Southwood Lutheran Church

Pharaoh, Pharaoh-whoa oh-Let my people go!

“Pharaoh, Pharaoh-whoa oh-Let my people go!” could be heard through the halls this last Sunday as we learned about the power of God and the story of Moses and the Ten Plagues.

PreK/K were hopping like frogs, flying like locusts and mooing like cattle while hearing the story of Exodus. They talked about how Pharaoh did not follow God’s instructions to let his people go, and, therefore, Pharaoh and all the people of Egypt had to suffer from the plagues. The best way we can follow God is to love and trust him. How can we follow God? Love others, take care of others, listen to parents, tell God our troubles and, of course, go to Sunday School! The children even tried “unleavened bread” (tortillas) to see what the Israelite’s had to eat on their journey. Although we are pretty sure they liked the mini bread snack (oyster crackers) a lot better!

1st-5th learned that they can always tell God what they are afraid of and ask him for his power to help them through difficult times. In large group they, too, talked of the ten plagues and why the Pharaoh would not let Moses and the slaves go. Because the Pharaoh had a hard heart and worshipped false gods, God showed his power over false gods and proved that he would always win. The large group leaders represented the plagues with balloons and “smashed” each plague with the power of Moses’ staff. Then in the classroom, the children were asked to think of a special problem that they would like to see God smash. They wrote those problems on a balloon and then the teacher did a count down to smashing the balloon of problems. Reminding them that we can trust God even when the odds seem overwhelming—God always wins and so do we when we follow him!

Goat Update: We are having a dash to the finish line on the last few days to buy goats for our friends in Tanzania and Honduras! Three families purchased a goat and we had enough offerings to purchase another one too for a total of 29 goats! Next Sunday will be our last day to add a goat as they will be shipped out on the Goat Express!

His Grace Will Lead Us Through

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV)

We are so excited to have musician and composer Mary McDonald as our guest artist in worship this Sunday. The choirs will be singing several of her anthems including the anthem the men’s chorus will sing, “His Grace Will Lead Us Through.” Here are Mary’s own words about how it came to be written:

The summer of 2010 proved to be one of the busiest I had ever experienced. With more than 2 trips scheduled each week from mid-June to mid-August that included 16 workshops, 6 composer weekends, 5 commissioned anthems, 7 compositions due to various publishers, inclusion in all or part of 5 keyboard books, a cantata and a vocal solo collection, I was definitely feeling pressure from all sides. One afternoon in late-July, my son called concerned about my schedule. In the course of the conversation, Chris said something that provided just the boost I needed to press on. He said, “Mom, if God brought you TO it, He will bring you THROUGH it!” Yes, I had heard it before but never had it resonated quite like it did that day. Trying to squeeze in a writing assignment between a couple of short trips, I noticed my next commissioned anthem was for Grace Baptist in Nashville, TN. Almost immediately, I was reminded of Chris’s comment – “It is His grace that will bring me through…” and that thought became the concept for this anthem. “Though the trials come, though the road seems long, it is in the valley HIS arms are strong!” Since that time, this anthem has continued to bring me renewed strength for the task-at-hand. God has called us to do many great and small things and, to that which HE has called us, we can rely upon his grace to bring us through. ¹

1. McDonald, Mary. Email communication, January 20, 2012.

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

The Hard Heart

Whenever I read Exodus I’m horrified by Pharaoh’s behavior. Pharaoh tells Moses he’ll release the Israelites time and time again, yet when each plague subsides and the threat diminishes, he retracts his promise. Pharaoh chooses to ignore God; he intentionally hardens his heart against God:

“But when the Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.” (Exodus 8:15)

“What a colossal jerk,” I think to myself. “How can he be so stupid? How can he choose to make the same mistake over and over again?”

It’s taken me years to recognize that I’ve had more than a few Pharaoh moments myself.

Take, for instance, the times in which I intentionally choose not to obey God. It’s true. I have done this. In the heat of the moment -- a moment in which I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am sinning -- I consciously choose to continue my sinful behavior.

It usually plays out like this: An aggravating situation with my kids snowballs, and before I know it, my voice escalates into the witchy octave, my hair coils into writhing snakes and smoke seeps from my ears. At that moment I have a choice: I can lock myself in the bathroom until my blood pressure normalizes and I am able to discuss the problem rationally with my kids. Or I can proceed in Medusa-mom mode.

I admit, more than once I have chosen Medusa-mom mode. Even when I’ve unmistakably heard God’s voice in my head, there have been times that I have hardened my heart to him and intentionally tumbled toward sin.

I suspect most of us have been there, in the Pharaoh moment. I suspect most of us have chosen to harden our hearts against God more than once in our lives. It’s an ugly place, isn’t it? And it’s a lonely place, too.

