Text: Isaiah 60:1-6
Sermon: This is the week of Epiphany. Epiphany is about celebrating the light that is Jesus the Christ. But it is also a celebration of the community that gathers to see and follow that light. In fact, our first Sunday of the new year is all about paying attention. Being aware of what is under your nose seems like a "duh" kind of message, and yet it is an appropriate one for the beginning of a new year. While it is easy for us to seek the light of Christ in our own personal lives, but it is just as important that we celebrate in community. We need to be reminded that this is a walk we take together. Making disciples is about making relationships, working on relationships, broadening relationships, relying on relationships, and deepening relationships. I believe that an aspect of the hope that we encounter through the light of Christ is shared through our community; through our friendships and through the bonds that we create. This is an opportunity to begin to see the implication of the Christ presence among us. The Christ child, who grew “in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor,” says Luke’s Gospel (Lk. 2:52), becomes the light by which we walk each day and the way we find one another. We gather to the light; as a result, we grow closer to one another. We all need light in our darkness. We all need hope in the times that we feel hopeless. We have all been through circumstances where we feel lost or hopeless. I pray this is the week where we are reminded of the hope that we find in faith. I pray this is the time where we encounter the light of Christ and the our loving community will be at our sides during these darker times. Its good news is time-bound and timeless and timely. For every time and every place and every person, the good news is that “the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” And that brings light into our thick darkness. There is hope for a dark world because the Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon the world. He is the one who will bring the wandering captives home and the benighted Gentiles to the true God. In this new year we will experience new opportunities to build our faith. We will find new opportunities to heal broken relationships. We will find new opportunities for growth. The hope that we find will be life-changing, which allows us to share that hope through loving words, acts of love and care and compassion. In our hope we can help others experience the same hope through our care for our friends and family. Conclusion: Let us be people who seeks hope and offers hope.
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Anthony K. GiesickActions are taken everyday that help make this world better and I just want to share them with you. Archives
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