from Luke 2:8-20
The story of Christmas is often a familiar one. Come to think of it, the story of your life can begin to feel familiar as well. The hope of Christmas is that the birth of Jesus speaks something NEW into the familiar!
w/ Vern Collins
Tag: Christmas
“Advent Conspiracy: Worship Fully” (November 27, 2016)
from Isaiah 9:2-7
The Advent of Jesus meant something to the small corner of the world in which He was born. In fact, it would go on to mean something to the ENTIRE world. From the birth of a baby to a criminal’s cross, the entrance of Jesus into humanity would forever alter the course of history…but has it altered yours?
Is your life different because of the Advent or arrival of Jesus? Do you think differently about your time? About your treasure? About your future? About those around you?
This and so much more is what we are invited into in Christ. This Advent season, you are invited to pursue something a bit different from what this world says the season leading up to Christmas should be. Come be a part of the conspiracy…it begins with worship!
w/ Luke Edwards
“Revelation: Power to Serve” (January 3, 2016)
from Ephesians 3:1-12
The season of Epiphany is about the hope of humanity being revealed in the birth of Christ.
Epiphany. Revelation. The Ah-ha moment. The time when things become clear…when there is knowledge of something not previously possessed…if knowledge is power, it begs the question , “what kind of power are you in pursuit of?”
Paul has experienced a deep revelation of Christ…and it has empowered him in significant ways…but perhaps not in the way we tend to think of power…
w/ Vern Collins
“Revelation: For All People” (December 27, 2015)
from Luke 2:22-40
How do we reconcile the anticipation and promise of hope and joy and peace that we are immersed in during Advent with the harsh reality that is a hurting and broken life or this broken world in which we live?
In Luke’s account of Mary and Joseph’s encounter with Simeon and Anna in the temple, we find that Simeon (and as a result, Mary) is very much in touch with long suffering and pain…and we find that perhaps it is not something we are meant to explain away or shy away from.
What if, like Mary, we embraced God’s hope for our lives…both in the good and the bad…and in embracing it find that we are able to point the world around us to the hope we find in Christ?
w/ Vern Collins
“Revelation: Worship” (Christmas Eve 2015 6:00pm service)
from Luke 2:1-20
Order. We spend a great deal of time and energy in our lives seeking to achieve and maintain some sort of order. And yet, all it takes is a phone call, a meeting at work, a notice in the mail, a visit to the doctor to realize that at any given moment we are a breath away from chaos breaking in and disrupting our safe, calculated lives.
The good news is, as a census was being taken in the Roman Empire…as order was being set…Jesus was entering the world…not in the midst of order, but on the fringe of it…on the edge of chaos.
In unexpected ways to unlikely people the birth of Jesus and news of His birth came…with a proclamation that through Christ, God is coming to make peace in the midst of the chaos…
w/ Vern Collins