The difference between most of us and Pharaoh, of course, is that we don’t stay in that ugly, lonely, stubborn place forever. We relent. We repent. We soften our hearts. And when we come back to God he accepts us with grace, no strings attached.

I suspect he would have done the same for even the colossally jerky Pharaoh, too.

Do you ever see any similarities between yourself and Pharaoh?

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

Go Down Moses

Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. (Ex. 7:1-6 NIV)

Is there anything more annoying, more frustrating or more discouraging than talking to someone who will not listen to you? Parents know this and so do teachers, and other leaders. Perhaps that is why God continually warned Moses in advance that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened and he would not listen to him.

Verse 6 says “Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.” This verse is key to understanding the story that follows. Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron, but they did exactly as the Lord commanded them to do. From this point forward, there were no more excuses, no more arguments, and no more expressions of doubt. The two obeyed God precisely. There would have been no plagues and no exodus from the land, if Moses and Aaron had not obeyed.

We cannot expect God to use us to do great things, if we are not willing to turn our lives over to Him and follow his commands. It could not have been easy for Moses and Aaron to approach the most powerful man on earth and make demands that they knew he would not like. It must have been frightening to stand in his presence, expecting to hear him order their execution at any moment. It was probably very difficult to go back to their people and tell them that Pharaoh had once again mocked them and would not let the people go. They had to overcome fear, doubt, ridicule, and discouragement. Nevertheless they obeyed.

God is With Us, Yes He Is!

Just like in worship, a burning bush was talking to Moses in Sunday School. Through puppets, drama and video, the students learned about Moses’ reluctance to be God’s messenger to the Israelites, however, the message was for the two age groups was just a little different.

In the PreK/K Large Group, Judy (the puppet) had a very special stuffed animal that she liked to take with her so she didn’t feel alone. There were places she couldn’t take it though, because her mom was afraid she might lose it. Judy learned that God promised Moses that he would be with him everywhere and that God loves us very much and even though we can’t see him, he is with us wherever we go too. In their classroom they made bushes that “burned” when you blew on them and we learned this song to the tune of London Bridge.

God is with us.
Yes, he is,
Yes, he is,
Yes, he is.
God is with us.
Yes, he is.
God is with us.

Luther (the puppet) got a few people wet when he tried to put out the burning bush with his squirt gun in the 1st – 3rd Large Group. Though Luther didn’t visit the 4th & 5th graders, they all watched the same short video and learned that the burning bush is how God showed himself to Moses. In this lesson, God saw the misery of the Israelites in slavery, he heard their cries for help and he asked Moses to help rescue them. God did tell Moses he could take his public speaking brother Aaron along to talk for him and also gave him a really cool staff that turned into a snake. One question that came up was “How come our Pastors don’t have sticks that turn into snakes?” Fortunately for all of us snake fearing congregational members, God sent his Son Jesus to be the rescuer for all people. God still calls us to help with his rescue by telling others about Jesus.

Goat Update

The truck has arrived and we’ve started loading up the goats for their trip to Honduras and Tanzania. We added another goat this last Sunday for a total of 25 goats. We’re hoping that the pen will hold however many goats we can purchase with offerings from the next 2 Sundays. After January 29th, the goats will be shipped out!

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

Gift after Gift after Gift

I would often lament in the early days of my new faith that God didn’t present himself to me like he seemed to for others. Or that he didn’t speak to me like he seemed to speak to other believers. My faith felt vague. Impersonal. I knew God was there, technically speaking, but I didn’t see him with my own eyes. I yearned for the burning bush – something dramatic and obvious. Something I could see and know; a sign that would prove without any doubt that I was in the presence of God.

After a while I gave up complaining. I concluded that I was destined for a general kind of faith, and I tried to be satisfied with that.

Last March I read Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts. I read it twice actually – the first time because I simply couldn’t put it down; I had to swallow it whole and all at once. And the second time slowly and thoughtfully, with a pen in hand so I could underline text and jot notes in the margins. When I was finished, nearly the entire book was underlined.

The day I closed the book for the second time I began my own list. I bought a cheap notebook at Walgreen’s, laid it open to the first page on the kitchen counter and began to list gifts.

That was the day my faith began to change. That was the day I began the journey toward a real, tangible, specific faith. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the day I began to know God and see that he was an active, personal presence in my everyday.

Ten months later, I’ve reached number 862 on the gift list as I inch closer and closer to 1,000. I don’t list gifts every single day. Sometimes two or three days pass in which the notebook sits untouched and the pencil lays still. Other days I list three or four or even six or seven gifts at once. Sometimes the kids help, reminding me of what we’ve glimpsed in our comings and goings. Noah will often suggest, “Hey, you should put that in the gift list,” when we’ve spotted something particularly exciting, like the red belly woodpecker at the suet feeder or the tender pink bud on the Christmas cactus.

