SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Sun Churches Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We're a gospel center church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: May God bless you today through his life-giving word.
SPEAKER_00: This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
SPEAKER_00: Glory to you, Lord Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
SPEAKER_00: This was the first registration when Corinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
SPEAKER_00: And while they were there the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
SPEAKER_00: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_00: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And this will be a sign for you.
SPEAKER_00: You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly there was with an angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
SPEAKER_00: And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
SPEAKER_00: And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
SPEAKER_00: But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
SPEAKER_00: And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Praise to you, Lord Christ, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, we come to your word needful, but confident in your abundant mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: You have given us the gift of gifts lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: Take us in spirit to the watchful shepherds and enlarge our minds.
SPEAKER_00: Let us hear good tidings of great joy.
SPEAKER_00: Let us clasp the newborn child to our hearts, embracing him with undying faith, exalting that he is ours and we are his.
SPEAKER_00: In him you have given us so much that heaven can give no more.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we have sung our fair share of carols this evening, and we're not done yet.
SPEAKER_00: But unfortunately, this evening we won't be singing my favorite carol.
SPEAKER_00: Well, is it my favorite carol?
SPEAKER_00: I feel conflicted about this carol, let's put it that way.
SPEAKER_00: My favorite carol is not one you'd sing in church.
SPEAKER_00: My favorite carol, Christmas Carol, was released in 1971, and it was written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
SPEAKER_00: This is a hymn, and you can't tell me by the way that John Lennon wasn't a hymn writer.
SPEAKER_00: This is a hymn called So This Is Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Parentheses, war is over.
SPEAKER_00: You know this song, right?
SPEAKER_00: So this is Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And what have you done?
SPEAKER_00: Someone help me out here.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, good.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are great.
SPEAKER_00: Just want to make sure you're still awake.
SPEAKER_00: I think about this song probably more than any other Christmas song in a given year.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not so much John Lennon's contemplative lyrics that get me thinking.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually what the boys' choir is singing behind those lyrics.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_00: War is over.
SPEAKER_00: If you want it.
SPEAKER_00: War is over.
SPEAKER_00: You remember that?
SPEAKER_00: More than any other Christmas song, I probably end up thinking about this song the most around this time of year.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason for that is because it really does seem that simple, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: War is over.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you want it.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want war to be over?
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want peace on earth?
SPEAKER_00: What generation has not longed for this?
SPEAKER_00: Some more deep in our hearts we long for peace, and we cannot realize that for one reason or another.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: When will our enlightened self-interest kick in to the point where that peace we long for so desperately can be realized?
SPEAKER_00: The great philosopher Jimi Hendricks wrote that when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
SPEAKER_00: When will that happen?
SPEAKER_00: Generation before John Lennon lived a man named Andrew Carnegie.
SPEAKER_00: And among other things, Andrew Carnegie funded peace initiatives and institutions.
SPEAKER_00: He was convinced of the possibility of a world without war, world of peace, and he wanted to do whatever he could to realize that world.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote that I am convinced that the only thing required to abolish war is to educate the next generation to despise it as they would the infliction of unnecessary pain.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't despise unnecessary pain?
SPEAKER_00: Of course we do.
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we just think of war that way?
SPEAKER_00: Andrew Carnegie wrote that in 1907.
SPEAKER_00: Seven years later, the world was plunged into the most horrific war it had ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: And then 20 years later, it did it again.
SPEAKER_00: And since then we have lived with the atomic bomb, with governments forming and collapsing, with unrest, violence, warfare.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about this year alone, 2024.
SPEAKER_00: We have seen violence in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Myanmar and Sudan.
SPEAKER_00: We have seen violence in the streets of the UK.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen assassination attempts in the United States.
SPEAKER_00: Are we any closer to realizing that peace that we long for?
SPEAKER_00: War is over if you want it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't even have to look at the news to recognize that, do we?
SPEAKER_00: If we had the courage, we could look a little more personally than that.
SPEAKER_00: We can look closer to home in our neighborhoods or our families.
SPEAKER_00: We might recognize that there is hostilities, conflicts, enities, folks we haven't talked to for years.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, is peace just a sentiment for Christmas?
