Today’s Focus:
New Year’s & Methodism
(Nee'-kos) Biblical Greek Word for "Victory"
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Online Worship Service (December 26) Athens First UMC
Welcome to our
December 26 🎄
online worship service!
Athens First UMC
2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701
[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Sermon (Christmas Eve) by Rev. Robert McDowell
During these weeks leading up to Christmas, I’ve been remembering how I prepared for Christmas when I was young.
For me, preparing for Christmas didn’t begin on the first Sunday of Advent. For me, it began when the Sears Christmas catalogue arrived in the mail. I would open it up to the toys section and dream about all the gifts I wanted Santa to bring me for Christmas.
Toy soldiers, an electric football game, a hot wheels race track, a space ship, a nerf football, a real football, spinning tops, dart guns, a GI Joe, board games. And while lying on the floor gazing intently at all of these pictures of toys from that catalogue, I would circle everything that I wanted. I did this all the time during those weeks leading up to Christmas!
Of course, I never got all the Christmas gifts I wanted or circled in that catalogue, but somehow Santa knew which of those gifts to bring to our house on Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas morning… WOW! I was able to find some of those gifts under the tree.
In a similar kind of way, these four weeks leading up to Christmas have given us the opportunity to focus on thee most important Christmas gift we can ever receive which is the coming of Christ into the world.
Think of the Bible as the Sears catalogue that arrives in the mail. And instead of turning to the toys section, we turn to the pages of the Old and New Testaments and the various ways that the biblical writers describe the gift that God has promised to give to us, the gift of God’s Son.
Like these past four Sundays of the Advent Season, our scripture readings tonight continue to describe the gift of God’s redemptive love for the world.
Here’s a quick summary from these past four weeks of some of the descriptive words that the biblical writers use in describing this gift.
The prophet Jeremiah says that when this gift comes, we will be saved and live in safety.
The prophet Malachi says that the Lord will suddenly come to his temple and purify us.
The prophet Zephaniah announces that this gift leads us to rejoice because God is bringing us home.
And last Sunday, the prophet, Micah announced that this gift will provide security and peace.
These are the words that describe God’s amazing gift… Safety, purifying, rejoicing, coming home, and peace.
On this Christmas Eve, the prophet Isaiah gets even more specific about this gift when he says, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The gift that has been described for us all of these weeks is the gift of God becoming one with us through the person of Jesus Christ. This is what our Advent catalog has been pointing to all along, the coming of Christ into the world. We no longer need to stare at the picture of this gift because as our Gospel reading says,“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.”
Sometimes, it’s hard to shift from anticipating the gift to receiving the gift of Christmas, and this is what we are invited to do tonight. John says, “But all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
The gift is under the tree. The gift is here! No more waiting! This is the night to receive it, and not just tonight, but every day of the year.
More times than not, when Penny and I clean out a drawer, we will find a gift certificate to some restaurant tucked away. Some of those gift certificates are over a year old! We like to save these for special occasions. The problem is that when we finally decide to go to that restaurant, we forget to bring that gift certificate with us and we end up paying full price!
John is wanting us to not tuck this Christmas gift back in the corner of some drawer. John is inviting us to receive the gift of God’s Son now. Celebrate the gift of God’s salvation now! Don’t tuck it away for some future time when we might forget about it especially when we need it the most.
Our Titus scripture reading encourages us to receive this gift as well when he says, “He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.”
Everybody is wanting us to receive this gift! Jeremiah, Malachi, Zephaniah, Isaiah, John, Titus. All of these scriptures are inviting us to receive the gift of God’s redemptive love for the world.
Hearing about a gift and receiving a gift are two different things. And tonight, the scriptures are inviting us to receive The Gift that we have all been waiting, watching, wanting, and wondering about for these past several weeks, The Word made flesh and who now dwells among us.
What does it look like when we not only wait, watch, want, and wonder about the gift of Christmas, but also receive it?
In one of my previous churches, about everything that could have gone wrong for our Christmas Eve worship service went wrong that night. I’ll never forget it.
First of all, about an hour before the service was to begin, the director of the children’s nativity play called me to say that she had a flat tire and wouldn’t be able to make it to the church on time. And so, we called some parents to see if they could do their best to cover for her.
The service started ten minutes late because one of the worship leaders hadn't arrived on time. The soloist who was supposed to come on stage near the beginning of the service never appeared.
