East Nelson United Methodist Church
9024 18 Mile Road, Cedar Springs
Pastor Herb Vanderbuilt
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” Colossians 1: 9-14.
Advent is a wonderful time of year filled with excitement and anticipation. Emmy and I have spent the last couple of days in an out of gift shops with Christmas carols providing the proper spirit for this season of giving. As I looked at all the merchandise I could not help but think of where all these precious items are going to end up. Some, of course, will be lifted high on Christmas day for all to see. Many will be eaten in the next weeks to come. And, of course, there are the ones that will soon be hanging in the closet hoping to one day see the bright lights again. Then I thought to myself, is there a gift that doesn’t end up like this, is there truly a gift that keeps on giving? The words of our text remind us that that God’s spirit is the everlasting gift. Part of the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time is to remind us of God’s gift of his Son and so we give gifts to the people we know. This is a great tradition. This year East Nelson has decided to also give gifts to people we don’t know. Through the help of our contacts in the local schools we adopted three families within our community and each of us will have the opportunity to bring a gift for someone in these families. Besides bringing a gift however the apostle Paul is reminding us that we also need to hold this person or persons, in prayer. Some of us are blessed to have family and friends around us at this time but many others are separated from loved ones and friends. Paul knows about this separation but still found time not only to keep in touch but also to remember them in prayer which is as priceless as any gift. We don’t often think of prayer as a gift but it certainly is, maybe the most important gift of all. So as we come to the sanctuary this Advent season let us come not only with the gifts we bring for others but with a prayer as well.
