Pastor Darryl

1 Corinthians 1:1-0

St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians begins with, ‘Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.’ There is a lot in that sentence. Firstly, Paul or is it Saul? Well, they are the same person. Put simply, ‘Saul’ is the Hebrew name which in the Greek is ‘Paul.’ Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, in Greece, so it would seem natural to use his Greek name ‘Paul.’ Then we continue with ‘called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.’ And not any old calling, but by ‘the will of God,’ Paul just introduced his vocation – apostle. God works in and through vocation, but he does so by calling human beings to work in their vocations. In our various callings, which include such things as parent, friend, church member, citizen and worker – we are to live out our faith. According to Luther, the purpose of every vocation is to love and serve our neighbours. Luther also said that God does not need our good works, but our neighbour does.

Our relationship with God is based completely on His work for us in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. We come before God empty handed, dependent solely on the works and merits of Christ, which he imputes to us. Being justified by faith, we are sent by God back into the world, into our vocations, to love and serve our neighbours, even though, as Paul shows in the Corinthians letter, this can at times be difficult. “We conclude, therefore, that a Christian lives not in themselves, but in Christ and the neighbour,” as said Luther. “They live in Christ through faith, and in their neighbour through love.”

Pastor Darryl

Photo by Mathyas Kurmann on Unsplash

Matthew 3:13-17

As a Christian you may think you know Jesus pretty well. You know the basics of his life, not unlike John knowing true things about Jesus. But
Jesus is deeper than any of us know.

Troubles come our way in this sinful world. Sometimes they are troubles
that our own sins have brought upon us. Other times our troubles come
from the unrighteousness of other people. Tuck today’s gospel into your
mind. Jesus’ ministry steps into our unrighteous world to give us God’s
righteousness. Don’t confuse Jesus’ silence for lack of caring. Don’t conclude that your prayer for help is not being answered. Jesus was
baptised to assure you that he is standing with you. Trust the promise!
His care for you runs deep. In all the unrighteousness of our lives, Jesus
brings us God’s righteousness. He brought that to you in the waters of
your baptism.

Jesus’ presence gives you calm composure to face daily life and one day he
will bring you to the still waters of the Lord’s eternal house. Until then,
your spiritual waters can run deep because the most important person of all stands with you. (Concordiatheology.org)

Pastor Darryl

Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

Luke 2:22-24
It was time to head to Jerusalem. Jesus was 40 days old and the first born son of his mother. The law of Moses said that such children belonged to the Lord, on account of God having saved them from death during the days of the Exodus from Egypt. First born animals, like sheep and goats were used as sacrifices, but that wasn’t going to work for human beings. They had to be redeemed by their parents: “bought back” from the Lord
(Exodus 13).

Mary was also there for another reason – for purification after childbirth. To get back into ordinary life she needed to make an offering. Usually this would be a lamb and a bird, but for poorer women it could be two birds – a pair of doves or pigeons. (Lev. 12) Mary and Joseph brought birds for this offering, which tells us they weren’t wealthy. Once the offerings were completed, the young family could head home – everyone safely redeemed and purified, ready to begin their new life together. The offerings made the difference.

And that’s what we need as well. We need purification. We need to be made clean and ready for a new life. We also need redemption. We need to be bought back, ransomed, and set free to live that new life. Only then can we begin life as a family – the family of God.

But where is our offering? It’s right there – the baby Jesus himself. God sent his own Son to become our offering, to redeem us and make us pure by his own self- offering on the cross. The minute details of God’s Law are not just trivia; they point us to something real and wonderful about Jesus. He is our offering. Because of Him, we too begin a new life in the family of God. (from Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Pastor Darryl

Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

1 Thess.5:16
Over the years, artists have painted the Christmas story with picturesque and peaceful strokes, with colours of brilliant blues and gentle golds. The

Christmas story has been narrated by poets with hushed sounds and calming consonants. “Silent night, holy night.” “O little town ….” Christmas cards we send are filled with messages of peace on earth and thoughts of
love. That’s the way we would like it to be, but it’s not – not for us, not for the original participants at Jesus” birth. If you look carefully, you will find very few people in our Christmas story escaped the heartrending and relentless realities of life. Most of them might have had a hard time rejoicing evermore.

Consider ZACHARIAS, the future father of John the Baptizer. He was a priest of God. But he was also a priest who doubted the angel Gabriel’s promise of a son. His doubt was so great the he was struck dumb for over nine months. Then there’s ELIZABETH, his wife. She was no stranger to trouble. Had not people of her village talked about her childlessness for years? Perhaps they had assumed her barenness was a punishment for some secret sin. She might have had a hard time rejoicing too. Then there was MARY, the mother of our Lord. No doubt her reputation had been torn to shreds by razor sharp tongues that gathered daily at the town’s well. Then in an advanced state of pregnancy, she was compelled to travel a rough and rock strewn road. As the time came for her to deliver and give birth to the world’s Saviour, we might wonder if Mary was rejoicing. and the WISE MEN may have been shaking in their boots when they asked King Herod where they might find the newborn King.

But – stop. And take another peek into the stable. Look at these people – real people. See them. See the way they rejoice. See them act differently. Their actions say they had something very special. They had a Saviour – not just a temporary Saviour, but a Saviour who was Immanuel, God with us. (from Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Pastor Darryl

Photo by Caley Dimmock on Unsplash

As we arrive at Christmas, our fourth candle that we light for Advent is the peace candle. It seems ironic that we do this in a time when around the
world, in cities and towns, homes and lives, peace for many appears to be something of a distant glimmer.

Christmas for some can be hard. People remember loved ones no longer with them, or times when Christmas was so much more magical fun, or peaceful. However, even in that darkness, the light of Christ shines. The light of hope, the power of love and unquenchable joy continues to show through and change lives in this world we live in. Thankfully Christmas day isn’t the culmination of Christ’s presence with us, it is only the culmination of shopping and endless Christmas songs. For Jesus Christ, it’s just the beginning of his time among us humans. Jesus Christ, God-with-us (Emmanuel) is God’s most trustworthy and reliable sign to us that God will never abandon us in the uncertainty and riskiness of life.

As part of the Triune being of God, Christ will always be with you, and be coming toward you, finding you, shining his beautiful light on your path, so that you can remain with him as you walk through your life. And there are also those times when he will be so close, carrying you.

Blessings this Christmas.

Pastor Darryl and Shirley

Photo by D A V I D S O N L U N A on Unsplash