Intersections

I've been to New York several times. The first time I went to New York, I was with a bunch of youth group kids from our district and we were there for a seminar regarding Peace and Justice. We got to tour the UN building, which I thought was really cool. But a couple of the best things that I saw were actually outside of the building.   In the gardens, there is a statue (which was once bronze I've been told, now made green) of a human raising a hammer to a bent sword they're pushing into the ground. It looks a little strange, but the plaque said "Beating Swords into Plowshares" and it's was a gift from the Soviet Union to the UN back in 1959. The reference comes from our text this morning. The other is across the street from the UN Building. There's a small park, and in the park is a huge wall with Isaiah 2:4 carved into it:  "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against na...

Merry Christmas! Jesus Christ is born! I hope the joy, hope, love, and peace of the season visited your home this week. Maybe you have the next week off until the New Year to relax. Hopefully, you haven’t taken down your tree yet. This is only the third day of Christmas - we have nine more to go! In my family, we keep the tree up until Epiphany - January 6th, just to enjoy the fullness of the season. After the celebrations this past week,  today might be kind of a letdown. You may also be surprised that it’s not one of the pastors giving the message today, but they have had quite a year, so hopefully, they can relax a little bit, too, knowing they didn't need to prepare for Sunday after a Thursday service.  The gospel message this week is also kind of a letdown - there are no shepherds, no wise men, no singing angels or stars to follow to a manger. But don't think that I have a light message for you! If advent has been about waiting, the preparations have paid off because the ...