Weekly Greeting - December 24th, 2023
Dear Bethlehem Family,
Merry Christmas! It’s been said before, of course, but this is the most wonderful time of the year. It is the time we celebrate the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.
As you know, the four Gospels of the New Testament describe Jesus’ coming in different ways, and from different perspectives. I love them all.
I love Matthew’s tying Jesus to his Jewish heritage. I love the way Mark rushes to a description of Jesus’ baptism and the start of his public ministry. I love the details Luke’s gospel provides of Jesus‘s humble birth.
I love the way the Gospel of John connects the coming of Jesus to our world with the eternal logos. As we find in the prologue to John’s Gospel:
“And the word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we have seen his glory, as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him, and cried out, “This is he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.’” From his fullness we have all received grace. Grace upon grace. The law, indeed, was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the father’s heart, who has made God known. ”
John’s gospel was the last Gospel written. He is writing to a broad audience of both Jews and Gentiles or Greeks and is trying to speak in language both groups would understand. Religious Jews at that time would have understood the logos or word as the word of God spoken to the prophets. To Greek philosophers, the word or logos was understood to be the divine reason which pervades the cosmos, giving everything form and meaning. According to John, the logos has somehow become a single human, who has ‘pitched a tent’ among us. (An idea taken from the exodus story when God dwelled with the people as a bright light in the tabernacle.) Now, Jesus, the logos, shining with the warm light of an even greater and more gracious glory has come to dwell with all of us.
We all share the story of Jesus in our own way. I so look forward to hearing and sharing the story and all of our services on Christmas Eve. This is the most wonderful time of the year!
Blessings,
Craig
This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Advent AND Christmas Eve. We will have one service on Sunday morning at 9:30.
We will have three Christmas Eve services beginning with a Family Friendly service at 4:30 led by April Jackson and our children. We will have candlelight and communion services at 7:00 and 11:00 p.m.
The text for our Sunday morning service is Luke 1:26-38. We will celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world and learn about the origins of the great Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Come ready to worship as we gather at Bethlehem!