From the Pastor

This month of December is a season with mixed blessings. We are all about decorating and preparing for one of the biggest holidays of the year while the Bible texts I read are all about the second coming of Christ. The temptation is to forget the latter and stick to the former. But I can't. Why not? Let me tell you.

I dream of a day when there will be no more funeral homes or grief centers. A time when we will drive by hospitals and medical centers and wonder what we will do with all the empty space. It will be a time where laughter and music will come from nursing homes. Churches will be filled with people dancing and shouting. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Read over Revelation, Chapter 21, to see why this is such a great message for us.

Meanwhile, you and I will need to continue to care for this earth and look to help those we can until that day. So instead of being scared by the terror I see on the news or the frustration I feel at the slow progress of humanitarian efforts or wondering why we can not find a cure for cancer, let us keep looking up, waiting for that grand and glorious day. As One writer put it, "For the writer of the Book of Revelation witnessing, not dying was his goal. We are to live as people of hope."

Join me in worship of our kind on Wednesday evenings, December 6 and December 13, join me in our unique Advent worship based on the words : Waiting, Preparing, Reflecting.... We will begin at 7:00pm and be done at 7:30pm.

Pastor Otto

p.s. In case you don't have your Bible handy........

Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.[a] 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." 6 And he also said, "It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8 "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 So he took me in the Spirit[b] to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.[c] 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick[d] (according to the human standard used by the angel).
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones:[e] the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. 27 Nothing evil[f] will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Footnotes:
a. Revelation 21:3 Some manuscripts read God himself will be with them, their God.
b. Revelation 21:10 Or in spirit.
c. Revelation 21:16 Greek 12,000 stadia [2,220 kilometers].
d. Revelation 21:17 Greek 144 cubits [65 meters].
e. Revelation 21:19 The identification of some of these gemstones is uncertain.
f. Revelation 21:27 Or ceremonially unclean.

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.