1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,980 I've been doing this for a minute. I was thinking the other day I'm gonna be 47 in 2 00:00:05,980 --> 00:00:13,680 January. I'm coming up on 25 years of being a pastor in one way or another. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:21,840 Getting old. Y'all remember when you thought 40s was old? Yeah. And now I'm 4 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:26,640 like, no, I think like, no, that's not old. It's not even close to being old. It's 5 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:33,280 funny. I mean my knees feel a different way, but that's fine. Yeah. Well good 6 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,200 morning and welcome to the house. If we've never met, my name is Greg. I'm one 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,680 of the pastors here and I would love to meet you. I know it's kind of a busy time 8 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,840 of the year, but if you fill out the connection card at the end and maybe put 9 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,320 a note in there or check the box so you'd like a pastor to contact you, I'd 10 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,120 love to get together with you for a coffee maybe after Christmas, after the 11 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,280 new year if that works better for you, but I would love to hear your story. Get 12 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,520 to know you and if you'd like to, I really enjoy talking about Jesus and so 13 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:08,280 I would love to do that as well. This is our last Sunday of 2024. Next Sunday is 14 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,760 what we call a rest Sunday. We have three of those every year. Memorial Day weekend, 15 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,520 Labor Day weekend, and the Sunday after Christmas. We want to give all of the 16 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:23,480 teams time to rest so that they can come back ready from living and to be able to 17 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:29,240 work together to really to serve the people that call this their church home. 18 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,360 Now here because it's the last Sunday, I thought I would just give a few 19 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:37,680 highlights from this last year. We started last year in January turning 10 20 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,880 and which means that this coming day in just a few weeks that we as a church 21 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,480 will turn 11. That was my star birthday as a child because my birthday is 22 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:51,640 January 11th and so I think that's kind of cool because I'm still just a child 23 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,040 inside somewhere and so that's kind of cool to think about. But we will be 24 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:01,640 turning 11 and we had 11, this is a coincidence, 11 different people preach 25 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:07,440 this last year. I love that we have a church that has a diversity of voices 26 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,800 and a diversity of backgrounds and we want to make sure that we continue that 27 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,880 giving different people opportunities to preach the word as they understand it. 28 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:21,600 18 different people led us in praying for Greenbush. We had three baptisms in 29 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,920 multiple baby dedications. We had three seasons of community tables if you've 30 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:30,240 never been part of one of those. Those are coming up again in February and 31 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,360 March. We'd love for you to get connected to one of those what we call our small 32 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:39,480 groups. This last summer we had our third annual worship in the park. It's a 33 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,600 shared service with other churches. The last couple times we've done it with Two 34 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:48,920 Rivers UMC and New Journey AME. We took the Shed, the students, the high school 35 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:53,680 and junior high students on their second annual trip to Chicago for the day. Not 36 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,480 that it's definitely always gonna be annual but it just it's worked out that 37 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:01,480 way. They got to go and see a Chicago Fire soccer game and enjoy foods that we 38 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,040 don't have around here and get to start building continuing to build 39 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:09,140 relationships with each other in maybe a way that you don't get to build if 40 00:03:09,140 --> 00:03:13,360 you're just hanging out at home. And then of course this summer we went through 41 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:19,560 the gospel according to John. This fall 23 people served in the Labor Day 42 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,760 Parade. I think that's the most we've ever had serve and we had 275 people 43 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:30,760 sign up for the chance to win a custom-built backyard playhouse that we 44 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,320 gave away for free. That was the first time we ever did that. That was pretty 45 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,960 awesome. We launched new Tuesday night activities for each week of the month 46 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:44,640 with worship and prayer, a green bush walk, with spiritual conversation group, 47 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:51,160 with an opportunity to to come and care for the facility. Dave Hodge started 48 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,760 hosting a tabletop game day once a month on Sundays after church. That happens to 49 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,840 be today. If you don't have plans after service feel free to stick around and 50 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:04,400 play some some games with some friends. And then of course Robin our treehouse 51 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:10,760 director started teaching a class twice a month about worship dance. This winter 52 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:16,360 we had our first youth retreat with a few other churches in the area out in 53 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:21,360 Camp Mylan. We added monthly youth events. The Norths are leading those. The 54 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:26,360 next one happens to be the next Saturday January 4th. You should be getting an 55 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,000 email about that. If you have a 6th through 12th grader it's gonna be a blast. 