In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.\u00a0 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
<\/span><\/h2>\nLuke 2:8-9<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTomorrow is Christmas Eve, when we keep watch for the Bethlehem birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Do you relate to any particular part of the story?\u00a0 Some women connect with Mary, as they remember the wonder and excitement and nervousness that comes with the birth of a baby.\u00a0 Some politically-minded people think about the intrigue in the palace of King Herod, as he receives news that a new king is rising, perhaps threatening his power.\u00a0 Some relate to the wise men, attracted by a star to seek the new king in a foreign land.\u00a0 Recently I asked this question of the partners sharing our Presbytery Center in Temple City, and one of the Mideast Evangelical Church members was humble enough to liken himself to the hay in Jesus\u2019 manger, his only hope was that he could provide some comfort to the newborn baby.<\/p>\n
This year, I have been thinking the most about the shepherds.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s because the shepherds were out in the dark night, possibly cold and lonely\u2014the last folk who you\u2019d think God\u2019s angel would approach to announce the birth of the new king of Israel.\u00a0 Shepherds were hardly well-placed and important, but rather poor, unskilled, and illiterate.\u00a0 I like that at first, in the text above, there was just one angel, and the glory of the Lord shone around them\u2014so the glory didn\u2019t shine around the angel, but around the shepherds.\u00a0 But rather than revel in that, this terrified the shepherds.\u00a0 How often do we experience God\u2019s glory in a way that is so extraordinary, it terrifies us!<\/p>\n
During this Advent season, my mind is occupied by two people.\u00a0 The first is Bertrand, the young Cameroonian man Steve Wiebe and I met at Adelanto Detention Center last month.\u00a0 He continues to be hopeful and positive, participating in a prayer group of fellow asylum-seekers awaiting the decision of whether he can stay in this country that he traveled for six months to reach.\u00a0 As our Immigrant Accompaniment Organizer, Kristi Van Nostran, pointed out, many detention centers are intentionally placed in remote locations, away from population centers, just as the shepherds were living out in the fields, likely some distance from towns like Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
The other person on my mind is, of course, Jake Kim.\u00a0 Jake completed his interim term with Northminster a year ago, and continued as Associate for Ministry Development for San Gabriel Presbytery, inspiring churches with his passion for ministry and creative energy.\u00a0 It was only two months ago when he left to be installed as senior pastor of Church of the Valley in Apple Valley.\u00a0 It seemed like a wonderful blessing\u2014a good-sized, energetic congregation in a community that was quieter than metropolitan Los Angeles, where he could buy a house.\u00a0 But a little over a week ago he suffered an aortic aneurysm, and has been on life support since then.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t heard news for a few days, but we continue to pray for Jake and especially his wife Yuni and two young boys Ari and Avi,<\/p>\n
I think many of us know something about sitting in a hospital room, as patient or visitor, during the holidays\u2014or worse, having to say good-bye to a loved one when it seems the whole world is partying.\u00a0 But just as we remember that our Lord came to us in a little baby born of a poor unwed mother\u2014just as the Lord came to us in a barn, temporarily homeless and displaced by imperial edict\u2014just as the Lord came to us as a young child, whose family was forced to seek asylum in Egypt\u2014we are also reminded that the Lord\u2019s coming was announced not only to royalty, but to all the world in a shining star, and God sent an angel to announce the good news of Christ\u2019s birth personally to poor shepherds living out in the cold, outside the city.\u00a0 And though sometimes we feel outside polite society, far from the holiday festivities, let us always remember that God never forgets us, and will even go to great lengths to reach out to us.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/image1.png\")
<\/p>\n
This word cloud is made up of the word \u201cpeace\u201d in the languages of San Gabriel Presbytery\u2014or at least the languages that influence us.\u00a0 On any given Sunday, San Gabriel Presbytery speaks peace to a frightened world in English, Korean, Taiwanese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Cantonese, Indonesian, Thai, occasionally Filipino and Japanese, and we might reference the biblical text in Hebrew or Greek.\u00a0 We are the living example of God\u2019s reach to all the world, and our commitment to let our neighbors know, in a language they can understand, that Jesus Christ is born, and lives, in and for all of us.\u00a0 So whether you are busy and happy and warm, or lonely and grieving and cold, God\u2019s love comes to all of us.\u00a0 May we take a moment to hear the angel say \u201cI am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.\u201d\u00a0 And together, let us all sing:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\u201cGlory to God in the highest heaven, <\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>and on earth peace among those whom God favors!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nPeace to you all, and see you in 2020,<\/p>\n
