Peakland UMC

Grace and peace to you. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today begins a new season of weekly devotions and reflections that I’ll be posting on Wednesdays. Sometimes we’ll have scriptures and prayers and a personal reflection, sometimes I’ll share with you some news about our church or our conference or our denomination, when Peakland does its next church wide study, I’ll share with you what we’re reading online.

Today is the 9th of January 2023! Happy New Year! Well, it’s a little late for that I suppose. Today’s Music Monday, the first of this new year is a little late.

You see, today’s Music Monday’s song is We Three Kings, which seems a little late because Ephinany is over. Now, Ephinany celebrates the 3 kings seeing the baby Jesus and bringing him gifts. And the Bible tells us that the Kings were advised to leave by a different route on their way home. And that’s all it says about them leaving - go home a different way. Well, there is no mention of how they might have been feeling.

I can imagine that they were awe struck initially, then as they thought about and talked about it they started getting excited. The further they went, the more excited they got.

And so, here is my musical thoughts on the 3 Kings journey home.

Did I mention I think they were all musicians?

Grace and peace to you, welcome to Sunday morning worship for Christmas Day, December 25th, 2022. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor at Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Merry Christmas. I hope the day is full of blessings for you.

We have been lighting candles during the season of Advent. Today we light the Christ candle in celebration of his birth, and we offer this Christmas prayer together

YOU, O LOVING GOD, HAVE WRAPPED THE GIFT OF YOUR SON JESUS CHRIST AROUND OUR LIVES. THE LIGHT OF YOUR LOVE THROUGH HIM IS SHINING BRIGHTLY. OPEN OUR HEARTS AND SPIRITS AS WE HEAR THE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND THE WORDS OF YOUR HOLY SCRIPTURES. BRING US TO YOU WITH SUCH JOY THAT IT WILL SEEM AS THOUGH OUR FEET AREN’T EVEN TOUCHING GROUND.

Last Sunday, our sanctuary was full of music with our Christmas worship concert. For this Christmas Day worship online, we present that concert to you.

Next Sunday, January 1, Andrew leads a livestream worship at 9:45 a.m. and then on January 8, we’ll have livestream worship every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. You’ll be part of the worshipping congregation here at Peakland.

For now, enjoy the music and have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Prepare The Way For The Lord, Week 4 Podcast Edition by Peakland UMC

Good morning, and welcome to my final Wesley Wednesday devotion. When I began this series, I never imagined that it would continue for nearly two years. I have learned so much about our Wesleyan heritage, and I trust you have as well. Thanks for listening and sharing your kind words of appreciation.

During the coming weeks Linwood will help be combine some of my favorite devotions and share them via social media.

My hope is that through these devotions I have been able to reveal Charles Wesley not only as hymnist but also theologian. “It has been rightfully noted that his was “a theology which was sung”.

Today I take a look at two of Charles Wesley hymns which express his understanding of the Messiah.

O Love Divine

O Love Divine! What hast thou done! The immortal God hath died for me. The Father’s co-eternal son bore all my sins upon the tree. The immortal God for me has died! My Lord My love is crucified

Singing these words evoke some of the most powerful meaning of the incarnation of Christ. The immortal God has died for me. My Lord, My Love is crucified.

And from his collection of Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord

“Glory Be To God on High”. This hymn is not in our hymnal so one which you may not be familiar. It has become one of my favorites.

Glory Be to God on High, And Peace on earth descend!

God comes down, he bows the sky and shows himself our friend. God the invisible appears! God the blest, the Great I Am. Sojourns in this vale of tears, and Jesus is his name.

Him the Angels all adored. Their Maker and their King;

Tidings of their humbled Lord they now to mortals bring.

Emptied of his majesty, of his dazzling glories shorn.

Beings source / begins to be, and God himself was born.

(Repeat)

Stand amazed ye heavens at this!

See the Lord of earth and skies

Humbled to the dust he is, and in a manger lies.

We the sons of men rejoice, The Prince of Peace proclaim,

With heaven’s host lift up our voice and shout Immanuel’s name

John Tyson describes this as “uniting heart and mind in an act of praise and doxology. He says that Wesley’s hymns caused the singer to participate in and experience the gospel’s truths in a way that sterile theological definitions do not. In sermon and song, Charles intended to communicate biblical teaching in a way that causes singers to replicate the Bibles Christian experiences.”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Stay safe and have a Blessed Day.

