December 2016 Pastor's Letter

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” - Revelation 11:15b NRSV

 Before I became your pastor, I was an active member of First Baptist Church in Corbin, teaching Sunday School and serving part-time on the staff. I was also very involved in the choir. One year, as Christmas approached, we were preparing to do selected pieces from Handel's Messiah. Of course the Hallelujah chorus was one of those pieces. It is challenging, to say the least, for untrained, amateur voices and many of us carried the score home and practiced with a recording or took the score and recording "on the road" at Thanksgiving. I was one of those who thought that I could profitably use the time when Gayle was driving to sharpen my skills by singing in the car. As we drove to Nashville, I popped the cd in the player and selected the track for the Hallelujah chorus. I stumbled my way through the early part until I came to the section where the basses have the phrase, "And he shall reign forever and ever" and I really belted it out - "AND HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER". Then I heard laughter and Gayle was almost in tears. When I said, "What?", she just shook her head and said, "You mumbled through the rest of the chorus until you came to that phrase. You've really got it!" To this day we joke about it being my musical "forte".

"And he shall reign forever and ever" is a particularly potent truth to hold onto in our country today. The recent turmoil of the outcome of the presidential election coupled with the increasingly bitter divisions among various groups in our country adds a great deal of stress to an already stressful season. The message of Christmas is "Emmanuel" - God with us - and offers us truth for coping with these turbulent times. Christmas reminds us that God is overseeing and over-ruling the world when it seems that nothing could be further from the truth. Remember Paul's words about the first coming of Christ in Galatians 4:4-7:

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

The Roman world had its share of troubles and heartaches and the government was not a friend to the faith of Christians. But Paul's hope, peace, joy and love were not produced by the government and therefore not subject to government whim. Instead, Paul and the early Christians celebrated the eternal sovereignty of God who had repeatedly demonstrated that the "kingdoms of this world" belonged to Him.(Rev. 11:15)

Here is the beauty of the Christmas story: the gift of the Christ child is the historical truth that God is on our side every day in every way. Coming to us as one of us, God reveals that there is no experience, no thought, no concern, no anxiety, not failure, no joy, no experience of life that He does not understand. There is no person, political party, nation, army, evil or terror which can change our eternal destiny or cancel our promised rest. Rejoice, for this is the season of "good tidings" to all humanity! Belt out those Christmas carols and decorate with light and beauty and joy! Christmas is on the way! Hallelujah! "AND HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER!

Dr. Phil