Pastor Prince

Our cultural Christmas is largely sweet and soft.  Like a "Precious Moments" nativity.  But the real Christmas story told in the scriptures has rough edges!  Luke 1 says that as Mary contemplates the birth of her son, she composes a song of revolution.  It speaks of the exalted being humbled, the humble being exalted, the hungry getting full, and the full left hungry!  Jesus is born in a barn.  His visitors are shepherds, who were social outcasts. These rough edges are on full display in Luke's account of Jesus' appearance at the temple in 2:25-38.  When Joseph, Mary, and Jesus go to the temple, an "old saint" named Simeon takes Jesus in his arms, praises God because he has seen the Messiah, and prophesies that the child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed.  Not sweet and soft! Finally, Simeon says that a sword will pierce Mary as well.  This is the first time pain is...

In the magnificent prologue of John 1:1-18, John begins the story of Jesus in the eternal past.  He starts with the Word, who was with God and was God.  He continues by saying the Word became a real human being and lived in the world, showing us what God is like. In verses 10-13 and 16-18, he tells us that the Word came to his own, and his own didn't receive him. This is one of the greatest ironies of history, because God created the world through the Word,.  Yet when he came, the world turned him away.  Killed him, in fact.   But not everyone rejected him.  Some believed him, put their faith in him.  To those, God gave the power to be his children.  Through faith in Christ, they were "born from above" (John 3:3), or spiritually born.  In this way, they came into God's eternal family.   John concludes the chapter by saying that the law came through Moses.  Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  We who have...

The first five verses of John 1 take us to the eternal cosmic plane, as they talk about the Word that was with God and was God.  Then in verses 6-9, we move to the human world of time and history, as John says that God sent a man named John into the world.  He wasn't the light, but was a witness to the light God was sending to the world in the Word who became flesh: Jesus Christ. This John was John the Baptist.  His more accurate title was "the Baptizer."  He wasn't the first Baptist, though we would love to claim him! Some in the early church era believed the Baptizer was equal to Jesus.  Maybe even superior!  But the gospel of John wants people to know clearly that John wasn't the light.  He wasn't the Word who became flesh.  Nonetheless, he was important.  He was a witness to the light.  He pointed to Jesus and identified him as the Messiah, the Savior. These words about John remind us that God calls us Christ followers to a ...

Last week, we thought about the mind-stretching and mind-bending truth of the eternal Word, who was God, and was with God in the eternal past.  John 1:1 reflects the truth of the Trinity, that God is three persons in one being: Father, Son (Word), and Holy Spirit.  We also saw that the eternal Word had life, and in him was the light of humanity.  His light shines in the darkness of our broken world, and the darkness hasn't overcome it. This week, we explore something equally mind-stretching and mind-bending!  John 1:14 says that this Word that was God, and was with God in the eternal past, became flesh and lived among us!  This is the great miracle we celebrate at Christmas: God became a real human being in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Why did he do that?  He had many reasons, but one of them was to reveal himself to humanity.  John suggests this truth when he says in the latter part of verse 14 that we've seen his glory, the glory of ...

It's the time of year for Christmas TV shows and movies!  Lots of them talk about "the true meaning of Christmas."  But hardly any of them present the true meaning of Christmas!  One of the few ones that does is "A Charlie Brown Christmas," that premiered in 1965.  I watched it on our black and white TV.  Even then, I was impressed with the scene in which Linus steps on the stage and recites the Christmas story from Luke.   This doesn't mean other specials don't have good points about Christmas.  Who doesn't laugh at "Christmas Vacation"?  Who doesn't get a lump in their throat when they sing "Auld Lang Syne" at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life"?  Still, they present a hollowed out Christmas, a Christmas without its essential meaning. This week, we begin our worship teaching unit "Christmas Presence: God with Us."  In this unit, we're going to learn the true true meaning of Christmas ...

Joseph's story, told in the latter chapters of Genesis, is a remarkable narrative of faith and perseverance.  He overcomes family dysfunction, injustice, and more to become second only to Pharaoh. But his story is more than a lesson in character.  It tells how God worked him to save Israel, and ultimately, the world. The key passage in his story is Genesis 45:5-8.  There, he tells his brothers not to beat themselves up about what they did to him.  God had worked through it all to accomplish a great deliverance.  Had they not sold him into slavery, he wouldn't have been in Egypt, and they would have starved to death.  This part of the story prompts a debate about whether God sends bad things in our lives or he creates good in the bad things in our lives through our faith.  I tend to believe the latter, drawing on Romans 8:28.  God works all things to the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. Be...

Genesis tells us that Joseph found himself in a "pit" a couple of times.  First, when his brothers threw him into one, and second, when Potiphar put him in the dungeon.  Both were literally "low" points of his life!  The first time he was there because of the anger and jealousy of his brothers.  The second time he was there because of the unjust accusations of Potiphar's wife. Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the first pit and sold him to Ishmaelite merchants, who, in turn, sold him to Potiphar in Egypt.  Joseph's escape from the second pit was much more involved! Genesis 39:1ff tells how Joseph rose to being in charge of the prison.  Genesis 40:1ff says that Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and baker were thrown into the same prison. One morning, when he went in to attend them, he found them downhearted. They told him that they had experienced dreams the previous night, and had no one to interpret them.  Joseph offered to help.  He liste...