What I’ve learned in these ten months is that the burning bush I searched for so long, the one I yearned to see – it’s been there all along. That holy ground that Moses stood on? I stand on it every day – in my backyard, in my kitchen, at the office, on the walkway leading to my kids’ school.

In winter light falling on puzzle pieces…

In the magic of humid emerald as frigid wind whips…

In candlelight flickering in the hush of late night…

 

In the joyful trumpet of amaryllis in first light…

Sure, the God-sightings aren’t always dramatic – I’m not going to argue that a woodpecker is as powerful as a talking bush engulfed in roaring flames. But just because they are small or undramatic doesn’t make them insignificant or any less of a gift.

Honestly, the greatest gift for me in this is just as awesome as a burning bush. After all, who would have guessed that a cheap notebook and a pencil would pave the way to see? Who would have guessed that God, the great I AM, would present himself so consistently and generously in my life, moment after moment, day after day, gift after gift after gift?

God, it seems, has caught my attention after all.

"Amazing!" Moses said to himself. "Why isn't that bush burning up? I must go over to see this." When the Lord saw that he had caught Moses' attention, God called to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" "Here I am!" Moses replied. "Do not come any closer," God told him. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground." (Exodus, 3-5, NLT)

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

Great is Thy Faithfulness

“Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV)

We continue our walk with Moses and the children of Israel this week in worship. “One of the important lessons the children of Israel had to learn during their wilderness journey was that God’s provision of manna for them was on a morning by morning basis. They could not survive on old manna nor could it be stored for future use. (Exodus 16:19-21).”¹

“While many enduring hymns are born out of a particular dramatic experience, this was simply the result of the author’s ‘morning by morning’ realization of God’s personal faithfulness in his daily life. Shortly before his death in 1960, Thomas Obediah Chisholm wrote:

My income has never been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. But I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care which have filled me with astonishing gratefulness.

“Thomas Chisholm was born in a crude log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky. From this humble beginning and without the benefit of high school or advanced education, he somehow began his career as a school teacher at the age of sixteen in the same country school where he had received his elementary training. After accepting Christ as Savior, he became editor of The Pentecostal Herald and later was ordained as a Methodist minister. Throughout his long lifetime, Mr. Chisholm wrote more than twelve hundred sacred poems, many of which have since become prominent hymn texts.”¹

1. Osbeck, Kenneth W. Amazing Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1990, 2002), pg. 335.

Happy New Year Southwood Families!

We have wonderful stories to teach for the remainder of the Sunday School year and we are glad you are back!

We are excited to start the year off by teaching about the life of Moses. Pastor Sara kicked off the 8 week sermon series on Moses in Worship this Sunday and we are coordinating our Sunday School lessons with the sermon series in hopes that families will continue discussions at home throughout the week.

PreK/K students talked about how Moses’ mother, Jochebed trusted God to take care of her baby and that God is always watching over us too. Children made baskets with straw and wooden clothespins for baby Moses to help them remember that God cares for all children.

1st-5th Grade students worked in teams to devise a plan for maintaining water levels in a cup that had been filled with holes. They learned that by having a good plan a disastrous situation can be avoided. Just as God rescued all people when he sent his son Jesus—1,200 years before that, he showed that he had plans to rescue the people of Israel by rescuing baby Moses in a river. God is our Rescuer. The students were asked to think about a time that God was their rescuer and maybe a time that God used them as part of a plan to help others. Ask your child these questions too to see what they have to say!

Goat Update

Our Sunday School offerings for the first half of the year have been collected on behalf of school tuition for our three Tanzania orphans and to purchase goats for families in Honduras and Tanzania. We have exceeded our expectations and already have 24 goats! We have outgrown our pen by the Sunday School wing and so they are already boarding the Goat Express. The Goats will be officially leaving after January 29th.

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

The Big Picture

As I listened to yesterday’s reading about the birth of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10), I worried that I didn’t have anything to say about it. “Nice story, good to know for background, but how is it relevant to me, today?” I thought to myself as I sat in the pew.

The more I pondered the reading, though, the more I began to realize its relevance. You see, on the surface, the story of Moses’ birth seems like a story of marvelous coincidence. A desperate mother places her three-month infant in a woven basket nestled into the reeds at the edge of the Nile. Along comes the Pharaoh's daughter to bathe in the exact spot along the river where Moses is hidden. She stumbles on the baby and is moved to compassion. Out pops Moses’ sister from the reeds, who volunteers the services of a “Hebrew woman” to nurse the baby, so Moses is returned to his birth mother until he is old enough to be handed over to Pharaoh’s daughter to be raised by her. In the end, not only does Moses survive and thrive in a time when most male Hebrew infants were mercilessly killed by the Pharaoh, he triumphs as one of God’s most faithful and renowned servants.

What are the chances?

