Thursday, December 22, 2005

Good Morning!

Note that we will not have class this coming Sunday (Christmas Sunday), due to a change in the time for church -- on Christmas Day, we will have one service at 10 AM.

Also, note that we will have a Christmas Eve service at 6PM on Saturday.

Today's Scripture

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.

Luke 2:17

Today's Note

Christmas is almost upon us, and if you've been like me, it's been a rush and a whirlwind of things since Thanksgiving, and will be so until after Sunday.  For most of us, Advent has not been a time of preparation -- it is a time of going and doing.

But Advent is supposed to be a time of preparation, of re-learning the story of how and why Jesus came to us.  But this time of preparation is about getting us ready for our response, and the question is always how will respond - how will we live our lives in response to the message of Christmas. If you think about it, it isn't an accident that making New Year's resolutions happens right after Christmas -- I see it as a channel for our response to Christmas --- answering the call to live a life that responds to the gift of Jesus.

Its like the National Guard -- I heard a story on NPR yesterday evening about the National Guard, and how they are having problems with being ready because of severe equipment shortages.  The story talked about how the Guard has changed over time -- it used to be something that people would sign up for, spend a few weekends doing a little training, maybe be called out once or twice to help out in an emergency, but there was no expectation that they would see serious action, like the regular Army would.  Iraq and Afghanistan has changed all of that, and now roughly 1/3 of our soldiers there are National Guard units.

We sometimes live our Christian lives as if we are in the Christian Guard -- we spend a few weekends here and there getting ready, and we get called out once or twice in an emergency.  But we don't expect to see real combat, and to be called in for everyday service.  But Jesus doesn't recruit us to be the Guard, he recruits us to be regular Army.  He wants us to be in theatre, on the ground, in the trenches, every day, fighting the good fight, as the apostle Paul put it.

As we move towards the new year, and we search for our response to Christmas, let's think about what we can do to be better Christian soldiers in the next year.

Today's prayer request:      From Michelle:

I have a prayer request..Jim Bozeman is a man I work with and has become a very good friend.  His mother has been suffering from Alzheimers for several years, but since Sunday has been completely unresponsive.  They believe it is only a matter of days before she leaves this world. Please pray for Jim and his family especially his step-father who has kept her at home all of this time and cared for her.

Today's class member prayer: 

Megan Douglas

Have a great day.

Jay