Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, our evening Christmas Eve service explored how the birth of Jesus offers great hope to all people! Signaling "new beginnings," Jesus brought hope to everyone he came in contact with!
In our last sermon in our series Caroling through Christmas, we looked at "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and learned about why the shepherds in the Christmas story give us cause to celebrate peace!
Many aspects of the Christmas story seem kind of upside down. An unwed mother named Mary... God becoming a baby... so many things about the birth of Jesus seem upside down. But when you look at the story through the lens of the Kingdom, it all becomes beautiful and "right side up." In this sermon, pastor Luke looked at the contribution of some Asian Christmas hymns and then dived into why the women in the Christmas story have much to offer us toward understanding the nature of God's kingdom.
The story behind "Silent Night" includes an Austrian church without a pipe organ and the simple lyrics of a Catholic Priest. This beloved song point us to the Incarnation! In this sermon, pastor Luke Geraty looked at John 1:1-18 and then explored the aspects of the Incarnation that we should apply into our own lives and participation in God's mission.
Have you ever wondered how the Christmas carols came to be? Who wrote them and why? In our new series, "Caroling through Christmas," we began our "Behind the Carol" look at "Joy to the World." Written by Isaac Watts and based on Psalm 96, 98, and Genesis 3, Isaac reminded us of the great reasons to have joy during the Advent season!
