This is the day that the Lord has made!

Here we are on day #3!

A good day to do some catching up or a good day to jump on into the Year of the Bible adventure. Either way, I'm glad you're here!

The answer to yesterday's question:

Friday, Jan. 2
Did the Magi follow the same road home? (Matt 2)Why or why not?
Matthew 2:1-3 1 Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
Matthew 2:12 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Matthew 2:16 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

And today's question:
Saturday, Jan. 3
After the animals were in the ark, how many days did they have to wait for rain? (Genesis 7)



And today's reflection:
Matthew 3:17 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

The Sweetest Words
There's a terrible TV commercial that I feel like I've seen a million times. It's a little amplifier that looks like a bluetooth that you put in your ear. It shows people who are hard of hearing using it to listen to TV in bed without waking a spouse, listen to the preacher in church, and to eavesdrop on conversations from across the room. Strikingly, in the commercial, EVERY conversation someone overhears is a compliment. Not usually the kind of thing one hears while eavesdropping! Eavesdropping usually leads to hearing some not so flattering stuff about yourself or a friend.

While this commercial is terribly unrealistic (and just plain painful to watch!), it does illustrate the wonderful surprise of hearing people say something nice about you. Everybody loves a compliment, right? Some people like compliments so much that they constantly give them to themselves! That's called bragging.

But in our Scripture reading from Matthew 3, we read the words that must have been music to Jesus' ears. "This my Son, whom I love; with him I am well-pleased." In just these few words, God marks and claims Jesus. He identifies Jesus as belonging to him. He declares that with Jesus he is well pleased. That is what baptism is all about in the Presbyterian Church. At a baptism, we enter into a covenant with God. There are responsibilities and commitments that we make as part of OUR commitment to God. Participating in the "Year of the Bible" is one way to live out the vows made at baptism. And as we begin our "Year of the Bible" adventure together, what better way to start than to renew our baptisms during worship on Sunday's Year of the Bible kickoff? I hope you are able to join us at 11:00a on Sunday, Jan. 4!

Allison