56 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:36,240 We only missed our monthly budget goal once this last year which is really 57 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:42,040 phenomenal but we also exceeded our yearly yearly budget need and so it was 58 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,400 all made up for which means that we ended up giving away thousands of 59 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:50,120 dollars to people that needed it for cars, for repairs, for missions, for 60 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,760 emergency needs and we did that all while growing our savings account from 61 00:04:54,760 --> 00:05:02,240 around $8,500 to $10,500 and so it's been a really beautiful year. And then of 62 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:08,840 course finally we partnered with DCFS for the 10th straight year and we gave 75 63 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:13,440 gifts and y'all know it was more than 75 gifts right because you looked in some 64 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,640 of those bags and you were like someone checked out one thing and they brought 65 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:23,080 three things back in a bag. So we gave quote-unquote 75 gifts to 25 kids that 66 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:28,800 are experiencing foster care right now. Yeah it's a beautiful thing. We also gave a 67 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:33,160 Walmart gift card to each of those individual families and we partnered 68 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:37,080 with Closet to Closet which is here in the same building as us. They serve 69 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:41,680 children there in foster care by providing clothing and supplies for them 70 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,980 and we partnered with them as we have in the last handful of years and they 71 00:05:44,980 --> 00:05:50,320 created 25 more care packages that included another gift for those kids for 72 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:55,560 a grand total of well over a hundred gifts to all these kids and so guys 73 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,800 they're gonna have a great Christmas. I know that they're experiencing an 74 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,360 extremely troubling thing sometimes but there's gonna be a moment that we know 75 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:08,520 that we contributed to because of the way that God has loved us and we're 76 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,460 trying our best to show our love to them and so can we praise God for what he's 77 00:06:12,460 --> 00:06:25,200 done this last year? Now as always we end our calendar year with advents and I 78 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,240 promise this will be the best sermon you've heard all year. I say the best for 79 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:32,520 last year everyone and if you don't feel that way you just weren't listening. 80 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:40,720 Amen. Scott pointed us to peace on the first Sunday of Advent. We considered 81 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:46,280 the hope of Advent. Robin and the tree house last week pointed us to joy and 82 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:53,600 today is Advent love. I'm gonna read a number of passages but let's go ahead 83 00:06:53,600 --> 00:07:00,160 and open up our Bibles to the book of Matthew. We're gonna open up to Matthew. If you 84 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,360 don't have a Bible there are copies that are on your table right now. You can 85 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:10,360 download a Bible from any of the digital app stores for free. You can also take 86 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:14,680 one of those blue Bibles home if you don't have one of your own. We're gonna 87 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,800 open up to Matthew. Matthew is the first book of what's called the New Testament 88 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:23,240 or the Second Testament. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. If you see any of those you're in 89 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,240 the right neighborhood but let's go ahead and we have a tradition of standing 90 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,120 together as we are able to give the scriptures our full attention. If you'd 91 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:42,240 like to join me in doing that, Matthew 1 starting verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus 92 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:48,360 the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to 93 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:53,900 Joseph but before they lived together she was found to be pregnant from the 94 00:07:53,900 --> 00:08:00,240 Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph being a righteous man and unwilling to expose 95 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:07,600 her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. But just when he had 96 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,680 resolved to do this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said 97 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:19,760 Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the child 98 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:25,720 conceived in hers from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son you are to name him 99 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:35,040 Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Let us pray. God of every 100 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:41,920 tribe, of every tongue, every color, every nation, we thank you for the 101 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:46,720 scriptures that they have persisted throughout the millennia. We still have 102 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:52,720 them to read, to consider. Whatever you would like us to learn today I pray that 103 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:57,880 it would stick, that would become a part of the framework of our faith, that our 104 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:04,960 faith would become stronger as we become more like your son Jesus. Amen. Amen. You 105 