Christmas Day
Wednesday, December 25

Hymn:  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

Joy! Joy!
Jesus Christ was born for this

He hath ope'd the heav'nly door

And we are blessed evermore

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:

Peace! Peace!

Jesus Christ was born to save

Calls you one and calls you all

To gain God's everlasting hall

Christ was born to save.

Christ was born to save.

Advent Week 3

Hope For Those Who Are Willing

Tuesday, December 24

Luke 2: 15 - 18

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

I’m guessing that the shepherds probably weren’t expecting to hear such a powerful word from the Lord that night.  There they were on the hillside watching their sheep.  Many huddled around a fire, telling jokes.  Perhaps they had all settled in, preparing for the longnight a head.  I think they might even have been comfortable, comfortable in the familiar.

But then, suddenly, there were angels all around.  Can you imagine? Wow! Shinningangels all around, a multitude even, singing the most beautiful music they ever heard.  And the message, how exciting! The savior of the world has been born! It is just what they had been waiting for.

And as great as all this is, it is really the next part that strikes me.  

“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go…”

And they did. They didn’t just hear the message and settle back down into their camp.  They said, “Let’s go!”  They were eager, prepared to leave their camp, their sheep, their comfort and just go.  They were excited about finding the Christ child and then spreading the word to all those who would listen.

But I wonder, if they hadn’t been willing to go, if they had found themselves to comfortable, would we have had a whole different story. Maybe even no story.

As we have spent the last four weeks in excited anticipation of the Advent of Christ’sbirth - the great build up until Christmas day – once it comes, do we just pack it up for the year, settle down into camp OR do we continue the journey spreading the message of the Hope we have found in Christ?  Just as the Shepherds did those many years ago.

Are you willing to go and spread the hope that Christ’s birth brings?

Amanda Langlands

Advent Week 4

Hope For Those Who Are Wounded

Monday, December 23

Wounded Healer

Luke 2: 34-35

    In 1972, a Roman Catholic priest named Henri Nouwen wrote a classic book on ministry called THE WOUNDED HEALER. Speaking most directly to professional ministers, Nouwen said that ministers are called to bandage other's wounds even as they are bandaging their own wounds.

    I had graduated from seminary in 1972, become pastor of my first fulltime church, while trying to be a good husband and father to my young children. As a part of this process, I was learning that not everyone approved of what I was doing and what I was saying as a minister. Fortunately, the church was growing, but I experienced the pain of rejection, disapproval, and the other wounds that every pastor experiences.

    That's why Nouwens book, THE WOUNDED HEALER, was so important to me. Not only clergy but also each of us in the church has been wounded or will be wounded in some way. Perhaps, it's something unexpected that changes our lives. Maybe, it's the pain of misunderstanding, rejection, or something not going the way we wanted. The question is, "Do we stop to bandage our wounds or do we continue to care for others in Jesus' name even as we tend to our own wounds.'

    These words in the second chapter of Luke remind us that the coming of the Christ brings it's own wounds. Simeon had been waiting at the Temple in Jerusalem for the coming of the Messiah. When his parents brought Jesus to the Temple, Simeon was overcome with joy and broke into song.

    After the song Simeon turned to Mary, Jesus' mother, and warned, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul to."

    Since we know the whole story of Jesus' life, we know that Simeon's words prove true. Yet, Jesus and his mother also never stopped their mission. What gave them hope and what gives us hope is that somehow God is in all of it shaping even the worst things for God’s sake.

    Sometimes, we may want to give up. I'll always remember Nouwen's words "Bandage other's wounds even as you are bandaging your own."

Dr. Charles Bugg

Advent Week 4

Hope For Those Who Are Wounded

Sunday, December 22

What enthusiasm and excitement can be found on a playground!  The sound of laughter bounces all around, along with sounds of squeaky swings, squeals of delight, birds singing in the nearby trees and the sound of the wind or rustling leaves.   I see children eagerly running from one thrill to the next.  There is such a wonderful, liberating sense of abandon on a playground.   I can see it in a young child who is proud after having climbed several steps to reach the top of a slide for the first time, or the child being pushed in a swing who keeps screaming, “Higher, higher!”  I notice the child befriending someone who is playing alone, or the parent who puts aside adult “moving and shaking” to enjoy a simple pleasure of life—that of playing with children.   There is so much happiness here.

But, that is not always the case.  Children scrape knees here, break bones on the monkey bars, or feel left out and lonely.  Tears are shed on a playground.  The tears, however, are mixed in with the laughter.  The little boy crying, who fell down, will be back, at the playground at some point, laughing and swinging.   He may have gotten a hug from his father, a band-aid for his knee and a word of confidence and encouragement.  

