| December 9, 2021 This Advent through Epiphany, we’re embarking on a series called Close to Home. When something “hits close to home,” it means we feel it in a different way, near the core of who we are. When we are close to home – like a return at the end of a road trip – we find comfort and a new anticipation for something we have experienced before, or maybe for something we are hoping to experience for the first time. Our series continues as we lay the foundation – that which holds everything else as it builds and grows. Zechariah’s voice returns as he finally trusts what the angel revealed to his wife, Elizabeth, and now he sings to his new son, speaking words that will lay the foundation for John’s life. Zechariah blesses God, remembers all that God has done in fulfilling God’s promises and liberating God’s people leading them into life abundant. He then importantly speaks to John of what God has planned for John – how this child has a particular calling and part to play in God’s work of bringing salvation to the world. Zechariah lays a foundation for John’s life by reminding him of the foundation of all life – God. And by doing so in ways that are concrete and specific – like the incarnation itself – God’s love made particular and specific and visible. When’s the last time you inspected the foundation of your life and faith? What might we find as we take a closer look at the church’s foundation? Having been placed on the foundation of God’s love in Christ, what words might you speak to others in order to lay the foundation of God’s love and God’s call to share in the work of the gospel? What would be important to remember about what God has done in the past? What specific role do you want others to see that God has called them into for a time such as this? Who will you speak these words to? How will you show as well as tell? Built upon the foundation of Christ – go and lay the foundation of faith in the world, giving yourself away as bread for the hungry and housing for the homeless, standing with and speaking up for the people others have written off. Grace & Peace, Pastor Drew |
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