18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. 20 As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, And they will call him, Emmanuel. (Emmanuel means “God with us.”) 24 When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he didn’t have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. Joseph called him Jesus. -Rev Melissa Fain- Media completely messed up my child-like definition of love. First offender: Disney. I learned through The Little Mermaid that true love is only a couple of sunsets away, and a family trying to keep you safe is the opposite of love. Now, don't get be wrong, I still belt Ariel songs in the shower, but I no longer take life lessons from a fish. Second offender: Adults. Yeah, I grew up during that weird purity phenomenon. I wasn't pushed into the actual purity culture. Our family wasn't evangelical, so it really wasn't being used in our churches, but it still made an impact on me. The result was actually worse. A bunch of nothing. There was this strange fear of adults to talk to their children about S.E.X. I mean, I understand where it was coming from. I have kids now, and I wonder how that conversation is going to go, and I'm worried I'll wait too late to give it, but I don't want it to happen too early. Third offender: Media in general. This one was deceptive, because it was so subversive! Media knows the general person wants to be loved. Scrooge be darned, even the biggest humbug wants to find a lasting relationship. Therefore, media pushed their products through the lens of love. (Or finding lasting relationship to be more subtle.) "You look like a flat slob, take this pill to lose a few pounds and that special someone will notice you." "You smell like you've been living with seals. Here, squirt this on you and you will smell attractive." "This specific product will give you the thing you love the most: [insert want here.]" It made love look like this big candy machine. If we just push the right buttons it's ours. No questions asked. Easy Peasey. Wrong. Obtaining love and keeping love will always be, without question, work. There are no easy ways to love. Even parents, that seem born with that inate compassion for their child, work at the relationship. Real love seems to come with blood sweat and tears. Oh, wait, there's a bible verse for that. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son..." [John 3:16a] Christmas is the worst tool marketers use to manipulate consumers into buying fake love. Don't buy it. The real story of Christmas is all about the beginning of a love story that took tons of work and preparation. So when December 25th rolls around, and you are watching for that magic look of glee as that special someone opens that present you waited up to an hour in line to buy, remember that's not important. It's the relationshp and the work you do to mantaining the other 364 days that are important. Sit back and realize the greatest gift was given over 2,000 years ago in an animal barn. It all began with a mother holding her child, a child that would change the world. Our livecast shall continue! We would love to see you online on Christmas day. Show up online on our Facebook page at 2pm EST.
Connect with us in other ways too! Check out our tweets @FigTreeTweet, and visit our subreddit at /r/FigTreeChristian! Join Jerusalem Christian Church on Christmas Eve for a Virtual Candle Lighting! Only a 1/2 hour long. Starts at 11pm EST. Besides that, have a very Merry Christmas! May Christ's light shine on your holiday and light in your heart! -Rev Melissa Fain- Fig Tree Christian has existed for over four years with a simple mission:
Since almost the beginning this space has not been an echo chamber where only my theological point is shared to the masses. Very quickly guest mediations were added to include other viewpoints. In some cases, view point that vary drastically different from my own. That was done on purpose. Since Fig Tree Live has begun, there's this call on my heart to change things just a bit. Yes, we will still have guest meditations, but we are also going to have added voices, that can share whenever they feel called. This will also become more than a Thursday meditation. Meditations can and will be posted at anytime during the week. One week there might only be one. Another week there could be seven. During this Advent season I've been asking for writers to join. After the new year, those writers will be included with their bios in a new "writer" tab at the top of the screen. This will be a pivot more than a change, and a needed change at that. I hope once these writers start contributing you will make them fell welcome at Fig Tree Christian. Some of them you already know and love. Some might be new. Be prepared, because great things are coming right around the corner! -Rev. Melissa Fain- On Sundays during our livecast I've been explaining the positive attributes of Advent. On these Thursday Meditations, I want to dig deeper into those possible negative attributes. Our first week I discussed how some hopes are left unfullfilled. The second week I discussed how the road