Wendy<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.\u00a0 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Luke 2:8-9 Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, when we keep watch for the Bethlehem birth of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24042,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24037\/revisions\/24042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, when we keep watch for the Bethlehem birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Do you relate to any particular part of the story?\u00a0 Some women connect with Mary, as they remember the wonder and excitement and nervousness that comes with the birth of a baby.\u00a0 Some politically-minded people think about the intrigue in the palace of King Herod, as he receives news that a new king is rising, perhaps threatening his power.\u00a0 Some relate to the wise men, attracted by a star to seek the new king in a foreign land.\u00a0 Recently I asked this question of the partners sharing our Presbytery Center in Temple City, and one of the Mideast Evangelical Church members was humble enough to liken himself to the hay in Jesus\u2019 manger, his only hope was that he could provide some comfort to the newborn baby.<\/p>\n
This year, I have been thinking the most about the shepherds.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s because the shepherds were out in the dark night, possibly cold and lonely\u2014the last folk who you\u2019d think God\u2019s angel would approach to announce the birth of the new king of Israel.\u00a0 Shepherds were hardly well-placed and important, but rather poor, unskilled, and illiterate.\u00a0 I like that at first, in the text above, there was just one angel, and the glory of the Lord shone around them\u2014so the glory didn\u2019t shine around the angel, but around the shepherds.\u00a0 But rather than revel in that, this terrified the shepherds.\u00a0 How often do we experience God\u2019s glory in a way that is so extraordinary, it terrifies us!<\/p>\n
During this Advent season, my mind is occupied by two people.\u00a0 The first is Bertrand, the young Cameroonian man Steve Wiebe and I met at Adelanto Detention Center last month.\u00a0 He continues to be hopeful and positive, participating in a prayer group of fellow asylum-seekers awaiting the decision of whether he can stay in this country that he traveled for six months to reach.\u00a0 As our Immigrant Accompaniment Organizer, Kristi Van Nostran, pointed out, many detention centers are intentionally placed in remote locations, away from population centers, just as the shepherds were living out in the fields, likely some distance from towns like Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
The other person on my mind is, of course, Jake Kim.\u00a0 Jake completed his interim term with Northminster a year ago, and continued as Associate for Ministry Development for San Gabriel Presbytery, inspiring churches with his passion for ministry and creative energy.\u00a0 It was only two months ago when he left to be installed as senior pastor of Church of the Valley in Apple Valley.\u00a0 It seemed like a wonderful blessing\u2014a good-sized, energetic congregation in a community that was quieter than metropolitan Los Angeles, where he could buy a house.\u00a0 But a little over a week ago he suffered an aortic aneurysm, and has been on life support since then.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t heard news for a few days, but we continue to pray for Jake and especially his wife Yuni and two young boys Ari and Avi,<\/p>\n
I think many of us know something about sitting in a hospital room, as patient or visitor, during the holidays\u2014or worse, having to say good-bye to a loved one when it seems the whole world is partying.\u00a0 But just as we remember that our Lord came to us in a little baby born of a poor unwed mother\u2014just as the Lord came to us in a barn, temporarily homeless and displaced by imperial edict\u2014just as the Lord came to us as a young child, whose family was forced to seek asylum in Egypt\u2014we are also reminded that the Lord\u2019s coming was announced not only to royalty, but to all the world in a shining star, and God sent an angel to announce the good news of Christ\u2019s birth personally to poor shepherds living out in the cold, outside the city.\u00a0 And though sometimes we feel outside polite society, far from the holiday festivities, let us always remember that God never forgets us, and will even go to great lengths to reach out to us.<\/p>\n
This word cloud is made up of the word \u201cpeace\u201d in the languages of San Gabriel Presbytery\u2014or at least the languages that influence us.\u00a0 On any given Sunday, San Gabriel Presbytery speaks peace to a frightened world in English, Korean, Taiwanese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Cantonese, Indonesian, Thai, occasionally Filipino and Japanese, and we might reference the biblical text in Hebrew or Greek.\u00a0 We are the living example of God\u2019s reach to all the world, and our commitment to let our neighbors know, in a language they can understand, that Jesus Christ is born, and lives, in and for all of us.\u00a0 So whether you are busy and happy and warm, or lonely and grieving and cold, God\u2019s love comes to all of us.\u00a0 May we take a moment to hear the angel say \u201cI am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.\u201d\u00a0 And together, let us all sing:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGlory to God in the highest heaven, <\/span> Peace to you all, and see you in 2020,<\/p>\n Wendy<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav in_same_term=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.87″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” hide_prev=”off” hide_next=”off”][\/et_pb_post_nav][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.\u00a0 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Luke 2:8-9 Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, when we keep watch for the Bethlehem birth of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24042,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24037\/revisions\/24042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>and on earth peace among those whom God favors!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n