us!

We can live each day with courage - God is with us! 

We can trust even in the face of adversity - God is with us!

Let this truth plant its roots deep in your heart this Advent - God is with us!

We hear the Christmas angels

  The great glad tidings tell

O come to us, abide with us

  Our Lord Immanuel!    

Martin Luther on the Nativity of the Christ

Many in this congregation think to themselves, "If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby! I would have washed His linen.  How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manger!

Yes, you would! You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem.  Childish and silly thoughts are these!

Why don't you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor.  You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ Himself.

Taken from "Hear I Stand," page 354 

What can Christ do for you?

Christ opens our hearts to love, opens our hands to give, opens our mouths to witness.

Frank Starr

"We are nothing but receivers" Norman Nagel

In the Bible a sign often means something that contains and conveys what God is doing and giving. At the same time a sign hides under what appears to be its opposite.  The disclosure of a sign is by a word of God, which requires hearing and receiving faith.  God's dealing with us in this way reduces us to the point at which we are nothing but receivers.  The shepherds received the words of the angel and embraced the Baby in the manger as the Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Norman Nagel
Selected Sermons, page 33

In whom are you investing your riches?

 Read this recently in the Treasury of Daily Prayer.  This is a wonderfully simple but profound statement by the great man, Martin Luther.

O Lord Jesus, come to me, enjoy my bread, wine, silver and gold.  How well it has been invested by me when I invest it in You.

Top Ten Signs You're At A Bad Wedding

10) When just before the service the groom asks to go to the bathroom...and never comes back.

9) When instead of saying, "You may kiss the bride," the pastor says, "Get 'er done!"

8) When the groom and the bride's father get into a fist fight as the bride is given away.

7) When the photographer is asking people, "Anybody got some Kodak film?"

6) When the bride is escorted down the aisle to the tune of "Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted."

5) When the invitation indicates that the reception is being held at the Golden Corral.

4) When the music at the reception is being provided by "Al Jones and his Happy Accordian."

3) When the pastor asks the groom for the license and the groom replies, "Hunting or fishing?"

2) When the service stops just before the vows are said because the bride goes into labor.

And the number one sign that you're at a bad wedding:

1) When the service begins late because the groom couldn't make bail! 

Wisdom from CS Lewis

When you argue against Him (God) you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting of the branch you are sitting on.

From "Mere Christianity"