The bulletin listed the name of a former pastor as one of the leaders of the service. The main microphone hadn't been turned on making it difficult to hear what the worship leader was saying. It was also difficult to hear the children saying their lines during the play.
But then, an amazing thing happened. As we stumbled our way through the service with everything not going as planned, we finally made it to the end when it was time to light our candles.
As the congregation began to sing, "Silent Night" each worshipper raised their lit candle into the darkened sanctuary. In that moment, nothing could keep us from receiving the gift of Christmas. Somehow, we had forgotten about the microphones that didn't work, the bulletin that had several mistakes, the soloist who never appeared on cue.
After the benediction and as people began to leave the Christmas Eve service, I was surprised to hear several people say what a beautiful and meaningful service it was. The Christmas Eve that I thought would be one I would want to forget, became the one that I will always cherish and remember.
If you think about it, that first Christmas didn’t go as planned either. An untimely birth while Mary and Joseph were traveling far away from Mary's home town. No-vacancy signs all over Bethlehem leading Mary and Joseph to their only option which was to use a feeding trough as a crib. A jealous king who feels threatened at the news of a newborn king. Wow, a lot of things didn’t go as planned that first Christmas.
But notice how the shepherds who had the best seats for that first Christmas didn’t seem to let these problems distract them. No, we are told that they ended up returning to their fields that night glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. And the Christmas story ends with Mary, not focusing on the things that didn’t go as planned, but instead treasuring all these words and pondering them in her heart. Treasuring and Pondering.
Even if we were somehow able to offer our very best Christmas Eve service that has well prepared Christmas music, carefully worded prayers, and a sermon that is even a little better than above average, here is what I have learned about this holy night.
As long as you have some candles or glowsticks and sing “Silent Night,” there’s not a whole lot more we need to help one another receive the gift of Christmas. And even if we attend a Christmas Eve service every year, and know the Christmas story by heart, there is just something really, really special about this story. It just never gets old!
For a little girl named Jessica, she had a wonderful Christmas. She got every single gift she wanted. Her favorite cousins were there to share the holiday with her. She had eaten her favorite foods all day long. As her mother tucked her in for bed, she looked up, smiled and she said, “Mommy, I sure hope Mary and Joseph have another baby next year.”
What a joy it is to receive the gift of Christmas every year!
Friday, December 24, 2021
Online Worship (Christmas Eve) Athens First UMC
Welcome to our
Christmas Eve 🎄
online worship service!
Athens First UMC
2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701
[Live-Stream Begins @ 6:45 PM]
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Monday, December 20, 2021
Sermon (Dec. 19/Advent) by Rev. Robert McDowell
The Advent Season reminds me of how difficult it is for us to wait for Christmas Day to finally come.
I have a pastor friend who had her worst church fight and it was about when to sing and not sing Christmas carols in church. My friend was bound and determined to not allow any Christmas hymns to be sung until Christmas Eve. The congregation wanted to sing Christmas carols during each of those four Advent Sundays and she wouldn’t have it.
She tried her best to explain to her flock that Advent isn’t a time to celebrate Christmas but to prepare for the coming of Christ into the world. Some of her members sent letters of frustration and some placed little notes in the offering plate which can also serve as a suggestion box. Others would tell her that the Baptists down the street were allowed to sing “Joy to the World” so why can’t they?
But she refused. Only Advent hymns until Christmas Eve. She wasn’t trying to be the Grinch. She was seeking to be faithful with the purpose that is behind these four weeks leading up to Christmas.
If we think it’s not easy to wait four weeks for Christmas, just think about Mary, the mother of Jesus. She had to wait nine months once she was told by an angel that the she was with child by the Holy Spirit. Nine months. Just think how long that must have felt to her.
Here was young Mary, only 12, 13, somewhere around there, and she was betrothed to Joseph. She didn’t even choose to mary him, since women were not given that choice. She was simply passed on from her father to her new husband. And yet through all of this trauma, the unexpected happens to her when an angel appeared to her and said, “The Lord is with you.”
Luke tells us that when Mary heard those words, she was “perplexed” because she was a virgin. And this angel goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will give birth to a son and name him, Jesus and he will be called the Son of the Most High.
