A Christmas Eve Message: Hold On

In his devotional book, Bread for the Journey, author and theologian Henri Nouwen reminds us of what we should do this Christmas, especially when times get tough and situations dire, as they are for many right now (by whom we stand and for whom we pray as a church). He writes:

Life is unpredictable. We can be happy one day and sad the next, healthy one day and sick the next, rich one day and poor the next, alive one day and dead the next. So who is there to hold on to? Who is there to feel secure with? Who is there to trust at all times?

Only Jesus, the Christ. He is our Lord, our shepherd, our rock, our stronghold, our refuge, our brother, our guide, and our friend. He came from God to be with us. He died for us, he was raised from the dead to open for us the way to God, and he is seated at God's right hand to welcome us home. With Paul, we must be certain that "neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).  

No matter how your life is trending right now, rest assured, Jesus is with you.  

Second Bible Verse This Week (It's Christmas!): John 1: 1-18: The Light of All People

John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’)¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Bible Verses This Week: Luke 2: 8-20: Good News of Great Joy ...

Luke 2: In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Christmas Eve Service: An Open Invitation

The members of Exton Community Baptist Church would like to cordially invite you, your family, your friends and their families to our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service on December 24 at 7 PM in the sanctuary. If you are interested, please come and celebrate Jesus’ birth with us. There will be favorite hymns sung, our bell choir will perform, Scripture readings, and candles lit for the singing of Silent Night at the close of the service. It is a wonderful service and it will be more wonderful if you come. You are most welcome. We want to share our joy with you as we remember how very much God loves us all, enough to send Jesus to tell us so ... and show us how much we are all loved. 

Come celebrate!  

We'd love to have you. 

If you are hurting this Christmas season, come join us. We will stand by you in your pain, pray for you, and do our best to support you and buoy your hurting spirit this Christmas eve. You too are most welcome among us. 

Wishing you and all those you love a blessed Christmas season. 

A Reflection from Sue Hegarty, Our Missionary in Costa Rica

Next week, we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. It´s a good moment to go over the year and
remember reasons to be thankful; I personally have many!

First, I am thankful that God has permitted me to witness God´s work here in Costa Rica and for allowing us (you and me together) to even participate in it. I hope that you are following my journals on the International Ministries website and Sue´s News for specific ways God is working.

Second, I am thankful to God for each one of you!

Do you know how much your prayers make a difference? Earlier this year, my MPT held a tea and gave out names of Costa Rican women involved in the Pastoral Care for Women program to pray for. When I announced this during a graduation celebration, one woman came to me in tears. Since a tea attendee had written who she was praying for, I had specifically mentioned the woman´s name in the announcement as an example. The Costa Rican woman felt so blessed and was encouraged to continue to wait on the Lord, feeling reassured that God was with her despite her difficult circumstances.

Another example of the difference made by partnerships was the León XIII Baptist Church building dedication held Sunday, November 10. ABC of the Great Rivers Region work teams, the Baptist Federation and the church members had worked together to complete the construction project, to make a viable building for ministry. Your financial support has permitted me to be part of this process and to widen our partnership in the area of leadership development and spiritual growth.

God continues to work. This past weekend (November 16-17) the pastor of the León XIII church and another member attended the Pastoral Care for Women retreat against domestic violence, for personal growth and to prepare themselves for ministry. We count on your prayers for those who attended this retreat, since the participants this year are mostly from marginal areas.

Thank you so much for partnering in ministry with me, both in prayer and in financial support. Not only does it make a difference in individual lives, but also in entire communities. Thanks be to God!

Sue Hegarty

(Apologies for the delay in publishing this letter. The blog writer has been quite busy with some personal matters of late and is just now catching up! J.S.)

Weekly Bible Verses: James 5:7-10: Be Patient

James 5: ⁷Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸You also must be patient. 
Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. ⁹Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Forgiving the Church, a Reflection by Henri Nouwen

There are times when we are hurt by the Church, a church, the assembled body of Christ in one place and at one time. On large scale or small, through the words or deeds of a member or the collective declaration of the "large C" Church, we have been wounded. Theologian Henri Nouwen suggests we do the following to grapple with our pain in his rich and beautiful devotional book, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith

When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.

It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.  

This is a difficult challenge. Some of the wounds run very deep and are quite appalling. We do not attempt to whitewash any of that. Speaking simply for myself here, let me say I'm sorry for the wounds you have received from the fallible, struggling folk who make up the various churches of Christianity. I wish you well in your journey through life. I invite you to come back, to find a church community that is more supportive of your needs and through whom you may discover the balm of forgiveness that will help ease the pain of those awful wounds from the past.