Peakland UMC

Welcome to a Wesley Wednesday devotion for the third week of Advent with Linda and David Drinkard.

One of the messages of Christmas is Peace. Luke 2:13-14 in the King James reads:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men

The prophet Isaiah describes the Messiah as: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. In Biblical times the people watched and waited for the gift of God’s everlasting peace to come upon the earth.

Charles Wesley captures the essence of this message in Hymn #9 of Hymns for the Nativity of Christ. Charles did not give a title to any of the 18 hymns in this collection, so I will refer to it as a Hymn for Christmas. It includes five stanzas.

Although not in our United Methodist Hymnal, I’m told the hymn can be sung to the tune used for Crown Him with Many Crowns.

Grace and peace to you, and welcome to Trusting God at all times, a daily devotion. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church here in Lynchburg Virginia.

During the Tuesdays in Advent I’ll be making use of an Advent devotion written by Rev Anna Catherine Gillozet, a United Methodist pastor in Ohio. Today’s Bible verse is Romans, chapter 15, verse 13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Twenty years ago, I was appointed to serve as the pastor of two congregations in Frederick County, just outside of Winchester here in Virginia. I had been the associate pastor at Williamsburg United Methodist church for the past five years, and I was going to become the sole pastor of Relief and Hites Chapel.

I was anxious and excited and nervous and hopeful about the change. On the day I left Williamsburg, I noticed a mourning dove perched on the balcony of my apartment. She was quiet and peaceful and at rest

I remembered the story of Jesus’ baptism and how the Holy Spirit alighted on him like a dove.

I decided that mourning dove was a lovely little sign, a reminder that Holy Spirit of Christ was with me during that anxious transition. I had hope because even though I was headed to a place I didn’t know to do a ministry I had not done before, God was with me in a quiet peaceful way, like a mourning dove alighting on my balcony.

Through the years, I have always noticed the mourning doves around me. I saw one a couple of days ago on my way the church and the sight still fills me with hope.

Rev. Guillozet writes, Hope is the way that God speaks to us of what has been promised. Hope is our holding onto God’s grace.

However it is with your soul this Advent season, hold onto hope. God has promised to love us and forgive us our sins and give our lives meaning and purpose. If you aren’t feeling that right now, fear not. That’s where hope comes in. Nurture the hope in your soul. Know that God’s presence surrounds you, even if you aren’t noticing it right now. May hope, love and peace grow in your soul so that you can give hope, love and peace to others.

Thanks be to God.

From Linwood: Around this time two years ago, we were in the middle of the Pandemic. Unable to have a Christmas program, I set out to create one online. I picked some arrangements and I wrote some arrangements. I was able to record some of our choir and praise team members singing by bringing them in one at a time, record them individually and then mix it all together. It was quite an undertaking but I think it turned out pretty well!

This arrangement of The Gospel Nativity Carol was written by Craig Courtney, a well-known arranger for several publishing companies. I took the arrangement , made a sound track, enlists my friend Lynn Nash to add some flu gel horn parts, I added some trombone parts and then finally recorded the voices - whew! But what a fun Christmas celebration song! This upbeat Christmas song ought to have your toe tapping while you pick up the lyrics and sing along - I believe this is Jesus - come and see.

Here’s The Gospel Nativity Carol!

Grace and peace to you, welcome to Sunday morning worship for December 11, 2022. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor at Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is the third Sunday in the season of Advent, our season to prepare the way of the Lord. During this season of Advent worship services here in the sanctuary, so that you can see how the sanctuary looks this happy season.

Grace and peace to you and welcome to Trusting God at all Times Kids Edition. This devotion is created for children of all ages. I’m Rev. Joe, and I’m the pastor at Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. All are welcome

In our time together now we’re going to do three things. . We’re going to sing our song with our mouths. We’re going to listen to a story from the Bible with our ears, and we’re going to pray the action prayer with using our words and our actions to pray and talk to God..

Let’s begin with our song, He’s got the whole world in his hands.

Can you sing along with me?

He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the Shepherds and the Sheep in his hands.

He’s got all of God’s children, in his hands.

Let’s listen to our story from the Bible which was adapted by Ella K. Lindvall.

Jesus is telling us a story about Baby Jesus and the Good News

Read story

In this story, the Shepherd loves the sheep . God loves you and God loves me just like the shepherd loves the sheep.

Let’s pray our action prayer together. IN the action prayer we use our word and our actions to pray and talk to God.

Dear God You Love the world. You love me.

Help me. Love you. Help me. Love the World. Amen.

Andrew does a musical reflection on this familiar Carol.

Grace and peace to you, and welcome to Trusting God at all times, a daily devotion. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church here in Lynchburg Virginia.

During this season of Advent, Peakland people are reading this book: Prepare the Way for the Lord, an advent study focusing on John the Baptist. This book is written by Rev. Adam Hamilton.