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.

This week is the last week of Advent and this past month, I’ve been making use of the Advent devotion written by Rev Anna Catherine Gillozet, a United Methodist pastor in Ohio. Today’s Bible passage is from Matthew, chapter 1, beginning with the 18th verse.

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

‘Look, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

In just a few nights it will be Christmas Eve, and like many other churches, we at Peakland will hear the story of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel of Luke, which features sherpherds and angels and mangers. It’s a long standing tradition to read and hear the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke on Christmas Eve.

Matthew’s Gospel also has a story about the birth of Jesus, which focuses on Joseph and what he was told.

From Matthew’s Gospel, we get a better sense of how scandalous Mary’s pregnancy would have been for her and for Joseph. The two were engaged to be married when they learned that Mary would have a child. Mary and Joseph would not have been the first couple or last couple to be expecting a child before being married. Joseph clearly knew how much trouble Mary would receive, and he moved to protect her reputation.

The angel of the Lord reassured him that a great blessing would emerge from the scandal. Their child Jesus would be Emmanuel, God with us.

As Christmas Day approaches, your family and your life may not be all merry and bright. Many of us have troubles and trials and if folks knew what we were going through they would be shocked.

Hear the good news: God is with us. Jesus Christ is born, and his Spirit is within each of us, washing us with love and grace and mercy. God has a wonderful way of taking our scandals and disgraces and making great blessings come forth.

As a church community, as a church family, we stand together through troubles and trials. We stand with those who are hurting and troubled. That’s the good news this day and every day. God is with you. God is with all of us, uniting us in the church family. Merry Christmas.

Thanks be to God.

What better song to end the year with than "Deck The Halls" with my friend Lynn Nash!

Grace and peace to you, welcome to Sunday morning worship for December 18, 2022. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor at Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is the fourth Sunday in the season of Advent, our season to prepare the way of the Lord. I’m recording this service here in the sanctuary, a few days before Sunday, and you can tell that we’ve already begun setting up our sanctuary for a special worship concert on Sunday morning.

For those of you joining us online now, we have a special musical duet by Linwood and Noemi.

Andrew shares a story of a young child's excitement, and invites us to join him in seeking joy in the little moments in the last few days before Christmas.

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 written by Rev. Adam Hamilton: Prepare the Way for the Lord, an advent study focusing on John the Baptist. .

For this week’s reading and in worship last Sunday, we focused the ministry of John the Baptist, miracle son of Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth, his wife. Scripture doesn’t tell us much of anything about Johns’ life after he is born. We meet John again when he is an adult in chapter 3 of Luke’s Gospel.

Luke chapter 3, verses 2-3:

The word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

When John is baptizing, he’s offering a physical cleaning of the body to represent the cleaning of our souls from sin.

The people come to John, repenting and sorry for their sins, and John baptizes them and tells them to bear fruits worthy of repentance. To live their lives in a way that shows they really are sorry for their sins and really do want to live in a way that God desires.

People ask him, “What does that mean, what should we do?”

John tells them, “Whoever has two coats, must share with anyone who has none

Whoever has excess food must share with those who have none.”

To the tax collectors and soldiers, John tells them to do their jobs honorably.

John’s words are good words for us as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and to have him born again in our souls today. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Live lives that are meaningful and draw us closer to God.

When Paul writes his letter to the Galatians, he describes the fruits of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 verses 22 and 23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

What should we do today to prepare for Christ? Anything and everything that promotes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s how we live loves worthy of the grace and love that our One Trinity God pours out on us.

This past Sunday, Peakland welcomed five helping agencies to our church. The good people of Peakland had collected cans and boxes of food, knitted items, gift cards to box stores, stockings full of items for children and infants, We made Christmas ornaments, ate homemade cookies, drank hot chocolate and sang Xmas songs.

It was the perfect way for the church to prepare for Christ-generosity to those in need, fellowship with each other. Our fellowship hall was full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness. The hot chocolate and cookies were really good, so we may not have had a lot of self-control.

Today and everyday look for ways you can bear the fruits of the Spirit. Let love, joy, peace, and patience be evident in your life. Let Kindness, generosity, faithfulness and generosity and self-control be a way of life for you.

Thanks be to God. t