Mary’s nine months of Advent really puts our Christmas preparations into perspective. What did Mary do for those nine months? Well, she did a lot of the things that we have been focusing on this Advent Season. She needed to wait as we are doing. She needed to be watching for God’s continued signs and leading which we are doing. And she was wanting all that was told her to come to pass which we too have been doing during this season. Waiting, Watching, and Wanting.
Which brings us to our 4th “W” word during this Advent Season and that is “Wondering.” Imagine just how much Mary must have been wondering about this news that the child within her would be the one who would bring salvation to the world.
Even when Jesus is born, we are told in the Christmas story, that Mary pondered all of these things. Pondering and wondering are what we are invited to do as we await the gift of Christmas.
We get the word “wonderful” from the word, “wonder.” And Mary was certainly filled with wonder during those nine months of waiting.
There is a positive dimension to wondering. Wondering is closely associated with dreaming and visioning about the preferred future God has in mind for us. When we forget to wonder about the future God has in mind for us, we can allow the cares and stress of our present reality to keep us from staying faithful during this time of waiting.
Just think about the cares and stress that Mary was facing during those nine long months of waiting. Worried that Joseph might reject her at any point during her pregnancy. The possibility of being stoned to death for being an unwed mother during that time period. The accusations, gossip, and rumors that would have been circulating that Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph. I can’t even begin to comprehend all that Mary had to face during that long period of time.
It’s this 4th Advent word of “Wondering” that was an important way for Mary to not allow the challenges that she was facing to rob her of the good news that the angel had announced to her. Mary is known for how she wondered and pondered about the gift of Christmas.
What helps you to not only wait, watch, and want the gift of Christmas, but to also wonder about what this gift means to you?
I read about another young girl, a 9 year old, even younger than Mary from our Christmas story. This young girl’s name is Grace Callwood who lives in Bel Air, Maryland and attends the Bel Air United Methodist Church.
On her 7th birthday, Grace was diagnosed with lymphoma. She ended up being in the hospital and missing a lot of school to receive several cancer treatments. While she was a patient in the hospital, nine year old Grace started wondering how her faith could make a difference for other children who were going through difficult times.
All of that wondering while she was in the hospital led her to start a movement called, Can-Serve, a positive phrase that plays off of the word “cancer.” She wanted other children to know that they can serve even when they are afraid and facing challenges in their life.
Here is a four minute video that tells this remarkable story of 9 year old Grace, and how spending time wondering about her faith, led to a new ministry in helping other children.
While she was in the hospital receiving treatments for cancer, nine year old Grace wondered how her faith could turn cancer into “Can Serve.” Her movement has helped other children her age to not feel as afraid when they are going through a difficult time in their lives.
Young Mary also spent time during her anxious months wondering about the good news of Christmas that was shared with her. She knew that the gift of God’s Son would bring hope to the world.
No wonder that when the angel announced to Mary that she was with child by the Holy Spirit, she exclaimed, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”
And the good news is that even as we await the joy of Christmas to come, we have this opportunity to join Mary in wondering about what a difference the good news of our faith can make in the lives of others. It can turn “Cancer” into “Can-Serve.” And as Mary says in the Magnificat, this good news can lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things.
During this Season of Advent, may this time of Waiting, Watching, Wanting, and Wondering about the gift of Christmas make such a difference in our lives that it will lead us to share the good news of our faith with others.
Wondering aboutThe Gift
Sermon Discussion Questions
Luke 1:39-55
December 19, 2021
During this Advent Season, we have been focusing on four important words that begin with the letter, “W” to help us prepare for the coming of Christ into the world. These words are Waiting, Watching, and Wanting. Today we focus on the 4th word, “Wondering.” While our culture wants to celebrate Christmas early, Mary teaches us to prepare for Christmas by pondering and contemplating what the coming of Christ into the world will mean for us and the world.
What are some ways that we can give ourselves opportunities to dream about and ponder what the coming of Christ (both the celebration of his birth & the future 2nd coming) will mean for us and the world? Why do we sometimes neglect to give ourselves time to wonder and dream about what a positive difference God can make in our lives and in our world?
For nine long months, Mary most certainly spent time waiting, watching, wanting, and wondering about the birth of Christ and what this will mean for the world. During this time, she also faced many challenges such as worry that Joseph could reject her at any point during her pregnancy, the possibility of being stoned to death for being an unwed mother during that time period, the accusations, gossip, and rumors that she had been unfaithful to Joseph.
Share a time when wondering and pondering about a better future helped you to overcome a stressful and challenging time in your life. How was God at work in that situation to guide you through that time?
Pastor Robert shared the story of Grace, a nine year old girl who was diagnosed with Lymphoma. While Grace was facing the challenge and fears of her illness, she gave herself time to wonder how God might use her to help other children her age who were facing similar fears. She started a ministry called “Can-Serve” a creative play off the word, “cancer.” This ministry has given hope to children her age. Watch the 4 minute video of her story which can be found above in the sermon or by watching our church’s online worship service.
Let’s join Mary and Grace in wondering and pondering how God is calling us to share the hope and good news of our faith with others. Share some other examples of people who despite their challenging circumstances have been able to be a blessing to others.
Share in this prayer from our Sunday worship service:
O God, it is difficult to allow ourselves to wonder and marvel at what the gift of Christmas means to us. We long to nurture the joyous expectation that Mary and Elizabeth shared when they greeted each other, but we have grown accustomed with disappointment. We yearn to feel our hearts leap within us as your Spirit stirs in our slumbering souls, but we have allowed ourselves to find solace in lesser things. Fill us with your grace, that we may give birth to hope and joy, and that we may abide in your peace and love. Amen.
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Online Worship (Dec. 19/Advent) Athens First UMC
Welcome to our
December 19/Advent
online worship service!
Athens First UMC
2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701
[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Monday, December 13, 2021
Sermon (December 12/Advent) by Rev. Robert McDowell
Today is the 3rd Sunday of our Advent series, “The Gift.”
During this season, we are looking at four very important words based on our appointed scripture readings that can help us prepare for the gift of Christmas. These four “W” words are Wait, Watch, Want, and Wonder.
Two weeks ago, we began by looking at the importance of waiting as we prepare for Christmas. On that 1st Sunday, we heard a scripture reading from the Prophet Jeremiah who lived 600 years before the birth of Christ.
They were living during a very bleak time because of an invading army. And in the midst of this time of uncertainty and fear, Jeremiah announces this word of hope, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and in that time, I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
In other words, Jeremiah was encouraging God’s people to be patient and to wait because God is faithful.
What makes this scripture reading so incredible is that Jeremiah was proclaiming this word of hope while he was in prison! This reminds me of the Apostle Paul who wrote four of his letters while he was confined in prison. So, the person who is suffering the most is the one who is the most hopeful in reminding us that God is faithful and will lead us into a glorious future.
Not only was Jeremiah in prison while announcing those words for the people to wait patiently for God to save them, it would be another 600 years before that promise would be ultimately fulfilled through the birth of Jesus Christ.
The four weeks of Advent are nothing compared to the centuries that the people of God needed to wait before the coming of Jesus into the world. That first Sunday of Advent reminds us that we can wait upon God because as Jeremiah tells us, “The days are surely coming.” The days are surely coming when God will make all things new.
Last Sunday, our scripture readings focused on the importance of watching. The prophet, Malachi from the Old Testament wants us to be on the watch for a messenger who the Lord will send to us announcing, prepare the way of the Lord. Last Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke, named this messenger as John the Baptist. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,” John announced.
Advent is a time for us to not only patiently wait for the gift of Christmas, but to also be on the watch for the signs God is sending us to prepare the way. Watching means that we are attentive, awake, alert, and expectant. Our Chancel Choir helped us to watch for these signs through their beautiful Advent music last Sunday.
Those first two Sundays of our Advent series that focused on Waiting and Watching remind me of the refrain from that great hymn of faith, “Blessed Assurance.” It offers one of my favorite hymn lyrics and that’s saying a lot because there are so many wonderful hymn lyrics.
Those lyrics from that hymn are, “Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love!” If you are ever in need of a little faith boost, just meditate on those two words, and maybe even sing those words, “Watching and waiting, lookin above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.”
Watching and waiting, these are the 1st two themes of our Advent Season. And today, we look at our 3rd “W” word, “Wanting.”
And for this Advent word of Wanting, we turn again to our appointed Old Testament scripture reading for today, this time from the Prophet, Zephaniah. Sounding a lot like the other Old Testament prophets who encouraged God’s anxious people to hang in there, Zephaniah uses very descriptive words about the glorious future that God has in mind for them. Zephaniah uses words like “sing aloud,” and “rejoice and exult.”
The prophet tells the people to celebrate their faith in the present because the Lord is near! How near is the Lord? Near enough that we are already called to sing and rejoice.
According to Zephaniah, this is not a time to “wait until your chickens are hatched,” as the old saying goes. Consider them hatched because the Lord is near!
The other beautiful picture that Zephaniah offers us about wanting God’s gift is when he shares this good news with the people, “at that time, God will bring you home and our your fortunes will be restored.” This is what the people were wanting, knowing that God was providing them a home.
I don’t know about you, but I want that for Christmas this year. I want to feel at home. Feeling at home is probably the best Christmas gift we can ever receive.
Penny and I like to watch house hunter type shows. We were watching one of these shows that takes place in the UK. The realtor shows couples three houses from which to pick. Once in a while, the couple ends up not choosing any of them because they’re just not the right house for them.
A lot of times couples will choose the best house of the three even though the the house they choose doesn’t include everything on their checklist. After a lot of back and forth, they finally decide to buy one of those homes.
But for one of the episodes, a couple found their dream house, the house they always wanted. The first two houses were OK, not great, but when they got to the 3rd house and before they even made it to the front door, the wife started tearing up, saying how beautiful the outside of the house was.
Then they went inside the house, and she cried even more because it was the kitchen she always wanted and then the other rooms were just what she had always dreamed about for her future home. After they were done walking through the house, the realtor asked how much they thought the list price was. Thinking that it would be well over their budget, the realtor said that it was actually 50,000 lbs less than their budgeted amount.
At that point, this woman broke down with even more tears of joy. She had found the house of her dreams. It was great for us to watch her expression.
I think this is describing the joyful reaction that Zephaniah is saying that we can have even before we receive the gift. “Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! At that time, I will bring you home.”
No wonder that our New Testament lesson is from Philippians, chapter 4 where we read, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. The Lord is near.”
It would be one thing if Paul would have written this while he was on vacation somewhere on a tropical beach, but he wrote these words while he was confined in a prison cell for his faith. The Apostle Paul knew that whether he was in prison or out of prison, the good news is that we are always at home with God. “The Lord is near,” Paul writes. No matter what we may be facing, the good news is that the Lord is near.
It was during my sophomore year of college when I discovered what I had been wanting in my life. Struggling with poor grades and a feeling of no direction, I suddenly realized that what was missing in my life was right there in front of me, a relationship with God.
Even though I had grown up in the church and was nurtured in the faith all my life, somewhere along the way, I had forgotten to allow God to be at the center of my life. And without God at the center of my life, I didn’t feel any sense of peace or purpose. I was feeling lost.
And so one day during my 2nd year in college, I literally fell to my knees in desperation and told God that from that point on, I would seek to allow God to lead the way and to be first in my life.
When I got up from that prayer, what had been a huge weight on my shoulders was suddenly lifted. And that weight was replaced with an indescribable sense of peace and an assurance that I wasn’t alone. God was with me. Like that hymn I mentioned earlier, I felt “filled with his goodness and lost in his love.”
It was through that difficult and challenging time during those first two years of college that I realized what I really, really wanted in life. I thought that I just wanted to know what my college major should be or what my career path should be, but I discovered what I really wanted the most in my life was a relationship with God. That was what I was missing the most in my life.
After I said that prayer, I wanted to do what Zephaniah is inviting us to do and that is to sing aloud and to rejoice and exult with all of my heart. I wanted to do what the Apostle Paul wrote from a prison cell and that is to rejoice in the Lord always.
A couple of years ago during my daily devotions, I felt led to answer the spiritual question that we are asking today. “What do I really want?” I thought about all of the things that I thought I wanted as I was preparing for the new day ahead. But after some time thinking there in my study about that question, it really came down to this. Here is what I wrote,
“What do I want? I want a faith centered on Christ, informed through study, sustained by prayer, lifted in worship, fed through the Sacraments, strengthened in weakness, contextualized through experience, open to change, manifested through serving, and welcoming to all.”
And here’s how I know that this is what I really wanted, because in that moment all of my anxieties, worries, and concerns were replaced by an overwhelming sense of God’s peace.
When you know deep down what you really want, it does lead us to sing aloud and rejoice. And if that’s true for us now in the middle of December, just think what Christmas is going to be like!
Wanting The Gift
Sermon Discussion Questions
Zephaniah 3:14-20 & Philippians 4:4-7
December 12, 2021
During this four-week season of Advent, we are focusing on four “W” words as we prepare to receive the gift of the coming of Christ into the world. For the first Sunday, the word was “Wait.” Last Sunday, the word was “Watch.” Pastor Robert mentioned in this week’s sermon that those first two words remind him of the hymn lyrics from the hymn, “Blessed Assurance.” “Watching and waiting, looking above, lost in his goodness, lost in his love.”
Why do you think the hymn writer chose those two words, “watching and waiting” as ways that can help us be “lost in his goodness, lost in his love?”
This week’s “W” word is “Wanting.” Our Old Testament reading from Zephaniah says that we are to sing aloud and rejoice and exult with all our heart. Zephaniah also says that the time is coming when God will bring the people home. By describing that time in the future when God will gather his people, the prophet is inviting the people to think about what they really want the most as God’s people. The Apostle Paul does something similar in our New Testament reading when he invites the Philippians to rejoice int he Lord always because the Lord is near.
Even though Christmas is still a couple of weeks away, as you think about the coming joy of Christ’s birth, what about this good news leads you to rejoice and exult now?
Wanting to receive the coming joy of Christmas might be compared to a couple who after searching and searching for their dream home, finally find the house that they had been wanting. When the real estate agent shows them the house, the are both in tears of joy because they immediately know that they have found their long awaited home.
In what ways is Christmas like the joy of finally feeling at home with God?
Pastor Robert shared about a time during morning devotions and prayer when his devotional reading encouraged him to reflect on what he really wants in his relationship with God. It is probably the most basic spiritual question we can ask. What do you want? After several minutes of reflecting on that question, here is what he wrote down. “I want a faith centered on Christ, informed through study, sustained by prayer, lifted in worship, fed through the Sacraments, strengthened in weakness, contextualized through experience, open to change, manifested through serving, and welcoming to all.”
Take a few moments to write down in your own words what you really want in your relationship with God. Keep returning to your statement to edit it as needed. This can be a very fruitful spiritual exercise! Sometimes, we need some time to realize what we truly want.
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Online Worship (Dec. 12/Advent) Athens First UMC
Welcome to our
December 12/Advent
online worship service!
Athens First UMC
2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701
[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Sunday, December 5, 2021
Online Worship (Dec. 5/Advent) Athens First UMC
Welcome to our
December 5/Advent
online worship service!
Athens First UMC
2 S. College St., Athens, OH 45701
[Live-Stream Begins @ 10:25 AM]
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Holy Hump Day (December 1) with Pastor Robert
Today’s Focus:
Reflecting on this Sunday’s
Advent Scripture Readings
Monday, November 29, 2021
Sermon (November 28/Advent) by Rev. Robert McDowell
As I’ve been preparing for our Advent series on “The Gift,” I’ve been remembering how I prepared for Christmas when I was a young kid.
For me, preparing for Christmas didn’t begin on the first Sunday of Advent. It began whenever the Christmas edition of the Sears catalogue arrived in the mail. I would open it up to the toys section and dream about all the gifts I wanted Santa to bring me for Christmas.
Toy soldiers, an electric football game, a hot wheels race track, a space ship, a nerf football, a real football, spinning tops, dart guns, a GI Joe, board games. And while lying on the floor looking at all of these toys, I would circle everything that I wanted. I did this all the time during those weeks leading up to Christmas!
Of course, I never got all the Christmas gifts I wanted or circled in that catalogue, but somehow Santa knew which of those gifts to bring to my house on Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas morning… WOW! I was able to receive some of those gifts.
In a similar kind of way, these four weeks leading up to Christmas give us the opportunity to focus on the most important Christmas gift we can ever receive which is the coming of Christ into the world.
And so during these four weeks, think of the Bible as the Sears catalogue that has just arrived in the mail. And instead of turning to the toys section, we will be turning to the pages of the Old and New Testaments and the various ways that they describe the gift that God has promised to give to us, the gift of God’s Son.
During our Advent Series on “The Gift” our focus will be on four important ways that will help prepare to receive this gift and these include, four words that all begin with “w.”
Wait, Watch, Want, and Wonder. Wait, Watch, Want, and Wonder. These are the ways that will help us receive all that God wants to give to us this Christmas.
Today, our focus is on that first “w” word, “Wait.” What does it mean for us to wait for The Gift?
For this, we open the Sears catalogue to two scripture readings and the first one that we heard read for us a little bit ago is from the Prophet, Jeremiah who lived 600 years before Jesus was born. What could this prophet who was alive several centuries before the time of Christ possibly have to say to us today in helping us to receive the gift of Christmas?
Jeremiah was encouraging the people of God to patiently wait for better days. At the time, the people were being threatened by the Babylonian Empire and their advancing army. Difficult days lie ahead for them, but Jeremiah wants them to hang in there because God will see them through this challenging time.
Jeremiah is teaching the people of God a very important life skill and one that we all need to learn as well, the skill of learning to wait. The problem is that the Prophet Jeremiah had the same problem that parents of young children have today. Even though parents know that Christmas morning will be a special time for their children and that four weeks isn’t really that long to wait for something, children have a different concept of time.
When I was a child, it always felt like Christmas would never come! I remember attending worship services during the Advent Season and watching the pastor light one of the Advent candles each week. Instead of focusing on the candle that was being lit, I always focused on the other candles that were waiting to be lit!
Why can’t we just light all of the candles at once and then we won’t have to wait at all? That’s what I wanted to say during those Advent Sundays. From my perspective as a child, the lighting of the Advent candles only made it seem that much longer to wait! Which is all the more reason that we have this tradition leading up to Christmas. The slow process of lighting one candle at a time teaches us to wait patiently for good things to come.
Psychiatrist, Scott Peck, who has written the book, “The Road Less Travelled,” talks a lot about the very important life skill that we all need to learn again and again and again, and not just children, but especially when we are adults, the life skill of waiting.
Scott Peck writes that “it’s important to know your limits and to delay gratification some of the time. This will reduce life’s pain.”
The life skill of waiting involves delaying gratification. When I was a kid, the Christmas Sears catalogue did not really help me learn this life skill. All it did was show me toys that I didn’t even know that I wanted before I received that catalogue in the mail! I couldn’t wait for Christmas to come!
So why do we need to wait? Why can’t we just go ahead and receive the gift of Christmas now?
We are all in need of some kind of healing and transformation. And healing and transformation take time. It’s not an overnight process.
In our scripture reading from I Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul says something very interesting. He writes, “And may the Lord so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the saints.”
Isn’t it noteworthy that Paul doesn’t say that they had their act together, so all they need to do is wait for when Jesus comes again. Instead he says that you may be blameless. That’s a future tense. “That you may be blameless.”
Each one of us is a work in progress. Even on our best days, there are parts of us that are in need of healing and transformation. It’s true that when Jesus comes into our lives, we receive new life and salvation. That’s what we refer to as justification and being made right with God.
This isn’t what the Apostle Paul is referring to in I Thessalonians. When Paul says that we are to be blameless, he is referring to our life-long process of becoming holy and being the people that God has called us to be.
This was why John Wesley, the founder of Methodism emphasized the importance of God’s sanctifying grace, God’s grace which seeks to sanctify us and lead us into a life of holiness. Sanctifying Grace is a life-long process where we are gradually shaped and molded into God’s likeness.
It’s about taking time to reflect on those areas of our lives that we would often rather not think about like what to do with our short temper, not dealing with our need to grieve, our struggle with materialism, our way too busy lives, our addictions, our unhealthy behaviors, our impulsiveness, our impatience, our prejudices and prejudices we don’t even know that we have, our lack of empathy, our co-dependencies, our insecurities… and that’s just my personal list! But we’re all in this list somewhere and there are so many things that can be added.
These four weeks of Advent remind us every year that if we want to receive the gift of Christmas, we first need to take a deep dive into the areas of our lives that are in need of transformation and healing. That’s why we have therapy. It’s why we have a prayer of confession and words of assurance every Sunday morning during worship. We need to be able to confess where we are broken and where we’ve missed the mark. It’s why the color of Advent is blue because we have blues in our lives that are in need of God’s healing love.
And the wonderful thing about this is that we don’t need to be ashamed because each and every one of us needs this long season of Advent. This is a four week journey for all of us.
