The theme of Jubilee runs through the Bible. It’s not a word we use much today; when we do, “jubilee” mostly depicts a joyful celebration, specifically a 50th anniversary. It might surprise you that “jubilee” means neither “joy” nor “50.” Rather, it’s a word borrowed from Hebrew which actually refers to a ram’s horn, but more specifically to a Jewish law dealing with freedom. Freedom is something we need desperately, for we live in a society of enslavement. What we want to proclaim today is the Good News that the Bible proclaims from the Torah to the Prophets to the Gospel: we can have freedom in Jesus Christ.
Scripture:  Leviticus 25,27

Pilate calls Jesus into his court, possibly to intimidate him with a “trial.” But he finds Jesus strangely silent, until forced by law to respond. Then he says things like: “The reason I came to earth was to reveal to all the Truth” and “If you don’t listen to me, you’re not on the side of Truth.” How do you deal with someone like Jesus? And not just Pilate; how do we understand and respond to Jesus’ ideas about Truth?
Scripture: John 18:28-38

Many of us have the habit of coming up with New Year’s resolutions, liking losing weight, exercising, applying ourselves better at school or our job. We have good intentions, but they often don’t last very long. And if we’ve done it enough, we may even see a pattern of making (and breaking) the same resolutions every year, and we become aware of a cycle we can’t seem to break, even with the best of resolutions. That’s the story of Israel in the book of Judges.
Scripture: Judges

We are at the beginning of a new year. A time like this is often an excuse, or perhaps a good reason, to make a fresh start. I’d like us to begin the new year with a reminder that the Christian life is an adventure. It’s not about how often you go to church or how much you put in the collection plate or how moral you are, all good things. The Christian life is, at its root, an adventure of living with God. To adventure with God, we need to know something about him. So, for the next several weeks, we are going to look at some of the attributes the Bible reveals about God and, in particular, how God’s attributes affect our adventure with him.
Scripture: Exodus 3-4

God is in control and works out everything for good for those who love him.

Ancient cultures had ways to remember; in Canaan/Israel they did this with standing stones. If one of their “gods” (or so they believed) caused an important event or provided a significant benefit, a stone was erected as a testimony to the action of the “god.” If a covenant or treaty was signed between cities or individuals, stones were erected to declare the agreement and call the “gods” to witness. Travelers who saw the stones would ask, “what happened here?” and the people who knew the story would give testimony to their “gods.” As Israel entered the land of Canaan and  onquered it, God called them to commemorate certain of His actions in a way the culture understood: standing stones.
Scripture: Joshua

While Luke begins his Christmas story “in those days Caesar Augustus,” Matthew narrows the focus to “during the time of King Herod.” Last week we noted that all the characters in the Christmas story fell under Herod’s long shadow, and that includes the Magi. Why the Magi? Why did God include them as part of Jesus’ greeting party? Why did Matthew tell their story rather than the angels & shepherds, especially to a Jewish audience?
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew and Luke intentionally set Jesus’ birth in the context of world and local history. Caesar Augustus heads a Roman Empire known for peace and prosperity and a glorious culture. Herod, as client-king over Judea, is known for his power and propaganda of the Hellenistic culture, but also for his murderous paranoia and moral evil. So it is a great predicament for the Jews: do we succumb to the grandeurs of Rome, or the evils of Herod, or both, and lose our way in the world? In a way, that remains our predicament today: our world offers great material blessings but also great moral evils.
Will we succumb to one or both and lost our way in the world?
Scripture: Luke 2:8-20

We will focus our attention on numerous passages from the Old Testament that point ahead to and find their fulfillment in Jesus. This will be done in a “lessons and carols” format.