Don't Forget to Laugh

Cary Presbyterian Church, Cary, NC

Don't Forget to Laugh

First Sunday After Christmas

December 29, 2024 • Psalm 148, Psalm 126:1–3, Luke 2:10, Matthew 2:10, Isaiah 9:2–3

The birth of Christ brings good news of great joy to all people, which is cause for celebration. On this Sunday after Christmas, we encourage you to be playful, to not take yourself too seriously, to laugh. For laughter is like hope -- it has a ripple effect. It's one of many ways we live and share the good news.

You Are a Blessing

December 1, 2024 • Luke 1:26–38, Isaiah 43:1–7

Mary is described as a "blessing among women" (Luke 1:28). She is neither wealthy nor powerful, and yet she is chosen to bear God's child. Her story begins with blessedness, and so does ours, for the prophet Isaiah declares that we are claimed by a God who calls our name. We are a blessing because we belong to God. When blessedness is our beginning, we begin to see the world -- and others -- through the eyes of a God who says: "You are precious in my sight" (Isaiah 43:4).

We Can't Go Alone

December 8, 2024 • Ecclesiastes 4:9–12, Ruth 1

One of life's most essential lessons is that we are never meant to go alone. And yet, modern culture pushes us more and more into lonely silos. If Ruth had followed her culture's norms, she would have gone home to her family of origin after her husband died, but instead, she commits herself to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Together they form a new family and covenant. Ruth and Naomi travel together to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest, foreshadowing the journey Mary and Joseph will one day take to be counted in the census. Both Ruth and Naomi, as well as Mary and Joseph, are unconventional pairs, but if God can bring unlikely people together, God can form us into a covenant community too.

Do the Good That Is Yours to Do

December 15, 2024 • Isaiah 58:9–12, Luke 3:7–16

As John the Baptist is teaching about bearing good fruit, the crowds, tax collectors, and soldiers ask him, "What, then, should we do?" His answer to each group is slightly different, but ultimately the same: "Do the good that is yours to do." We can each bear good fruit through acts of justice and righteousness. We can all be what Isaiah calls 'repairers of the breach" by satisfying the needs of the afflicted.