St. Lucia
Opening Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You for coming at Christmas to save us from evil. Amen.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3.12-17
Indeed, all who desire
to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people
and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,
knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been
acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every
good work.
Message:
As we get ready to celebrate one of the happiest and most
joyous events in the life of Jesus – His birth at Christmas – we also should
remember that most people who were alive at the time of the first Christmas did
not love Jesus or welcome Him.
You remember that there was no room for Mary and Joseph when
they went to Bethlehem. No one would even give up their room for Mary to have
her baby. Mary had to lay Jesus in a
manger. As we continue reading further
about the first Christmas, we remember that King Herod was very angry about the
birth of Jesus, and he tried to kill Him.
Many people would try to argue with Jesus and try to hurt
Him. Finally Jesus died on the
cross. But His dying became our
salvation. Just as Jesus’ birth was a
great miracle, so was His resurrection from the dead. Jesus conquered all the evil of this world
with the power of God’s love.
All the disciples of Jesus would eventually suffer
persecution. As they taught about Jesus,
some would believe, but many would reject His love. They would get angry, and they would hurt the
disciples. But they were not
afraid. They knew that God’s love in
Jesus was stronger than any evil of this world.
There have been many Christians who have suffered for their
faith. Today, in some parts of the world, Christians are remembering a girl
named Lucia. Lucia lived in Italy about
three hundred years after the time of Jesus.
She was a Christian. A man wanted
to marry Lucia, but she didn’t want to be married. He got angry with her and betrayed her to the
governor. The governor tried to make
Lucia worship the emperor instead of Jesus, but she would not. For this Lucia became a martyr. Since her name means “light,” some Christians
began to remember her faithfulness by making wreathes of candles that they wore
on their heads.
In our Scripture lesson today, St. Paul wrote to Timothy and
encouraged him not to be afraid of evil people.
He told him to keep on remembering God’s word and doing good works. That is still important advice for all
Christians today: Remember God’s word
and our salvation in Jesus. Keep doing
the good works that shine the light of God’s love in this world. (Good Shepherd Chapel Message, December 13, 2012)
Prayer: Lord of Life, help all the people of the world who are being persecuted for their faith. Help me to remember Your word, Your salvation and help me to do good works so that the light of Your love might be known in this world. Amen.
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Click here for the melody.
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Refrain: Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel Shall come to Thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Refrain
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