Click here to read the Scripture Lesson: John 1:1-18
Happy New Year! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year Celebration and none of you went to the Time Square! It was said to be one of the coldest New Year’s Eve ever at the Time Square. It must be quite an experience for those that were there. I am sorry for those musicians, having to strum the steel strings of their guitars, and sing in the freezing cold weather. Anyway, I am sure we all are happy that we’ve made it into the year 2009, and we have been through eight whole years into the 21st century. It has been quite turbulent journey though, starting with the Y2K bug threat, to 9/11 tragedy, to long lasting wars, to the current economic meltdown. We’ve been through quite a lot of dark days in these nine years. But we’ve made it so far. God has been kind to us and may God continue to guide us with the eternal light.
One of the dangers of being through some dark days in life is that we become visually impaired to recognize or appreciate light. John said that Jesus was “the light of all people” and “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.” (John 1:10) We become like the pigeons in this movie clip: [WingClips:dis-bolt-youlookfamiliar-w9h.wmv].
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Click to read the scripture lesson: Luke 2:22-40
How did you do your Christmas shopping this past week? Did you do it meditatively thinking about the reason for the season, or you just have no time for what matters most.
Typical of last minute Christmas shoppers, a mother was running furiously from store to store. Suddenly she became aware that the pudgy little hand of her three year old son was no longer clutched in hers. In a panic she retraced her steps and found him standing with his little nose pressed flatly against a frosty window. He was gazing at a manger scene. Hearing his mother’s near hysterical call, he turned and shouted with innocent glee: "look mommy! it’s Jesus - baby Jesus in the hay". With obvious indifference to his joy and wonder, she impatiently jerked him away saying, "we don’t have time for that!" (SOURCE: From "THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS" by Glenn Pease. http://www.intohisword.net/luke/luke17. shtml)
I am sure on the first Christmas, many people missed the coming of Christ because they just didn’t have time for that. King Herod’s palace was infested with corruption. The Emperor Augustus was busy with taking census. The town of Bethlehem was busy with guests from all over that came to register. The hotels and inns were filled with guests. People just didn’t have time for the baby Jesus in the manger. Who cares, since nobody knew who that baby was!
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Scripture Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9
Wow, today is the first Sunday of Advent already! Time flies! As you know, Advent means the coming or arrival of someone or something very important. If you are expecting someone important is coming to your house, what would you do? How would you prepare yourself? Most people prepare themselves by cleaning and decorating their homes, but most importantly we need to prepare our hearts, through self-searching, confession, and repentance. For some people self-searching is a difficult thing to do. I have a friend whose father is a retired judge from Taiwan. After coming to America, all his kids have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior and they persuaded their father to believe in Jesus Christ. But he said, “To become a Christian, I have to confess my sins. That’s ridiculous! I am not a sinner, I am a judge!”
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