What Next - Happy New Christmas Year

Welcome and Announcements

Good morning and welcome to worship today in this online version. As we gather in this way this week, I want you all to know that it breaks my heart to think that through Advent, we are worshipping virtually, we will not be gathering together in the beauty of this space. As the leadership team met on November 23, we all felt that this was the compassionate and responsible choice as a church. As the cases and deaths due to this deadly virus continue to rise, and as our hospital capacity continues to be stretched, we felt this was the proper response.

And, while we may not be able to gather in this space each Sunday, we are still fully in ministry to our community. In fact, here is a message from Randee Green about one of our continued ministries!

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You can bring your filled bag or your donation to the church office M-F before December 6.

You can also make your donation for the Christmas Care Bags in the same way you offer your regular tithes and offerings. In a time like this, your giving is as important as ever as we finish this year. Our budget may be a little short so far, but we know that you are faithful. Just as before when we were not able to have face-to-face worship, you continued to support the mission and ministry of this church as we work to make difference in this community.

Finally, while you are here dropping off your Christmas Care Bag or your Tithes and Offerings, I want to invite you to enjoy the nativities that are displayed in the Narthex or simply spend some time in prayer and reflection in the sanctuary.

You are welcome to come and sit in the Sanctuary, kneel at the altar and pray, or read your Bible.

We simply ask that you wear your mask, socially distance, and respect the needs of others during your time in the worship space.

As we enter this season, as different as it may seem, may be remember that Jesus is our joy. That this is a season filled with hope. Advent is upon us and with it comes the promise of Christ. Would you pray with me.

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Happy New Year. That’s right… Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the Christian Year. The Christian Calendar follows the liturgical seasons, starting with Advent and culminating with Christ the King Sunday which we celebrated last week. So, in the church, it is fitting to say, Happy New Year… and make all the New Year’s resolutions like we will in January.

What better way to start a new year than with a vow to grow in our relationship with Christ! To grow as a Disciple… to live out the SoulShifts we spent the past 7 weeks talking about. So that is how we will wrap up this series and step into this new year of faith, looking forward to a new year of hope.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten to preach Christmasy themed sermons. Over the next 3 weeks we will move into our Advent series, looking at the gifts that the Wise Men brought to young Jesus. I can’t wait to look more deeply into the meaning of each of these three gifts, of Frankincense, Myrrh, and Gold - what they meant in Jesus time, and what they mean to us today.

But, before we get to next week, we need to finish up SoulShift.

Some of you have asked about the book from which this series came. Well, I intend for those interested to work through this book as a study together as a study beginning in January. Why would I preach on it for 8 weeks, then go through it all over again? Because I truly feel that the concepts that the authors laid out, and the way they introduced them have the power to fundamentally change our lives. As we shift our focus from selfishness to selflessness… as we grow from consumer to steward… as we are transformed from servant to child… As we move through each of these steps, a seismic shift happens as the tectonic plates of our soul begin to align with our calling as followers of Christ.

So, that is why I am taking this week to wrap up this series, then plan to work through it more thoroughly next year.

But today, turn with me to our passage, I am going to be reading from 1 John 2:3-8

When you start looking up passages for discipleship and how it is that we follow Christ, this is one of the first to pop up. It comes to us from John’s Epistles, his letters, to the church. This particular letter was written to help a congregation out after a painful experience… something I think we can all appreciate.

So Join with me it reading this passage, 1 John 2:3-8

Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

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Young drivers today have no idea how easy they have it. Today, we push a button on the steering wheel and talk to the car and a map pops up on a screen and a pleasant voice guides our drive to whatever destination we have chosen. Now, I do remember the days of planning a trip printing out MapQuest directions… a few of our young adults remember that or use those today… BUT! do they remember this?

Not only a map, but a book of maps! I mean this thing has every road you can imagine on it. It’s got contours and elevation. It’s got land marks to look at… It has almost everything you need to find where you are going except one thing...

The “You are Here” pin. Maps are great for helping you get where you are going… They are great at getting you to your destination, but when you look at a map, you have to determine where you are before you can find a route to get where you are going.

You and I are much the same way. We have spent the last 7 weeks talking about destinations. We have been talking about where we need to be… You and I need to be selfless, generous, eternally focused, leaders, in the community, as we listen to God’s direction in our life. That is the description of the life we need to live… but the journey to get there start with where you are right now.

The authors of SoulShift put it this way,

“Part of the SoulShift process is planning ahead. It’s about looking forward to the coming year and considering what you might do to grow in Consumer to Steward, for instance. Or you might say, “I want to make a more intentional shift in Me to We, and because of that, I’m going to join a small group Bible Study...”

