Dear Church Family and Community,
God has been helping me learn that life is not about the choices that I have to make. They may be big and important. They may be overwhelming and come with positive or negative ramifications. Still, God has been teaching me that, through it all, the real question from God to me is…do you trust me? Sometimes it takes a while to finally answer that question affirmatively. But when I do, a change comes and the question evolves to…Do you still trust me, do you still trust me now…even in this?
I find it very easy to think that life is about the choices we make or don’t make. It is not. Our lives should be about keeping our faith in God in every decision and in every season. Our choices do matter, but they should never supersede the trust we put and keep in God. When we keep our hope rooted in God, the Spirit leads us to make the right choices. When our hope is rooted in God and we make wrong choices, our Father forgives us, makes our crooked paths straight and sets us on the right road. When our hope is rooted in God, we have the peace of Immanuel, “God with us,” and He teaches us so that sometime later we can help others going through the same situations.
I think the question of trusting God in every decision and in every season is universal in our walk with God. Life happens: trust God. Things are not as they seem: trust God. This is not how you planned it: trust God. I don’t know what to do: trust God. I am reminded of all of this almost daily. But this week, it is especially on my mind as we revisit Joseph, the husband of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Joseph had made all the right choices, but things did not go as he had planned. He thought he knew what to do (divorce Mary quietly and move on), but God had other plans and that same universal question: Do you still trust me, do you still trust me now…even in this?
In this Advent season, we wait with expectation on The Coming of Jesus. Our lens this year is provided by Matthew’s pen. Last week we saw that Jesus was God’s gift of hope because God’s people are blessed with a testament and witness of God’s faithfulness in His story. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah sent by God to save the world. The hope Christ brings is for us to receive and then share with our world. We will continue our journey this week by revisiting Joseph and God’s gift of peace. To prepare for this week’s service, I would like to invite you to spend time over the next few days intentionally meditating on Matthew 1:18-25. To help you reflect, I would like to ask you to focus on the following questions:
What is giving you the biggest anxiety right now? How are you praying about it?
What is one way that God has been faithful to you this week?
What brings you peace? Are you currently doing those things that bring you peace?
How did the coming of Jesus bring peace?
How does Jesus being Immanuel, God with Us now, bring you peace?
Jesus as our Immanuel changes everything. God is with us. Christ’s coming brings us hope and also peace. We have peace in every decision that God is with us. We have peace in every situation that God is with us. We have peace in all of our anxiety that God is with us. Like Joseph, even when things don’t go as planned, we are to trust God. Even when we make all the right choices and it all still seems all wrong, we are to trust God. In this season and for the rest of your days, rest in the peace of knowing God is with you, God has always been with you and God will always be with you.
God bless you all, and take care.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Hank
(Matthew 1:22-23)
P: (717) 561-2170, ext. 104
E: pastorhank@harrisburgbic.org
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