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

Isaiah 30:18-26.

On November 26th the Twentieth-sixth Sunday after Pentecost, my sermon title will be How Does Heinz Sell Any Ketchup?

The theme is anticipation, and the sermon is about anticipating the coming Advent and Christmas Season.

I look forward to seeing you at worship on Sunday..

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Isaiah 1:18-20.

This Sunday’s sermon title will be The Pig With the Peg Leg.

Basically, the sermon will address Thanksgiving.

I owe a debt of gratitude to the late, Rev. Fenton Warren for the opening illustration. The scripture is Isaiah 1:18-20, although other scriptures will be cited in the sermon.

I look forward to seeing you at worship on Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

I recently had an arteriogram to determine if I had a problem with my heart. As it turns out, my heart is in very good shape. The problem was likely caused by a certain medication that can easily be changed. However, all of this made me think of something else.

What I experienced would have been unthinkable about 100 years ago. To think: having a thin tube inserted in veins (instead of arteries) in two different places on my body and looking inside the vessels around my heart! Further, if needed, my cardiologist could have inserted little sleeves (stents) and expanded them to push back the plaque in the vessels. It almost sounds miraculous.

The thought of such “miracles” are almost taken for granted today. However, if we think about it, each advance in medicine can be perceived as gifts from God. At least, that’s the way I think of these discoveries. One might ask, “Well, why didn’t we think of them before?” I can only guess, but it seemed to me that we could not imagine how to do such things until we came up with the materials to accomplish such procedures. That may be naive, but I have to remember that God’s sense of timing isn’t always easily understood. Instead, I’m simply happy that we eventually reached the place where we made the discovery.

Now, if only we could discover God’s plan for peace….!

Pastor Michael

Nehemiah 4:10-14

The theme of this Sunday’s sermon is determination, dependability, and devotion, using Nehemiah as an example.

I look forward to seeing you at worship on Sunday—and possibly at Charge Conference (Wednesday, Nov 8).

I also want you to know that next Wednesday, November 15, will be the last Bible Study for the year because of hectic schedules and plans during the holiday season. After a brief time away to allow for bad weather, we will resume Bible Study on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Romans 1:16-17.

The theme of the sermon is the dilemma The Church began to face at the conclusion of World War II. By April 1945, over 20 million people had been killed as a result of totalitarian governments trying to irradicate citizens they felt were not valid human beings. That is when people began to question if there was any real meaning to life. This gave rise to skepticism and atheism in larger-than-ever numbers.

Any philosophical terms and concepts used in the sermon will be expressed in everyday language. I won’t make it a lecture about philosophy. (The last 4 years I taught in college; I taught Introduction to Western Philosophy.)

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday! Thank you, each one of you, for your loyalty and work to make worship as meaningful as possible.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Hebrews 12:1-3.

I have decided to focus on All Saints this coming Sunday. All Saints Day is November 1; and I had rather celebrate it before on Oct 29 instead of after on November 4.

All Saints Day has been observed in honor of all of the saints (believers) who have gone on to Eternity and has been celebrated since the 4th Century A.D. (300’s A.D.). Contemporary culture is more connected to All Hallow’s Eve (now called, “Halloween”), an observance from ancient times when people believed demons and evil spirits roamed the earth on the evening before All Saints Day. In order to protect themselves from the evil spirits, people dressed as evil beings to hide from the evil spirits: thus, the current observance.

The scripture is Hebrews 12:1-3, a very familiar scripture employed for centuries in observing All Saints Day.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Philippians 4:4-9

On October 22nd the Twentieth-first Sunday after Pentecost, the sermon title will be “Nightmare on Main Street”. The scripture is Philippians 4:4-9.

The sermon is about the amount of gore and violence depicted in much of our entertainment and how it seems to be a heavy influence on our culture.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael