Words of Welcome

Philippians 2:1-13 During the Christmas season we sing joyous songs that declare in very explicit terms the nature of our joy, which is:  God has visited us in the person of Jesus, the babe born in Bethlehem.  We sing these songs, even if we’re not feeling particularly joyful at that moment.  We can even sing some of them from memory.  So, we sing:  Joy to the World, the Lord is come!   Let earth receive her king! Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing,  and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing. I’m not sure that Paul and Silas were singing “Joy to the World” in their Philippian jail cell, nor would he have been singing it in another prison cell as he wrote his letter to the Philippian church.  That’s because Isaac Watts didn’t write it until 1719.  But, Paul did have this sense about what it means to find joy in difficult situations.   In the first chapter of his letter, Paul expressed his joy at having an opportu

1 Timothy 1:12-17 A lot of preachers have been wondering what to say this morning about September 11th.  There are those who believe that it’s best to say nothing, but most of us believe that this particular anniversary can’t pass by unnoticed.  That day is seared into our memories, and many among us have found it difficult to move on.  Fear remains.  Anger remains.  Grief remains.  In the days after 9-11 the word rang out: “Never Forget.”  But does this mean that we can’t move into the future?     As we wonder about how to move on, the past remains vivid.  Have you pondered the question of where you were when you first heard the news about the planes hitting the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and then the news about another jet crashing into a field in Pennsylvania?    This event question ranks with the news about Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma City Bombing,  the assassination of John Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and Martin Luther King.   These kinds of events can be defining

Romans 13:8-14 There has been a lot of talk these last few months about debt and how to reduce the nation’s deficit.  Not long ago politicians said that deficits don’t matter, and now everyone is in a dither about them.  So, at the very last moment, with the nation looking at the first default in its history, Congress held its collective nose and passed legislation that raised the debt ceiling and established a super-committee, which is composed of people on both sides of the aisle committed to not compromising with the other side!  Of course the Federal Government isn’t the only entity struggling with debt.  The national consumer debt – that’s the debt we as citizens owe, minus mortgage debt, stands at 2.4 Trillion dollars, or about $7,800 per person.  What this means is that many of us are borrowing a lot of money to pay for our chosen lifestyles.  Of course, in a consumer driven economy, where jobs depend on spending, perhaps that’s the way it’s supposed to be.