Faith Scribbling

Focus Scripture: Luke 2:22-40 December 31, 2023 – 1 st Sunday after Christmas Indifference is Unlikely Some things we encounter in life elicit strong responses, some good, some bad. A song, a movie, an actor, an author, even a sports team: all can generate a response. I like the Eagles – the band, not the football team – but my wife can’t stand them. Why, I don’t know, but it is true. (How can you not sing along with “Desperado”? I don’t understand.) And the Dallas Cowboys, “America’s Team”: no thanks. But I know people who love them. Maybe that someone is you. Whatever your tastes, having these things to bicker and banter about can be good fun and a source of laughs as we stake out our positions. But sometimes, topics can generate much more serious responses. The being of Jesus Christ was and continues to be one of these more serious topics. As Christians, we should consider it the most consequential. In the Biblical narrative we just read (Gospel of Luke 2:22-40), we...

Focus Scriptures: Isaiah 9:2 and Titus 2:11 and Luke 2:1-20 December 24, 2023 – Christmas Eve The Light of the World The Great Light has entered the world! The people who have walked in darkness have seen it. The shepherds have seen it. Mary, the humble and faithful, gave birth to the baby Jesus and laid him in a manger as there was no other place to go. This quiet beginning led to events that changed the world, with effects that reverberate to this day. While there are many messages we could consider in this evening’s scriptures, there is just one I would like us to focus on: grace. Advent Wreath and Altar First UMC of Shelton God sent Jesus, God’s only son, to save us from ourselves. While we were and are unworthy of such great love and grace, God did it anyway. For God so loved the world – the people, us – that God sent Jesus Christ to take on our sin, to pay our debt, so we would be justified, redeemed, and able to live in the Light of God forever. Isaiah writes that we in...

Focus Scripture : Luke 1:26-38 December 24, 2023 – Fourth Sunday of Advent The Power of Yes   “For nothing will be impossible with God.” These are the final words of the angel Gabriel as he leaves Mary after delivering the big news and getting her “yes.” This yes turned the world upside down. What might your yes do? What might happen when we let God do a new thing in us and with us. The annunciation of the coming Christ child to Mary by Gabriel is a fascinating interaction, both for what Mary says and for what she doesn’t. I must imagine that for most of us, our reactions would be different. Let’s do a walk through the text of Luke 1:26-38 to see what I mean. Let us begin with the opening moments of the encounter between Gabriel and Mary, starting with Gabriel’s being and role. We see Gabriel appear four times in the Bible, twice to Daniel in the Old Testament, then twice in the new, one to announce the coming birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth and in today’s Gospel...

Focus Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 5:16-24 and Isaiah 61:10-11 December 17, 2023 – Third Sunday of Advent Rejoice Always! Today is the third Sunday of Advent, sometimes called Gaudete (“rejoice” in Latin) or Rose Sunday, with just one more week to go until Christmas Eve. Anticipation is building as we prepare for both the arrival of the Christ child and the second coming of Jesus Christ. And it is time to party! If you have been attending and listening to or reading these sermons over the last two Sundays – hope and peace – you know that the messages have been serious. We have been discussing the ideas of staying awake, repenting, and doing everything else within our power to prepare for Jesus’s arrival. Stay awake! In the history of the Church, Advent was not all party and fun. Instead, it was a time of sober reflection, fasting, and the expectation that we would be meeting Jesus face-to-face. And it would happen soon. In our current age, of course, self-denial and sob...

  Focus Scriptures: Mark 1:1-8, Isaiah 40:1-11, and 2 Peter 3:8-15 December 10, 2023 – Second Sunday of Advent Pathway to Peace Mark gets right down to business in his Gospel. As I mentioned last week, there is no birth story or any of the other Christmas scene with which we are familiar in his telling. The things of Christmas carols – a baby, stars, wise men, shepherds, the manger – are all left to other writers. Instead, we start with, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ” and an immediate reference to the Isaiah text, the beginning of chapter 40, that we just heard. “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.” That preparer, of course, is John the Baptist, the one wearing camel hair and eating bugs and wild honey. On this Sunday, Peace Sunday according to our Advent tradition, let’s consider this idea of making straight paths. From where do they come? To where are they going? And what does this have to do with peace? What, exactly, is peace. Dur...

  Focus Scriptures: Mark 13:24-37 and Isaiah 64:1-9 December 3, 2023 – First Sunday of Advent Waiting in Certain Hope We are in that holiday period of hope. After all, we just need to turn on the television to see advertising actors hopeful about receiving that new white Lexus or Mercedes Benz with the red ribbon on it, looking beautiful in the driveway of an equally beautiful home. Hope is a foundation of our faith, the entire Judeo-Christian tradition, going back to the beginning. As Christians, we have entered the Advent season, a time when we prepare for the coming Christ. Hope is a powerful motivator. When we are kids, we hope for just the right gift under the tree on Christmas morning. And the anticipation keeps us awake all night. When we get a bit older, we go through years of school in the hope of preparing for and landing a meaningful job. Then we start thinking of owning a home, maybe getting married, and all the rest that comes with it. In the popular seri...