Hear the Angels Sing!

Hear the Angels Sing!

            So Thanksgiving is officially over and the preparations for Christmas can proceed at full steam.  Yes, I know there have been Christmas decorations out since September.  Some of the stores have been doing Christmas promotions, even playing Christmas carols, but now Christmas officially begins.

            But there are many who are not looking forward to Christmas this year.  There are many of us in the church who are saying, “This is the first Christmas without (fill in the blank).”  This is my first Christmas without my mother.

           

            Others are so limited in finances that Christmas will not be the same.  Others are facing serious illnesses.  For some, there are fractured relations, not knowing if those relationships can be restored, knowing some cannot.

            So do we dwell on our losses, on our needs, on our heartaches?  Do we refuse to decorate, to sing, to celebrate?  Or do we choose to welcome the Savior who came to set us free—free from our sin, our fear, our grief?

            As you listen to the carols this year, listen to the words.  Listen to the fourth verse of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

            “And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,

            Whose forms are bending low,

            Who toil along the climbing way

            With painful steps and slow,

            Look now! For glad and golden hours

            Come swiftly on the wing.

            O rest beside the weary road,

            And hear the angels sing!”

                                                Edmund H. Sears

            Life does go on.  I have my first grandbaby, Mikaela Jocelyn, to remind me that it does.  I will listen to the angels’ song.  I may not do all of what I usually do, but I will still celebrate the birth of the Christ Child who came to save the world . . . and me.

                                                                        ~~Faith Lamb

Witnessing A Miracle

Our church body has recently experienced one goodbye after another. As our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ continue the journey of eternal life absent from the body and present with the Lord, we miss them and long to join them. At the same time our church body has recently experienced one hello after another. Precious babies have been born to begin the earthly journey of eternal life. Whether we are saying goodbye or saying hello, we are witnessing a miracle.

On October 18 at 11:27am God blessed us with Malorie Rebecca Neal. She is a precious petite bundle from heaven. I was able to be in the room when she was born. As I cried and thanked God for His grace in allowing both mom and baby to be fine, I knew I had just witnessed a miracle.

David put it so well: “For You formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”  Psalm 139:13-1

 Paul put it so well: “God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit.  So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.  For we live by believing and not by seeing.  2 Corinthians 5:5-7

Wikipedia says a miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. In casual usage, miracle is seen as any event that is statistically unlikely but beneficial, such as surviving a natural disaster, or simply a wonderful occurrence, regardless of likelihood, such as a birth. Other miracles might be: survival of a terminal illness, escaping a life threatening situation or beating the odds. Some coincidences may be perceived to be miracles.

Tina says a miracle is when the God of the universe blesses His creation with His grace, mercy and loving kindness as He works out His will in our lives. His will may be the miracle of birth. His will may be the miracle spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5 of being absent from this body and home with the Lord. Our goal is to glorify Him and give Him praise in each and every miracle.

As I pray for each family who witnessed the miracle of a loved one leaving this earth, I am praising Him for allowing me to witness the miracle of new life as my fifth grandchild entered this earth.

Tina Laubscher

The Beauty of Holiness

Well, friends--I'm about funeraled out! I know that's not a word, but I'll bet you know what I mean. It's heartbreaking to see people we've known and loved for years weaken and die. I was standing behind Amy Smith in the line at the funeral home on Friday, and she noted, "Our church has been here way too much recently." Yes.

But while it is heartbreaking, there's sweetness to be found. The mere fact of a long line of people coming to express sympathy is sweet. The way the gentlemen at the funeral home open the door and point people in the right direction is sweet. The hugs, the smiles through tears, the precious notes---God gives sweetness in the midst of sorrow.

I was particularly struck by the flowers at our two most recent funerals. On Carol's casket as well as Dan's, the flowers were stunning! They were just a profusion of color: red, purple, yellow, pink, in settings of emerald green. Flowers really do bring comfort. I remember the ones so many people sent for my own mother's funeral. I so loved looking at each one and appreciating their sheer beauty, beauty that reflects the loveliness of God himself.