to peace often looks anything but peaceful. Today I want to talk joy. There are things we should be joyful for. Redemption. Love. Peace. Salvation. There are things that shouldn't bring us joy. Revenge. Suffering. False teachings. Empty love. Well, empty anything for that matter. Joy is also not something that can be planned. It's not like the Christmas season comes and everyone is all of a sudden joyful. Actually, there is statistically a rise in depression come the holiday season. Therefore, you might get where I'm going with today's scripture. The Israelites wanted things to happen. They wanted a god that would give them everything without any work. Instead of waiting for God's timing, they decided to take matters into their own hands and craft an icon of Baal. (Better known as the "Golden Calf.") Now, in scripture, they don't even know about the commandment, "You shall worship no idols," It just so happened, Moses was, at that moment, coming down from the mountain with the commandments. Honestly, it was probably going to be a joyous moment. God gave the commandments to Moses, and now they had a precept, a set of rules. Instead, there was anger and back steps because the Israelites tried to force the point. Israelites tried to make joy instead of allowing it to come naturally. That's what we need to remember this Christmas season. Don't force joy. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, maybe that's okay too. God will give us authentic joy when it's the right time. We will be at The Daily Grind this Sunday at 2pm for our livecast! We would love to see you. If you can't be there in person, show up online on our Facebook page.
Connect with us in other ways too! Check out our tweets @FigTreeTweet, and visit our subreddit at /r/FigTreeChristian! Join Jerusalem Christian Church on Christmas Eve for a Virtual Candle Lighting! Only a 1/2 hour long. Starts at 11pm EST. In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing, 2 “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” 3 He was the one of whom Isaiah the prophet spoke when he said: The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.” 4 John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and all around the Jordan River came to him. 6 As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. 7 Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized by John. He said to them, “You children of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon? 8 Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives. 9 And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire. 11 I baptize with water those of you who have changed your hearts and lives. The one who is coming after me is stronger than I am. I’m not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” Matthew 3:1-12 CEB -Rev Melissa Fain- Five years ago yesterday I wrote these words: "Predestination is the path God has chosen for us. Freewill is opportunity to follow God's path or mess up the paths destined for us. God gives us peace and we create wars. God gives us love and we create turmoil." I wrote it in an effort to understand conflict and strife. I don't know if you got the memo, but the world isn't all peace and love. Some really bad things happen. I grew up a broken individual, and not realizing it until I was in seminary. I was spiritually and mentally fearful of speaking up. I had such a huge fear of being rejected, I just kept my mouth shut. When I finally entered seminary I discovered my fear grew out of my brokenness. I knew I needed to find my voice if I were to become a minister. At first, I wrote everything down. Journalling was my friend. Yet, I found the double-edged sword in journals. While I was writing down ideas and thoughts so I could reflect on them later, I wasn't speaking up when I disagreed. At a younger age I considered my silence to be an act of peace. That is not peace. I've come to see peace as following the path God has destined for us. When we head in that direction, we find peace. When we don't follow, someone or something gets hurt. Peace is not always nice. Peace does not always feel good. Peace sometimes means bringing order to chaos, and that is work. It means letting the people know they are living in the chaos. I don't know about you, but I haven't met the person yet who seems very receptive to hearing their lives are no longer ordered. I know for me, it wasn't a pleasent experience to discover my own woundedness and brokeness. I had to see the personal war within myself before I could find my inner peace. To put it another way, I had to know where I was before I could map out my destination. This season, search for the work that must happen to find peace. Search for the brokeness to find the the path to wholeness. Search for peace. We will be at The Daily Grind this Sunday at 2pm for our livecast! We would love to see you. If you can't be there in person, show up online on our Facebook page.
Connect with us in other ways too! Check out our tweets @FigTreeTweet, and visit our subreddit at /r/FigTreeChristian! |
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