This year, 54% of Americans report feeling lonely. Being around people doesn’t always help. We can be in a crowded plane, classroom, or church, and still feel alone. We can be at a work party with colleagues and friends and still feel unseen. We can be gathered around a dinner table with our own families and still feel misunderstood.
But the miracle we’ve gathered to remember this Christmas Eve is that through Jesus, God reminds us that we are not alone. Instead of leaving us on our own, God physically moved right into the middle of our broken, lonely world. The word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. Jesus. Immanuel. God with us.
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This year, 54% of Americans report feeling lonely. Being around people doesn’t always help. We can be in a crowded plane, classroom, or church, and still feel alone. We can be at a work party with colleagues and friends and still feel unseen. We can be gathered around a dinner table with our own families and still feel misunderstood.
But the miracle we’ve gathered to remember this Christmas Eve is that through Jesus, God reminds us that we are not alone. Instead of leaving us on our own, God physically moved right into the middle of our broken, lonely world. The word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. Jesus. Immanuel. God with us.
What is a parable? Parables are stories thrown alongside real life to illustrate or explain something. It’s a story with a lesson, a creative way to make a point, a mirror to help us see ourselves more clearly.
At the end of chapter 4 Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. The seeds work within the earth automatically, without assistance from the farmer.
It’s a good reminder that God’s kingdom is going to grow, not because of anything that I do, but because of the power inherent in the kingdom itself. It’s tempting to look around at the world we live in and think nothing good can grow given these circumstances. Yet woven into the fabric of the universe is the promise that God’s good news will grow in us, around us, before us, and beside us.
Haverhill Commons Church
This year, 54% of Americans report feeling lonely. Being around people doesn’t always help. We can be in a crowded plane, classroom, or church, and still feel alone. We can be at a work party with colleagues and friends and still feel unseen. We can be gathered around a dinner table with our own families and still feel misunderstood.
But the miracle we’ve gathered to remember this Christmas Eve is that through Jesus, God reminds us that we are not alone. Instead of leaving us on our own, God physically moved right into the middle of our broken, lonely world. The word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. Jesus. Immanuel. God with us.