SPEAKER_00: That's what the angels announce, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Glory to God on high and peace to all on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Is that just a sentiment?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is, by the way, kind of unapologetic about the realm of what we might call the supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: If God can create physical beings like us, it's not unreasonable to think he can create spiritual beings that we call angels.
SPEAKER_00: And so here they are, singing, as it were, over the birth of the newborn Savior, peace on earth.
SPEAKER_00: What are we supposed to understand by that?
SPEAKER_00: Is that a nice thing to think about at Christmas?
SPEAKER_00: What does Luke, the author of this biography of Jesus, understand by this announcement of peace?
SPEAKER_00: What makes it so different?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want to suggest.
SPEAKER_00: This peace is not a result of earth achieving heaven, whether that's through politics or education, what have you.
SPEAKER_00: This peace, this true peace announced by the angels, is a result of heaven to come down to earth.
SPEAKER_00: We need heaven to break into our earth if we're going to know peace.
SPEAKER_00: And not just peace on a global scale, but peace in our homes, peace in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: That's the peace the angels are announcing.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to ask Luke, what do you mean by this peace?
SPEAKER_00: I suspect he would, one, want us to understand where this true peace comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, he'd want us to understand what this true peace looks like in action.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, he'd want us to understand how we should respond to this true peace.
SPEAKER_00: What does it require of us?
SPEAKER_00: Let's look really briefly.
SPEAKER_00: Where does this true peace come from?
SPEAKER_00: This heaven come to earth peace.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you have your order of service, you can flip quickly to Isaiah chapter 9, which is our first reading this evening.
SPEAKER_00: This is from the Hebrew Scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: God is speaking his word to his people through his prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets are folks that God speaks to so that they can speak to God's people.
SPEAKER_00: They can address God's people with God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And in this moment, God's people are wayward and they are exiled from their homeland, and they are without hope, lost, both in a political sphere of gloom, but a spiritual sphere of gloom as well.
SPEAKER_00: Apart from God's intervention, they don't see any way forward.
SPEAKER_00: And it's into this spiritual gloom that God speaks promise.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks a promise of deliverance, a promise of rescue, a promise of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: And to fulfill this promise is a child, for unto us a child is born.
SPEAKER_00: To us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: To this promised child, this Savior, belongs all wisdom, all divinity, all power and providence belongs peace itself.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Luke is drawing from.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Luke understands as the angels are announcing peace on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Luke wants us to see that this is a fulfillment of God's promise.
SPEAKER_00: God has promised a prince of peace, and now he is delivering on it.
SPEAKER_00: But not just any kind of peace, true peace.
SPEAKER_00: The word that Luke uses is a work, uh, pardon me, is a Greek word for irene.
SPEAKER_00: We get our work ireneic from this word irene.
SPEAKER_00: Irene is a loaded word.
SPEAKER_00: It's a translation of an even more loaded Hebrew word, shalom, which is the word that Isaiah uses.
SPEAKER_00: We might have even heard folks greet one another with shalom.
SPEAKER_00: Roughly translated, that does mean peace, but it means more than peace in the way that we might talk casually about it.
SPEAKER_00: We might talk about peace as the absence of conflict.
SPEAKER_00: We might talk about peace as tranquility or serenity, sense of well-being.
SPEAKER_00: And all those things are true in their way, but shalom, Irene, goes much, much deeper than that.
SPEAKER_00: This is a peace realized when all of creation, our lives included, are rightly gathered up and oriented to God's good purposes for his world.
SPEAKER_00: When that sort of peace is realized, we are aimed towards God's purposes for us in his world, then things like justice and community and friendship, all of these things spring up, as it were, like side effects of shalom at the heart of it all.
SPEAKER_00: It's this shalom, this peace being realized in this promised child, this promised Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And Luke wants to make it clear that's Jesus lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: True peace comes from the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He himself is our peace.
SPEAKER_00: That's how St.
SPEAKER_00: Paul puts it.
SPEAKER_00: But what does this true peace look like in action?
SPEAKER_00: Luke wants us to understand, he's writing a biography of Jesus after all.
