Thursday, December 20, 2012

12/20 E-News


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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