We will not be getting together at Mountain View Academy to worship God this Sunday. Instead, we’ll be getting together in our LTGs (small groups) to hang out, watch the Super Bowl, and eat food together. Invite friends and have a good time. If you’re not part of an LTG, use this as an opportunity to check one out. Check out the LTG page for details and more information about each of the LTGs that are currently running.
Our passage for this morning is a really familiar one: Luke 2:1-7, the birth of Jesus Christ. There are a few things about it that I think are easy to skip over because we’re so familiar with it.
The first is that this Jesus is Joseph and Mary’s first born child. For those of you who have kids, think about the time when you were having your first born. Recall the feelings. All that anticipation. All that excitement. And yet, at the same time, all that fear. All that anxiety. Joseph and Mary were likely an emotional mess.
The second is that the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, that trip that they took late in Mary’s third trimester was an 85 mile trip through some steep inclines. And if you’ve ever ridden an animal, you know that that’s still a physical exhausting mode of transportation. Think of the time when you were late in your third trimester. How far were you able to walk? Jospeh and Mary were physically exhausted. They were running on fumes.
And lastly, Bethlehem was Joseph’s “own city”, verse 3. Though it’s unclear whether Joseph’s parents were still alive, it’s almost certain that Joseph still had close relatives in Bethlehem. And considering Middle Eastern hospitality, it would’ve been inconceivable for Joseph and his new family to stay the night in some random barn as it’s portrayed in many of our Christmas pageants and plays.
Joseph and Mary likely stayed in one of his relatives’ home as did many of his other relatives, hence, why there wasn’t enough room for their entire family to sleep. With everybody coming back to their hometown to be registered for the census, there was likely a family reunion in the house where Joseph and Mary stayed. There’s music, dancing, massive amounts of food, laughter, and hugging. Jesus is getting passed around the room from family member to family member. And at the end of the day, after the party’s subsided well into the night, Joseph and Mary lay him down in a manger, a step below the living area but under the same roof.
There is very little that’s silent about this night. Very little is calm. And there’s little sleeping in heavenly peace.
If anything it’s a chaotic night. They’re emotionally and physically exhausted before they even get to Bethlehem. And when they do get there, they’re greeted by Joseph’s extended family who are excited to see the new addition to their family.
But Jesus is there with them. And for that reason, one of the lines from Silent Night rings true. It was a “holy night”. Being holy isn’t about being composed and calm, about having it all together with your sins properly managed. Being holy is about being with Jesus, abiding in Him.
I know that many of you are in a place right now where you feel like life is too chaotic to be connected to Jesus. Well, our relationship with Jesus is a two-way street. Jesus reaches out to us as well. Jesus loves you.
But will you notice? Will you notice Jesus loving you in the midst of the chaos of your life?
To notice, consider group life, being part of an LTG. When we live life alone, in seclusion it’s all too easy not to notice Jesus. Our spiritual vision gets near-sighted as we just live through the routines of our lives. But as we share about our lives, chaos and all, others in our LTGs can speak into them revealing Jesus at work in it. And as we pray together through the chaos of our lives, we can tangibly feel Jesus ministering to us through His body, the Church.
Discussion Questions:
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35 “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
Hey church,
Just a reminder to respond to the Disaster Preparedness Event Evite by next week, October 19th (Sunday) so that the appropriate number of kit contents can be ordered. The Evite is open so that you can also extend the invitation to people in your oikoses. If you’d like to be put on the Evite, contact Hanah (msjoo2@yahoo.com).
You’ll find an updated list of kit contents complete with quantities here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc3c3pp8_255vvnrzgb
And so that you can make an educated choice, you’ll find a spreadsheet comparing the Baylight kits to comparable Costco kits here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHw6yYzEIRDnDcWsuHFyjGQ
If you’d like paper copies of either document, feel free to email Alinna (alinna@gmail.com) or me (hideyo@gmail.com).
A month ago when we fielded questions about the prophetic word, a few
of you asked, “What are we to do with this word?” and others asked,
“How do I talk to not-yet Christians about this word?”
Last Sunday, after morning worship, some of us gathered together to
talk about what we could do to be physically prepared for an
earthquake. Out of that meeting came a document that you can find at
this link:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc3c3pp8_24hb5mvm64
What we would particularly like to note from the list is the bottom
half of the document. In the bottom half, you’ll see sections titled
“Evac. Backpack – To Give Away” and “Emergency Kit (Home)”. As you’ll
infer, the evacuation backpacks are intended for us to distribute out
to our oikoses (our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, our
family, etc.) while the home emergency kits, because they’re more
extensive and costly, are intended for us to keep in our homes. It is
our hope that the evacuation backpacks would provide a great
opportunity to get to know the people in your oikoses more and show
genuine care and concern for them. You can talk about it in the
context of the prophetic word or just earthquake preparedness. I’d
encourage us to pray, asking the Lord to be the one to guide our words
as we talk to our oikoses.
In the near future, we hope that as a church, we could assemble both
the evacuation backpacks and home emergency kits. The items listed as
“optional” on the list will not be included.
The home emergency kits will roughly cost $80 while the evacuation
backpacks will roughly cost $41. If the evacuation backpacks are
bought for oikos people, the church will subsidize half of the cost of
the evacuation backpacks, making them roughly $20 each.
If you’re interested in purchasing them or have any questions, talk to
Alinna or me or email either of us.
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