Sunday December 5, 2010

Second in the series: How to Plan for the best Christmas possbile

Exodus 12: 1-4, 7-8, 25-27

While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you.  Announce to the whole communtiy of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household.  If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood.”  “They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal.  That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. ” Eat the meal with ugency for this is the Lord’s Passover.  On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt.  I will execute judgement against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign marking te houses where you are staying.  When I see the blood, I will pass over you.  This plague of death will not touch you when i strike the land of Egypt.  “This is a day to remember.  Each year from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.  When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony.  Then your children will ask, “What does this ceremony mean?’ And you will reply ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord,  for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt.  And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.'”  When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.

Psalm 78: 1-13

O my people, listen to my instructions.  Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable.  I will teach you hien lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors haned own to us.  We will not hide these truths from our chilren; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his instructions to Israel.  He commaned our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation migh know them—- even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children.  So each generation should set it’s hope ane on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his stubborn rebellous, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.  The warriors of Ephriam,  though armed with bows, turne their backs and fled on the day of battle.  They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.  They forgot what he had done—— the great wonders he had shown them, the miracles he did for their ancestors on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.  For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls!

Three words from Passover that might describe Christmas:

1. Gather

2. Feast.

3. Recall

How might we respond to our Christmas gathering?

1. Enjoy.

2. Appreciate.

3. Thank.

4. Invite.