That’s just it, of course. It’s no chance. It’s no coincidence that Moses is discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter herself and is later raised by her in the Pharaoh’s own residence. It’s all part of the greater plan that God has for Moses and his people.

And I believe that God works the same way in my life, too.

Moses’ mother must have been terrified to place her tiny infant in a flimsy basket and set him next to the flowing Nile River. She was desperate to save him, and that was the only possible solution available to her at the time. She might have hoped for a positive outcome, but she couldn’t have known for sure what would happen to her beloved child. She couldn’t see the big picture. She didn’t know how triumphantly the story would end.

I admit, I often can’t see the big picture either. Sometimes I doubt that God is involved in my day-to-day at all. I wonder where he is as I stumble through difficult circumstances. I can’t for the life of me see how it will all turn out, or how it can possibly turn out well.

The story of Moses’ birth reminds me that God is indeed present and active in the day-to-day circumstances of my life. What seems random, what looks like coincidence, may in fact be just one in a series of small steps, all part of an unfolding plan for good.

Like Moses’ mother, I must simply trust. I must trust that God's plan for me is unfolding as it should, and that he has my best interest at heart. God wants to use even the smallest moments of my life for his greater good. The question is, will I trust him enough to let him?

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

I AM

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (Ex. 3:13-14 NIV)

This Sunday in worship, Jeff Gronewold will sing a song called “I Am.” Since we are beginning a study of Moses this week, we remember that God revealed his name to Moses when he delivered Israel out of Egypt. From this time on, the Israelites would know God by a new name—Yahweh, explained as “I Am who I Am.” That name means I am here and I am alive. “To all of God’s people, the name means that the holy God loves them and is always present to help them according to his covenant faithfulness.”¹

“The name Yahweh was already used by Eve in Genesis 4:1. Yet it was a name of God not known before the liberation from Egypt. Many people know the names husband and wife as labels for two people in a marriage relationship. But it is only when a person enters into that relationship that he or she really learns to say the name. In the moment in which the man and the woman get to know each other, he calls her wife and she calls him husband. They look at each other with new awareness. They know the meaning of the name.

“The Israelites did not know God as Yahweh until they had tasted God’s faithfulness, seen God’s power, and experienced God’s redemption. IN the same way, the name of God is a mere label to us until we have experienced his salvation. Only when we know Christ and have received the Spirit do we know him by a new name –Abba, Father.” ¹

1. Kuyvenhoven, Andrew. Daylight. (Grand Rapids, MI: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2009) Devotion for September 8.

Hark, The Herald Angels Sing!

“Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Psalm 96:1-2 (NIV)

“Hark, the herald angels sing!” is one of the most sung Christmas carols. It is a beautiful hymn that our hearts sing with joy. Our voices join with the angel chorus that sang on that first Christmas night. “The angels sing to shepherd hearts all over the world. Were there, that night at Bethlehem, in the chorus of the fields and heavens, angels who remembered other tasks? The angel who had stood at the gates of Paradise Lost with the flaming sword . . . the angel who visited Abraham in his tent . . . the angel who was with Daniel in the lions’ den—were they not in that great company at Bethlehem?

“Now, a song which would never die, in a few years a visit to a Garden by one of them on the night when their legions would not be called to sing out but only to stand silent . . . this was their shining hour. And did they not know, too, that it would never end? Their song was of glory and of peace. It would move down the centuries, above, beneath and in the earth, from Christmas to Christmas. In it alone would be hope before death and after death. Their song would live to the two thousandth Christmas, to the three thousandth, and at length to the last Christmas the world will see. And on that final December 25, as on the first, the angels will know, as we must know now, that the heart which began to beat in Bethlehem still beats in the world and for the world. And for us.” ¹

1. Kretzmann, O. P. The True Gifts of Christmas (Frenton, MO: Creative Communications for the Parish, 1987/2011). Pg. 27.

The Best Gift

There’s no doubt that the kids are excited about Christmas coming. We’ve heard a lot about gifts so we decided to talk about gifts too! From 3 year olds to 5th graders we learned about how that very first Christmas, God sent his son as the very best gift of all.

Bubba (the puppet) had been Christmas shopping and was excited to tell the PreK/K students about the gift he bought for his mother. It was a very expensive half gallon of perfume – Channel 13.5 (as opposed to Chanel No.5) that he’d bought at TSC (Tractor Supply Company). He’d looked at Chanel No.5 but it was such a tiny bottle and he wanted to let his mom know that he loved her BIG! He wanted to give her the very best gift in the world! And that’s what the wisemen wanted to do too. They wanted to give Jesus the very best gifts they could think of so he would know how much they loved him. How can we give our best gifts to God? When we love God it shows through what we do for others. Students talked about some things they could do for others. If you have a PreK/K student, have you seen them loving God this past week? Of course, God gave us the very best gift of all – God gave us Jesus.

