Monday Morning Musings ...

It has been a while, for any of you who are still checking this blog I am sorry and will begin more (semi)regular postings, if you have given up on me then you won't be reading this so it doesn't matter.

Yesterday was another good day, we have had many of them recently. We had some breakfast for those who came early. My wife and my part-time associate made some breakfast items and had them available to everyone. This is something we do every year as a thank you to our congregation, our Christmas gift to them. Several people actually came early, that is impressive with this church. That started things off with a great atmosphere and it carried over into the worship time. There was a very good spirit in our singing, giving and during the message. There was a lot of good sharing and conversation taking taking place before and after the worship time.

The message was the 3rd of a 4 part Christmas series "Christmas is about Obedience". Each week we examine a character, or characters, and look at their opportunity for obedience in the Christmas story. This week we looked at the Wisemen and King Herod. The Wisemen were called to search for the Savior and follow directions, which is the same call we have today. Obedience always involves following directions, could this fact be why you often struggle with obedience? I for one do not have the gift of following directions, how about you? All of us get better at following directions as we follow directions. In other words repetition enhances the ability to follow directions. Obedience also means giving. In fact the wisemen showed us that it means giving your best. It means giving from your essentials not your excess. What have you been giving lately? Worship comes from obedience. Disobedience results in false worship, just look at King Herod. He claimed a desire to worship, but he was being disobedient and did not really desire to worship Christ. He was posing, he was pretending, he was putting on a show of worship but was not really worshipping. How obedient have you been in your worship?

Our attendance was good and has been for the past 3 weeks. We also have had a real surge in our giving the past 2 months which has been much needed.

In the evening a few of us gathered and went to several homes to sing carols, it was very encouraging to be a part of this simple giving last night.

I am going to begin a new series of posts later this week entitled "A Love Story". Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day.