Good Tidings of Great Joy!

For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people.

One of the greatest most profound statements made in the Bible was told to the shepherds. “The Messiah is for ALL people”.

I love Christmas at Eastern Hills! It is festive beyond belief. There is singing, caroling, musicals, parties, worship services. All of them proclaiming the good news that the Messiah has come…but mostly for us.

I don’t think that is intentional. I think we get so busy planning and doing that we forget to invite people who don’t know the good news. I shared a story Sunday during the announcements about a lady who saw a picture of our Christmas decorations. Her question was, “Is Christmas the time when they celebrate his birth or death?” My friend responded, “Are you kidding me? Really, you know right?” and the lady said no.

I shared a story with Pastor Josh about a neighborhood Facebook post. Someone was looking for a daycare for their children. Someone responded that the church in the neighborhood had one. He responded with a sad question, “What church?” Someone else said, “Pleasant Ridge.” Someone else said, “The church at the top of the hill on Karen Road. Eastern Hills I think.”

That statement was from people living in our neighborhood. Some didn’t know there was even a church in the neighborhood and then some who did, didn’t know the name of the church. After 60 years on top of this hill, we think that everyone knows we are here. They do not. We think everyone has a concept of what Christianity is all about, and they do not.

So, back to the Nativity story; after the angels had delivered the message to the shepherds it says, “And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the sayings which was told to them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were made known to them by the shepherds.”

Like the Shepherds, we have seen, and we have experienced God’s great salvation through Jesus. It is now time to tell the story. We are never too young or too old to share the good news. Do we want our church to grow? The pastor can’t make it grow. Good programing doesn’t make a church grow. A church grows because the people bring their friends.

This Sunday, December 16, we will meet in the Reception Room at 2:30 PM. We will be going out into the neighborhood asking people what Eastern Hills can do to be of help to them and to the community. It is our opportunity to let our neighborhood know that there is a church in Forest Hills. We are here to be a light to this community. We want to point this neighborhood to the Savior, and in order to do that we will first just let them know we love them. This survey is not a door-to-door theological lecture. It is a simple gesture of, “How are you doing?” and “How can we help you?” The neighborhood needs to know Eastern Hills is here and that we care.

Greg

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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