In the 1st – 3rd grades Luther was looking cool this Sunday, because he’d heard God was choosing people to meet with personally. He was sure you needed to be cool to be chosen. The clues Mr. King and a student volunteer found were a megaphone and a bale of straw as they tried to figure out who it was in the Christmas story this week who had a real life God Sighting. With questions like “Who knows how God announced the birth of Jesus?” And “What did straw have to do with our God sighting?” it wasn’t long before the students knew that the person who had a real life God sighting was a shepherd and that the shepherds were looking for baby Jesus in a stable. Luther thought this was highly unlikely, I mean shepherds really aren’t very cool, but luckily, a shepherd showed up to tell just what they experienced the night of Jesus’ birth. It was pretty miraculous and involved fear and trembling; angels singing and a search through the barns of Bethlehem. When they did find baby Jesus, God’s own son, the long expected Messiah, they were so excited that they told everyone they saw. And the best part? God’s message wasn’t just for the shepherds. God’s message was for us too! We can welcome Jesus into our world and tell others about him – just like the shepherds.

Gen R. Osity had a powerful message this week for the 4th & 5th graders. It was what gift giving is really all about. Have you ever given someone a gift and had them put it aside or pick up another gift and rave about how cool it is? God gave us the most amazing gift of all. He gave us the gift of his son Jesus. Are we raving about it? How should we respond? Students watched a DVD about a teenage boy who had a friend staying with his family the week before Christmas. He thought some of his family’s Christmas traditions were a little too “churchy” for his friend and tried to make other plans to avoid them. But when a favorite uncle comes to read the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke and Matthew his friend doesn’t seem bothered at all and in fact has some very practical questions. Ever had this happen in your family? Do you think of Jesus as a gift? How are you going to receive the gift of Jesus this year?

GOAT UPDATE!

With our Sunday School offerings and another family Christmas gift, our herd has grown to 20 goats for people in Honduras or Tanzania. If you would like a last minute Christmas gift – goats are available! We’d be glad to provide you with a personalized certificate to wrap for Christmas.

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

The Hard Calling

I intentionally didn’t get up for church yesterday morning. The kids aren’t sick. I didn’t oversleep. I simply didn’t want to go. The hard truth is that in light of the news that’s weighing on our hearts like a concrete block, I didn’t want to celebrate God or the birth of Jesus. I didn’t want to sing Joy to the World or Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

I was holding a grudge.

Shortly before 8 a.m. Brad came into the bedroom. He was wearing a tie. I was still in bed. “I’ll take the kids,” he said. “You stay here. Someone at least has to go to give out the Sunday School teacher gifts.”

I threw back the covers, got dressed, pulled my hair into a ponytail and put on lipstick and blush. Fifteen minutes later I sat in the passenger seat, travel mug of coffee in my hand.

Not surprisingly, we read from Luke yesterday – the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary:

“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Gabriel says to a terrified and bewildered Mary. “Don’t be frightened, Mary, for God has decided to bless you!” (Luke 1:30)

It sounds like good news, doesn’t it? God has decided to bless young Mary. She will bear the Christ child; she will serve as the mother of the world’s savior – what could possibly be wrong with that?

Yet as Pastor Greg mentioned in his sermon, the reality of this situation may not have looked like a blessing to Mary. The fact is, as a very young, unmarried, pregnant Orthodox Jew, Mary would have been ostracized by her community. She might have faced the very real possibility of stoning for her transgression, and at the very least would likely have been abandoned by most everyone she knew. Pastor Greg suggested that on the inside, Mary may not, in fact, have welcomed Gabriel’s news.

Despite all this – despite the fear, doubt and anxiety Mary undoubtedly felt – she responds to Gabriel, and to God, with the utmost faith, obedience and trust:

“I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants.” (Luke 1:38).

Mary may have been afraid. She may have been unsure about the future and her role as the mother of the savior. But she trusts God and is obedient and faithful to his plan.

Like Mary, I know what God is calling me to do right now. Like Mary, I am overwhelmed, frightened and anxious. But unlike Mary, so far I have not responded in trust and faith.

On Saturday I cried on and off for most of the day. I was short-tempered with my kids and my husband. I slammed the oven door hard when the pork loin burned. I snapped at Noah when he dropped the brand-new package of light bulbs on the driveway, and I unwillingly played Uno with Rowan, sighing through most of the four rounds.

I was, in short, not steadfast in my faith. I was not a rock of support for my husband and children in this difficult time. I did not shine the light of Jesus. I spread sorrow and angst instead of joy and hope.

Despite all that, I’m grateful that I dragged myself to church yesterday, because the reading and message were meant for me.

Mary was called by God to do something extraordinary, something seemingly beyond her understanding and even beyond her capability. And God is asking the same of me.

