December 16, 2014

Thank You, Thank You Thank You, from all the LABC staff for your generous Christmas gift and for your encouragement and support throughout the year. We treasure being part of the LABC family with you.
Sunday, as per usual, was a good and busy day. I won’t recount all the worthy events. I will thank everyone for their participation in, and prayers for, our Stand and Sing for Racial Justice at Lincoln Square. It was a  timely event with a timely message delivered in a timely way.
This coming Sunday promises to be another amazing Sunday with our Fourth Sunday of Advent Worship (10:00), our Children’s Christmas Play (11:30), our Adopt A Family Gift Preparation (12:30) and our first Blue Christmas Worship Service (2:30) all on the schedule.
My sermon in the morning worship will be taken from Luke 2:1-7 and titled “Tender, Gentle Acts.” I will note how the theme of human caring is central to Luke’s account  of Jesus’ birth.  As part of my sermon I will note the importance  of  Mary swaddling Jesus.  I will quote the great biblical scholar Raymond Brown. “To swaddle a baby is a sign of parental care (Wisdom of Solomon 7:4), and the lack of swaddling is seen as neglect in the allegorical description of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16:4.” In the waning days of Advent let us find ways to participate in such tender, gentle acts.