Pastor's Corner

An Advent Devotional on Colossians 1:15-20 The brain is an astonishing piece of machinery. At roughly the size of a fist, weighing only 3 pounds, it is a superhighway of information exchange. Signals zip from one neuron to another at lightning speed. Our brain sets us apart from every other creature God made. But our brain cells fall woefully short when we try to fully g...

An Advent Devotional on Matthew 2:1-18 The world has had its share of crazy politicians. King Herod was definitely one of them! He was famous for his fits of rage, the killing his favorite wife and three sons, and drowning a high priest. Toward the end of his tumultuous rule Herod became paranoid. On his death bed he arranged the execution of hundreds of Jewish leaders. ...

An Advent Devotional on Matthew 2:1-12 Did you ever watch a Christmas play without the wise men in their turbans and long gowns? Probably not. I hate to burst your bubble, but the wise men probably arrived weeks or even months later. They left their homeland after Jesus was born (v.1), which implies a time gap. When they do arrive, Jesus is not a baby, but a child and the...

An Advent Devotional on Luke 2:22-38 Today we find the young couple with their son Jesus in the temple fulfilling the stipulations of the law (vs.22-24). Jesus goes unnoticed, except by two individuals, Simeon and Anna. That both Simeon and Anna encountered Jesus is yet another example of God's impeccable timing (vs.27,38). The temple was a huge building, surrounded by a...

An Advent Devotional on Luke 2:8-21 Jesus' birth announcement does not begin with: "In the same region scribes read the law and debated in the temple". Nope. The angel of the Lord comes to shepherds watching over their flock (v. 8). To say that these men were unlikely recipients is an understatement. First century Jewish shepherds were considered ignorant and untrustwo...

An Advent Devotional on Luke 2:1-7 The simplicity and brevity of Jesus' birth narrative is striking. We like to fill in the blanks with our nativity plays and story books. In them Mary rides a donkey and Joseph always runs frantically from door to door trying to find lodging. This, and many more popular traditions, fall into the "it may have happened this way" category bu...

God Is Gracious (Luke 1:57-66) It must have been a funny scene as neighbors and relatives busily gestured to Zechariah. His baby boy would be circumcised today and what was supposed to be his name? Then again, this was how they had communicated with Zechariah for the past nine months. Remember the event that had changed Zechariah's life dramatically. He had been on duty ...

Mary Did You Know?(Luke 1:46-56) The song "Mary Did You Know?" is a well-known contemporary Christmas song that raises an intriguing question. What did Mary know about the child growing inside her? Luke tells us that when the shepherds left, Mary pondered all that had taken place (Luke 2:19). Mary had her thoughts. Our text unveils a few. After her exchange with Elizabet...

The Greatest Story (Luke 1:39-45) Today we witness a joyful reunion between two women, both with unexpected pregnancies. Elizabeth, who was barren and of age (Luke 1:7), now carrying John the Baptist. And then there is Mary, still trying to wrap her brain around the miracle of her conception. The Holy Spirit had come upon her. Her womb was now the temporary home of the ve...

How Will This Be? (Luke 1:26-38) That the entry of King Jesus would be unusual was clear from the start. God did not dispatch Gabriel to Jerusalem but to Nazareth, an obscure rural village with a poor reputation (John 1:46). And God did not select a princess to be the mother of Messiah but a lowly servant girl (Luke 1:48). Welcome to God's upside-down way of doing things...