New Hope UMC of the Northern Berkshires: Recent Episodes
Rev. Stephen Dale
Sometimes the strangest things happen. We rarely expect them, and we’re often caught off guard on how to handle them. But, really, we have two choices. However they got there, whyever these things happen, we can handle them, or we can let them handle us.
Sometimes we just have to shake our heads, say, so, THAT just happened… and respond as best we can, hopefully guided by Jesus.
This weekend we’ll be talking about what is commonly known as “Jesus’ first sermon.” Fresh off his baptism, and the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus went home, to Nazareth. Maybe he was looking to recuperate from his wilderness ordeal in the company of family. Maybe he wanted to start his ministry in Nazareth because scripture had reported that the Messiah would be a Nazarene.
Maybe he just wanted the place he started to be the place he started.
Sometimes we just need to go home.
The sermon was short, and (SPOLERS!) it cost him. But that’s for next week. This week we’re going to talk about what it means to stand up in front of people you know, and who know you, and do something unexpected.
This sermon is a Christmas sermon shared by our Bishop as we close out our Christmas season at New Hope.
This is the first Sunday of Advent, our season of waiting, and our season of expectation, as we prepare our hearts again for Christmas, and for the celebration of the birth of the Child of Bethlehem.
Ain’t expectations something?
I remember as a child, each Christmas, particularly each Christmas Eve, I would be full of expectations… and I can’t remember even once when the expectation matched the reality of Christmas Day.
That, friends, is the blessing of Jesus: we almost never get what we expect… but we almost always get something so much better.
Join us in worship on Sunday at 10:15am live in the sanctuary of the Pownal UMC, or via Facebook or YouTube, or through our website, as we begin our Advent series: the Heart that Grew Three Sizes, experiencing Advent, Christmas, and, this week, unmet expectations, through the eyes of the Grinch.