Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

  If you would like to watch a video that includes the Advent Candle Lighting Service, prayers and the reading of the scripture as well as the message, please go to:   https://youtu.be/bffNeFnDPFk Luke 1:5-25 Advent – something or someone is coming.   Something or someone, in the fullness of time, when the time is right will show up.     Advent is called the season of lights – a world waiting in darkness to see a great light.   Light at the end of the tunnel – light symbolizing hope during a trying time. Hope, something we need right now to preserver. Zechariah and Elizabeth had given up hope, the hope of ever having a child.   Infertility is painful enough, but in the culture of their time, barrenness was an indication that the woman had sinned.   No wonder Luke emphasized to his original reading audience that both Zachariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth were righteous people.   That also makes sense of Elizabeth’s declaration at her child’s birth, “ This is what the Lord has

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  If you would like to watch a video of this message that includes the scripture readings and prayers, please go to:   https://youtu.be/f_HQrxjVdF8 Psalm 100 Ezekiel 34:11-24 Matthew 25:39-46   I’m not saying it’s going to get wild today, but it is certainly going to get wooly.   Boy, do we have sheep today – sheep in flocks, stray sheep, hungry sheep, fat sheep and skinny sheep.   Throw in some goats and a parable about the second coming of Christ for good measure, and we have a message about the key to being prepared for Christ’s return – compassionate mercy.   It’s an unusual Sunday when three of the four lectionary readings have so much in common, besides sheep.   There’s God’s loving kindness and care and his faithful commitment to his relationship with humanity and our welfare.   Throw in mercy, and we have one of the essential characteristics of God’s unconditional love for us – compassionate mercy.   In Ezekiel 34, God voices his extreme displeasure with those who

  Want to watch this rather than read it?  Go to   https://youtu.be/zY5zPjU2TNM 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30   Both our passages for today have a common purpose:   to instruct followers of Christ to endure through difficult times and to live in anticipation of the Lord’s return.   Paul also offers encouragement and words of comfort to his readers.   Are Paul’s teachings relevant to us today in how we endure in our current anxious times?   “A talent, a whole talent?!?   My master entrusted me with a whole talent!   What am I going to do?   I don’t know anything about investing money or making a profit?   What if I get swindled?   What if a thief sneaks into my room at night and steals it?   What if I lose it somewhere? I’m in for a world of hurt if I fail!!   Think, think, think… I know!   I’ll bury it in a deep hole and return it to my Master when he returns.”   The servant acted out of anxiety and fear.   He was afraid of his master who was known to be “a hars

  Proverbs 6:6-8 Matthew 25:1-13   Winter is coming, and Ice Melt is on my mind.   Being prepared is important.   In the Book of Proverbs, an instruction manual on how to live wisely and righteously, 6:6-8 advises us:   6  Go to the ant, you lazybones;      consider its ways, and be wise. 7  Without having any chief      or officer or ruler, 8  it prepares its food in summer,      and gathers its sustenance in harvest.   This passage reminds me of the Aesop’s Fable about the ant and the grasshopper.   All summer long and into the fall, the wise ant diligently gathered food and stored it away for the winter while the foolish grasshopper played the time away.   Come the bitter cold and snow of winter, and because of its foolish lack of preparation, the grasshopper died.   We all know winter is coming, but we’re never quite sure when the snowy and icy conditions will begin.   Winter doesn’t look at the calendar and exclaim, “It’s December 21 st !   Time to hit those human

      Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 21:1-7   What is a saint?   A saint is simply a Christian, which includes all of us here.   Hebrews 12:1 says, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are like cheering us on, encouraging us when things get tough.   Among those witnesses is the “communion of saints,”   which includes the faithful who have gone on to glory and our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in the world today.    Just as the members of our faith community are lending their support to us in our walk, imagine people like Abraham, Isaiah, Paul, and John Wesley at the side lines giving us the “thumbs up.”   Or what tickles me, is the thought of Ruth, Ester, all the Marys who were at Jesus, Tomb that first Easter morning and my grandmother shouting, “you go, girl!”   Today, we will honor and remember those who are no longer with us who may have encouraged us and supported us both as human beings and on our journey of faith.  Let’s also this opport