It must have been a terrible scene. The haters “hurled insults at him” and made fun of him in the midst of His suffering as He bled from His wounds and struggled for each breath; as He was dying. Tonight is about them…and Jesus as their Savior … and about Jesus as the Savior of all the haters, even when we are among them.

The children of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days there. John the Baptist rotted in prison until the time he was beheaded. Paul wrote much of the New Testament from prison. Where are you in a desert? Where are you in the dungeon of a prison? Right in these places is where the love of God intersects with our lives. It is what we focus on today.

The other day a friend of mine who used to be my neighbor, a professional painter, dropped by to answer some questions I had about a job I want to do myself. He was great and very helpful. As we talked, he shared how he was struggling over how hateful people are to each other – especially when they don’t agree on something. He even gave me a colorful bumper sticker he had designed and had printed up and was giving away. It said simply, “B-Kind.” In our doing life “together” God would simply say, “Be a blessing.” And then He would come alongside us and show us how. This is our focus today. While it may be the last Sunday in our series, it just may be the most important!

God is love. He dwells in perfect love “together” as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created each one of us to be happy and whole only as we do “together” with Him in this perfect love. He is the master of this “together” lived in love for He created it as a gift for us. What keeps you from doing life “together” in love? Only as we live “as His” can we grow in this gift of “together” with each other. This is what we look at today.

Grace is God’s undeserved love. It is by grace that we know and receive by faith our “togetherness” with God through the forgiveness of sins. Today, we focus on what it means to be grace-filled; to live grace filled in our relationships as we do life “together.” Imagine, we really can give others what Jesus has given us. Grace.

Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? If we want to “be together” and “do together” well, we have to be present – really present – for one another. When we don’t feel like it. When we are tired. When life’s a mess. When life’s going great. Bottom line. We need to show up. Be present. How are you tempted not to be present? And where are you not sure how to “be present?” Today we focus on God’s wisdom and power as we look to “be present.

God’s people have been here before. The enemy has been too great. What do we do?…We find out by seeing what they did.

We crave Affirmation. Everywhere we look, people are searching for affirmation. Sports programs and events have moved to rewarding people for participating or finishing. Digital Platforms (in particular Social Media) are powerful because they offer affirmation in plentiful doses. But deep down, we know this kind of affirmation doesn’t mean much. We crave recognition and interaction because we are inherently Social people. As God says in Genesis, “It is not good for man to be alone.” But does that affirmation give us what we really need or is it a cheap substitute? This Sunday we are going to talk about what we really need, how we can get it & give it to others. This will help prepare us for our upcoming series: “Together.”

The Other Christmas Story by St Matthew Rocklin

The Best Year by St Matthew Rocklin