Announcements and E-formation -- Dec. 25, 2024

For Us and for Our Salvation

by Vicar Lisa

Please forgive me for not getting this out yesterday! I had it all ready and got so caught up in the day, I forgot to send it!

If the Christmas gospel from Luke is all about the invisible God made visible in the flesh of the baby of Bethlehem, the Christmas gospel from John is about the cosmic Christ who was present before the birth of the whole world.

“¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God.³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John.⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us…” (John 1:1-14a)

The prologue to the Gospel of John is creed. It is faith claims. It is poetry, really, and it moves us into that space of belief, beyond what we can see. It is a set of beliefs that are absolutely theological in their composition, beyond history and fact-checking.

The gospel moves from faith claims about the preexisting Word that undergird our creeds to a story located in history beginning, not with Jesus, but with John the Baptist. It moves from the creation of the world to the re-creation of the human being that takes place in baptism. Ultimately, John’s prologue makes faith claims not only about God, about Jesus as the preexisting logos, but about us as well.

The beginning of the story is not just Jesus born in the stable in Bethlehem, it is us reborn as children of God at baptism. This is why we retell the story of our faith using the words of the creed each time an infant or an adult is brought to the font, because we believe that on Christmas something happened for us, and for our salvation.

Christ is born this day in you, in us, in the church. We have seen it, in ourselves, in one another, in the world. The God who has existed since before the story of time began has entered into history again this morning to remake us all, to give us new life, light for all people that cannot be overcome.

First Sunday of Christmas – Dec. 29

10 a.m. Worship with Communion

Announcements

• Fellowship Time: Join us after worship today in the Fellowship Hall for coffee and conversation, Let’s Chat.
• Weekly Bible Studies: Zion’s weekly Bible Study resumes on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, with the continuation of The Bible from Scratch, series, now focusing on The New Testament for Beginners. See the newsletter for more details.
• 2025 Church Directory: It’s time to update information for the 2025 Church Directory. If you have updates to your information or photo, let Julie Wersal
• 5-Loaves Volunteers Needed for December: Our 5-Loaves feeding ministry will deliver lunches on Saturday, Dec. 28. If you can help with delivery routes, please let Jo Moss know. If you can make/provide Christmas cookies, please let Norine Hazen know. We need 20-22 dozen cookies, preferably packaged in groups of two cookies in sandwich size bags.
• First Sunday Potluck: Our next potluck will follow worship on Sunday, Jan. 5. Plan to join us for food and fellowship.

E-formation

First Sunday of Christmas -- Dec. 29, 2024

Since medieval times, Christmas has been celebrated for twelve days, culminating at Epiphany, the thirteenth day. The first Sunday within these twelve days focuses on the biblical stories about Jesus’ childhood: Year A the infant Jesus escaping death by Herod, Year B the presentation of the infant Jesus in the temple, and this year the boy Jesus conversing with the temple authorities. Each story anticipates the destiny of Jesus.

Luke 2:41-52

Today we join Mary and Joseph to find Jesus in his Father’s house. He both participates in and moves beyond familial expectations and Jewish religious practice. Like Mary, we treasure these truths in our hearts.

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26

The narrative about Samuel is set parallel to that of Jesus in the temple because also Samuel, whose conception required divine intervention, is given to the service of God and speaks the word of God. Verse 26 parallels Luke 2:52. The boy is clothed in an alb-like robe that signifies his ministry in the temple.

Colossians 3:12-17

We too are found in the Father’s house; we too wear the white robe of baptism. Like Samuel, Mary, and the boy Jesus, we hold the word of God in our hearts. The peace of Christ rules. Our name, that is, the authority under which we present ourselves to the world, is the Lord Jesus. Our habit — that is, both our standard clothing and our practice of life — is thanksgiving.

Zion's Lutheran Church

A Reconciling in Christ Community

zionsluth@gmail.com
719-846-7785