Genesis 1:1-5, Acts 19:1-7 and Mark 1:4-11

This coming Sunday we will renew our Baptismal vows. At first thought how does remembering our Baptism possibly address the current unrest in our country and in the world? One seems all about “religion” and the other about worldly government. Yet, as we read our scripture we see that Baptism points to the One who bestows “good changes” upon a sinful and troubled people.

And it points to the One who was without sin but dwelt in the very midst of a sinful world. “For God so loved the world……” Change is often the demand of the day. And what needs to change? “I yam what I yam” said Popeye! Was that a cry for help or just a statement of a retired sailor?! We too are like Popeye in that we are what we are but that we are also a “work in progress!”

If nothing else, this Sunday we will hear what God is about and why God does not give up on us. Baptism is always a sign of what God has done and is still doing!

We often need all the help we can get!

Pray for both church and nation as we gather to worship on this Baptism of Our Lord Sunday.

Prayers~†

Pastor Barry

Jeremiah 31:7-14, Ephesians 1:3-14 and John 1:1-18

For a year known more by shadows and dark, grey and cloudy days of anxiety and challenges, there sure have been lots of end of the year photos of beautiful sunsets and sunrises! December has been filled with posts of pictures of the glory of the skies! The beauty of the earth. Even snow in its blanket of white appeared to us in Tennessee during Christmas week. A “star” brightened our Christmas season. The wonders of Creation were on display for those who have eyes to see!

Our scriptures for our first Sunday in 2021 are full of images of God at work in the created order, in unfolding times and places. And in that revealing work, God’s purposes of and promises of a heaven-in-earth are proclaimed and demonstrated in nature and people we see! God works with what is given from the Beginning and what is intended in the End.

So, Jeremiah glories in the God who does not forsake sinful Israel, the Apostle John directs our attention to the Word becoming flesh (!) in Jesus, and Paul exalts in what both Jew and Gentile have inherited in Christ Jesus. It is a veritable “kaleidoscope” of dazzling gifts and events and promises kept. The dark and shadowy existence of ill and woe is overcome time and time again in God’s ongoing restoration and fulfillment of life as originally intended. Original blessing triumphs over original sin!

Admittedly, a year like 2020 seems to fly in the face of that blessing but one year is NOT the whole story, the big picture! When we do turn around and see and hear of the beauty of all that is, especially in Jesus Christ, we are renewed and strengthened for another “go at life.” The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Israel’s consolation is before us. And Paul declares we are God’s family, we will not be abandoned nor forsaken!

Let’s all look into the kaleidoscope of scripture and Creation and see the dazzling colors of Grace play out before our very eyes! In that we have both present, abundant life and a hope for the future!

Blessings as we enter 2021 and beyond!

Pastor Barry

Psalm 148, Galatians 4:4-7 and Luke 2:22-40

For the most part, the Gospels describe the birth of Jesus as attended to by pretty common folk. Celebrities don’t make the list. No governors, magistrates, nor well known public figures. The so called Three Kings are astrologer types and from a distant land at that! No one local knew them! The main “lineup” seems to have been shepherds, a mix of farm animals, those strangers from afar, and relatively low key angels! Again, no celebrities nor media coverage.

There is not much difference when Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple for Mary’s ritual purification. The two people that Luke mentions are never heard from again in scripture! Simeon is simply devout and righteous. And Anna is an aged widow and a little known prophet. Yet, these fairly regular people are the ones who recognize the Messiah, the Savior! There is no mention of a priest or scribe recognizing this son of a Nazareth couple as the long expected One!

Perhaps Luke wants to convey the reality that this Holy Child can be known by any and all who are “alert and watching” for the acts of God in both the more routine as well as the rare glorious moments in life. Simeon and Anna seem more like, well…..us!! The famous and the celebrity types are certainly not excluded from God’s revealing but perhaps they are often preoccupied with other things other than watching and waiting and celebrating what God is “all about” in Jesus.

Let us be eager to be like Simeon and Anna in all our doing and being! We might be more likely to see something happening around us that reveals God’s purpose and glory!

Blessings on this Christmas Sunday and the approach of a New Year!

Pastor Barry

2 Samuel 7:1-11, Romans 16:25-27 and Luke 1:26-38.

We arrive as a worshipping community at the last Sunday of Advent. Christmas is soon to be celebrated!

