Next Week’s Sermon: December 20/21

Our Dear Christ Enters In: Company Comes / Guests, especially family members, are the order of the day this season of the year. House guests bring joy and warmth to our hearts… but they also bring extra work and preparations. One of the advantages of “unexpected guests” is that little can be done to prepare for their arrival because it wasn’t in the plans… at least not our plans.  Sometimes it is not even a part of the guests’ seasonal plans. Still, it is always in God’s plans and purposes. As we continue our series “Our Dear Christ Enters In”, we see that Mary was certainly not prepared for the visit of the Angel Gabriel! Elizabeth was certainly not prepared for the arrival of her cousin, Mary and the Child Mary carried in her womb. When the Holy Spirit revealed to Elizabeth just Who it was that Mary carried in her womb her heart was filled with Joy! We too discover anew (or re-discover) a sense of Joy as we are reminded again that the Babe in Mary’s Womb is Jesus! The long-awaited Savior, promised by God, has come to deliver HIS people from the powers of sin and death!...That’s a guest whose arrival is truly something to celebrate… expected or not! To prepare for worship, read Luke 1:39-45.