Christmas 1

Bells are ringing, gifts are being given, family and friends are celebrating, songs are being sung. It is a joyous occasion.

Really, it is, despite whatever disagreements you’ve had over what to get the kids or who’s family to spend more time with.

What? You still don’t believe me? I’m sorry to hear that. I guess you’ll have to try harder next year.

Don’t want to wait until next year? Tired of the Christmas frustrations? Then stop what you are doing for a moment and hear God’s Word on the topic. “The Virgin will bear a Son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

That infant in diapers in the manger is God himself. He is bigger than any disagreements you will have this Christmas, for He has taken away the world’s sin.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas! The angels sang! The shepherds saw. Mary pondered. The shepherds rejoiced and told all that they saw and heard.

There will be Santa and mistletoe and cartoons filled with gleeful characters that bring a nostalgic smile to faces all the while families sit around decorated trees tearing into presents.

These things are all good. Enjoy the moments that God has provided for you this season.

But don’t miss the opportunity to receive the greatest gift of all; God in human flesh. Receive Jesus this season in His Holy Word. See Jesus, just as the shepherds saw him that first Christmas night, Jesus, in body and blood, residing in His Word for you.

Be gathered together by the Gospel call, like a child calling the family around the tree to open presents. Only this is the greatest present of all, Jesus bestowing His forgiveness on you.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Advent 4

In the hustle and bustle of the season, where family and friends enter our lives to join our celebrations, take time to ponder another family who made a journey to their home town. There amidst a normally sleepy little town, now bustling with weary travelers for a census, came a normal looking family.

But this normal looking family awaited an event that was foretold from the fall of man into sin; the birth of the Savior of the world. The one who would destroy sin and death forever. The one who would reunite our heavenly Father with His children eternally.

They would call Him Jesus, just as the angel said, for He would save the world from their sins. Come to reside in human flesh. God and man inseparably united together. Come to reside with you.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Advent 3

Paul says in his letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The Lord is at hand. Yes, how true. After all, isn’t that what we are preparing to celebrate, the birth of Lord of hosts? Where Jesus’ presence is, there is peace. When Jesus touches the lives of people, there is peace. When He walked on the earth, the deaf heard and the dead were raised up. Now, as His Word goes out, good news is preached. That good news grants eternal peace wherever it goes.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Advent 2

In Charles Dickens’ a Christmas Carol, the stingy, cranky, old Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by 3 Ghosts. They prepared Scrooge’s heart to be receptive to a greater message.

John the Baptizer’s role was just like that of the Ghosts of Christmas in the Christmas Carol. To prepare the hearts of those to receive the work of the coming Savior.

Though your past may have been jaded, your present actions may be selfish, and your future is dim in your sinfulness.

Through messengers like John the Baptizer, God’s Law calls us to change our ways.

God reaches out: Like Marley did with Scrooge: he desires that you will not have an eternal life of pain and suffering. He calls you by the Gospel so that you may know that an eternal banquet feast has been prepared for you through Jesus Christ.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.

Advent 1

The First Sunday in Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the worship life of the church. The word Advent means “coming”. The coming is the fulfillment of the promise of Immanuel, God with us to accomplish the salvation the Father promised to us.

Advent is a season of preparation—not simply of our homes, meals, and presents, but also time of preparation for our hearts.

A time of recognizing with thanksgiving why our Lord came in the first place. We celebrate God coming to us in the flesh as a child in a lowly manger. A time to recognize why that infant child, born to be King, would one day receive a crown of thorns. We celebrate Christ as the Messiah, riding on a lowly donkey on His way to bear our sins on the cross and to rise again as our Savior.

These Seeds of Faith have been sown by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Bridgeport, NE. I’m Pastor Allen Strawn.