On December 31st the First Sunday after Christmas Day, I will preach a sermon tentatively titled, “A New Thing.” The scriptures are Isaiah 43:15-19 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-19.
Be sure join us for our Worship Service at 9:30 am as we look forward to the New Year.
Hoping to see you at worship on Sunday.
Blessings,
Pastor Michael
On December 24th the Fourth Sunday of Advent, I plan to speak on “Love.”
Come join us for our Worship Service at Kedron at 9:30 am and Christmas Eve service at Lock’s Memorial UMC at 6:00 pm.
I look forward to seeing you at worship on Sunday.
Blessings,
Pastor Michael
On December 17th the Third Sunday of Advent, we will be having our Christmas Program.
There will be finger foods served in the Fellowship Hall after the service.
Blessings,
Pastor Michael
Decades ago, I heard my friend, the late Bishop Bos Spain, deliver a devotion in which he used the above phrase. While punch has fallen out of common usage in today’s entertaining culture, the point is still worth remembering: parties and celebrations take planning and involve some excitement while waiting. The same is true of the celebration of Christmas.
Advent is a time of preparation. No one knows when Christians started observing Advent; but it was known as an established practice by about 480 A. D. (Contemporary calendars have replaced the formerly used, “Anno Domini,” [A.D.], or, Year of The Lord] with C. E., meaning “Common Era.”) The term, “Advent,” comes from a Latin word used to translate the word from the Greek New Testament meaning, “coming Kingdom.” It simply means “coming,” or “arrival,” referring to the Second Coming of Christ. In Christianity today, Advent refers to (1) the first coming of Christ into the world at Bethlehem; (2) the present coming of Christ into our hearts; and (3) the future return of Christ.
Advent is intended to give The Church an opportunity to prepare for the coming celebration of Christmas. Even the secular world prepares for Christmas; and people who have no real belief in Jesus or intention to honor His birth make all kinds of preparations for many different forms of celebration. Christmas giving is in imitation of the giving of gifts by the Magi, commonly referred to as the Wise Men. Although the Bible does not mention a number, tradition has taken the number of Wise Men from the number of gifts mentioned: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The commemoration of their visit is observed in the Church on Epiphany. Epiphany literally means, “upon the face,” as in “to look upon the face.” It is a term that has come to observe the first time a Gentile looked upon the face of Jesus (meaning, of course, the Wise Men, who were probably Zoroastrian in faith).
And then, I’d simply like to add this word about Christmas. Christmas is a shortened form of “Christ’s Mass,” or a time for observing the Roman Catholic holy communion. The term no longer carries that exact interpretation for Protestants and those who do not relate their understanding of the meaning of Holy Communion as it came to be observed in the Roman Catholic church. (Some denominations do not readily think of themselves as Protestants, but simply as “the one true church.” Historians and scholars now think that Jesus was born in a summer month, since shepherds were out in the field, tending their sheep. (I’ve been in Jerusalem and Bethlehem in January during the Orthodox observance of Christmas, and it snowed on us!) Historians think that the observance of the birth of Christ may have been moved to coincide with the Roman observance called the “Saturnalia,” a Roman festival for their god, Saturn.. December 25 was also the mid-winter solstice. Christians could have easily hidden their celebrations of the birth of Christ while the Romans were celebrating their festivals at the same time. Christmas has been attested since the Second Century, A.D.; but, there are denominations that do not observe Christmas in most forms (e.g., no Christmas decorations, including a tree, no gifts, no sacred music) since the exact date can not be known. For most of the rest of the Christian world, it is more important to celebrate the birth of the Savior than to know the exact date.
The reason I mention all of this is to help the membership understand why we are preparing to celebrate Christmas in the way we do. I am a firm believer in knowledge—not as a substitute to faith, but as a valuable resource in helping us understand many of the things we do and believe as Christians. Finally, I’d like to say something about “Xmas.” Many well-intentioned people condemn this usage, saying that it “X’s Christ out of Christmas.” In fact, it is one of the most ancient and original ways of referring to the time of the birth of Christ in that “X” was used as a kind of abbreviation for “Christ.” Christ is spelled, “Christos” in the original language of thee New Testament. The X, or “chi,” is the Greek letter for “ch.”
Michael O’Bannon, Pastor
Psalm 126
In the season of Advent, I will be preaching a series of sermons on, “All I Want for Christmas.”
The title of the first sermon is “Plimpton’s Surprise.” The theme is “joy.”
I look forward to seeing you at worship on Sunday..
Blessings,
Pastor Michael