I know God is asking me to be strong and faithful in this time of crisis. I know that he is asking me to exude joy and gratitude, even in the face of sadness and fear. I know that he is asking me to trust him.

I know that nothing is impossible with God. I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants.

What about you? Is God calling you to do a hard thing today? How will you answer his call?

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

Magnificat

“And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (Luke 1:46-48 NIV)

In October, the Men’s Chorus sang the spiritual, “I’m Gonna Sing when the Spirit says sing” for worship. The song describes well the song the Mary sings in our Gospel reading this Sunday. The Holy Spirit comes upon hMary when the angel Gabriel gives her the announcement and she responds, “I am the Lord's servant. (Luke 1:38a NIV). Then she sings.

“The church has been singing Mary’s song, the Magnificat (Luke 1:47-55) for centuries. Like the Psalms, its truths span generations and cultures. What does Mary’s song have to say to us this final Sunday in Advent?

“Two things: We experience God both as an intimate, embodied presence and as a cosmic force changing the world. Mary is a teenage virgin from a cast-off town. She has done nothing remarkable, yet God’s grace transforms her. God chooses to dwell in her womb, bringing the divine to earth in an unexpected way.

“So too, God come as near to us as our very breath. With this breath, this Spirit, we can sing. But we also sing of a God that turns the world upside down. After Mary praises her savior for the almighty things done for her personally, she announces that God has lifted up the lowly, sent the rich away empty, and scattered the proud. Her song is a justice song, a song proclaiming how God will set the world aright. Intimate and cosmic—this is the essence of her song and the God we worship.

Mary’s song, finally, is a gift of the Holy Spirit. As we prepare for Christmas, let us give thanks for God’s nearness, for the breath that allows us to sing. Let us also be courageous witnesses, announcing God’s unexpected grace. The Spirit will strength us in our singing and living because ‘For nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1:37 NIV)’”¹

1. Baker-Trinity, Jennifer. Soli Deo Gloria. (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2011) pg. 12.

Be Sure to Listen First

It’s easy during Christmas to think of all the things we have to DO to get ready. But this week before anyone in the Bible stories did anything, it was very important that they listened first.

In the PreK/K classes, the shepherds were listening to a chorus of angels as they proclaimed the “good news” of Jesus’ birth. The shepherds were listening to the angels but apparently the sheep were not. The sheep were scared! Where did their shepherds go? Who would protect them now? Fortunately, the PreK/K students knew the story of “God’s best gift” and were able to tell the sheep where the shepherds had gone and reassure them that God would watch over them until the shepherds returned with the good news that GOD GIVES THE BEST GIFTS – Praise be to God!

Luther was feeling like he didn’t have many choices in 1st – 3rd grade Large Group this week. It seemed like everyone – parents, teachers, Large Group Leaders decide what he’s suppose to do. He decided that he would just have to accept what everyone else wanted him to do – but he wasn’t very happy about it. That’s where the investigative reporting came in. Mr. King, the Large Group Leader, with the help of a student volunteer, followed some clues to find out that the real life story of a God Sighting was the story of Joseph, Mary’s husband. Now if
anyone had the right to feel like he didn’t have many choices, it would’ve been Joseph, what with Mary having God’s baby and everything, but that’s not how Joseph saw it. It all started when he listened to an angel who told him that the baby Mary was going to have really was God’s son and that he should take her as his wife. This is when Joseph had a choice. He could decide to follow God and let God guide them or go his own way. Joseph decided to follow God who led him to take care of Mary, travel more than 70 miles to Bethlehem, then on to Egypt to keep baby Jesus safe and finally back to Nazareth where Jesus grew up. That’s a lot of guidance! What does that mean for us? We have choices too. We can decide if we’re going to follow God or go our own way. God will guide us when we follow him.

This Sunday Gen R. Osity was back with his message for the 4th & 5th graders to give, give, give until it helps someone. Instead of collecting money this week though, he was collecting words! He started by asking the students to write a “put-down” on a piece of paper, wad it up and throw it away. He salvaged some to read and they were pretty hurtful. How do we feel when words like that are spoken to us? – self-conscious, discouraged, lousy about ourselves. Well, none of those remarks got in Gen R. Osity’s charity bucket. Instead he told the story of a man named Joseph who found that God’s love changed his life so much that he gave most of his possessions to the poor and began to help other people. The words he spoke to others were so encouraging that the apostles gave him a whole new name – Barnabus – which means “son of encouragement.” (Acts 4:36) Barnabus became a friend of the great missionary Saul (later called Paul) and we discover that Saul may never have had a ministry if it hadn’t been for Barnabus. You can read that story in Acts 9:27. What’s the message for us? We don’t have to have money to give a gift. One of the best gifts we can give is to “Give a gift of words – give encouragement.”