The whole history of our faith is like a constant reminder of Advent and Christmas only going by different names! The history of God’s working with Israel and indirectly with the Gentiles is before us in all our texts for today’s worship. God is present with people in mysterious often hidden ways: in a tent in the wilderness, in a Temple in a city, but ultimately within the very soul of a person e.g., Mary. By any other Biblical names, e.g. Covenant, Revelation, we are still talking about “Preparation” and “Arrival.” Advent and Christmas!

It’s helpful to be reminded each year of Christmas past, present, and future. Who doesn’t have keepsake ornaments, decorations, memorabilia from years past? And likely something new this year to be kept for future holidays and celebrations.

The story of our faith and each one’s personal journey is very much a reminder of God’s dwelling with us in wilderness (tent), in settlement (Temple), and in person (like in Mary and in all of us!).

As the song goes and as our Scripture reminds us, “Don’t worry….be happy!” ‘Tis the Season!” We are being reminded by all the sights and sounds that God is with us!

Pastor Barry
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Isaiah 61:1-4, Psalm 126 and Luke 1:46-55

Mary’s proclamation in Luke 1:46-55 gets our attention as we see how she sees herself in service to God. And that service takes the form of motherhood and discipleship to her son and her Savior. She is an example of expectancy in God’s promises to Israel and through Israel to the whole world. We honor her on this Third Sunday of Advent through the reading of her Magnificat, (where she quotes and paraphrases from Isaiah to the Psalms), and by lighting the pink candle in our Advent Wreath.

But how does a Tennessee hero of WWI get included in our sermon this Sunday?? Sgt. Alvin C. York from Fentress County was born on December 13th (our Sunday date) and is a notable Christian of the 20th Century even if made most famous by his wartime heroics. He was active in his local church and Cumberland Plateau community.

Here is the ongoing challenge: finding brothers and sisters in the faith to learn from, emulate, and then find our own unique witness after coming under the influence of thousands of other Christians, Christ followers in all walks of life in every age.

Mary is our biblical witness this Sunday as Alvin C. York reminds us of the vast life situations that are given to work out our faith in whatever time and place we are given!

Praise be to God who knows us all by name and knows each one’s unique potential for living the Christian life!

Come to worship with expectation to glorify God in the life you have now!

Pastor Barry
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Isaiah 10:1-11, 2 Peter 3:8-15a and Mark 1:1-8

Sometime in the next 3-4 weeks you are likely to have “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in your head or even belting out of your mouth in song! The sounds of the season are full of a Christian/Christmas cast of characters from the sacred to the secular. And some have blended together. There really was a Saint Nicolas in the Fourth Century who has become Santa Claus.

One doesn’t always think of Santa Claus and John the Baptist in the same story but they merge in our cultural practices during Advent. Our story is truly big enough to include all types of personalities and expressions of the faith.

Our Mark text highlights the coming of the wild looking, loud prophet John. Sunday is also the day many churches remember and honor St. Nicolas of Myra a very kind and generous Bishop especially to children.

It takes all kinds is a true enough statement even if overused. True enough for all to see in any church, denomination, or nation. It takes forthright loud prophets as much as it does quiet, caring Bishops! They all in their unique ways herald the coming of one greater than ANY in church, denomination, or nation!

This is the One we are reminded each December came first to all of us as a Child. It takes all kinds to remind us that God is determined to work with and through people. God comes to us through “the human touch” with a cast of thousands (well actually billions when you consider all humans ever created!).

And in turn, we learn the faith from others by word and deed. Who has not at times brought the Word as John the Baptist? Who has not brought the Deed as St Nicolas?? When have you found both of these two different Christ followers in your own thoughts, words, and deeds?

An Advent question to ask ourselves as we celebrate the Second Sunday in Advent!

†

Pastor Barry

Isaiah 64:1-9, I Corinthians 1:3-9 and Mark 13:24-37

As I write this, there is no doubt the holiday season is upon us. Christmas decorations are up! Trees are lit up in windows! And the catalogues come in stacks!

Poor Advent is often overlooked. But as worshippers we will hear and live out of the scriptures for the next four Sundays which speak of preparation, watchfulness, hope. We will be somewhat like a child seeing a Christmas package under the tree, and wistfully waiting for the day to arrive to open it!

