Announcements
Christmas
Eve—The Christmas Eve service will be @ 7:00.
New
Hope News
Sunday
School—This Sunday, the adult class will review the
Old Testament.
Christmas
Schedule—The youth choir will bless us this Sunday,
12/23.
Pray
For:
All
those dealing with the flu
Pray
for those who do not know Christ.
Links
Keith's
Random Thoughts
I spent the morning having a lot of fun—I went shopping for
matchbox cars & legos at Toys R' Us.
These were the toys that I loved during my childhood. I would spend
hours upon hours playing with legos. Whenever we went somewhere, I
always made sure to take some matchbox cars. My parents didn't have
to worry about entertaining me—with my cars nearby, I could
entertain myself all the day long. It's funny to look back on it and
wonder how I could be so entertained for so long. My attention span
has dwindled over the years, and I suppose my capacity for imagining
has done so, too.
This morning I got to shop for a child over at East Brainerd
Elementary. There wasn't going to be anything under the Christmas
tree, and thanks to the extraordinary generosity of a few people,
there now will be things for Christmas for him and at least six other
families. God is so very good.
Christmas is a time to say thanks. I know we were supposed to do
that at Thanksgiving, but let's do so now, too. God has blessed us
richly. I am grateful for family and friends, for love that
surrounds me, for those of you who bother to read my ramblings,
whether or not they make sense. I have been given so much love. God
has given a Savior so that I might salvation, a gift I certainly do
not deserve and could not earn. Not only do I have a Savior, but I
have a Savior who has walked the dusty roads of this life, who knows
temptation, who knows pain and sadness. I have a Savior who loves me
enough to let a lesser power nail him to a cross and take his life in
the most painful way possible, so that he might redeem me and all
others who call upon him.
What a gift. What an incredible gift. Before the enormity of the
cross, I am speechless.
But it's not just the cross. It's about the manger and the 33 years
in between, the life that Christ lived. Christ wants to redeem all
of life, for our hope to transform what we do here and now. We don't
just wait until after we die to know anything about the full glory of
God. Our life here is meant to be a foretaste of that divine glory,
so that we are loved and love, so that we are blessed and bless
others. We can revel in the abundant joy of God here and now if
we'll abandon all else and cling to him alone, the babe in the
manger, the carpenter with calloused hands, the teacher in the wooden
boat, the Savior on the cross, the glorified God on Easter morning,
the Prince of Peace ascending to heaven.
What a gift.
Text
for this Sunday
Hebrews
10:19-25
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the
sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he
opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and
since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with
pure water.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for
he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke
one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the
more as you see the Day approaching.
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