Pastor's Column 12/21/2025

PASTOR’S COLUMN

¹⁵ “When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let us see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” ¹⁶ They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby lying in the manager. ¹⁷ After seeing Him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, ¹⁹ but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. ²⁰ The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.” Luke 2:15-20, NLT

"4^th  Sunday in Advent - Joy!"

As in our present day, the times during the Birth of our Savior were filled with disconcerting news. The land of Judea, present day Israel, was under occupation by the massive Roman government. It is estimated that some 90 million people eventually lived in the Roman Empire, and two-thirds of  the population lived in servitude. The tiny town of Bethlehem was the least place anyone would expect a king to be born. Yet, Jesus was no earthly king, He was Messiah and Lord of all. It was not surprising  when news came to a group of nondescripts; lowly shepherds, that the Savior, Messiah was born, they were more than anxious. The pronouncement took them by surprise, because it was heralded by the “angel of the Lord.” Such an important divine message seldom would have come to shepherds, who were the subject of ridicule and insult. But the shepherds were a part of God’s divine plan to inform the world of the Savior’s Birth. After the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found the baby and his earthly parents, their fears immediately turned to joy. The late theologian, Dr. Robert Charles  Sproul, said, “No one can truly be in the presence of the Lord and not be changed.”  The contagion of joy will cause us to leap  over landscapes!