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,800 can all have a seat. Thank you. 106 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:27,440 Advent love takes responsibility. It says Joseph was unwilling to expose her to 107 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:35,320 public disgrace and planned to divorce her quietly. I suppose the first question 108 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:41,640 some of us might ask is why would he need a divorce if they were engaged? The 109 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:49,080 first verse says they were engaged but in their culture once you were engaged 110 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:55,080 effectively you were married. The families would have been involved, the 111 00:09:55,080 --> 00:10:02,120 promises would have been made, contracts would have been signed. Joseph's family 112 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:08,680 had probably already given a dowry and gifts to Mary's family as part of the 113 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:19,040 marriage agreement. All that Joseph knew was that while he was getting ready to 114 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:31,620 start his family, Mary became pregnant and so it falls to him to decide what to 115 00:10:31,620 --> 00:10:40,240 do. It's not an exaggeration to say that he very literally held her life in his 116 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:50,080 hands. If he had publicly exposed her, her community would have been well within 117 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:55,280 their biblical right to stone her and put her to death for adultery. That is 118 00:10:55,280 --> 00:11:03,160 what the biblical standard would have allowed. My guess is that most of her 119 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:12,440 neighbors probably weren't gonna buy the God got me pregnant story. Because we are 120 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:19,160 so far removed from this, we take her vulnerability for granted. Because we 121 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:24,920 know how the story ends, most of us, we take the story for granted. We don't have 122 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:30,920 a sense of worry for her because we know what will happen. But we have to 123 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:38,360 remember that they didn't. They were told, they were acting on faith, but they were 124 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:47,360 still in the moment. So says the Joseph, it was righteous and he thought that it 125 00:11:47,360 --> 00:12:01,480 was reasonable to divorce her quietly. Maybe, maybe in his mind, he thought that 126 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:06,640 if he got this over with quickly that it would give her a chance to marry whoever 127 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:13,040 she had gotten pregnant with. Maybe if I get this over quietly and quickly, maybe 128 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:17,840 this she could even marry this guy before the baby's born. Maybe I can help 129 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:24,720 avoid harassment. Maybe I can help further embarrassment by not making a 130 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:36,320 big deal about this. Seems reasonable. But God wasn't looking for what felt 131 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:41,480 righteous and God wasn't looking for what felt reasonable to the mind of a 132 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:50,840 man. God wanted Joseph to take responsibility. It's one thing to be 133 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:56,440 solution-minded. It's another to take responsibility for a problem that you 134 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:07,000 did not create. The kind of love that we see in Advent says that not only will I 135 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:18,440 care about your problem, I will make your problem my problem. That is what God is 136 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:32,840 asking of Joseph. Isn't that what he's asking of us? You can hear the love that 137 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:45,640 our world is missing when people say that's not my fault. I didn't do it. 138 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:58,080 That's not my problem. It's not my responsibility. It shows up in a thousand 139 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:05,600 ways, not least being how some white communities respond to racism in our 140 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:21,680 world, how the wealthy responds to the poor, how citizens respond to immigrants, 141 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,320 how unprepared men respond to pregnant women saying you should have been on the 142 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:38,160 Hill. You hear it in how the well-fed responds to the hungry. By one estimate, 143 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:47,680 it would cost $40 billion a year for less than 10 years to end all of world 144 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:55,240 hunger. There is one person in America, just one person right now, that's worth 145 00:14:55,240 --> 00:15:06,360 $429 billion. One, just one. And no one's asking that one person to solve the 146 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:13,600 problem. The point is that there's enough in the world, but there's enough of us 147 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:21,520 saying that's not my problem. That we're unwilling to make someone else's problem 148 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:38,840 our problem. It is a lack of God love, a lack of Advent love that says I bear no 149 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:47,040 responsibility in a world that only works when we take responsibility for 150 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:54,960 problems that we didn't create, or in some cases problems that we don't think 151 00:15:54,960 --> 00:16:05,600 that we created. Advent love is taking responsibility because Advent love is 152 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:17,240 the embodiment of God. Advent love is the embodiment of God. John 1, 14 says the 153 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:25,360 word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. In the beginning, 154 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,280 God created the heavens and the earth and found that we had become pregnant 155 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:36,520 with sin and selfish desires. It would have made a lot of sense. It would have 156 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:42,680 been reasonable for Him to send us off forever, to never speak to us again, to 157 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:49,960 