Welcome to THE TIMOTHY REPORT for December 8, 2003
“To assist, encourage, enable and equip”
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NAUGHTY OR NICE?
The popular message about Santa Claus is that he won't come unless we're good. Now, what is the message about Jesus coming into our world that first Christmas? That he doesn't come unless we're good? No! Quite the opposite. Jesus came precisely because we were being bad. We have this problem with sin, and we can't get free of it unless Jesus comes to forgive us as an absolutely free and undeserved gift. Isn't this quite different than the gifts that Santa Claus may or may not bring? The gift of God's gracious forgiveness is the gift above all others, one that truly deserves our thanks and celebration. It is a divine love come into our midst that begins to free us from sin and its partnership with resentment and the powers of death. It is the only gift which can begin to help us abound in love as we seek to be imitators of our Lord and of his saints.
-- Paul J. Nuechterlein
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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THE CHRISTMAS RUSH
Like a row of hulking linemen on a professional football team, the season is down and set, poised to plow over us with all its demands, distractions, details, dilemmas, delights and duties. For merchants, it's a 'make-or-break' time of year. The more exhausted and overworked they become, the better their business is doing. For teachers, it's the challenge of keeping a gaggle of fidgety children focused on their schoolwork while arranging some special programs and projects that will honor the season. For musicians and musical directors, it's a time for arranging frantic rehearsals, for easing fragile egos and for fulfilling dreams of fleeting fame. For clergy, it's a schedule that is suddenly tighter than ever, sermons that must be better than ever, services that are suddenly fuller than ever. For children, it's deciding what to put on a list, where to hang the decorations, and who will take them to the mall.
--Homiletics, Vol. 10, No. 4 (October - December 1997), pp. 54ff.
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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WHEN THE COWBOY CAME TO CHURCH
One Sunday morning an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally worn out bible. The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and accessories. As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled at his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.
The preacher gave a long sermon about Hellfire and brimstone and a stern lecture on how much money the church needed to do God's work. As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. "Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship."
The old cowboy assured the preacher he would. The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored.
The preacher approached the man and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."
"I did," replied the old cowboy.
"If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?" asked the preacher.
"Well, sir, God told me that He didn't have a clue what I should wear. He says... He's never been in here before."
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON CHRISTMAS
In a Dennis the Menace cartoon, Dennis and Joey are looking into a department store window that has been decorated for Christmas. Dennis says, "Last month was our giving thanks holiday, an' Christmas is God's way of saying 'You're welcome.'"
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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CHRISTMAS HUMOR
The pastor of a church in a small town was ordering a sign for their outdoor manger scene. The company needed to know the dimensions and verbiage of the sign, but the pastor wasn't sure. Since time was of the essence, the company suggested that the pastor send the information to them by way of messenger as soon as he could. The next day a Western Union employee was shocked to see this message come across the wire: "For unto us a child is born. 8 feet long, 3 feet wide."
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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IT REALLY DIDN'T MATTER
Charles Colson
The young people at Shively Christian Church, led at the time by Youth Pastor Dave Stone, were fiercely competitive with their neighbor, Shively Baptist, in all things, especially softball. They were also serious about Christianity, faithfully attending the summer Bible camp led by the youth pastor.
One week the Bible lesson was about Jesus washing His disciples' feet, from John 13. To make the servanthood lesson stick, Pastor Stone divided the kids into groups and told them to go out and find a practical way to be servants.
"I want you to be Jesus in the city for the next two hours," he said. "If Jesus were here, what would He do? Figure out how He would help people." Two hours later the kids reconvened in Pastor Stone's living room to report what they had done.
One group had done two hours of yard work for an elderly man. Another group bought ice cream treats and delivered them to several widows in the church. A third group visited a church member in the hospital and gave him a card. Another group went to a nursing home and sang Christmas carols -- yes, Christmas carols in the middle of August. One elderly resident remarked that it was the warmest Christmas she could remember.
But when the fifth group stood up and reported what they had done, everyone groaned. This group had made its way to none other than their archrival, Shively Baptist, where they had asked the pastor if he knew someone who needed help. The pastor sent them to the home of an elderly woman who needed yard work done. There, for two hours, they mowed grass, raked the yard, and trimmed hedges.
When they were getting ready to leave, the woman called the group together and thanked them for their hard work. "I don't know how I could get along without you," she told them. "You kids at Shively Baptist are always coming to my rescue."
"Shively Baptist!" interrupted Pastor Stone. "I sure hope you set her straight and told her you were from Shively Christian Church."
"Why, no, we didn't," the kids said. "We didn't think it mattered."
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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FAITH
Faith is often strengthened right at the place of disappointment.
--Rodney McBride
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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THE WORD BECAME FLESH
"The Word became flesh," John said ... He was touchable, approachable, reachable. And, what's more, he was ordinary. If he were here today you probably wouldn't notice him as he walked through a shopping mall. He wouldn't turn heads by the clothes he wore or the jewelry he flashed. "Just call me Jesus," you can almost hear him say.
--Max Lucado in "God Came Near"
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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TAKING BACK CHRISTMAS
It's time the Church took back Christmas. And we do. Every year we take it back and bring back the meaning and the purpose. The world tries to hold it for ransom each year, with its multiplicity of gadgets and this year's list of must have toys; the world tries to make demands and hold Christmas for ransom but it never works. The birth of the Christ child is just too powerful, even for Wall Street. The sight and the sounds and the remembrance of this child born so long ago changes all the rules. His very presence makes the glitter of our Christmas presents pale in comparison.
--Billy D. Strayhorn
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, Swanlake@jam.rr.com
December 8, 2003)
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