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Listen to the sermon Joel Russell-MacLean
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Good Stewards in Hard Times
The Third Sunday in Advent
Bulletin: Bulletin December 12 2021
Newsletter: Weekly Letter December 12 2021
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 4.1-5; Psalm 33; Matthew 11:2-10
Songs:
- Once in Royal David’s City (band, Choir and congregation, meditation)
- Hark the Glad Sound! (lyrics & melody, acapella, background, 2,contemporary comment)
- Good Christian Folk Rejoice (acapella, background, Megson)
Joel Russell-MacLean
John the Baptist sat in prison waiting for a message from Jesus. His disciples finally returned. Jesus sent them with a message made up of quotes from the prophet Isaiah, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them…”
As John sat in chains and heard the people Jesus named, did it hit him what Jesus left out from Isaiah?
“To proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners” and “to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”
When he heard Jesus’ message, John must have known that he would die in prison.
John would indeed go ahead of Jesus and prepare the way. Just like John, Jesus too would be arrested and then executed. John was a good steward of God’s message, even in prison. A person can be in prison and yet be free. John put God and the Gospel first and was faithful to generations of people to come whom he would never know.
Christmas and Advent are about faithfully repeating the good news that we have received about Jesus.
We may not experience the blessings that come to others, but we are called to serve God’s word to the end.