December 2017 Pastor's Letter

For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 NRSV

In Chapter 4 of his book, Prayer, Tim Keller writes:

. . . God's words have power infinitely beyond our own. God's words are identical with his actions … We humans say, "Let there be light in this room," but first we have to make sure the room has been properly wired. Then we have to walk across the room and flick a switch, or go to the cabinet and grab some matches so we can light a candle. Our words need deeds to back them up and can fail to achieve their purposes. God's words, however, cannot fail their purposes because, for God, speaking and acting are the same things.

Advent season is the celebration of the words of God coming into focus in the Word of God, Jesus. It begins the gospel story anew, urging us to re-visit and re-live the miracle that is the God who created the universe coming to us in the most fragile and innocent way - as one of us.

Advent season is a conversation between God and us. The story of Christ's birth is filled with conversations. Zechariah converses with the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:11-20). Mary has her own conversation with Gabriel as well. (1:26-38) She spends some months in conversation with her relative, Elizabeth. (1:39-56) Mary also has conversations with Joseph who has a self-conversation (What do I do about Mary?) interrupted by another angel. (Matthew 1:18-25). At Jesus birth there were conversations with wise men (Matthew 2:1-12) and shepherds (Luke 2:15-20) And when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the Temple at about eight days of age they encounter Simeon and Anna who talk to them - and everyone who will listen! - about Jesus.

In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians he connected God the eternal, omnipotent Creator with Jesus by using the expression " . . . the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". With this statement Paul was saying God wants to have a conversation with us. As I have mentioned before, the best communication is face-to-face. Advent reminds us that God became one of us so that through parables, miracles, sermons and human interactions Jesus revealed the intimate interest of God in His children.

Advent means God is speaking and listening. Let's join the conversation.

Dr. Phil