Merry Christmas,
Here we are on the eve of Christmas Eve. We are all a-scurry amid the last minute preparations for our celebration of the great day. We are greatly anticipating the arrival of Sunita and Andy tonight, as they make the trek from Washington, DC to join us in the fun, frolic, and festivities. Jess and Tom are planning to be here by Christmas morning;Janice, Jeremy, and the children plan to arrive on Monday. What a delightful time of year! As traveling for Christmas is on Micah's mind right now, she has been making her telephone calls, keeping us abreast of every happening in their family.
May the Lord provoke us and anoint us to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus with great joy and unparalleled gladness. Joy to the world the Lord is come. Those who live in the area join us for our weekly television out reach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable channel 4.
One of the programs we watch on TV is "Extreme Makeover- Home Edition". We have been undergoing our own extreme makeover of the parsonage basement over the past few weeks. The transformation is wonderful, and so very much appreciated.
The Bible is primarily the story of God's extreme makeover. He created you and me in His own image. We were not made to be robots. He gave us the capacity to choose whether to live the way He created us to live or to do our own thing. The Bible says the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God. In the process, they became alienated from Him. Ever since the days of Adam, we all have chosen to do the same thing. Our disobedience and rebellion have established a chasm between us and God. The Bible says in the book of Romans, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The Bible continues to say, "The wages of sin is death." That's the bad news, but the Good News is that God has done something about it. God has taken the initiative. The Creator God has come from the outside, breaking into human history in the form of "the second Adam," His Son, Jesus Christ. That baby at Bethlehem grew up experiencing everything you and I experience, yet without sin. The Bible says that He himself bore your and my sins on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
This is the Extreme Make over of NEW CREATION. The Apostle Paul wrote, "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the extreme makeover of SPIRITUAL REBIRTH. The coming of Jesus Christ into the world makes possible this extreme makeover!
Frederick Buechner, in his book titled, "Listening to Your Life", wrote:
"When the child was born, the whole course of human history was changed. That is a truth that is as unassailable as any truth. Art, music, literature, western culture itself, with all its institutions and western man's whole understanding of himself and his world. It is impossible to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened, whenever, wherever, however it did. And there is a truth beyond that for millions of people who have believed since. The birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life, but a new way of living it. The truth of this incarnation should never cease to amaze us. The mystery of the eternal, cradled in a manger, elicits awesome wonder and grateful praise."
God, since the very time of Adam and Eve, has reached out to all humankind. The Old Testament gives record to it as the prophets foretold the coming of the Savior of the world. All through human history, up until that night in Bethlehem, men, women and children have, in anticipation of that coming, experienced this extreme makeover. And it has been happening ever since that night since Jesus came.
In Christ,
Brown
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
4:30 PM at First United Methodist, 53 McKinley, Endicott
Sponsored by : Union Center UMC
Music: Aric Phinney and Yancey Moore
Preacher: Rev Brown Naik
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
A Service of Carols, Candles, and Communion
7:30 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive
Music: Laureen Naik, Betty Phinney, Sarah and Emily Sabin
Preacher: Rev. Brown Naik
Christmas Day Worship Services:
Wesley UMC 9:30AM
Union Center UMC 10:00AM.
1 comment:
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself ...", " Cor 5: 19
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