let us marry the one that had led us into sin, to leave us quietly, to start 158 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:58,080 the life that we wanted. It would have been reasonable for God to divorce us. 159 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:09,080 Instead, time and time again throughout all of the scriptures, we see that God 160 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:24,240 takes responsibility. Instead of moving us out, God moves in. There was nothing, 161 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,920 there was nothing in the law of Moses that required of God that He take on 162 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:40,640 flesh. But Jesus is born with a human body incarnate with flesh and blood and 163 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:54,760 He enters our every problem. He takes them on as His own. 164 00:17:54,760 --> 00:18:12,640 Listen, listen carefully. We are not meant to merely imitate the limitations 165 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:21,480 that we see in each other. So often that is our standard. We're willing to go up 166 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:27,640 to but not beyond the limitations that we see in each other. And so the bar just 167 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:35,200 keeps getting lower. But we are not meant to imitate the limitations that we see 168 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:39,800 in each other. We are meant, we aren't meant to justify our behaviors by the 169 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:48,640 lowest common denominator. We are meant to embody the likeness of Jesus. 1st John 170 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:54,560 4, you heard part of it a little bit earlier. This is love. Not that we loved 171 00:18:54,560 --> 00:19:00,200 God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 172 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:09,480 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Ephesians 173 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:18,320 4 put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and 174 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:23,360 holiness. Joseph thought that he was righteous in his decision to marry her 175 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:29,600 quietly. We are being asked to put on the likeness of Christ that is actually the 176 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:41,040 true righteousness. Galatians 6, carry each other's burdens. Now listen, and in 177 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:54,120 this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Jesus bore the weight and 178 00:19:54,120 --> 00:20:00,840 responsibility of the sins and the struggles of a humanity that was caught 179 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:13,240 cheating. Just like He took our likeness and bore our burdens, He's asking us to 180 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:28,320 put on His likeness and bear one another's burdens. Because Advent love 181 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:35,440 doesn't pass the buck, Advent love pays the bill. 182 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:49,000 When Joseph found that Mary was pregnant, he could have bankrupted her. He could 183 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:54,600 have bankrupted her family. He could have left her a single mother, or worse, he 184 00:20:54,600 --> 00:21:01,080 could have literally left her dead. Instead, he was told that he would be the 185 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:08,000 earthly father of God in flesh. A couple weeks ago I talked about the joy that I 186 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:15,040 felt, a sense of hope of knowing that I was going to be a father. I do not, cannot 187 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:23,800 fathom or imagine the weight of being told by an angelic being. But this one's 188 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:33,280 different. This one happens divine. You know, you're just a regular old guy, but 189 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:39,080 your kid, yeah that one's from the Holy Spirit. I don't know what that would be 190 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:56,760 like, but we know what He did. Instead of leaving her, instead of using His idea, 191 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:08,280 He followed the Lord. Before Jesus gave His life for the world, Joseph gave His 192 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:20,840 life for Mary and Jesus. When He did not have to, it was not His problem. 193 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:30,000 Some of us have been running from our responsibilities and it's time to stop. 194 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:38,240 Some of us are running from our responsibilities because we still don't 195 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:44,960 believe that it's our responsibility. Because it's not my fault. Because I 196 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:56,120 didn't do it. Because that's not my problem. There's too much. That's not my 197 00:22:56,120 --> 00:23:05,400 problem. There's too much. That's not my problem in this world. There is too much. 198 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:28,320 It's not my fault in this world. The beautiful thing about the way that the Bible tells 199 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:36,960 the story of God is that the writers, I've said this a hundred times in the 200 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:41,880 past, Eric's a writer, he gets it. Like writers are always trying to tell you 201 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:46,640 something that isn't just there. Writers are always asking you to pay attention 202 00:23:46,640 --> 00:24:01,600 to something else. And if you go all the way back to the very first sin in the 203 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:06,720 world, right? You got Adam and Eve. Eat from the fruit they're not supposed to 204 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:14,040 eat. The next sin that is recorded in scriptures, as far as I can recall, does 205 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:21,800 anybody remember what it is? It's Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel. It says that Cain 206 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,440 takes Abel out into a field and he says, let's go out to a field. And it says 207 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,000 that he killed him there and he buried him in the field. And then God came 208 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:34,720 along and said, Cain, where is your brother? Who remembers what Cain said to God? 209 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:43,280 Am I my brother's