The problem with making plans… and being intentional is that stuff happens in our life. Pandemics happen… If you asked if I would ever say that 12 months ago, I would have laughed at you… but really, stuff happens!

We’ll get deeper into how God moves in our lives when Stuff Happens, when we look at next years series called FaultLines.

If we want to make it to our destination, then we have to plan ahead.

Many of you know about the vacation my family took the first summer we were here in Brownwood. I had been to a conference in Islamorada, FL, and I wanted my family to experience that same thing… the only problem, I couldn’t afford to fly my entire family to the Florida Keys… so we drove. We left from Brownwood, TX and drove all the way to Key West and Back. It was a wonderful trip that I will never take again!

We had to plan every aspect of our trip… We had to pack like never before… we needed camping gear and we needed hotel hear… we needed our SCUBA gear… and we need to be ready for restaurants. We packed in layers so each leg of the trip we would have what we needed without digging through everything else.

We planned our stops… we stopped in East Texas for a High School Reunion and to visit with my mom… We stopped at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach and camped a couple of nights to test our diver gear. We drove to Ft. Lauderdale for a hotel stop. Then on to Key Largo to spend a few nights and see the keys… Each leg of the trip was planned and organized ahead of time…

Because we had a plan, if something went wrong, we could adjust when needed… and then get back on track… because we had a track.

Here’s the thing though…

I think most of us will plan a vacation out to the final detail…

We will organize a calendar at the office to become more productive...

We will establish a budget to save money and plan for retirement...

We will organize, plan, schedule, and prepare for life and health.

These plans may even become New Year’s Resolutions...

But let me ask you this. Do we have any structure to our spiritual life? Do we plan our spiritual life?

How often do we look at where we are and plan for where we want to be?

Years ago, as a teen, I worked for Dairy Queen. And for some reason the Area Manager took a liking to me and started loaning me books on tape by Zig Zigler. If you don’t know who Zig is, among other things, he was one of the first and best motivational speakers ever. In one of the tapes, I remember Zig teaching that, we need to identify where we want to be… then make a plan to get there. The plan was made up of long-, medium-, and short-term goals. As you achieve the short- and medium-term… this little things… thse modest steps each take us one step closer to our long-term goal.

We need a little bit of that in our Christian life. I think we need to take some time to evaluate where we are and where God is calling us to be. We need to look at our Soul and see the places it needs to shift.

In the passage we read from 1 John, we are told that “whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.”

To “Abide” means to live… to stay… to remain.

The word for “Walk” is peripateo - and it means to behave, to conduct ourselves… to lead life...

The Message version puts it this way, “Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.”

Simply put, you and I don’t often live the same kind of life Jesus lived… but we want to.

So… how do we get there.... how do we become the selfless, generous, eternally focused, leaders, in the community, that listens to God’s voice?

One step at a time. I can’t cover all these steps that you and I can take to get where we need to be. A sermon isn’t the place for that...

But, here are a few of the examples of those steps. In the Wesleyan tradition we call these means of grace, because they are some of the ways that we can experience God’s grace in our lives.

Here’s just a few:

Fasting - giving something up to experience sacrifice and to focus us in prayer.

Journaling - writing down what you are thinking, hearing, and learning.

Scripture - Reading God’s word and applying it to your daily life.

Prayer - taking time to sit and share with God what is on your heart.... and to stop long enough to sit in silence before God.

Public Worship - Gathering with others… online or in person… to sing praises to God, join in corporate prayer, and read and study scripture together.

Like I said, these are just a few. The list can go on and on.

If each of these SoulShifts are the destination, these means of grace are the roads on the map that get us there. As important as the destination is, the journey to get there is equally as important.

On that vacation to Key West and Back, we could have flown. We could have emptied the bank account and flown all 5 of us to our final destination, but we would have missed so much on the journey. We would have missed worshipping on the road. We would have missed side trip to Bayou LaBatre and eating Jumbo Shrimp in the home town of Bubba from Forrest Gump. We would have missed the conversations on the journey and the experiences along the way.

Our Spirtual life isn’t just about the destination, it is about the journey. That’s why I can’t carry to across the finish line. I can’t drag you to the destination and make you be a more generous person… or a leader… or more community minded.

That is your journey to take and your destination to find.

So, as we enter this Advent… as we prepare for the coming of Christ into our lives fresh and new… I hope… I pray that you will begin the journey… or take the next step in the journey to become who God has called you to be.

Will you make the SoulShift and be transformed into who God created you to be?

Let’s pray.