As I have been out and about this last month, I have just been amazed by the gorgeous leaves. I can hardly keep my eyes on the road. I find myself praising God for his love and goodness in giving us so much pleasure in life. All the goodness in the world is an expression of the person of God. James 1:17 tells us that every "good and perfect gift is from above." Psalms 96 says, "Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." We are told to "worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."

I hope we get a respite from funerals for a while, but regardless of what happens, I am so thankful for the way God keeps showing himself. It is as the poet Hopkins says, "He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change. Praise Him!"

--Sherry Poff

What the World Needs Now is...

Hate, pure hate!

If you're a Carpenters fan, you weren't expecting that, I know. The lyrics to their song have often bothered me, because of the lines that tell the Lord what we need and what we don't. But recently, they've bothered me in a different way. I've been overwhelmed by the immense love of God lately, and can't help but think that we're the ones responsible for the seeming lack of love, not God...His is immeasurable. However, while I agree that we do, in fact, need to love more, I am also convinced that we need more hate...hatred for sin!
I would guess that 99.9% of you would answer this question with a resounding yes, "Do you hate sin?" I would have joined that statistic, as well, before a great conversation with my dear friend, Cheryl Howe. We discussed how much we wish we hated sin!
Unfortunately, my life does not portray my hatred of sin. And I sincerely believe that if 99.9% of Christians did indeed hate their sin, this world would look different. In fact, maybe even the Carpenters wouldn't have needed to sing such a song about the lack of love in the world.
Romans 12 has a great list of righteous behaviors to those of us who long to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. We're told to live sacrificially (vs. 1), renew our minds (vs. 2), live humbly (vs. 3), use our gifts generously (vs. 4-8), love sincerely (vs. 9), cling to good (vs. 9),  commit to love (vs. 10), honor others (vs. 10), serve passionately (vs. 11), hope joyfully (vs. 12), have patience in trials (vs. 12), pray faithfully (vs. 12), share with the needy (vs. 13),  offer hospitality (vs. 13), bless persecutors (vs. 14), rejoice with the joyful (vs. 15), mourn with the mourning (vs. 15), live harmoniously (vs. 16), interact with people humbly regardless of status (vs. 16), respond to evil without evil (vs. 17), live blamelessly (vs. 17), live peacefully (vs. 18), let God take revenge (vs. 19), give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty (vs. 20), repay evil with good (vs. 21).
Tucked in the middle of all of these is one that we often overlook, or maybe just misunderstand. Verse 9 tells us to "hate what is evil."
Again, most of us would honestly say that we hate evil - we hate theft, murder, rape and pornography. That is why we don't participate in them.
But do we hate immodesty? Do we hate laziness? Do we hate the irreverent use of God's name? Do we hate our lack of discipline with our money, time or eating? Sure. We dislike it. But do we hate it? Enough to turn the TV off when we see an inappropriate commercial exploiting women in too little clothing or hear God's name taken in vain? Enough to stop spending hours on Facebook when we haven't spent time in prayer or God's Word? Enough to sacrifice "me" time to invest in the lives of others? Enough to pray about a purchase rather than buying impulsively? Enough to go to bed at a decent hour so as not to be exhausted all the time? Enough to actually stop eating when we're so full it hurts?
I must confess, I don't hate my sin. I like it. I like it enough to make excuses for it. I like it enough to make jokes about it. I like it enough to still "struggle" after being convicted 10 years ago of the same junk! I like it too much to turn it off!
I could probably love so much more than I do, but I believe that the first thing I need more of is hate...hatred for my sin. In fact, I bet the solution to the deficiency of love is...hate.
The world needs to see God's love, but they must see with it God's hatred for sin. The world needs to know that they need God's love, because of their sin.  Because of our love for others, we must speak the truth about sin, and we must hate it!
So go out and HATE a little more this week!

~Rebecca Phillips