Life is  like a playground.  There are times of happiness, adventure, anticipation, community, and play.  Sometimes, in the living of our life, we get hurt—hurt feelings, broken spirits, cancelled plans, bruised egos, disappointments, devastating news.   We are wounded.  Let us run to God, as a child to a parent, for comfort and help.  

Advent reminds us that God came to walk among wounded people in a broken world.  Let us turn to the One who came to help the hurting, and to bind up the broken.  Let us cling to the promise of healing and wholeness.    We can’t fix everything; we can’t always keep relationships that have broken; we can’t redo all we wish we could.   We will never have said all we’ve wanted or done all we’ve desired.  But that isn’t the final word.  We can lament and share the wounds of our hearts, and then join in a prayer of gratitude for the God who is faithful—God who will be with us on our own playground of life.    

Glenna Metcalfe

Advent Week 3

Hope For Those Who Are Watching

Saturday, December 21

"When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.  Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy and they shared her joy." (Luke 1.57-8)

Relatives and Neighbors

The first chapters of Luke are like the beginning of a good novel. It introduces the main characters of the drama and gives us a sense of the time, place, and setting of the action. Like a window shade pulled back so we can look in a room, we read little facts and colors of life that show us the people in whose lives the gospel takes shape. Elizabeth, an older relative of Mary, is unexpectedly pregnant.  I can just imagine the chuckles of her friends and neighbors as they wait for the baby.  In the light-hearted love of good people it was the celebration of God's mercy they were enjoying.   It says her neighbors and relatives heard about her great joy, and I have been in that place -- driving a little out of the way to look at the neighbor's house to see if the lights are on or the garage open, watching for clues that the event we are hoping for has come.

And this is the world in which John the Baptist and later Jesus was born -- a world of relatives, neighbors, friends, people like you and me, watching to see if the moment of God's mercy had come to rest on Elizabeth, on Mary, on the world.  A candle suddenly sputters to life in the dead of night illuminating the faces of women around a bed. The light is seen by those in the room and others, perhaps those neighbors close by, awake and restless in the night, peering through the darkness, looking at the house, hoping.  

Roger Ward

Advent Week 3

Hope For Those Who Are Watching

Friday, December 20

“Arise, shine, for thy Light is Come, Isaiah 60 verse 1”. I learned this verse MANY years ago as I was learning about God and missions through GA’s or Girls Auxiliary.  I believe it was a required scripture to memorize for my very first “forward step”, the Maiden Step.  I remember saying it over and over as a rhyme, which was probably why it was so easy to remember.  I memorized a lot of scriptures andnames to get to the last forward step that I achieved—Queen Regent—but this one is the scripture that I remember the most and it was the verse that suddenly popped into my head when I read this year’s advent theme, “Christ, Be Our Light.”  

The book of Isaiah foretells the coming of Jesus in many places and in this verse we are reminded that He is the Light.  For those who are weary, watching, and wounded –we all wait for the light of Jesus to show us THE way to salvation and eternal life.  In the Old Testament, Isaiah foretold that the “Light is Come”.  

A New Testament scripture  (John 8:12), inspired a famous hymn writer, Philip Bliss, to write the text to a hymn about the Light

“The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin,

“The light of the world is Jesus!

“Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in.

The Light of the world is Jesus!

“Come to the light, ‘tis shining for thee;  

“Sweetly the light has dawned upon me

“Once I was blind, but now I can see:

“The Light of the world is, Jesus!”

During this advent season, I pray that we all remember that the Light is HERE!  All we have to do is welcome Him to our lives and to our hearts and to spread that light with everyone we encounter. The Light of the World IS Jesus!

Nina Belle Durr

Advent Week 3

Hope For Those Who Are Watching

Thursday, December 19

but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will fly up on wings like eagles;
they will run and not be tired;
theywill walk and not be weary. (Isaiah 40:31, CEB)

As Christmas approaches, my thoughts return to the Christmas 2006.  I had just completed my second term at the seminary andhad spent considerable time with my parents talking about our family heritage as part of one of my classes.  That Christmaswas good but things soon changed, with Dad spending nearly a month in two hospitals.  Then in January the diagnosis came and he only had a few months left.  I altered my schedule to take a class that Dr. Glenn Hinson was teaching in London where my parents lived.  Through that arrangement he met my parents and I saw them on a weekly basic.  Then on the Monday of Holy Week, I received a call about Dad.  I left Dr. Hinson a message that I would not be in the class that night.  Dr. Hinson showed up at my parent’s house not more than ten minutes after Dad passed away the next morning. In my time of sorrow there was joy in knowing to know that this man cared so much. We buried Dad on Good Friday, a day of sorrow for Christians. But we also know that Sunday is coming a day of hope and celebration.  Though we are wounded there is still hope, a hope brought by comforting friends and a hope found in God’s love as revealed by Jesus the Son and our messiah.

Don Herd