This Week: Let Jesus be as near…
as the clothing you wear. Romans 13:15 (CEV)

Is there anything better on a cold morning than to be wrapped in your softest, warmest sweater!

This is a newer translation of the verse. You may be familiar with this verse written as “put on the Lord Jesus Christ…”

The Book of Romans in the New Testament is a letter to an unlikely group of new believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the World. The Apostle Paul spends eight chapters reminding them how God reconciled all them in Christ. “Reconciled” can be understood to mean “a reconciled couple has worked out their differences,” or “a reconciled bank transaction means that it has been cleared.” God makes us “good” with God, not by anything we do, but by what Jesus has done.

We encouraged in this reading to be intentional every day about living into that reconciliation with God: Stop shameful behavior, either to ourselves or toward others; stop going to places that tempt you to make choices that are harmful to you or others.

Take on practices, habits and choices that remind you that Jesus is as near to you as the clothes you wear. And remember, we do this not to please God, or earn heaven-points, we do this so that others will see Jesus in us.

This is the first Sunday of Advent. We continue our Living Connected appeal, and we begin to light the Advent Wreath. Our theme is the “Nearness” of God. Kind of like a cozy warm sweater that makes us feel secure, comfortable, and “at home.”

In the Nearness of the Baby,
Pastor Bonnie Wilcox