The Story



This is your story.
This is my story.
This is the greatest story ever told.
This is God's story.

In January at Sharon United Methodist Church, we will begin a 31-week journey through the key stories of the Bible. Have you ever wondered what these Bible stories really mean? Why have they had such a significant impact on the world? Are they relevant to our everyday lives in the 21st century? Is my own personal story somehow connected to God's story?

Join us on Sundays at 9 AM and 11:15 AM to dive into these questions together as a large group. We will also offer additional small group opportunities to provide a more personal setting in which to explore the stories.

Let's find out how our stories are part of God's story!

Merry Christmas



Luke 2:1-20

Today's New International Version (TNIV)

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.
⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Is There Hope for Violent America?



I walked my 4 year old son, Luke to his preschool class on Monday.  I was overcome with emotion while doing this simple task, as it was his first day back to school after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday.  There was a suffocating tension in the air.  Luke’s teachers were more loving than ever, trying their best to keep it together.  If the shooting could happen in small town America, it could happen anywhere.  I cannot imagine what the families of those 20 precious children and 6 heroic adults are experiencing right now.

At church on Sunday, we laid hands in prayer on our children and the adults that work in our school system.  We thanked God for them, and asked God to protect them.  As a father and pastor, I spoke about my grief and anger.  In our culture, we no longer can go to a movie, shop at the mall, make a wrong turn in traffic, or even drop off our kids at school without worrying that some lunatic is going to start shooting. 

Hollywood makes billions of dollars from our demand for violent movies and television shows.  We spend millions more on video games that allow us to blow people’s heads off in the virtual world, complete with accurate forensic blood splatter.  We cheer when players from our favorite football team knock the opposition out of the game.   We love our guns and our rights to own, carry, and use them. 

 
Disclaimer: I watch Batman, James Bond, and Alien movies. I smash computerized pigs by launching Angry Birds from a slingshot on my iPad. I cheer for the Carolina Panthers in the National Football League. I bought my son plastic guns and holsters because he wants to be a cowboy. I take great pleasure in shooting my best friends with paint balls. I own a shotgun, rifle, and handgun. I shoot them at inanimate targets. Is all of this good stuff? Probably not. Is all of it evil? Probably not. My point is that I am not immune. I am a participant in a culture of violence.

When Jesus was born 2000 or so years ago, King Herod slaughtered all the boys age 2 and under in the city of Bethlehem and its vicinity.  Roman citizens cheered as human gladiators fought one another to the death in what amounted to the original Hunger Games.  It seems that we humans like our violence no matter when we live in history. 

 

Is there hope for us? 

I trust that our government and law enforcement agencies will do all that they can to protect us.  Sadly, it will not be enough.  The issue goes well beyond them.    

We humans are broken.  We live in a broken world.  We have broken relationships with ourselves, with each other, and with God.   It was not meant to be this way.  God created a paradise for us.  God created us in God’s image.  God has great plans for our lives.  God also created us with free will.  We chose, and continue to choose, to go our own way and to do our own thing.  We have not lived into God’s plans, and have brought brokenness into the world.  We do harm and violence.  In our brokenness, we even let evil in and set it loose on the world. 

God wants better for us.  That is why God sent Jesus into the world at Christmas, to be Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”  As an adult, Jesus willingly sacrificed Himself in a most violent death on a cross.  God then raised Jesus from the dead.  This was God’s plan to win us back.  Our brokenness can be healed.  Our guilt and shame can be replaced with love, joy, and peace.  We can live into God’s great plans for our lives and embrace the image of God in which we have been created.  We can claim God’s victory and power over evil.  We can experience God’s kingdom in this life, and encounter it fully in the next.

Make no mistake, the massacre in Connecticut was evil.  It was NOT God’s plan.  We live in a culture of violence.  It is not God’s plan.  As the nation continues to grieve, we are still left with the haunting question: is there hope?  My answer is yes.  Our one and only hope is Jesus, the Prince of Peace for a broken, violent world.

Christmas Is Not Your Birthday



Why is it that we give gifts to each other on Jesus’ birthday every year at Christmas?  Shouldn’t Jesus be the one receiving presents, just as He did from the wise men when this whole Christmas thing started?

Last Sunday we kicked off the Advent sermon series, Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, inspired by a book by Pastor Michael Slaughter.  In the sermon, I challenged all of us to put the focus on giving gifts to Jesus this year.  What can we get someone who literally has everything already?  I offer two suggestions:

1.      Share the Good News of Jesus with people.  Tell someone who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing in our lives.  I believe that introducing people to Jesus will be the perfect Christmas present for Jesus!

2.      Spend as much money on Jesus as we do on all our other Christmas gifts combined.  It is Jesus’ birthday after all.  By all means, enjoy giving gifts to the people that we love.  Let’s just include Jesus, too. 

On Christmas Eve here at Sharon United Methodist Church, we will be taking up an offering at each service to help the homeless. Half the total amount of offerings will go to the Charlotte Urban Ministry Center, a group that helps the homeless to survive, find jobs and permanent housing, and battle substance abuse.  They also are responsible for the Room in the Inn ministry that our church participates in.  The other half of the offerings will go to Haywood Street United Methodist Church in Asheville.  Brian Combs, who grew up in our church, is the pastor of this congregation that primarily is composed of homeless people.  Haywood Street relies upon other churches to fund its ministry to the homeless. 

In the wake of the annual Christmas unwrapping madness, we leave empty, ripped-open boxes strewn across the floor.  For many of us, they serve as reminders that the Christmas frenzy often leaves us feeling empty on the inside, as well as in debt.  How soon are we back at the mall in a futile effort trying to buy something else to satisfy us?  How many of the gifts that we gave others are being returned or re-gifted to someone else?  Wouldn’t it be nice to feel better about Christmas this year?  Let’s give it a shot by welcoming Jesus into our hearts, by sharing the Good News of Jesus with others, and by helping the homeless.  In so doing, we will be saying, Happy Birthday, Jesus!