SPEAKER_00: We're just reading the birth narrative.
SPEAKER_00: Luke goes on to describe Jesus' life and his ministry, his teaching, his healing, everything Jesus gets up to.
SPEAKER_00: And the fascinating thing as we read through Luke's account is that what so often results from an encounter with Jesus is sharing in God's peace.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you two examples.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke chapter 7, Jesus meets a despised woman who washes his feet with precious ointment and even her tears, she is so moved by God's grace in Christ that she anoints him with her tears.
SPEAKER_00: She is received with hostility from the religious elites around her, but she is received tenderly by Jesus, who offers her God's own forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says to this woman, Your faith has saved you.
SPEAKER_00: Go in peace.
SPEAKER_00: Another example is a few verses later in Luke chapter 8, verse 48.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus meets with a woman who has an ongoing discharge of blood.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is that a serious medical issue, it's a serious spiritual issue in her day.
SPEAKER_00: She wouldn't be allowed to worship in the temple because she'd be considered unclean.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is she cut off from community, she is seemingly cut off from her God as well.
SPEAKER_00: But she knows Jesus can make the difference, which is why she sneaks up behind him and grasps at him so that she can be healed.
SPEAKER_00: But we, the reader, need to understand that before she grasps at Jesus with her hand, she has already grasped him by faith.
SPEAKER_00: She has put her trust in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.
SPEAKER_00: Go in peace.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_00: True peace results from a personal encounter with Jesus, trusting in the word that He speaks to us.
SPEAKER_00: His word is healing, his word is salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And so Luke wants us to understand that if we want to know peace in action, we have to go to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But how do we respond to this true peace among us?
SPEAKER_00: That's the third question we might want to ask.
SPEAKER_00: And to answer that, we might go towards the end of Luke's biography of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 19, the word peace shows up in a very important way once again.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke chapter 19, Jesus is making his way into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It's the final chapter of his life and ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus knows exactly what is waiting for him in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It's not conquest, it's not taking it to the Romans, it's suffering and cross.
SPEAKER_00: But through his suffering and through his cross, he will bear our sin.
SPEAKER_00: He will bear the power of our death, and he will put it to death in his death, so that we can share in his resurrection life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows that cross and suffering is waiting for him in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And as he makes his way into Jerusalem, people have an impression of what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd, in fact, the crowd hails him with something that echoes the very angel's announcement that we just read in Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on a beast of burden.
SPEAKER_00: He's met with a crowd crying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: Here's that word peace again.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's really interesting about this scene.
SPEAKER_00: Picture Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Picture Jesus riding in on that donkey.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the way I picture it.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus drew near and saw the city, he wept over it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was not riding in Jerusalem, shoulders held back.
SPEAKER_00: He was bawling his eyes out.
SPEAKER_00: He was ugly crying.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Would that you, that's you, plural.
SPEAKER_00: You, God's people, even you had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes because you did not know the time of your visitation.
SPEAKER_00: What's Jesus saying?
SPEAKER_00: Even while God's people gather to celebrate Jesus, we can still miss him.
SPEAKER_00: We can miss his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: We can miss his cross.
SPEAKER_00: And if we miss his cross, we will miss his invitation to take up our cross and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: Because for Jesus, the way of cross is the true way of glory.
SPEAKER_00: True peace requires us to recognize Jesus' visitation, Jesus' presence among us, and to respond in personal trust with him, to receive him by faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is good news.
SPEAKER_00: There is good news because God in Christ, who has been made a child on Christmas, has become a child so that we by faith can become children of the Most High God.
SPEAKER_00: This Jesus who marches to the cross is the same Jesus who is raised to new life.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will not let you go or me go without a chance to realize this is the day of our visitation.
SPEAKER_00: Christians proclaim that Jesus who was crucified is also Jesus who rose again, is Jesus who ascended into heaven, and is Jesus who will one day come again in glory and establish his kingdom of peace, fully realize his kingdom of peace here on earth as in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But he has not left us as orphans.
SPEAKER_00: He has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of Christians, to dwell in the hearts of his church, so that we may know him, so that he may visit us.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss the day of your visitation.
