Pastor’s Note
BeHOLD the Date!
Behold the Lamb of God — December 13th, at 7pm
It’s about to get really crazy and you know it. We are entering the holiday season, and you know your life will be a blur until sometime after the first week in January. I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year. On the one hand, personal nostalgia and the culture wants to overwhelm and distract us with seeming good and ultimate things—I hate how I fall prey to it all. On the other hand, the relational reconnecting, celebration and gift-giving is wonderfully enjoyable—I love getting lost in that!
Recently in my personal time in the Word I was challenged to re-order my thoughts on what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Christ that ought to change how you and I approach this coming holiday season.
One time when his disciples were urging him to eat, Jesus replied, “I have food to eat that you do not know about… My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:32-34)
The rest of what Jesus said could be summarized this way: There is not much time… I’m going to do all the heavy lifting (suffering, dying and resurrection)... and now I send you to reap the souls of the people for whose sin I have paid the penalty. And because I have done all the heavy lifting, you have been freed up to celebrate life by engaging other people in love with out fear of missing out on anything this world holds up as important—reputation, status, wealth, etc.
In other words, if you are a follower of Jesus you will seek out ways to give away your faith all the time and in every encounter with people.
Right in the middle of all the craziness of the holiday season is an opportunity for you and I to remember that we have been set apart and sent to engage and give away to people the gift that leads your soul to celebrate.
Behold The Lamb of God is a concert that celebrates how God came to us to reconnect us to Himself through the gift of His Son Jesus who came to live the life we couldn’t and die the death we deserve. Make it a priority to attend and bring someone else along with you, especially if it is someone in your life with whom you have been wanting to share your faith. Or you may be led to serve at the concert helping create a welcoming environment. Either way, view this event as something that you can use to reap what Jesus has sown and find that you truly celebrate this season: “...that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” (John 4:36)
Bill Nash
Associate Pastor, Small Groups