At the birth of Christ was Mary, baby Jesus, and a... dragon? Well, that is how John describes the story of Jesus' birth in the book of Revelation. The dragon waiting to devour the child. The child who would become king. The King of kings and Lord of lords. The dragon doesn't devour the child at His birth, but certainly continues to try and destroy Him and all the rest of His people. Unfortunately, the victory will never belong to the dragon. After this, though, maybe you'll consider adding the red dragon to your nativity/manger scene!

In Revelation, an angel tells John to eat a scroll, and as he eats it, it will be sweet in his mouth, and will make his stomach bitter. We like things that are sweet, we don't like things that are bitter, especially when it comes to what goes in our mouth. However, when it comes to things that touch our ears, we also probably would prefer to hear things that are sweet compared to things that are bitter. When it comes to God's Word, we need both. We need the bitter words of the Law, and the sweet words of the Gospel.

"... Filled with glory and grace, I want to see my Savior's face, cause heaven is a wonderful place." This was a song I grew up with as a kid. I don't know how often you think about heaven, what it will look like, what we will do when we're there, who will be there, and all the other questions we've always wanted to ask God. Revelation gives us an image of what heaven looks like, and it is full of angels, and people from every nation, tribes, peoples, languages worshipping the Lamb, the Savior. As we gather in worship we get a taste of what heaven will be like, and that is why the Word and the Sacraments are important to us.

As we celebrate the Last Sunday of the Church year, we begin going through the last book of the Bible, Revelation, as we near the end of our two-year journey reading through the Word of God. Next week starts the season of Advent and we'll think and prepare for Christ's first coming at Christmas. As we celebrate this Last Sunday of the Church year, also know as Christ the King Sunday, we think about Christ's Second Coming, something Revelation certainly talks about.

The Bible covers many topics. And if you were to say what the main point of the Bible is, the most important thing it contains, what would that be? Would you talk about love? That love for God, love for other people is the most important? And that if you're not loving you're actually hating? And if you hate than are you truly a believer? 1 John 4 digs into the topics of love and hate, and ultimately the most important thing... Jesus.

As we read through the Word of God we see many things about Jesus. That He is light and in Him there is no darkness. That He is the light of the world who calls us to be lights in this world, shining in the darkness the light of Christ. That He is the Word, and that in the beginning was the Word. Therefore, in the beginning was Jesus. So, what does it mean for us and our faith that Jesus is the light, the Word, and in the beginning?

Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, and we know this through the Word alone. However, as Peter writes, there are those who will come into our world, our lives in order to lead us away from eternal life. They are the scoffers who come scoffing, tempting us to believe things about God that are contrary to His Word. On this All Saints' celebration let us be confident that nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus, and because Christ has overcome all things, we will overcome all things as well, including death.

When we think about celebrating the Reformation, we think of the time when Martin Luther sought to bring the Church back to the truth of the Word of God. He pointed to Christ's redeeming work, and not our own good works. He pointed to how we are saved by grace through faith and not anything we can do to earn our eternal life. He pointed to how we are made right with God, justified, which comes from as Peter says, "the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ."

Peter writes, quoting Proverbs, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." We see a practical version of this in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. One is proud, one is humble. One leaves justified, one does not. As we look at our own lives, do we live lives boasting in ourselves and in our works, or do we humbly boast in Christ and His work?

The Bible talks plenty about love, not as much about hospitality. We hear in 1 Peter that love covers a multitude of sins, and to show hospitality to one another. Hospitality literally means "love of a stranger." As we also remember Thanksgiving this time of the year, we give thanks for the many things that God has given us including His love. We love because He first loved us. We show hospitality to others because God has been hospitable to us, taking care of us, out of His divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.