In The Beginning

At the beginning of a new year, people often look forward to all the things they want to do.  They also use it to look back at the past year, and at all that has been done.  We like to chronicle our accomplishments, and there's no shortage of people telling us how to have new and different lives this year.

But as a new year dawns, the matter of the fact is that most things stay the same.  Even with a big event like a child or marriage or death, life changes but it quickly becomes the new normal.

There's has only been one new beginning in all of time.  And it is chronicled in the book of Genesis, in the very first chapter and verse.


"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"   Genesis 1:1


As we begin a new year, this scripture tells us that whatever happens in this new year, God must be the creator of it, the originator of it.  Over the past year, God has used this church to support missions, send missionaries, conduct outreach, support mission churches, and more.  God was the force in what we did last year, and will be the force for this new year as well.

When you don't know what to do

It must've been a strange experience when Joseph and Mary woke up on the day after Jesus' birth.  The night before had been a big production, with the birth, the angel's songs, and the visit from the shepherd.  

But what were they to do next?  It's a strange and terrifying thing to be left with a newborn baby, let alone when that baby is the Son of God!  When faced with uncertainty, when they didn't know what to do, scripture tells us that Mary and Joseph did what they knew was right.  

When we are faced in the new year with those situations where we don't know what to do, Mary and Joseph give us the example.  We are to obey the commands of God, we are to stay a part of the family of God, and remember the sacrifices that God makes for us.  

And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "EVERY firstborn MALE THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD"), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, "A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO YOUNG PIGEONS."  Luke 2

The Long Wait

In his book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, CS Lewis' characters step through a magical wardrobe that takes to a world where it is always winter, but never Christmas.  Through a series of adventures, Christmas comes to Narnia.  But Lewis hits on an important topic about Christmas.  The wait is worth it only because of the payoff at the end.  Nobody likes to wait, especially at Christmas time.

But the bible shows us that since the beginning of time, the whole world has been waiting for it's rescue, has been waiting for it's redeemer.

Genesis 3:15 gives us the first promise of one who is to come, and the whole Old Testament speaks of his coming.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, and more are all pictures and promises of the one who is to come. The prophets speak of him, the patriarchs are shadows of the one who is to come. The drum is beat consistently throughout the Old Testament.  He's coming, He's coming, He's coming.

And in the beginning pages of the New Testament, finally the good news comes!  He's Here!

Behold I bring good tidings of great joy which shall be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you, you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

We now wait for Christ's return.  This holiday season, don't waste the wait!  Let it bring you towards Christ as we celebrate His birth and wait for His return!