SPEAKER_00: That's Luke's point here.
SPEAKER_00: True peace is not a result of heaven achiev earth achieving heaven, raising itself up, but realizing that heaven has come down to earth in the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's the one we have to do business with.
SPEAKER_00: So this is Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And what have you done?
SPEAKER_00: In light of the good news of Christmas, that's really an irrelevant question, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: The good news of Christmas asks not what you have done.
SPEAKER_00: Have you contributed to peace on earth?
SPEAKER_00: Have you raised earth a little bit more to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: The good news of Christmas is this heaven has come to earth.
SPEAKER_00: It is not about you have done for God, it is about what God in Christ has done for you.
SPEAKER_00: What have you done?
SPEAKER_00: What has Christ done?
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you're here tonight and you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And you're glad it works for some, but maybe it's just not your thing.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it seems too vague.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it seems like the math just doesn't add up.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, if that is you, thank you for hanging in there.
SPEAKER_00: Well done.
SPEAKER_00: That takes a lot of courage.
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, I might just suggest a question for reflection.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, there's no trick.
SPEAKER_00: Something to think about.
SPEAKER_00: Is earthly peace possible?
SPEAKER_00: If so, by what means?
SPEAKER_00: Is peace possible to fully realize in your life?
SPEAKER_00: What's that gonna take?
SPEAKER_00: The question really is why do we long for peace if we ourselves can't raise ourselves up to realize it?
SPEAKER_00: If you'd say it's not possible, but it's a nice sentiment, and it's better to aim for that and fall short than to not aim at all, then fair enough.
SPEAKER_00: But why do we long for peace?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we shake it?
SPEAKER_00: If I long for, if I'm hungry, I feel that longing, I can satisfy that with food.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm lonely, I can satisfy that with friendship.
SPEAKER_00: If we long for peace, could it be that the satisfaction is still out there?
SPEAKER_00: C.
SPEAKER_00: S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis writes that if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
SPEAKER_00: Could that be true?
SPEAKER_00: If you're here tonight and you're a little less than skeptical, but curious what's this Jesus guy about, then I'd want to encourage you to investigate this claim that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_00: Investigate it.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the source.
SPEAKER_00: Figure Jesus or who Jesus reveals himself to be, and not who we might just figure he is.
SPEAKER_00: Because we can have a lot of impressions and a lot of fragments and fail to do business with Jesus himself.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here tonight and you're a believer, if you'd say I put my faith in Christ, maybe you'd say the truth is I might have my faith in Christ, but I don't feel the kind of peace that you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And that makes me wonder is God not pleased with me?
SPEAKER_00: After all, he promises peace to all those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_00: I'd want to share with you what a companion of Luke the author, a companion named Paul, what he has to write in one of his letters.
SPEAKER_00: He writes that since we have been justified, we have been made right before God by our trust in Jesus, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The means of peace is not what we have to offer God, it is what God has offered us.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We look at the manger and we remember that he is God with us.
SPEAKER_00: That is our peace.
SPEAKER_00: That is your peace.
SPEAKER_00: And that is that is a peace that is as secure as it can be, regardless of how we feel or don't feel.
SPEAKER_00: Peace on earth, mercy mild.
SPEAKER_00: God and sinner reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: Glory to God in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: And on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_01: Father, on this holy night, your son, our Savior Jesus Christ, was born as a child among us.
SPEAKER_01: Renew us, your church, as the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: On this holy night, there was no room for your son in the inn.
SPEAKER_01: Protect with your love those who have no home and all who live in poverty.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: On this holy night, blessed Mary, in the pain of labor, gave birth to your son.
SPEAKER_01: Hold in your hand all who are in pain and in distress.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: On this holy night, your Christ came as a light shining in the darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Bring comfort to all who suffer in the darkness of our world.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: On this holy night, the angels sang peace to God's people on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Strengthen those who work for peace and justice in all the world.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: On this holy night, shepherds in the field heard good tidings of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Give us grace to preach the gospel of Christ's redemption to all people.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: On this holy night, the glory of heaven is come down to earth, and earth is raised to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Receive our thanks and praise for all the faithful departed who have passed through death in the hope of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, grant these our prayers for the sake of Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.
