The Example of the Magi - Seeking Jesus and Worshiping Him

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

Christmas Day has come and gone.  Family celebrations are completed.  Presents have been opened and some are already put away.  At St. John we celebrated Jesus’ birth with festive Christmas Eve worship and quieter contemplation on Christmas morning.  But, “Now what?”

 

If Christmas is just a holiday we will wait till next year and celebrate the holiday of winter solstice when December comes again.  But, if Christmas really is the celebration of the arrival of God himself in human form into our world, if Christmas really is the celebration of the arrival of God himself into lives with love and forgiveness and life, then the Christmas event has continuing impact on our lives.

 

The last three weeks in these devotions we have considered Joseph and Mary and the shepherds as they experienced the birth of Jesus.  Today please consider with me the journey and response of the magi.  They can help us consider the question, “Now What?”  These court advisors, or as we now call them wise men, arrived in Jerusalem after the actual birth of Jesus.  By the time they arrived Jesus and his parents were living in a house (Matthew 2:11).  When Herod wanted to make sure he eliminated any competition, using the magi’s explanation of the arrival of the star, he killed all baby boys 2 years old and under.  The lives of the magi were impacted by the birth of Jesus after the miraculous birth was over.

 

In Matthew 2:2 God tells us what the magi did.  They arrived in Jerusalem asking a question.  "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."  They sought Jesus and they worshipped Him.

 

Worship means to give honor and glory to someone who is worthy.  But, worship is not just something that happens for a short period of time each week and is then completed.  Because the one we worship is worthy, worshiping God is something Christians do with their whole heart, their whole mind, and with all their strength every day. 

 

What do we do now that Christmas is over?  Following the example of the magi we seek Jesus and we worship him.  That may sound almost expected for Christians to say, but especially today, worship is radical.  Worship is counter-cultural.  In times when people are obsessed with “what do I want?”, “what is good for me?” “what can I gain?”, giving honor and service to someone else is contrary to what the rest of the world is doing.

 

But, the child born in Bethlehem is not just another person.  The child born that first Christmas is Christ the Lord.  He is the promised Messiah and God Himself, come to save us.  He is worthy of worship, as the wise men showed.  But that makes Christmas more than just a winter holiday. 

 

The wise men arrived asking, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."  Seeking and worshiping Jesus is the proper response to Christmas, not only at the end of December, but with all our lives.

 

A Child of God, Following the Christ to Worship Him!

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  Here are some pictures of our Christmas from the Rockey family.  There is a picture of our family Christmas tree outing.  There is a picture of all 14 of us together for our family celebration.  Perhaps my favorite picture is the one of Henry looking at the manger scene on the Christmas tree.   https://plus.google.com/photos/114993745799525883148/albums/5962286320541287057?banner=pwa

 

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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God's Love for Common Shepherds

Dear Fellow Children of God,

                                                                                                             

A number of years ago I had trouble with service from a large national phone company.  Now, I’m not sure that I personally felt I was an unimportant customer.  But, my impression was that this company did not consider my business important.  After all, I was just one individual account.  I surely wasn’t their biggest customer either.  I got the run around.  When you phone someone for help and they put you on hold for over an hour, that behavior sends a message.

 

There are times all of us have felt ignored or unimportant to others.  We may not be wealthy.  We may not be a person of power or influence.  So, when we get slighted, or forgotten, it is not a surprise.

 

At this point, however, I need to confess that even God’s church can act in ways that make people feel unimportant.  The Lord sent His Son for all.  God’s children are called by to love everyone.  But sometimes it may seem that the church leaders or outgoing people get the attention.  The quiet folks may seem ignored.  The church is to be God’s loving family.  When God’s church gives the impression that someone is unimportant we have failed at that point. 

 

That is what makes the announcement of Jesus’ birth by the angels to the shepherds such a wonderful part of the Christmas story.  There were few people more common in Jesus’ day than shepherds were.  These men were not leaders of the temple.  They weren’t political leaders or military leaders.  Yet, other than Jesus’ mother and father, the only ones to get an angelic birth announcement were some night shift laborers doing a common job. 

 

The shepherds may have seemed common and unimportant to others but, God obviously cared about the them.  In fact, when Mary told her cousin Elizabeth that she was expecting, Mary praised God with a song we now call “The Magnificat.”  (Luke 1: )  In that hymn of praise Mary says of the Lord, “52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”  This truth is expressed throughout God’s Word.  God cares for everyone and takes special care of the poor and lowly.

 

Do you ever feel like you are not important to God?  Please, remember the shepherds.  These common men heard singing like none of us have ever heard.  What a wonderful gift from God to those considered common! 

 

But, please also remember how important God has made each of us.  God reached out to people who could not help themselves with their sinful condition, and He sent His Son, His Only Son, the very Son of God, to humble Himself so we could be lifted up in God’s love. 

 

Phone companies and others in our world many not think we are important.  God does.  God cared about the humble and the lowly and the common people of Jesus’ day.  God cares about all people today, no matter how seemingly unimportant.  What a wonderful Christmas gift!

 

A Child of God, Thankful for God’s Unexpected Grace to the Shepherds, And to us!

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  I had a number of positive comments about the link in last week’s message to the Christina Rosetti poem and Christmas carol, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”  Here is another link to that same song.  My classmate and friend Al, who teaches in Okinawa, sent me this version of this beautiful song.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8WGlhJKlGo

            So, I thought I would let you know that we will sing this carol, In the Bleak Mid-Winter” at the beginning of our candlelight worship on Christmas Eve at the 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. services.

