The Women’s Bible Study on Saturday morning has become a special part of my spiritual life. We are dong an in depth study of the Gospel of John. Chapter after chapter we have seen how God revealed his son Jesus through the observations of his disciple John. We have been able to catch a glimpse of Jesus and his life and work on earth. So the question arises of what does this all mean to me? How can the the scripture come alive in our individual lives?

Let’s look at this idea through the familiar passage of the 23rd Psalm. It was written by David and is the best known of the messianic psalms. It pictures the Lord as a shepherd. This metaphor is picked up in the New Testament in John 10: 11 where Jesus is called the good shepherd. So what do we know in the 21st century urban America about shepherds? Let’s see:

The Lord is my Shepherd - that’s a relationship!
I shall not want - he provides my needs.
He makes me lie down in green pastures - he gives me rest.
He leads me beside the still waters - he refreshes me.
He restores my soul - he heals me emotionally and spiritually.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness - he guides me.
For his name sake - he gives me purpose for my life.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death - he knows that I will face difficulties in life.
I will fear no evil - he will protect me.
For You are with me - he is faithful.
Thy rod and staff comfort me - he disciplines me.
He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies - he gives me hope.
He annoints my head with oil - he consecrates me.
My cup runs over - he gives abundantly above my needs.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life - he blesses me.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord - he provides security.
Forever - he will be with me for eternity.

So we can not only see Jesus in this scripture, we can also see ourselves. What a gift! What joy! Praise be to God!

Christmas 2009 has come and gone. It was filled with joy and beauty, but also had moments of sadness when a snow storm caused us to have to cancel our Christmas Sunday service. We ministered to the hurting among us with the Blue Christmas Service. We had wonderful music programing thanks to Greg Lowther, our new organist. The Christmas pageant exceed our expectations with our young Holy Family and live baby Jesus (Ethan). The brunch following the pageant got rave reviews as the Sheltons worked their magic in the kitchen yet again. The Advent Bible studies prepared our hearts and minds to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. The manger was filled once again with mittens and scarves for the needy, and we filled 18 boxes for Operation Christmas Child. It was a wonderful time. But now it is almost January.

January is not a time when we usually think about Christmas unless the after-Christmas sales make us think about buying gifts for next year and putting them away. Several people have suggested to me that we have Christmas every month by planning ahead to fill even more Christmas boxes for 2010. If we do a little each month, we can probably at least double the number of boxes we fill. So I challenge you to do just that. Start now and let’s see what we can do.

It might interest you to know that in our collection area, 14,824 shoeboxes were turned in. It was good to play even a small part in that effort. We were part of the mission outreach to children by Samaritan’s Purse lead by Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billly Graham.

So Merry Christmas in January 2010.

It seems the world is going to come apart soon -- no really, it is. In December of 2012, to be precise. I know this because the Mayan calendar runs out then, several other ancient cultures agree that’s when it’s all over, the TV tabloids have announced it between breathless commentary about Sarah, Oprah and Tiger, and then the new movie -- creatively named, no less, “2012” shows exactly how it’s done. (In case you can’t wait until 2012, California does fall into the Pacific.)

If you are still skeptical, you might be surprised that a major teaching of the New Testament is that the world as we know it will change. You see, the Kingdom of God is going to change everything, only it ultimately will be a change for far better than we can imagine, rather than a disaster.

When is it going to happen? Probably not in 2012, although that is a possibility. Actually, Advent is the time Christians have always used to prepare themselves for Christ’s coming. It is an appropriate time to ask “When ?”

When is the violence of neighborhood streets filled with rage in a world filled with war going to end? When will the shrill voices of folks who disagree with one another but have forgotten the elementary kindness their mothers taught them melt away into tones of civility and respect? When will everything be made right? When will God’s Kingdom come?

Jesus said he did not know. But it will happen. You have his promise.

So this really leaves me hanging. Here the Mayans and the media are all tweeting about 2012, everyone seems to feel something is up, and Jesus plainly offers no help here. He said no one knows when the big change will happen. You and I don’t, the angels don’t, Jesus himself didn’t. Only the Father knows. This makes me face a real problem. Why should I listen to Jesus when so many others -- including quite a number of preachers -- seem to know so much more about the details than he does?

That’s one of the big challenges of faith to me -- learning to just trust Jesus even though I don’t have all the details. I really would like to know the “when’s” of life. When am I going to get strength back after my the bout with H1N1? When am I going to be delivered from some of the same old bad habits that have plagued my life for the last zillion years? When are all the broken places in my life going to be patched up? For that matter, when are all the broken places in the world going to be patched up? Isn’t that what the Kingdom of God is supposed to be all about? When is it going to happen?

All we have are Jesus stark words recorded in Mark 13: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” But then he gives the challenge: “Be on guard! Be alert!” And much later, after establishing his authority to pretty much be trusted in whatever he said by rising to life after dying on the cross, he promises in Revelation 22 in one of the last sentences in the whole Bible: "Yes, I am coming soon."

We can be expectant this Advent because we know the one who promised the kingdom. We can join the heavenly chorus by shouting out “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” We won’t fall asleep on our watch because he has asked us to be faithful. And the Kingdom of God will come and the world as we know it will end -- for good!

Only trouble is, it probably won’t make a very good movie. I mean lambs lying down with lions and streets made of gold just do not sound nearly as exciting as California crashing into the Pacific ocean.