Each week at Peakland, we’re discussing a chapter of this book in small groups and referencing this in the sermons during Sunday morning worship. I’m eager to share some of my insights with you, so that’s what I’ll do online each week on Thursdays in Advent.

For this week’s reading and in worship last Sunday, we focused on Zechariah and what happened to him after the angel told him that he and Elizabeth his wife would bear a son. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both older people at the time, so having a child would have been miraculous news for a variety of reasons.

Zechariah was understandably doubtful that he and Elizabeth would be able to conceive and bear a child, so the angel said to him, you will become mute unable to speak, until that day these things occur. So Zechariah was silent for 9 months.

We’re going to do something now which is radical for an online devotion. We’re going to sit in silence for a minute. The camera will focus in on the advent candles, so that you don’t have to stare at my silent face for the whole time. But for a minute. Let us keep silent.

[one minute]

For some, a minute of silence is an eternity. For some it is a blessing and too short a time.

When the angel inflicted silence on Zecharaiah, it was meant as a reprimand, but I hope Zechariah found a blessing in the 9 months of silence. I hope he found opportunities to listen more closely to those around him. Surely his wife needed him to listen, perhaps his friends enjoyed the opportunity to be heard. I hope in the silence Zechariah found opportunities to listen more closely to God.

There are situations in our lives that are hard, that seem to be punishments to us, . Advent and Christmas can be hectic and pressure-filled and the opposite of holy and sacred. and yet the good news for us is God can give us small miracles and opportunities in our trials

In the days to come look for the opportunities to be still, to be silent and to listen. Listen to those around you, listen to your own soul, and listen for the Word of Lord within you.

Be silent and listen.

Thanks be to God.

Welcome to a Wesley Wednesday devotion for the second week of Advent with Linda and David Drinkard.

Charles Wesley wrote a number of hymns and poems for the Christmas Season. Eighteen of them are found in “Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord” and others in “Hymns and Sacred Poems.” Although many of these may not be familiar to us, they clearly express an understanding of the Incarnation.

Let’s begin with a passage of scripture from Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11 New Revised Standard Version

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

Paul Chilcote, points out that the vision of “self-emptying” shaped much of Charles Wesley’s thinking about the Christology of Jesus.

He writes:

“The ramifications of this divine self-emptying stagger the mind. God becomes one with us that we might become one with God. Christ emptied himself of glory and eternity of every divine attribute save one, the essence of God, which is love.

Fully divine –all love and nothing but love—he enters our world of brokenness and sin, takes on our human nature, and makes it possible for God to be present in Human flesh.

“Emptied of all but love he came.”

We find several references to Philippians 2:7 in the hymns Charles wrote for the Nativity of our Lord.

“Let Earth and Heaven Combine “

Let earth and Heaven combine, Angels and men agree to praise in songs divine the incarnate Deity

He laid his glory by, and wrapped him in our clay,

Infant of days he here became and bore Immanuel’s name.

“All-wise, All-good Almighty Lord”

The eternal God from heaven came down, The King of glory dropped his crown, and veiled his majesty;

Emptied of all but love he came.

Jesus I call thee by thy Holy name.

“O Thou Who Hast Redeemed from Old”

Love, only Love, thy heart inclined, and brought thy savior of mankind down from thy throne above…

Although not a Christmas Hymn we find a beautiful reference to Phil 2:7 in the powerful “And Can It Be” #363 in our UMH

He left His Fathers throne above (so free, so infinite, his grace) Emptied himself of all but love, and bleed for Adam’s helpless race.

We close with a reading from the Gospel of John

“In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. 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. Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Prayer: Loving Jesus, you became obedient to death on a cross for all lost sinners. You grace sustains us and empowers us to be your disciples. Amen.

Grace and peace to you, and welcome to Trusting God at all times, a daily devotion. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church here in Lynchburg Virginia.

During the Tuesdays in Advent I’ll be making use of an Advent devotion written by Rev Anna Catherine Gillozet, a United Methodist pastor in Ohio. Today’s passage is Isaiah 11:6-9

From Linwood:

Christmas is approaching. Yesterday, we had our 2nd service in the season of Advent. We are still singing songs about the coming birth. The choir sang an arrangement I wrote of Prepare The Way o the Lord, which is sort o our theme song for this Advent season, along with Lo How A Rose E’re Blooms.

This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns, although we dont’ sing it very often. The time signature can be a little difficult to follow but the lyrics are quite moving.

“Lo how a rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung.

Jesse’s lineage coming as those of old have sung.

It came, a flower yet bright.

Amid the cold of winter

When half spent was the night.

O flower whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air

Dispel in glorious splendor the darkness eveywhere

True man yet very God

From sin and death now save us

And share our every load."