keeper? What is implicit in that scripture is that the 210 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:51,160 answer is yes. You are your brother's keeper. Sin from the very beginning, 211 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:58,920 humanity has tried to pass the buck of blame. From the very beginning, we have 212 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:05,440 tried to pass responsibility to others, even when it is our responsibility. But 213 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:17,360 especially when we are convinced that it is not. This world, your world, your family, 214 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:30,080 your neighborhood, your job, your block, your clients, your friends, need someone 215 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:38,440 that will look at them and will say, I will carry that with you, even if it 216 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:44,960 wasn't my fault. I will carry that with you, even though, and according to the 217 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:51,160 laws of this world, I bear no responsibility. I could walk away scot-free, 218 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:59,480 I could put my head on my pillow with lightness and wake up with joy. But 219 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:10,200 Advent love says, Joseph, be this father's son, be this son's father, be this boy's 220 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:17,640 dad. In Jewish culture, it was the father that had to say, yes, this is the name of 221 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:24,280 my son. The angel says, you will name him Jesus. He bears the name Jesus because 222 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:33,200 Joseph said, it's now my responsibility to name this boy. That for all he knew, 223 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:38,040 maybe he was having an hallucination. For all he knew, maybe he ate something bad 224 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:42,600 and he thought he saw an angel, but he wakes up and he goes, I'm gonna marry a 225 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:46,480 woman that's already pregnant and I'm gonna give her a name. Then I'm gonna 226 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:52,440 give this boy a name that is not even in my family. And then I'm gonna raise this 227 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,240 boy. I'm gonna take him to Jerusalem with me every year and we find out as a 228 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:03,680 teenager, right on the verge of becoming an adult, he skips, he leaves behind. 229 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:08,280 He stays back and they're frantically looking for him and they find him and he 230 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:15,320 says, well didn't you know I would need to be in my father's house? And he's 231 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:22,760 saying that to Joseph and Joseph somehow is going, yes, but you're my 232 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:31,240 responsibility. It says that he taught his son a trade. He raised a boy that for 233 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:37,400 all he knew was not his, but he taught him how to be a carpenter and he 234 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:44,520 prepared his family for when he died, that his wife and son, Jesus and other 235 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:52,400 children, would not be left out on the street. He took responsibility for 236 00:27:52,400 --> 00:28:00,120 something he did not have to. And I hope that you hear the Spirit of God telling 237 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:08,680 you in your heart that it's gonna be okay if you do that too. It is going to be 238 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:14,880 okay if you do that too. The responsibility that you decide to take up might run 239 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:19,120 off and leave you behind and you will not know where it is and then you will 240 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:23,680 go after it anyway and you will find it and it will say, oh I was just praying. Oh 241 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:32,480 I was just... you say, yeah it's time to go home, come on. It will be okay. You want to 242 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:41,360 know why it's gonna be okay? Look around this room because we are here to bear 243 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:47,840 each other's burdens. Because when you take up the responsibility that God is 244 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:55,400 asking you to take up, every one of us will be there with you. And when you feel 245 00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:00,440 that it is becoming too heavy to carry something you didn't know you would ever 246 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:05,560 pick up, we will lend you our hands. 247 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:17,040 When you find that the money runs out because you tried to help, we will be 248 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,400 your bank. 249 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:35,640 When you are tired, at the end of the day we will be your rest. Because that's what 250 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:44,960 a church is supposed to be. It's not about how many people signed up to win a 251 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:55,840 free playhouse. It's about how many people experience the very presence of 252 00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:04,760 God and the people that are near them. 253 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:17,480 Because this is Advent love. Amen? Let's pray. 254 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:28,440 God we thank you that in your wisdom that you sent your only begotten son to 255 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:42,200 be born of flesh and blood, to share this life in our skin with lungs that 256 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:50,520 breathe the same air and oxygen that we use every day. 257 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:59,040 Lead us into lives of taking responsibility as you put it in front of 258 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:11,200 us. Lead us away from running from the responsibilities that we have felt rise 259 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:28,080 in our hearts. And help us be a family, church, community, united by the Spirit of 260 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:35,000 God that when one needs help the others chip in. When one is tired the other 261 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:49,680 works. Yeah, just like that. Amen. Amen.