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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Faith Like Mary's

Dear Fellow Children of God,

                                                                                                             

Do you own a GPS (global positioning system device)?  I have a GPS application on my phone and it has helped me a number of times find my way to the homes of people I have not previously visited.  But I guess my GPS application is an old model.  I am told there are now GPS devices that will warn you of traffic problems and re-route you so that you miss the problems.  I don’t have one of those. 

 

How would you like to have a GPS for life that would help you navigate around life’s problems and help you miss them?  Many of us would probably like something that would help us miss the troubles of life.  But, as I was reading in Luke 1, I found someone who purposely did just the opposite.  Last week we considered Jesus’ father, Joseph.  This week as I was reading about Jesus’ mother, Mary, I was again amazed by her reply to the angel Gabriel.

 

Gabriel appeared and told Mary she would become the mother of the promised Messiah, God’s Son, Jesus.  This birth would happen miraculously and would cause challenges for Mary in her engagement, challenges in her faith, and challenges in her life.  As Mary considered Gabriel’s words which promised problems, she did not look for a way out of this challenge.  Her answer to Gabriel and her answer to God was, "I am the Lord's servant.  May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38)  As I read this conversation I hear Gabriel saying, “God is sending you a wonderful blessing, which will also come with great troubles and problems.”  Mary’s reply of faith was, “May God use those troubles in my life so that I serve Him.”

 

Many of us trust God to bring blessings.  How many of us trust God enough so that we take on trouble to serve Him?  Actually, we may not realize it, but we often step forward taking on the problems of life.  Any time we reach out in love for another, we are accepting their problems as well as their blessings.  Anytime we commit to work for and serve God, we are not only promising to live in the love of God, we are also committing ourselves to the rejection and persecution that God’s people face as His followers.  Such willingness to bring faith and love to the problems of life makes this world a better place.  But, are we always willing, like Mary, to accept the pain and grief that come with such challenges?

 

Mary did not know all the soul piercing pain and grief that lay ahead.  But Mary trusted the Lord who had saved Israel through the Exodus.  She trusted God who had promised the Messiah.  Mary trusted the Shepherd of Israel who sent Gabriel to her with this message.  And trusting God, Mary accepted the challenges and troubles of serving God as the mother of Jesus.

 

I pray for faith like that of Mary.  And, I pray that as you marvel with me again this Christmas, I pray that as the love of God and the faith of Mary touch your heart, I pray that you grow in your trust for the Lord who loves us.  After all, He came to take our troubles and our sin on Himself.

 

A Child of God, Praying for Faith Like Mary’s

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  Our choir director, Sara Guhl, has tried over the years to teach me some things about Christian music.  One song Sara taught me about 10 or 15 years ago has become one of my favorite Christmas Carols.  Here is a link to the Christina Rosetti poem and carol, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRobryliBLQ

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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"Joseph"

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

What are your worries right now?  Is there something that keeps you awake at night?  Is there a hurt that causes your heart to ache?  Does the future hold problems for which you don’t have solutions?  Is peace more a hope than a reality?

 

The stores say we are in the Christmas season.  During Christmas it seems everyone remembers the promise of the angels, “peace on earth.”  We may hope for peace, but too often the regular problems of life only become even more worrisome with the high expectations and the frantic schedules of the Christmas season. 

 

I have heard people long for the peace of that first Christmas.  They think about a young married couple, and shepherds in the fields, and a baby born in a stable.  Today that story seems peaceful.  The Christmas carol even sings of heavenly peace.  We wish or hope that this Christmas might bring us the peace of a trouble free life.  Sometimes when work stops and family gathers and worship points us to Jesus we do experience a time of respite from our problems.

 

But, please think with me again about Joseph.  That first Christmas was not trouble free for him. Even though Joseph was getting married, life was not necessarily all anticipation and joy.  Instead Joseph’s world was full of problems bigger than Joseph himself.  Matthew 1:18 says, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”

 

The people of Joseph’s day took God’s plan for sex and marriage seriously, even though the people couldn’t always live according to God’s standards.  For Mary to be pregnant before she and Joseph were married was a public disgrace.  Joseph tried to deal with this situation in an honorable way, but no matter what he did the results were less than what Joseph had hoped and planned for his family.  Imagine trying to explain to others that the baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  But sending Mary away meant there would be no marriage and no family.

 

That first Christmas was not trouble free for Joseph, but actually added more problems to the troubles he already struggled with.  In fact, even the birth of Jesus did not solve all of Joseph’s problems either.  But, Jesus’ birth did help.  And Jesus’ birth did bring promise and hope.

 

You see, the child Mary bore was Jesus, the Son of God.  Matthew 1:21 tells us that an angel told Joseph about this child, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."  You see, the child born to Mary was God who came to live in this world and take the sin and troubles of this world on Himself.  Joseph may face danger and trouble, but God cared enough to share those problems in Jesus.  Joseph may have struggled with life’s disappointments throughout his days on this earth, but Jesus, the son of Mary and the Son of God was not only born in a stable, but He also died and rose to win eternal life in heaven and final peace for Joseph, and for all who believe in Him.

 

Do you long for peace this Christmas?  Do you hope for help with your worries, aches, and pains?  Come to Jesus.  He came to this world to take your pain and your sin on Himself.  He has won eternal life in heaven for you when life here is over.  Jesus came to save people from their sins, and their troubles.  When we receive the gift of Jesus again this Christmas, God brings peace even in the midst of our worries, troubles, and disappointments.

 

A Child of God, waiting with Joseph, for Jesus!

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  One way to receive God’s Son and His peace this Christmas is in worship.  We have many special worship opportunities offered along with our regular Sunday and Wednesday worship.  Please look below to see some of the special worship and service opportunities available this holiday.

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am always adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me their e-mail address.

 

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