02 Dec Christmas is…Peace
Christmas is…Peace. That’s this week’s worship theme. Does that sound like life as you know it? No…join us & see how it can be!
In the meantime…Oh but it’s a busy season upon us!
Zoom Bible Study Catch-up
Friday 5th December 2025 @ 1:00 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89674789066 — Meeting ID: 896 7478 9066
Living Water Christmas Morning Tea – Sunday 7th December. It’s a festive sort of day, so you’re all invited to dress festively. If you’re not sure what that means, I’m happy to let you borrow one of my festive ties. I have plenty to share!
Christmas with the Con – down at the Riverside Entertainment venue – Saturday, 13th December. The evening kicks off with carols at about 6:00 p.m. Followed by the finest Christmas music you’ll hear this season…from our very own local Conservatorium talent. It should be an excellent evening!
Christmas Worship @ Living Water
- Christmas Eve – Wednesday 24th December @ 7:00 p.m.
- Christmas Day – Thursday 25th December @ 9:00 a.m.
Our Advent/Christmas worship theme is “Christmas is…” In our world, say the word “Christmas,” and people get all sorts of pictures or definitions in mind that may in fact have little to do with the Biblical Christmas we celebrate as followers of Jesus. But more than the obvious & trite “Jesus is the reason for the season,” Jesus’ birth among us as one of us is a much richer & more varied gift than even we might expect. There is great hope, peace, joy & love in the Father sending the Son to suffer & die for us to (as Peter says) “bring you safely home to God.” (1 Pet 3:18) This year, invite someone to join you for worship. Take their initial “No” as a “maybe” & invite them again. Remember, every relationship not linked to Jesus will be lost forever one day. If you want to keep that person around for eternity, today is the day to invite them to share it with you.
We’re back to our regular schedule 10:00 a.m. on Sunday 28th December
I was reading Romans this morning…Romans 15 to be exact. Paul’s drawing to the end of his letter to the church in Rome. He has not yet visited there, but hopes to and then journey to Spain to preach there. No one knows if Paul ever made it as far as Spain…odds are likely not, but as he wraps up this letter, Paul writes “The God of peace be with you all. Amen.” – Rom 15:33
It sounds like a fitting conclusion to the letter. Over the course of this letter he’s defined what “peace” is: a restored relationship with God through Christ’s death & resurrection, that grants a living sense of & confidence in the presence, purpose, & promise of God in the midst of whatever is going on in life. When we are drawn by the Spirit to trust in Christ’s accomplished work on the cross for our salvation…our restored relationship with the Father, we have peace with God. Romans 5:1-2 – “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this grace where we now stand, & we now confidently & joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”
But that “peace” is not just a one-way street linking us with the Father. In Romans 14:17-19 Pauls declares, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of righteousness, peace & joy in the Holy Spirit; for those who serve Christ this way please God & are approved by others. So then, let us make every effort to live pursuing peace & building each other us.” The peace we enjoy with God has daily implications in how we live in relationship with others. Life in Christ, “being saved,” is never being lifted out of this world, but being plunged more deeply into it in a radically different way…to live the life Christ has given you. The joy, peace, love & hope you’ve received from him is to be lived into the lives of the people you engage with every day. As Martin Luther rightly noted:
“Faith is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God. It kills the old self and makes us altogether different people, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; and it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly.” (Preface to commentary on Romans)
Let that marinade your soul a bit this week as you go about “pursuing peace & building each other up.”
See you Sunday…in your festive attire!
John
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