Several years ago I stumbled upon a story that a preacher had shared in a sermon I heard. I sent an email to this pastor asking for his permission to use that same story in a sermon that I would be giving.
I loved his response to my email. He said, “You are always welcome to use my stories. These stories aren’t original to me. The only thing that’s original with me is original sin.”
Yes, that’s what we all have in common. Original sin. We all are broken. We live in a world that is broken. We’re all in the same boat. Advent is an important season for us to wait for the gift of Christmas because we need this time to look at those areas of our lives that need a makeover that only God can provide.
We need those Jeremiahs who remind us that God will help us get through whatever challenges or brokenness that may come our way. Sometimes, we just need to wait before we can receive the gift that God has in mind for us.
When I think of this time of waiting, I can’t help but to think of Kevin and Shelby Saulnier. Kevin and Shelby attended our church while students here at Ohio University. Shelby sang in our Chancel Choir.
I was honored when they asked me in the fall of 2019 to officiate for their wedding which was scheduled for June of 2020 and was to be held in Michigan, Shelby’s home state. We had our premarital counseling sessions and were all ready for the wedding but then the pandemic came.
I think it was two months before their June wedding when they called me to see if I would officiate for them here in Athens instead. It would just be the three of us and a photographer. After some more time to think about it, they decided to just postpone the wedding for another year.
I remember how sad they were to know that they wouldn’t be able to get married and that they would need to wait a whole year. But it was remarkable how they handled all of this. They used that year to continue to grow in their love for each other.
This past June, their wedding was held on a picture perfect day in Michigan with all of their family and friends. It was an incredible day of celebration. They were finally able to receive the gift of marriage after a long year of waiting. They used that time to become an even stronger couple.
In fact I would say that their wedding celebration was probably even more joy-filled because of that long wait.
During these four weeks of Advent, let’s use this time of waiting to prepare ourselves to receive the gift of Christmas. And as the Apostle Paul says, may this time of waiting strengthen our hearts in holiness.
Waiting for The Gift
Sermon Discussion Questions
Jeremiah 33:14-16 & I Thessalonians 3:9-13
November 28, 2021
What memories do you have as a child in how you waited for Christmas to come? Were you patient? Why or why not?
Pastor Robert mentioned how as a child he looked forward to when the Christmas edition of the Sears catalogue in the mail. He would look over all the toys that he wanted Santa to bring him. The Bible is kind of like that Sears catalogue because it offers us pictures of a future time of celebration. Our Old Testament reading from Jeremiah 33 provides a picture for us of a future where we will feel at home with God. Jeremiah knew that it would be easier for the people of Israel to “wait” for this future if they could envision it.
If you were to draw a picture of what it will look like when God will make this world new again, what would you include in the picture?
Our I Thessalonians reading reminds us that waiting for the coming of Christ into the world gives us an opportunity to “be blameless.” To be blameless means to become more loving, forgiving, generous, kind, compassionate, and joyful. Because of sin, we sometimes struggle in our pursuit of being blameless. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, knowing that this can be a struggle encouraged the early Methodists to allow God’s sanctifying grace to shape and mold them into the people that God had called them to be and this is a lifetime pursuit!
Share some ways that we can allow God’s sanctifying grace to shape and mold us in our pursuit of being blameless. Daily time with God? Meditation and reflection? Receiving encouragement from a trusted friend? Participating in a small group where members support one another in the faith? Weekly worship? Receiving Holy Communion? Serving others? Other?
Pastor Robert shared the story of a young couple in our church who had to postpone their wedding an entire year due to the global pandemic. Even though they were greatly disappointed, they used that extra year to continue to grow in their love for each other. When their wedding day finally came one year later, it was an even greater day of celebration for themselves as well as for their family and friends.
Share a time in your life when you were forced to wait longer than you wanted in order to receive something special in your life. In what ways can waiting longer be an opportunity for us to grow and appreciate the future blessings that God has in mind for us?
Allow this 1st Sunday of Advent prayer to help you wait patiently for the coming of Christ into the world.
Righteous One, your glory shines brighter than the sun. We remember your compassion and your faithful love in our time of worship today. Lift up our souls so that we will be prepared for the challenges that come our way. May your righteous branch grow within our hearts, that our lives may abound in mercy and steadfast love. And may we be found ready and waiting when the one drawing near comes with power and glory. Amen.