March 13, 2012
Greetings to all. The theological word I would like us to consider this week is incarnation. Incarnation, the belief that the One God took on human flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and lived, died and was resurrected in human history, is perhaps the most distinctive Christian doctrine.
As we consider this amazing assertion it would be well for us to remember that statements of belief come from experience. Frederick Buechner reminds us that “No matter how fancy and metaphysical a doctrine sounds, it was a human experience first.” He goes on to say, “The doctrine of the divinity of Christ, for instance. The place it began was not the word processor of some fourth-century Greek theologian but the experience of basically untheological people who had known Jesus of Nazareth and found something happening to their lives which had never happened before.”
People experienced God in the way Jesus lived, in the way he died and the way he was resurrected. Further, they came to understand that their lives would be better if they could somehow take the God who had come to live in a human home back to their own homes, their own families, their own communities.
This then is the invitation that awaits us as we consider the incarnation, to take the one who came to live with us into our own homes, our own lives, our own communities.
Prayers of the Congregation
- The people of Afghanistan and the people of the United States – a just end to a long war
- Zondra and Homer Martin facing a week of medical procedures
- Sandra Dunn for her father
- Helen and Marc Harrison for Chris Rynders and family, Ty Whitehead and Marc’s dad
- Carol and Steve Leichter for Steve and for Baby Geema
- Georgia Upshaw for Ginny
- Dick Ice – recuperating at home
- Edna Dorenzo-Kaiser Post-Acute Hospital, San Leandro
- Susan Joachim
- The people of Syria
- The people of Myanmar
- Al Johnson and Roy Browner as they move to So Cal this week
- Ann Fields for Bertha Miller
- Joshua Ross, recuperating from a concussion
- Ruth Smith
- Fannye Leary
- Shirley Jones
- Dwight Dickerson for his family
- Rae Rita Thompson for her Dad
- All our college students
- Our Youth and their leaders as they go on their Snow Retreat (safety and joy)
- The ministry of our Hunger Task Force
- Tyrone Mack for his mother in law
- Arnold Anderson (hospitalized but now home)
- Gloria Meads for Max Powers, Art and Lura Ferguson, Caroleen Neal
Announcements
The Hunger Task Force invites everyone to stay for their annual Bake Sale and Lunch after church this Sunday. This is one of the HTF’s major fund raising events.