A snowy Sunday morning in Ohio - Luke 2:21-40 - Righteous/Devout Witnesses

 

This is a new shot of the sanctuary after the acoustical tiles were installed and also the resurrection of an old piece of furniture from the old church to use as a very adequate pulpit.  

It was a snowy Sunday and actually two in a row and snowing another possible 4" today.  Our attendance was about half but the online viewers jumped to an all time high with sustained minutes compared to any time during the of the height of COVID over the last year.  We have been trained in so many new ways over the last couple of years.  For example, if you are sick, stay home but if you can't get there because of the snowy weather, hop online!

Sunday's sermon took us further into the events of the first advent of Christ.  Joseph and Mary are following the instructions of the Law found in Leviticus and the temple visit produced a couple more witnesses of who this baby was that was in their arms.  It is no surprise that like Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna are righteous and devout.  The key players of this historical narrative are taking hold well and careful to God and His word.

In the midst of an environment that had its focus on self and so many other things, Simeon and Anna keep their focus on the coming of the Messiah.  We jump ahead and become the ones who are to be righteous and devout, taking hold well and careful to God and His word in our day.  We keep our focus on the second coming of the Messiah.  At times this means swimming upstream against the downstream of popular thought.

I mention in the sermon a new law enacted in Canada called C-4.  It is very broad in its writing that labels anything that gives guidance on God's specific created order of humanity as a myth or stereotype.  Someone sharing this information in a way that might be looked at as "converting" the other to the Biblical view could be fined with a felony from 2 to 5 years in prison.  Here lies the problem for those who are taking hold well and careful to God's word.  We serve a converting God.  We speak of the One who takes us from the wrong to the right and He is the One who establishes those standards.  I am thankful for many Canadian pastors who stood in pulpits a couple of Sundays ago and stated clearly God's word on the subject.  

"And such were some of you;

but you were washed,

but you were sanctified,

but you were justified 

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and in the Spirit of our God."

(1 Corinthians 6:11, LSB)

I am also thankful for those in the Bible who stood and said, "I object," the midwives of Moses' day and the issue of life, Daniel and the issue of prayer, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abendago and the issue of worship, David and the issue of standing God and His people, and Peter and John and the issue of proclaiming a risen Jesus.  It is amazing to me that these are still issues of our day that we need to stand strong in the face of this world's consequences.  

Adam