Much of life is waiting and preparing. And an attitude develops for both living life to the fullest in that waiting time while believing the arrival of the future will be even better than now. How true is the expression, “the best is yet to be?” That is always answered by a lived out faith. Some of the waiting time is quite rough at times and we can only trust that it will be better. And the trust is always in the character of God: loving, merciful, steadfast, beyond words, Spirit and Truth.

So, Advent is as wondrous as Christmas in its own way. We just need to “stay alert” as Mark 13 of insists, and realize we have the means (gifts) to go forward based on I Corinthians 1:3-9, and that Isaiah 64:1-9 declares “God WORKS for those who wait for God.”

So, Christmas is there in Advent for sure! Hidden perhaps but still as real as the day of Christmas, as real as anytime the Kingdom of God shows up in our present life.

Blessings in the weeks ahead! Stay well, stay safe, pay attention to God’s calling upon your life in this most wondrous season!

Pastor Barry

Genesis 9:7-19, Revelation 7:9, 15:2-4 and Philippians 2:5-11

As different as Thanksgiving family gatherings may be this year, they will still take place in memory, in the “adjusted” present, and in hope for many more to come in years ahead.

For those in worship this November 22, we will be reminded through scripture how God promises to be at work to bring about bounty and blessings. For the Christian our blessings come through Christ the King who is benevolent, merciful, and wants only the “abundant life” for God’s people in the Kingdom also known as The “Kindom,” where all the kin are gathered in. All get to sit at the Thanksgiving table of Jesus. This is demonstrated generation after generation and in nation upon nation. Our faith circles the globe and includes the diversity of every culture and historical era. Enter the Native American.

From earliest elementary school we remember the story of the first Thanksgiving involving the Pilgrims and the indigenous people of America. Christians interacting with many yet to be Christians. It is a fascinating era of bearing witness to Native Americans and the resultant growth of churches within “every tribe and language.” All together under the Great Spirit now revealed fully as Christ the King.

As we give thanks this coming week we do so with an awareness of the contributions made by Native Americans and hundreds of other “tribes” other than our own. Let us give thanks for unity in diversity and be forthright in seeing Christ in every one we meet!

Thanks be to God!

Blessings!

Pastor Barry

Judges 4:1-7, I Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30

Each person is unique and has both potential and limitations. What potential says is that each has been given “talent” of some kind. What we are given in IQ, physical strength, will, and drive is most often a combination of genes, geography, family, and community. No one is self-made! God is always about calling forth that talent/gift in specific ways throughout the life time we are granted.

Our scripture for worship gives us an example in Deborah the judge and Jesus’ parable of the talents. Deborah is a prophetess in the time of Israel being led by judges not kings. She finds her gifts and talents, so to speak, being called forth in a time of national threat. Jesus tells of different servants who are given “resources” to use while the Master is away. And what happens when they are put to good use or…..not. There is no one who is not given something in some way that can be used to benefit others and to glorify God!

“You’ve Got Talent!” Let’s look this Sunday to see both a good example and a not-so-good example of the use of talent. Along the way we will hear about judge Deborah, Jael the Kenite woman assassin, Queen Elizabeth I and a few other leaders who used their talents for God and others.

See you Sunday!

Pastor Barry

Amos 5:18-24, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:13

Our national election count should be over by worship time this Sunday but the requirements of citizenship are ongoing. For those elected and for all within our republic.

The same within the life of the church. Both church and society are to heed the question, “What does the Lord require of you?” We cannot have the question addressed only to the individual, but to the whole of the Church and to all the nations.

We are also approaching Veterans Day November 11. We remember and honor the service Veterans have offered to our nation. They too have had requirements placed upon them as they act for the safety and benefit of a free people. One aspect of military duty is reconnaissance “the observation of a region to locate an enemy or determine strategic features.”

Requirements and reconnaissance go hand in hand in both service to country and to God. Amos spells out some basic requirements from God, “justice and righteousness,” while I Thessalonians and Matthew 25 speak to our staying alert through “reconnaissance.”

Sunday we will recognize both veterans and the church faithful who have answered to call to serve.

Stay alert! Seek to do what the Lord requires!

Pastor Barry