'Christmas' Tagged Posts
Everyday Incarnation and Waiting on Jesus (Luke 2:22-32 Devotional)
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the…
Advent Hope for the Valley (Christmas Devotional)
We find ourselves now in the season of Advent. It’s fitting, really, that we end our Through the Valley series during this season, for I believe it’s in the promise of Advent that we find hope as we walk through whatever valleys life may bring our way. Some, I suppose, may deem the topics we’ve covered over the last several weeks to be “depressing” or too heavy to dwell on for too long. We’ve waded into some deep waters: racism…
Merry Christmas! Video Message from Billy Graham
Merry Christmas Cornerstone and Westford community! I appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Christ Jesus and spending time with your family. I recently stumbled upon this classic 1977 video of Billy Graham sharing the Christmas message and I thought you might enjoy it. In Christ, Pastor Jonathan P.S. The chair is especially moving. 😉
Gospel-Centered Advent Reading Christmas Eve: The Christ Candle
Since the moment Adam took a bite out of the forbidden fruit we’ve all been waiting for a Savior to come and put things right again (Gen 3:15). We waited during the time of Noah and the flood. We waited during the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We waited during the years of captivity in Egypt and the years of spiritual rebellion in Israel. We waited under the good but broken King David and the bad kings who followed.…
Gospel-Centered Advent Reading Week 4: The Love Candle
The big story of the Bible is all about the one true God who chooses to love unloveable people. After Moses brought the people of Israel safely out of slavery in Egypt they came to a mountain called Sinai where God made a special covenant promise to love and care for them. Yet even as God was making this promise they made a golden calf to love and worship. God would have destroyed the people in that moment if Moses…
Gospel-Centered Advent Reading Week 3: The Joy Candle
Can you imagine the joy Adam and Eve must have felt to walk with God in the garden of Eden? They knew and experienced their Creator face to face. We can also imagine the despair they experienced when they were cast out of Eden for sinning against God. Yet in his mercy God began to restore the joy of knowing and experiencing him through a man he named Abraham and his descendants Israel. God often leads people into trial so…
Gospel-Centered Advent Reading Week 2: The Peace Candle
In the beginning we had peace with God and each other. When we chose our way instead of God’s way we traded our peace for conflict and war. Humankind ruled with an iron fist and so God wiped all people but Noah and his family off the face of the earth with a flood. As the waters dried Noah sent a dove from the ark to search for dry land. It returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf. The dove…
Gospel-Centered Advent Reading Week 1: The Hope Candle
Creation began with hope. In the first verses of the Bible God called hope out of the chaotic darkness. Genesis 1:2-3 (NIV) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. At the beginning there was so much hope. Into this hope-filled world God brought the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.…
Christmas Eve Lesson #4: Why do we sing Joy to the World after Silent Night?
Tonight we are singing two songs in closing, Silent Night followed by Joy to the World. It’s pretty typical for churches to sing these one after the other on Christmas Eve, but why do we that? Let’s start with Silent Night. What’s it about? It tells us of the birth of the Savior by recounting three miracles. The first miracle is the birth of a child to a virgin girl. Verse one says, “Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.” “Yon”…
Christmas Eve Lesson #3: Why “I Heard the Bells” rings true today.
Christianity Today recently published an article on the Christmas carol “I Heard the Bells.” As I read it I learned that the great American poet Henry Wadworth Longfellow wrote this song as a poem during the Civil War, “the bloodiest war in American history.” The lyrics reflect this terrible time: “And in despair I bowed my head; ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said; ‘For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to…
Christmas Eve Lesson #2: What does Emmanuel (or Immanuel) mean?
For the remaining lessons I’m going to introduce the songs we are about to sing. We are about to sing the Christmas Hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. This is a beautiful and powerful hymn with the chorus, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emman-u-el… shall come to thee, O Isra—el.” Now we’re not telling Emmanuel to rejoice but we’re telling God’s people to rejoice because God has come to them. The chorus itself makes a lot more sense if you know what the…
Christmas Eve Lesson #1: Do we worship baby Jesus?
Welcome to our lessons and carols Christmas Eve service. My name is Jonathan Romig and I am the Pastor of this church. We’ve just opened our time by singing O Come, All Ye Faithful. I think this is a great Christmas carol to open with because it’s invitation to us to come and worship Christ Jesus. But who is the Jesus we’ve come to worship? I once saw a scene in a movie that I thought made a really great…
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