SPEAKER_00: By what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
SPEAKER_00: We have not loved you in our whole hearts.
unknown: We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
unknown: We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
unknown: For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us.
unknown: That we may delight in your Lord and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.
SPEAKER_00: Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who in his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true faith turn to him, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hear the word of God to all who truly turn to him.
SPEAKER_00: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with me?
SPEAKER_00: Saints, the peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's greet one another at the peace of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Peace with you, brother.
SPEAKER_00: Peace with you, Scott.
SPEAKER_00: Hi, peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Creighton.
SPEAKER_00: What's your name?
SPEAKER_00: Patrick.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Angus.
SPEAKER_00: Angus.
SPEAKER_00: I think we have we met before, Angus?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, very good.
SPEAKER_00: Good to see you.
SPEAKER_00: Hi there.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Merry Christmas and uh peace in Christ, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Peace in Christ, Valerie.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, dear friends, have a seat when you're ready.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm going against my sermon if I cut the piece short, but yeah, it's stuff to do.
SPEAKER_00: Well, dear friends, if this is your first or one of your first times here with uh us uh at Newsong, welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you'd like to connect with us, we would love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find one of these connection cards just tucked in the chair, one of the chairs in front of you there.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to fill out your information and just drop it in the offering box on your way out, uh it would be a great way for us to be able to be in touch with you.
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to learn more about Newsong or keep in touch, you can subscribe to our newsletter at newsongportperry.ca.
SPEAKER_00: We'll continue our worship tomorrow on Christmas Day at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to join us then, and I invite you to join us every Sunday for worship again at 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_00: And for those who are curious, or for those, you know, feel like a chord was struck or would like to learn more, I'd like to invite you to take one or both of these booklets.
SPEAKER_00: Again, you'll find them tucked under the chair in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: One is called What is the Gospel?
SPEAKER_00: And the other is Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And I think they just make uh great, pithy outlines for what the Bible teaches on both of those things.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're feeling even more courageous still, you could uh give one of the biographies of Jesus that we find in the Bible a whirl.
SPEAKER_00: And one of uh the great resources that helps us to walk through uh these biographies is a resource called the Word One-to-One.
SPEAKER_00: And it's something that can be done over a cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00: So if that's something that might interest you, just let me know on your way out.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to talk with you more about that.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, let's continue in worship.
SPEAKER_00: There's nope, there's one more thing.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on, hold on to worship.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you have grandkids or kids or uh neighbors, anyone who uh young folks who would enjoy uh some Christmas activities, we put together some grab bags, so just help yourself in the foyer on your way out tonight, and we'd love to share those with anyone who would be blessed uh by those this Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be coming to the Lord's table together.
SPEAKER_00: All baptized Christians with repenting hearts and personal faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are welcome to receive Holy Communion with us.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start from front to back, and rows can come forward in two lines down the middle aisle.
SPEAKER_00: And when you're at the front, please move as far to either side as you can to receive.
SPEAKER_00: You can open your hands in front of you to receive the bread.
SPEAKER_00: We receive from one loaf as a reminder that we're one body in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But if you require a gluten-free wafer, just uh let me know.
SPEAKER_00: Let Matt know as he serves.
SPEAKER_00: You'll then be offered the wine.
SPEAKER_00: You can choose to either receive from the chalice or the individual cup.
SPEAKER_00: We do have a limited number of non-alcoholic cups or de-alcoholized uh cups, which are available if that's a ministry to you.
SPEAKER_00: Individual cups can then be deposited in one of the two water basins on the way back to your seat along the perimeter of the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: If mobility prevents you from approaching the Lord's table, I'll gladly bring the sacrament to you.
SPEAKER_00: Just flag us down as we make a round around the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not a baptized Christian or you won't be receiving Holy Communion with us today, I'm so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: I want to invite you to come forward with your arms crossed so that we can pray God's blessing upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_00: Let's come and receive his good gifts of grace.
SPEAKER_00: We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us.
SPEAKER_00: Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us.
SPEAKER_00: If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution.
SPEAKER_00: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.