A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in a Sunday sermon that as a church we were the front door of Heaven which necessitated that our composition looks like Heaven. I referenced Revelation 7 which states, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” To be sure, if our worship is to look like Heaven then it requires us to reach out to the multitude of ethnicities that populate Alamance County.
Something that is required of us before we engage in such an effort is to have some understanding of the cultures we are attempting to reach. To that end, I will be speaking on the global face of Jesus during Advent. It is important for us to remember that other cultures do not always view Jesus in the same manner that we do. However, just as the four Gospels each give us a different witness to Jesus’ life and work that deepens our understanding of Him, so too does studying the various ways the rest of the world’s Christians relate to and worship Jesus expand our relationship with Bethlehem’s babe.
One of the things that I have enjoyed doing throughout my life is learning about other places and customs. It has enabled me to take the best that I have gleaned from my studies and apply them to my own life. I sincerely hope that our Advent worship will enable each of us to do the same thing with not only our discipleship, but our witness. I pray that it will enable us to reach out to all with whom we come in contact and let them know that Christmas is a celebration of just how great God’s love is for each of us and invite them to experience that love for themselves. I also pray that each of us would experience that love afresh in new and powerful ways this Christmas as we give thanks to God for His great love for us.
Merry Christmas,
Marc