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Are you contagious? If so, then please come to worship this Sunday to spread your contagion and to catch the contagion brought by your friends here at FUBC. All of us will benefit from being contagious with the love of God as revealed in Jesus. Unlike other contagions, the love of God revealed in Jesus is not a disease. It does not make people sick. It makes people better.
Do you have a fever, a passion, for joy and sharing it? Are you warmed by a vision of the way the world could be if only everyone cared as deeply for others as for themselves? I hope so. A fever, a passion, for joy and sharing it, is a good thing, especially when it is rooted in and motivated by a love for God and a desire to love creation as God does. I think that every person I know fairly well has known or is now knowing pain and sorrow; has battled through internal conflicts, has experienced loss and suffering. One of the lessons our faith teaches us is that joy can be found and felt and shared and given away even in heartache. It is a joy found through divine love and its human expressions. Are you contagious with the love of God as revealed in Jesus? I hope so. Whether you are or not, I hope you will join us this Sunday.
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Thank you all for a great day last Sunday. From worship through our gathering in Hospitality Hall and our Ministry Council meeting, Sunday was a wonderful day! Thank you for the gift of being your pastor, and for the delightful time we had in Hospitality Hall as we enjoyed delicious food and warm conversation. Thank you for participating in and helping to make possible the spirit of joy that filled our time together, and which regularly does so every time we gather.
Soon we will be in Advent. I am looking forward to traveling through it with you. Here are some incomplete thoughts about the approaching special season which begins the church year. Advent is near. Are expectations growing? If so, for what? If not, why not? What are we doing to prepare for Advent? What will we do in Advent to prepare for Christmas? What is Advent? What is Christmas? In the little over a week before the start of Advent, I wonder if it would be a good idea to meditate on these questions and others, to pray, to reflect, to read the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, as well as the Holy Week narratives in the Gospels. I wonder if it would be wise not to buy in to the buyin’ on Black Friday or, if that is too much to ask of ourselves, at least wait until noon to start our shopping and risk missing out on the best deals? The best deal leading up to Advent is not in what we purchase for the best price, but in what the birth of Jesus gives us for free (forgive the pleonasm). I wonder…. May your Thanksgiving be full of heartwarming experiences, love, and kindness. And may your run-up to Advent prepare you well for what to expect. ~Pastor Jim Sinclair |
Rev Jim SinclairPastor Jim is the minister for First United Baptist Church Archives
October 2020
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