What a joy last Sunday to worship the Lord together! I look forward to this Sunday. Join us at

9:00 am as we continue our Sunday School series on “living a life of generosity.” Please come this Sunday to hear from Rick Denton.

10:30 am as we worship the “new born king” together.  Steve Kercher reminds us “Immediately after the angel of the Lord announced to shepherds that Jesus was born in the city of David, a multitude of angels appeared praising God and giving Him glory.”  Let us do the same this Sunday by singing How Great is Our God and Fairest Lord Jesus.

The bonfire starts at 4:00 pm outside of the old library in the East Village. Then at 5:00 pm the caroling begins with our home and then off to Doffy’s house and ten more homes in the historic district! The caroling and lighting of homes concludes at 6:15 pm at the Holyoke French House with punch and cookies. This year, our FCCB choir will help lead the singing, so please come out and enjoy being together with all of us. What a great New England Christmas tradition!! 

This Sunday I’ll continue on Luke 2 as I preach on the birth of Christ. Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken of the entire Roman world. Augustus wanted to number the people for taxation purposes. This census was all about consolidating power for the Roman empire and expanding it’s territory. Therefore everyone needed to go to their own town to register.

In obedience to this decree, Joseph took his family on a long trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for Him” (Luke 2:6-7).

This simple line describing the birth of a baby to some obscure couple in some backwater town over two thousand years ago set salvation history in motion. Absolutely unreal. May the wonder of this never be lost on us. Only from the mind of God could this come. Humans would have no earthly reason to invent this story. In our culture now (probably mainly due to Christ’s birth) we can envision an underdog story. We talk about underdogs when March Madness (basketball) comes around and we love hearing stories of unlikely people doing amazing things. But in that day and age – no way, no how. Everything was about power and control from those who were rulers or kings. There were no underdogs or unlikely stories. You either had power or you didn’t. You would be a fool to try to make up a religion featuring a God born in a stable. You would be laughed out of the room. Only from the mind of God could this happen and ever be believable. Eugene Peterson states in his Bible Translation the Message of John 1:14 “God put on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” The incarnation is truly the most unique and amazing miracle of all. The Lord of all creation humbled Himself to the lowest estate to demonstrate His amazing love and grace.

I find the next part of that passage so fascinating… there was no room in the inn. Now let’s face it. Jesus is God and could have opened up a room in a heartbeat if He wanted. But this is how His plan of salvation must unfold. Notice something else interesting. God came in to the world ‘uninvited.’ No one actually invited Jesus to come to earth. He came in His time and His way and the world was not ready for Him. How could you ever be ready for the Incarnation?! 

They were not ready and the innkeeper had no idea he was turning away God from a room. Reminds me of situations when celebrities go undercover as someone homeless or when the world famous violinist (Josh Bell) played undercover for dollars and cents in the DC Subway as a social experiment.

The world had just experienced the most seismic event and no one even realized it. The Gospel often advances in this way, which makes total sense since the whole story began this way. You never hear in the headlines that someone comes to faith in Christ. You never hear in the news about profound transformation in families due to Christ or communities turned upside down from the power of experiencing the love and power of Jesus Christ. But it happens all the time.

The Lord’s ways are not our ways and His Kingdom is of a different world. We just need to trust this reality and walk by faith, not by sight. Admittedly, I wish sometimes that the Lord would just allow these things to be broadcast from the hilltops…that He would show Himself fully in every way, so everyone would truly know who is on the throne and who is Sovereign over all Creation.

But I take solace that the Lord is coming back to reign and rule forever and there will come a Day when everyone will know who the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is. In the meantime, our call is to introduce people to this Risen Savior who was born in a stable, so that they may know the living God and prepare well for eternity. We want to see our hearts and the hearts of others “prepare Him room” as ‘Joy to the World’ states. This news is way too good not to be shared.

Speaking of good news, the angel appeared to the shepherds and said, “do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (v. 11-12).

Fascinating that the angel says that the Messiah has been “born to you” …such a personal way of describing this birth. It speaks like a gift given to the people. This clearly was the greatest gift that could ever be given: the Messiah coming to the world to save. Powerful.

Jesus was born for you and for me.

He died for you and for me.

He rose again for you and for me.

Let’s live in tremendous gratitude today for this astounding reality!

Then the angels (heavenly host) sang glory to God. The shepherds hurried to see the baby. I can imagine that they were running pretty fast :). They saw the Lord then went to spread the word. Mary pondered and treasured these things in her heart. Each person in their own way began to share the Good News – the Messiah has come to earth!

See you this Sunday as we continue this wonderful Advent time. May we long to see our Lord afresh in our lives and do His mighty work!

Blessings,

Pastor Andrew