GOAT UPDATE!   With our Sunday School offerings and another family Christmas gift, our herd has grown to 18 goats for people in Honduras or Tanzania. If you would like to purchase a goat as a gift, we’d be glad to provide you with a personalized certificate to wrap for Christmas.

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

Witness

Jingle Bells blares over the SuperSaver loudspeaker as I navigate my cart around piles of oranges and apples stacked high. Candy bins brim with red and green foil-wrapped chocolates and miniature candy canes. Poinsettas sit regally atop shelves. Glitzy garland shimmers and sways above the displays.

But I am angry.

Angry at the elderly lady who rolls her cart too slowly toward the dairy aisle. Angry at the produce guy who wishes me a happy holiday as he stacks dewy lettuce beneath the misters. Angry at the three packages of frozen spinach as they tumble from the freezer case and clatter to the linoleum floor.

I pick up the spinach and stack them on the top shelf. And then I close the freezer door and rest my forehead against the cold glass.

My heart feels the same. Like cold glass.

We’ve had some bad news this week, and without getting into all the details, let me just say that my first reaction has been anger. I swear under my breath at the mini van braking furiously ahead of me on the snowy road. I push the empty laundry basket down the basement stairs and watch with my arms crossed over my chest as it smacks the wall with a thud. I want to hurl the Christmas tree out the front door and tear the garland off the mantel.

I feel nothing but anger for two days straight.

And then, one night as I stand at the sink with my hands in soapy water, I feel something else entirely.

Inexplicable joy.

There’s only one reason for this, and I know it instantly. No person, no thing could break through this anger and pain…with one exception. And I know right then, as hot water runs over dirty pans and dusk settles over the white pines, that he is at work. Only God can snuff out pitch black darkness in an instant with the light of joy and hope.

I am reminded of this kitchen sink moment when we read about John the Baptist on Sunday, especially when I hear these verses:

“There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” (John 1:6-8).

We tend to think of John the Baptist as special, unique, one of God’s chosen ones. And he was indeed an important contributor to Jesus’ story. But here’s the thing: John is no different from you or me. He’s not any more special, nor was his role any more important than ours. His purpose was simply to serve as a witness, a witness to a light that would dispel all darkness.

And just like John, you and I have been placed here to serve a purpose as well: to testify in our own special and unique ways about how God is present in our lives.

I know I tend to place myself in the center of my own story. I often make the grave mistake of assuming that I am the source of my own light – that I manufacture it through my own power and creativity. More often than not it takes something monumental for me to realize that God is at always at work in everything, and that he is the one and only true source of all joy and hope.

 Last week I stood in front of a sink full of dirty supper dishes and felt the inexplicable flash of joy burn through despair. And in that instant I witnessed the power and glory of God.

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

Rise Up Shepherd and Follow

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11 NIV)

We probably have heard the Christmas gospel told many times. We know what comes next in the story. We hear that there “were shepherds abiding in the field” and know that “the angel of the Lord came upon them” follows. We may picture shepherds as close to the soil people, homespun and plain-spoken men, poor but honest. However, to the people of Jerusalem and Bethlehem the shepherds were the “scum of the earth.” The first news of the birth of the Son of God came to men far out on the fringes of society. They had dirty hands and smelly clothes and may or may not have been from pious homes.

These shepherds ran to Bethlehem and worshipped the Christ. And then they returned to their fields. They were still shepherds, but now they were glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. The shepherds all became preachers. They went back to the jobs they had to do. Their religion did not take them away from ordinary life. It just transformed the ordinary into something extraordinary. Ask Jesus to be present in your ordinary life and He will make it extraordinary!

Angels—in Sunday School?

There were angels in Sunday School last Sunday. They were really here to visit Mary, the mother of Jesus, but you may have seen them slipping through the halls.

Last week in the PreK/K classes, the angel Gabriel visited Zechariah, this week Gabriel came to visit Mary and then Joseph. What message did Gabriel bring? That Mary was going to have baby—and not just any baby—this baby would be the son of God! That is pretty amazing news. What should we do with that kind of news? Tell others, of course! With the craft they made, kids can tell others about the story that the angel Gabriel told Mary and Joseph—that GOD GIVES THE BEST GIFTS—Jesus is coming soon!

Luther was a bit preoccupied this Sunday in the 1st-3rd grade Large Group, with making his own Christmas list—he wanted soooo many things that he didn’t really have time to help investigate the real life God sighting, so one of the students had to help Mr. King, the large group leader, out. The first clue was an empty box—Luther was sure that the reason the present was empty because someone didn’t make their wants known with a good Christmas list! The next clue was a baby bottle—that was pretty easy, this being Sunday School and all. If we’re talking about a baby, that clue must be baby Jesus. There was one more clue. It said “This lady emptied herself of all her own “I wants” and was very humble. Therefore, God gave her special honor and she became a special mother. Who was she?” Mary was the mystery guest, of course, and she had quite a bit to say about what it’s like to be visited by an angel and to be chosen as the mother of God’s son. By the end, Luther had figured out that having the presence of God living in your heart is even better than getting a long list of presents!

