Inviting Epiphany Avenue Vineyard January 06 2019 Frederick

Inviting Epiphany Avenue Vineyard January 06, 2019

Frederick Buechner “Whether he was born in 4 B. C. or A. D. 6, in Bethlehem or Nazareth, whethere were multitudes of the heavenly host to hymn the glory of it or just Mary and her husband— when the child was born, the whole course of human history was changed. That is a truth as unassailable as any truth.

Frederick Buechner cont’d Art, music, literature, Western culture itself with all its institutions and Western man's whole understanding of himself and his world—it is impossible to conceive how differently things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did. And there is a truth beyond that: for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it.

Frederick Buechner cont’d For better or worse, it is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him. And they have gone on proclaiming, as the writers of the Gospels proclaimed before them, that through the birth of Jesus a life-giving power was released into the world which to their minds could have been no less than the power of God himself. ”

Epiphany January 6 th

Luke 2: 8 -18 8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord —has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. ”

Luke 2: 8 -18 13 Suddenly, cont’d the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven— praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. ” 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. ”

Luke 2: 8 -18 16 They cont’d hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished…

What is the Gospel?

Donald Miller “I presented a gospel to Christian Bible college students and left out Jesus. Nobody noticed, even when I said I was going to neglect something very important, even when I asked them to think very hard about what it was…even when I stood there for several minutes in silence. ”

Donald Miller “To a culture that believes they ‘go to heaven’ based on whether or not they are morally pure, or that they understand some theological ideas, or that they are very spiritual, Jesus is completely unnecessary. At best, He is an afterthought, a technicality by which we become morally pure, or a subject of which we know, or a founding father of our woo-woo spirituality. ”

Carl Medearis “I am not sad to say that I was once a proud “missionary. ” I am grateful for the lessons I learned from that time of ignorance. Like many others, I learned loads when I tried to pound the square peg of Western politics/freedom/democracy/human rights into the round hole of a society a thousand (or more) years older than the one I came from. ”

Young Muslim “If this man had talked about theology or doctrine or even Christianity, I wouldn’t have been interested. I’ve heard all of that from my Christian friends. But he talked about Jesus in a way I’ve never heard before and had never thought of. I thought it was amazing. ”

Imam “While we were all busy defending our religion and our positions, you simply talked about Jesus. You cheated!!”

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51: 12

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Psalm 51: 12, 13