For the week of December 14 – 3rd Sunday of Advent
Morning Prayer: Holy God of Joy, We rejoice in the reality of who You are. We live within the joy of Your love for us. Our contentment comes and goes. Our happiness ebbs and flows. Our feelings depend upon our circumstances, our physical health, our brain chemistry. But our joy is deeply rooted in our identity as Your beloved children. And we give You thanks. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Morning Hymn #242 Love Came Down at Christmas
- Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign. - Worship we the Godhead, Love incarnate, Love divine;
worship we our Jesus, but wherewith for sacred sign? - Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine;
love to God and all men, love for plea and gift and sign.
Isaiah 35:1-4
35 The desert and the dry land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom like the crocus.
2 They will burst into bloom,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
They will receive the glory of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the Lord’s glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and support the unsteady knees.
4 Say to those who are panicking:
“Be strong! Don’t fear!
Here’s your God,
coming with vengeance;
with divine retribution
God will come to save you.”
Lighting the Candle of Joy: If you have an Advent Wreath at home, please light two of the purple candles and the pink candle.
Hymn: #196 Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
- Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. - Born Thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone;
by Thine all sufficient merit, raise us to Thy glorious throne.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Blessing the children, staff and families of KidsPeace: Great stories and celebration from Saturday’s KidsPeace Christmas party. Thank you for giving these families such a wonderful time and place to celebrate.
Offering prayer: Gracious God of deep joy, even when storms rage and doubts rise, You call us to see with kingdom eyes—to look for healing, hope, and signs of Your grace breaking in. In this Advent season of expectation and weariness, we bring these gifts as expressions of joy, rooted not in ease but in trust. May our giving bear witness to Your good news: that the blind still see, the lame still walk, and the poor still receive care. Use these offerings and us as signs of Your coming reign, lights in the storm, and carriers of joy. In the name of Jesus, our hope and our Redeemer. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: Hymn #221 In the Bleak Midwinter
- In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago. - Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. - Angels and archangels may have gathered there, cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
but His mother only, in her maiden bliss, worshiped the Beloved with a kiss. - What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
Scripture: Matthew 11:2-11
2 Now when John heard in prison about the things the Christ was doing, he sent word by his disciples to Jesus, asking, 3 “Are You the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
4 Jesus responded, “Go, report to John what you hear and see. 5 Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled are walking. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. The poor have good news proclaimed to them.[a] 6 Happy are those who don’t stumble and fall because of me.”
7 When John’s disciples had gone, Jesus spoke to the crowds about John: “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A stalk blowing in the wind? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in refined clothes? Look, those who wear refined clothes are in royal palaces. 9 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 He is the one of whom it is written: Look, I’m sending my messenger before You, who will prepare Your way before You.[b]
11 “I assure you that no one who has ever been born is greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Message: What Are You Seeing? Pastor Becky
The Advent and Christmas seasons are a delight to our senses. It's through our senses many of our fondest memories are cemented. It's the taste of Grandma's cookies. It's the smell of pine. It's hearing Christmas carols and hymns. Our senses help us hold on to important memories and remembrances.
I have some old favorites when it comes to Christmas songs. Those festive secular songs that point to the religious. We couldn't really sing them in church. It isn't that they're vulgar, it's just that they weren't written for worship. They want to point us to the desired outcomes of Christmas of redemption and reconciliation. What I love to hear in this season is “Do you hear what I hear?”, Now it has to be the Bing Crosby rendition. I realize that there are others, but I'm very fond of the Bing Crosby rendition.
In that song, after the initial question is asked, the question of Do you hear what I hear, the night wind says to the little lamb, Do you see what I see? It's a star. I'm sorry if now you have that song stuck in your head all day, yet it taps into what we are talking about today, seeing.
Seeing is so much more than looking at physical objects. It's more than using our eyes to process the tangible things in front of us. Seeing is experiencing. While Christmas can be a feast for the eyes when you think of the lights and the decorations and the festivities around us. We have to be very mindful and not confine Jesus to the infant but also see him as a grown man with promises, teachings and healings.
This is why we are in the Gospel of Matthew and in particular looking at his messenger John the Baptist. It is these interactions with Jesus that help us to faithfully navigate through preparation. John's been out teaching, preaching and baptizing throughout Galilee. He's been drawing large crowds, crowds that include King Herod. Herod's hearing John's message of repentance.
Herod's sin is not private; it's quite public. His marriage to Herodias is a scandal. Herodias had been married to Philip, whose Herod's half-brother. This is a direct violation of Jewish law. Their union was seen as incestuous and adulterous.
John very publicly admonishes them and finds himself arrested. John is later beheaded at the bequest of Herodias daughter. While John is imprisoned awaiting his fate, he sends some of his disciples to Jesus. John wants to know, has he been heralding the right one? He sends his disciples to ask Jesus a question. He wants Jesus to give a straight answer, a plain answer. Yes or no? John wants Jesus to say yes, I am the one, or if Jesus isn't the one John wants to know that as well.
This should not be a hard task for Jesus. After all, John is his cousin. John baptized Jesus. Jesus has been the one that John has been pointing the crowds to. Yet in prison, alone with his thoughts and cut off from the world, John who has believed wants confirmation. Jesus’ response is to have John's own disciples report what they are seeing and hearing and take those observations back to John.
Jesus wants John's disciples to bring John the good news. The disciples of John will be the messengers, heralding that coming of the Kingdom of heaven. They will report the healings, the dead that are raised, the outcome for the poor. They will report the in breaking of the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus has brought near.
After John's disciples leave, Jesus affirms that John is who John believed himself to be – the prophet that was to go before Jesus. In affirming John, Jesus affirms Himself.
We have to look at what Jesus did in sending John's disciples back without a simple answer of yes. The disciples were to tell the stories of what they saw. It kept them looking, watching for the ways Jesus was bringing good news. Every healing told to John, the gathering of names, the evidence, the proof was to encourage John. So by reporting, John's disciples become Jesus' disciples.
They're witnessing what they've seen and they're sharing their testimonies. They are fortifying and solidifying their belief in Jesus. They are recalling over and over what they have seen so others would come to know Jesus.
This sounds a lot like what we're called to do, to tell our Jesus story so that others would come to know Jesus. Where are we seeing Jesus and the Kingdom of heaven? We can point to it when we see families that are reconciled. We see it when alcoholics and drug addicts enter into healing and accountability. We lift it up in praise when physical healing comes after surgery or illness. We glorify God. When someone realizes their worth, then we affirm it.
Most days it is much easier to point to what is in opposition to the Kingdom and to Jesus. Unfortunately, that list is inexhaustible. Yet like John's disciples, Jesus is asking us what we are seeing? We have to choose to see and if we aren't seeing the Kingdom breaking through, then we are working to see it by turning our talents, resources, and attention to seeing that the crippled walk, that the blind see, and that the good news is preached in words and actions. This preparation season doesn't end on December 25th. It is to become our lifestyle so that we are continuing and continually preparing for Jesus to come into people's lives today and preparing for the final return of Jesus when all reconciliation and redemption is complete. Amen
Closing Hymn: #224 Good Christian Friends, Rejoice
- Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice;
give ye heed to what we say: News, news! Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before Him bow, and He is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!
- Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice;
now ye hear of endless bliss: News, news! Jesus Christ was born for this!
He hath opened heaven’s door, and ye are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!
- Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice;
now ye need not fear the grave: News, news! Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all to gain His everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
