The Coming of the King

St. Patrick Presbyterian

The Coming of the King

November 26, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Luke 1:1–7

As I write this, I am thinking about Thanksgiving. I’m trying to send in blogs, sermons, slides, so I can get on to preparing for the Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow. I must say, I have the elven magic on me earlier this year than normal. Addy and I broke our family’s standing tradition of putting our tree up after Thanksgiving and put it up two weeks ago while Teri was out visiting her mother. Space matters, so it feels like we have a jump on Christmas this year. As I was thinking about this, it hit me—the only reason we can be really thankful at Thanksgiving is because of Advent, so I have justified my actions.

Anyway, we start out looking at Luke’s narrative this week and will continue this through Advent. We will be looking at just the first seven verses, but it occurred to me that what is found here could be the true story of the whole Bible. There is a lot here…Apologetics, I mean Luke spends four verses grounding the story he is telling in space, time, and history, and taken from people he could “fact check” with. He then opens up the story of the human condition and shows us the limits of human ability, even when we have the correct forms in place. Finally, we see the God who works in the places that feel like death, so that we will know, it is all grace.

I prayed this week that our Thanksgiving Feast would tell a better story, a gospel story, and I am praying that for all of us this season. What a time to celebrate Jesus! I hope to see you Sunday!

One more thing, remember we don’t have Sunday school this Sunday. It will resume the following week on December 3.

Blessings,

Jim

Hungering for God

January 7, 2024 • Rev. James M. Holland • Psalm 63

I don’t know about you but I come through the holiday seasons a little spiritually dry. It seems to always happens. I have tried to change it but not been very successful. I suppose I get out of rhythm. It seems my spiritual life has diminished, my prayer life seems shorter, and I am restless. My physical appetites have been satiated but my soul is hungry for something. C. S. Lewis explains why this is true of many of us: Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” (C.S. Lewis, https://stpatrickpres.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba3413bb6fa020132a4bc21a5&id=aba891a60e&e=b77c6e6023) The Psalmist says it like this: O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. In an age where we can glut our senses and desires, the hallmark of our age is restlessness—never finding real deep satisfaction. This week we look at causes and cures of our malaise in Psalm 63. Please go read it before Sunday. It has been like medicine for my starving soul. I hope it will be for yours as well.

The Benedictus

December 24, 2023 • Rev. James M. Holland • Luke 1:57–80

Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Advent. As it is also Christmas Eve, we’ll have two services at St. Patrick to ponder the greatest mystery of all times—God taking flesh. Every year in our Advent preaching series, we seek to get at this mystery from different angles—this year we have been in Luke 1. While it is popular to skip right to mangers, stars, and wise men, there is enough wonder in the angelic announcements to an aged priest and a young girl to make your head spin. This week we ponder with Zechariah his song of redemption known as “The Benedictus.” Here we see an elderly priest praising God for bringing to pass the promises of redemption, not just for Israel but for the whole world. For nine months, Zechariah has been mute, unable to speak, but his song of praise basically brings together all the Old Testament promises that are coming to pass in the births of a couple of infants. And while Zechariah is thankful for the coming of his son, it is not surprising that most of his praise is for the One who is coming to “forgive sins.” As I mentioned, this Sunday we have two services of worship—our morning worship will be at the regular time, 10:30am. (Please note we will not have Sunday School this week.) Then, at 5:00pm we have our Christmas Eve Service where in music, song, Scripture, and prayer we walk with prophets of old to behold Him who created the world lying in a manger. If you can, please arrive early to our evening service, as it is usually packed. Until then, may your preparations for the Feast of Christmas be marked with joy, generosity, and wonder.

Blessed Are You

December 17, 2023 • Rev. Joshua Smith • Luke 1:39–45

One of our staff members is the foster mother of a preternaturally perfect baby boy. As an occasional attendee of our staff meetings, this young fella contributes to the overall productivity by boosting morale to historic levels. His big smiles and gentle cooing create an atmosphere of joy that’s just impossible to measure. Even his rare moments of pouting motivate us to work harder for our little mascot. A ministry resident commented this week that he’s not being paid near what he’s worth, and that is most certainly true. I recently heard someone describe how having a baby around amplifies everything. On a quality-of-life scale from one to ten, it’s like levels 2-9 have simply been removed. The fader on extreme feeling is turned up all the way to a Dickensian “best of times; worst of times.” We haven’t had a baby in the house for some time now, but that resonates with my memory of the thing. There’s a texture of unbreakable joy that lies underneath these extremes and wraps the whole thing up in swaddling clothes of wonder and beauty. This Sunday, the third in Advent, has for about a thousand years been referred to as “Gaudete,” or Rejoicing Sunday. It represents a break in the penitent nature of the season, where the nearness of fulfillment is brought to the middle of the waiting. It’s fitting, then, that we take a look at the passage in which the unborn infant John leaps with joy in Elizabeth’s womb at his first encounter with Jesus, only days newly arrived in his own mother’s body; still close to 40 weeks from his birth. It’s a perfect Advent text, just brimming with the already-but-not-yet nature of the Kingdom. Shot through it all is a sense that whatever is happening, however complicated and burdensome, this is nothing short of blessing. - js