John 9:37-43a
I have been reflecting on a scene from Luke 9. Jesus had just come down from the mountain where He had been transfigured, revealing His heavenly glory and receiving strong verbal affirmation from His Heavenly Father. Then, the very next day, He was confronted with the annoying reality of demonic bondage and human unfaithfulness. In frustration, He said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” (v. 41). I want to point out that Jesus didn’t let His frustration keep Him from rebuking the unclean spirit, healing the boy, and giving him back to his father whole. Feeling frustrated is not a sin, though it can lead to sin. Jesus acted in loving compassion for the father and his son.
This story is strangely comforting for us in that we have often feel something like Jesus must have felt. We may have a sublime experience of God’s presence followed by something painfully down to earth.
Pastor Roberts shares his experience one Christmas when he was a pastor. Their Christmas Eve services that year were especially glorious. They were in their new sanctuary, which was visually stunning and wonderfully supportive of choral and congregational singing. This was even more so as the church celebrated the reality of Christ’s birth by singing “Joy to the World.”
Then, the day after Christmas, a different kind of reality hit Pastor Roberts like a ton of bricks. A dear woman from the church called him at home. “Mark,” she said, “my husband died today.” He was so dumbfounded that, at first, he didn’t even know what to say. He was still exhausted from four Christmas Eve services. In addition, he couldn’t imagine that this woman’s husband, a young, healthy man, was dead. When he finally found words to say, he shared his shock and sadness. When asked what had happened, the woman explained that her husband had become ill with the flu a few days before Christmas. Then on December 26th, his fever spiked, and before she was able to get him to the hospital, he died. His grief for the woman, whose wedding he had performed only a couple of years earlier, was profound. His Christmas reverie was devastated by the reality of death, loss, and sadness. Of course, what this woman experienced was far more terrible and tragic.
We find it comforting that Jesus knows what it’s like to go from heavenly glory to earthly pain and frustration. It makes such a difference that Jesus “will all our sorrows share,” in the phrasing of the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” But, even more astoundingly, Jesus chose to live with us, in our pain, loss, confusion, and limitations. Philippians 2:6-8 reminds us that Christ surrendered His divine privilege to become human, humbling Himself even to death. Though He still participated in divine reality, He chose to live in the messiness and suffering of fallen human life. Jesus joined our reality so that we might join His reality. Or, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” How amazing!
If you’re on a mountaintop today, celebrating God’s blessings in your life, Jesus is with you. And if you’re in the darkest valley, confronting the harsh reality of human life, Jesus is with you. Not only does He understand, but He also took on this reality so He might set us free from bondage to sin, suffering, and death. No matter what you’re facing today, let me urge you to take this Good News to heart.

John 10:1-11
1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 I am the good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes a number of statements about His identity which have come to be known as the “I Am” statements. They are statements familiar to us such as “I am the bread of life” and “I am the light of the world.” In fact, they are all pretty to us:
“I am the good Shepherd” (John 10:11)
“I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6)
“I am the true vine” (John 15:1)
“I am the gate” may be an exception, we usually do not talk about this statement. Jesus is asking us to consider what it means that He is the gate for the sheep. It ties in with the point He will make a few verses later about being the good Shepherd, of course. One of the things a good shepherd does, apparently, is open the door for the sheep so that they can go in and out and graze. But that’s not all. Jesus doesn’t open the gate to let the sheep in and out and then leave them to wander on their own. No; He calls out the names of the sheep and leads them Himself.
Many of us are used to naming dogs and cats and maybe even guinea pigs and fish. But we do not usually think really deeply about naming sheep. Sheep are usually in large bunches when they are grazing. Nevertheless, sheep farmers in the Shetland Islands do name their sheep and lambs. They tenderly care for them and worry about them, and their sheep do in fact know their voice – and run when they come to open the barn door.
The world we live in continues to be a worrisome place, and we may feel as though we are being overtaken by thieves and bandits. Be assured that Jesus, our good Shepherd cares for you and me. He knows you by name, and He will be your Gate, your Bread, your Light, your Life, your True Vine, and your Way.

