FIRST LIGHT

A NEWSLETTER OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
110 SYDENHAM STREET KINGSTON , ON K7L 3H5

(613) 548-7116
fbckgstn@kingston.net
December 2004

Dear Friends,
This past week Handel’s Messiah was performed once again in Kingston and in many parts of the world. There is a bass solo in the Messiah with the words from Isaiah 40: “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, says your God.” If we read a little further in the same chapter we come upon the words, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Sometimes you might wonder what actually happens when a preacher preaches or a Sunday School teacher teaches. This text reminds us of the enduring strength and power of God’s Word that undergirds any of our efforts, as inadequate as they are at times. The reading continues: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd.” What a word of comfort!

Two primary enemies of the spiritual life are fear and fatigue. What might this mean to us in Advent?

Remember the promise of the angel to Mary: “The Lord is with you.... Do not be afraid. (Luke 1:28, 30)

Then comes the words at the end of Isaiah 40: “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

If we move to Isaiah 41:10 we find these words: Do not fear, for I am with you, Do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

At heart, Advent is about waiting, preparing, making room, hearing the unusual in the voices of the prophets. December is about stress and disappointment, loneliness and grief, but also joy and celebration, community, and family. We all carry this paradox with us at this time.

At this time of year something can be renovated in each of us. In Isaiah 43:1-7, the Lord says to Israel (and to us): Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...

As we begin a new church year, that is about the best news we could hear. And that is the word of the Lord. It is not my word. It is the word of the Lord. I am with you!

At times the gospel can be summed up in a few essential words: I am with you. These are four of the most important words we could hear, or say: that God says them to us, about us, is utterly amazing: I am with you. At Christmas we discover this truth: “They shall name him Emmanuel, which means, God with us. Which is another way of saying, “I am with you.”

The words “I am with you “ create relationship.
The words “I am with you” create covenant.
The words “I am with you” create communion.
This good news is for all of us. God says, “I am with you.”

Listen again to the prophet Isaiah: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour...You are precious in my sight...Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, “give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth - everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Can we listen to the prophetic critique of our lives and make room in our lives for the stranger who comes in the form of the Christ Child?

Christmas is about the story of the Incarnation, the word made flesh, full of grace and truth. John 1:14, 18 declares, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth...No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” While we might be more familiar with the stories in Matthew and Luke, which focus on Joseph and Mary, the story of Christ’s birth is told in a somewhat different fashion in the Gospel of John. The central message of early Christianity was scandalous, especially to the Gnostics, who could not believe that God would take human form. This core Christian belief, that God enters into the material world of human flesh, takes an ironic meaning at Christmas. We are urged to avoid, protest, and rebel against the creeping materialism of the season, we are encouraged, instead, to take more “spiritual” pursuits. Such advice is ironic in light of the essential meaning of Christmas: that Jesus is the incarnation of God, the word made flesh. The paradox of the Incarnation is presented to us in a poem by the metaphysical poet Richard Crashaw in his Hymn on the Holy Nativity (1652). The spelling reflects his era:

Wellcome all WONDERS in one sight!
Aeternity shutt in a span.
Sommer in Winter. Day in Night.
Heaven in earth, and GOD in MAN.

What might it mean for us, during the season of Christmas, to fully embrace the Incarnation, God with us? We might begin to see our material acts of gift-giving as occasions to express human love; we might view gestures of charity as concrete demonstrations of our faith and representative ministries. Whatever fears or addictions we might have could be turned around by just knowing the presence of God in our lives, if we have invited Jesus Christ to make his abode in us. One of the great philosophers of our age, Dallas Willard, wrote a book recently entitled Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002). What renovations do each of us need to go through as we allow Christ to live within us?

On behalf of my family, Anne-Marie and the three girls, I want to wish you a joyous Christmas season and a 2005 committed to Christ’s unparalleled path.

(Rev.) Kevin Smith
Pastoral Team Leader
First Baptist Church


FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, KINGSTON WANTS TO HEAR YOUR FAITH STORY

We would like to hear from you about how God’s hand has been on your life or how God has taught you something. Please send the pastor your faith story with a title describing the theme of your faith story and then the story (no longer than 1 page).

Sample themes:
joy, hope stewardship, love, evangelism, comfort, faith, providence, etc.
Here are themes for the first 2 months of 2005.

1. January 2 - ministry in trying circumstances
2. January 9 - the practice of love and unity
3. January 16 - the willingness to suffer
4. January 23 - standing strong in the faith
5. January 30 - rejecting one’s own popularity and following an unpopular Christ
6. February 6 - waking up from passivity in the church
7. February 13 - guest speaker - Dr. Stanley Porter - theme unknown at this time
8. February 20 - be willing to proclaim, practice, and live out the gospel
9. February 27 - recognizing one’s own spiritual bankruptcy and allowing Christ to remold us from within.

Perhaps some of those themes resonate with your own journey. Please send in your faith story. Or if you have another faith story that may be useful later on, please send it in as well.

Thank you,
(Rev.) Kevin Smith