General R. Osity or Gen R. Osity for short, visited the 4th & 5th graders this week. He was out ringing bells for charity and had stopped by to tell the students a story. He enlisted their help to act out the “allegory of spoons.” Despite the fact that it involved popcorn and rulers taped to some student’s elbows, I think they got the point. If you haven’t heard the story, ask your 4th or 5th grader how Gen R. Osity showed that giving to others is good for us and them. The question then became, how do we give to God? God gave us the most incredible gift of all—Jesus—what can we possibly give back? In Matthew 25:40b it says “Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.” The challenge for students this week was to give God gifts by giving/doing something for others. Have you seen any God gifts at your house?  

GOAT UPDATE!
Give a goat as a Christmas gift? Several families are doing just that! Our herd has grown to 16 goats for people in Honduras or Tanzania. If you would like to purchase a goat as a gift, we’d be glad to provide you with a personalized certificate to wrap for Christmas.

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

Christmas Every Day

I tend to think of the four weeks of Advent as a preparation for the arrival of Jesus on Christmas Day. And there’s nothing wrong with that, of course. But my pastor made a good point yesterday morning when he mentioned that perhaps Advent should be a time in which we prepare ourselves not just for one day, December 25, but for the entire year. He suggested that we use these Advent weeks as a time to prepare for the arrival of Emmanuel and to ask ourselves how we will celebrate God with us, not just on one day, but on the remaining 364 days as well.

The word Christmas originally meant, literally, “Christ’s mass.” It is derived from the Middle English, Christemasse, and Old English, Cristes mæsse. "Cristes" is from the Greek Christos and "mæsse" is from Latin missa, meaning “holy mass.” That’s a complicated way of saying that Christmas means worship of Christ.

We don’t know for sure which day Jesus was actually born. During the 4th century Christians chose December 25 as the day to formally celebrate Christ’s birth, but the truth is, December 25 is just a day, one in 365. It’s wonderful that we celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25, but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t offer him a Christmas—a “Christ’s mass,” a holy worship—every day, all year long.

When I think about what it might look like to celebrate Christmas every single day of the year I feel a bit weary—but that’s largely because I associate Christmas with extra work (read: baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping, envelope-licking, socializing). Stripped of its commercialized trappings—all the obligations we tell ourselves we must fulfill in order celebrate Christmas—what’s left?

Love. Joy. Worship. Serving. Rest.

Stripped to its essence, Christmas doesn’t sound as overwhelming, does it?

So yesterday, with the sermon lingering in the back of my mind, I decided to embrace a little Christmas. Real Christmas.

Despite the fact that I had one hundred million things to do (read: laundry, snow shoveling, writing, baking, dusting, vacuuming – on Saturday Rowan had made a peanut-butter and birdseed sandwich for the birds…on the sunroom floor. Enough said?), the kids and I donned hats, mittens, winter jackets and snow pants, grabbed the sled and stepped into the glittering neighborhood to revel in winter’s first snowfall.

I grabbed my camera, too, and as we walked up our street and down the alley, I stopped to photograph glinting icicles, snow-draped berries and frosted evergreens. 

Come Now, O Prince of Peace

For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (Eph. 2:14-16 NRSV)

In this text from Ephesians, the writer speaks of Jesus as the means of reconciliations between divided peoples and cultures. The hymn, “Come Now, O Prince of Peace”, gives voice to the hope of that teaching. The Korean text was written by Geon-yong Lee who was born in 1947 in what is now North Korea. His father was a minister. Following the Korean War, the family moved to what is now South Korea in 1953 where Mr. Lee grew up in Seoul studying to be a musician. He eventually became the president of the Korean National University of the Arts and the choirmaster of the Anglican Cathedral in Seoul. He is a diverse composer giving special attention to Korean musical styles and forms and also known for his church music. He composed the words and music of this hymn in 1988 while attending the World Council of Churches in Geneva. A U.S. Missionary, Marion Pope, provided the paraphrase. It is a prayer for the unity of the church and the reconciliation of nations. Each stanza is a petition, requesting the “Prince of Peace” to “come” to us and to “reconcile” us to “all people” and “all nations.” The text is direct in its requests: “make us one body” and “set us free.” The petitions are addressed to God through a variety of names: “Prince of Peace,” “God of Love,” “God our Savior” and “Hope of Unity.” Each of these names establishes the authority and attributes of the One who can truly provide a cessation of conflict (pax in Latin) and wholeness and healing (shalom in Hebrew).