Psalm 51
The context for this Psalm is the affair that King David had with Bathsheba, which ended up with a murder to cover it up. God’s prophet, Nathan, confronts David about his sins and David realizes the horror of his crimes (2 Samuel 12:13).
In this psalm, he cries out to God to have mercy on him because he knows God’s love never fails to show compassion. David wants his sins blotted out, washed away, and cleansed (vv. 1-2). David sees his sins as crimes against God alone. He does not dismiss the harm he caused against humanity and the God of the universe, so brings their case to the highest court he can (v. 4). Only God can forgive his sins and blot them out of his record.
David confesses that he has been corrupt since conception. He knows that God desires purity at his very core, and he is keenly aware that he is unclean. But David also knows God will provide what he lacks (vv. 5-6). As a sin-rotted creature, David needs God to do what only He can do: make him into a new creation. Only God can create a pure heart, so David asks God to “un-sin” him and make him as clean as a man who had never sinned (v. 10).
Moreover, David wants to worship God freely with a cleansed conscience. He prays that his crushed bones will dance again (v. 8). He longs to sing to God and tell other sinners like himself of God’s compassionate dealings with him (vv. 12-13, 15). David begs God not to depart from him (v. 11). David knows that offering an animal won’t cleanse his conscience. He can only offer his broken heart, but he knows God accepts simple remorse as a worthy sacrifice (v. 16-17).
Like David, we’ve scandalized the Creator of the universe. Like David, we are sinners down to the core, and we need to be made into new creations but are unable to do so. The Good News is that what is lacking in us, God provides in Jesus.
We need mercy, a pure heart, and a clean conscience. So, in mercy, Jesus goes to a cross. Jesus becomes our sin, but in His death, He  blots out our sins out of God’s records. In Jesus’ death we’re given a pure heart. But in Jesus’ resurrection, we’re given a new life where we were once rotten to the core! And Jesus is the sacrifice that pleased God and made it possible for sinners like us to approach God with nothing but a broken heart (Hebrews 10:10). Jesus gives us everything David prays to God for. Jesus cleans our conscience and accepts us completely. Jesus blots out our crimes against God. Jesus’ mercy “un-sins” our rotten core. Jesus’ sacrifice cleans our conscience.
So like David, cry out to God for mercy. In order to receive forgiveness and a clean heart, confession is needed. We need to, in confession (homologeo = agreeing with God about our sin), honestly bring your sins and treason to the highest court of heaven to receive the forgiveness we have in Jesus.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” (Isaiah 30:15)
The people of Israel were understandably frightened as the nation of Assyria threatened them. Yet God had promised to protect them if they would rely on God. Instead, Israel’s leaders decided to turn to Egypt as an ally, contrary to God’s will. They couldn’t wait on or trust the Lord to protect them. In response, the Lord rebuked Israel: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” (Isaiah 30:15). If Israel would only turn away from their sin and turn to God, if Israel would only trust in God and rest in God’s promises, then the nation would be saved. Yet, as the Lord says, “But you would have none of it.”
That last line of verse 15 unsettles me. I wonder how often God has offered me divine help, but I “refused.” I wonder how often God has presented me with gifts of rest and quietness, but I have been unwilling to trust God enough to receive those gifts.
I am sad to admit that I can relate to Israel’s rejection of God’s grace. Can you? Most people I know find that sometimes it is hard to trust in the Lord, to wait patiently for the Lord to speak or act. This is especially tough when it seems as if God is dawdling. Our temptation is to charge ahead of God, to make things happen on our timetable. And, at times, we give in to this temptation. We don’t make allies with Egypt, but we turn away from God’s help, turn to other things, or try to do it all ourselves. At least that’s how I function sometimes.
Today, I’m reminded that what was once true for Israel is still true for me today. I will be saved from the threats in my life only as I turn to God and rest in God’s faithfulness. My strength ultimately comes, not from me, my hard work or ingenuity, but from being quiet, trusting the Lord, and living in the gifts of quietness and rest.
O Lord, may it be so for us!

Our church has reached another year of God’s faithfulness. After last month’s anniversary with thankfulness in mind, may we continue looking at how God has worked, and not stop there.

As we head into this next year, let’s keep a mind of gratitude, and a heart of discernment as we seek God’s will over our church. One thing we can often do is rely on the past glory and lose sight of what God may be calling us to do moving forward. James 1:22 tells us “not merely as hearers of the Word” but to be “doers”. As we look to do what God says, we reflect on all that He has done, and still aiming for what He will do next. James 1:23-24 talks about how someone who does not do what the Word says is like someone who looks at themselves in a mirror and after going away, forgetting what we look like. We are to remember the image of who we are and who God has made us to be. As image bearers, we receive God’s faithfulness over 36 years, and yet we are still called to live in what He calls us to do still. We are not done yet, and how we love, serve, worship, disciple, and live in community together is all in response to the Gospel.
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My hope and prayer is that we enter this next year with a passion and Spirit-filled heart that we can live in excitement for what God will do. We go by faith and live in His truth and love.