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
from Luke 1:57-80
Have you ever thought of yourself as a tour guide? While you may not make a living directing sightseers, you are living a life that people are watching.
With that said, the question becomes: what is the life your living pointing to? In the way you spend your time, energy, finances…the passions you pursue…what does your life point to as being of utmost importance? Is it truly worth pointing others to?
What if, in this Christmas season, you began living a life pointing to Jesus?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:26-38
God will act. Things will change. This is the hope of Advent. But have you ever stopped to consider HOW God initiates and brings about this change in the world?
Have you ever considered that God might just ask YOU to be a part of His kingdom breaking in to the world…in to LIVES around you?
Many of us would shy away from such an invitation because we are convinced that there is nothing in us that would qualify us for such a task. What it as long as you thought such a thing…that meant you were right where God wants you to be…poised to change the world around you?
w/ Vern Collins
from Zephaniah 3:14-20/Luke 1:46-55
Advent is about expectation…the expectation that God will continue to fulfill His promises. And if God is still fulfilling His promises then isn’t God still acting…and if God is acting, then things will change? Right?
Right. The problem is we don’t often see it. We look for change in our lives, but don’t see it, we expect our circumstances to improve, but aren’t seeing any thing different…so if God is acting, why aren’t things changing? The question, perhaps, is not whether or not things are changing, but, “are you looking for change in the right place?”
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 4:1-13
Life is full of transitions. Transitions in work. Transitions in relationship. Transitions from one stage of life to another. They are simply part of the rhythm of life.
When transitions in life go smoothly, they are little more than one thing ending and another beginning. When transitions become difficult, however, they can begin to feel more like an interruption or a road block to whatever may be coming next.
As we begin this new series on transitions, we find from the story of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, that not only is can we find purpose in transition, but that God is faithful in the midst of them.
w/ Vern Collins
