Part 1. The miracle of Christmas is more than the birth of a Baby. It marks the collision between Heaven and Earth. When all of Heaven invades the world and humanity with every step, word and deed, the Limitless God opens doors we never believed were there.
[This post now includes the full series, downloadable individually or as a full album.]
Christmas is the season of many things. At our church we are looking at four aspects of life that Christmas promises and guarantees for us. They are familiar words that you see all over the place at Christmas. One of those aspects of life is Joy.
At Christmas we talk a lot about joy. Joy is in our songs and cards. We plan and attend parties for work, parties with family and parties at church. Sometimes we do it all over again a week later for New Year’s. But is this what joy is all about? Presents, twinkling lights, eggnog, cookies and taking a breather from real life? What happens when real life reappears on January 2nd?
It’s November, which means that it is time for a new Christmas-themed Bible study. It is written as three sessions, for use leading up to Christmas. This study was originally used for a midweek Bible study. You could also use it as a small group discussion starter or a personal study.
To view the study, you can use the embedded reader below, or download an Adobe PDF file from issuu.com or scribd.com.
Why did Jesus have to come? What purpose was there in God taking on flesh? As it is often said, Jesus was born to die. Understanding the coming of Jesus to Earth comes from an understanding of His sacrifice.
Jesus is called “the Lamb of God” at the opening of His ministry and again in the Book of Revelation. Learn why a sacrifice was required and what Jesus accomplished as God’s perfect Lamb.
At our church, the first Sunday of the month is Communion Sunday. Today it just felt like a great way to kick off the Christmas Season.
I also had the opportunity to lead worship this morning. We sang a couple of carols, and then built off of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” all the way to “Here I Am To Worship.” It was sort of going from Jesus’ birth to death all in 20 minutes.
Of course, Jesus’ death and resurrection are the point behind Jesus’ birth. If Jesus had just been a prophet or important man, but was unable to satisfy the requirements of the perfect sacrifice, we wouldn’t have much to celebrate. We don’t celebrate the birth of Abraham, Moses or David. We don’t all get together on Barack Obama’s or Stephen Harper’s or Queen Elizabeth’s birthday. We don’t put out lights and decorations for President’s Day in February (at least, not yet).
If weren’t for Christ’s body broken for you, and Christ’s blood shed for you, this time of year might not be much of a celebration at all.
We have crossed into December, and the countdown to Christmas is officially underway in our house. Our tree was standing for over a week without ornaments until last night. It’s a prelit tree, but it looked a little odd with the middle section blacked out for several nights in a row. That’s one of the issues you run into when you have a lot of ornaments that plug in. Last night we finally added the ornaments.
My wife has found time to add little things all around the house. She bought some new LED candlelights online for each of the windows. Some faux brick cardboard lines the walls of a sitting room, trimmed neatly with puffy white “snow” and all of our stockings. And we hung some paper snowflakes from the kitchen ceiling.
This Sunday, though, I get to do something I rarely have the opportunity to anymore: lead worship. It probably seems silly that a guy who wrote a book on worship suddenly finds himself out of the role. But part of the role I do fill now, as assistant pastor, requires filling in where other needs are, since we have a number of worship leaders in the church.
Chris MacKinnon 