Birth – 12 years -AdultMuskoka Lakes Ministry of Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance
Sunday Dec 27, 2020
Message: Birth … 12 Years … Adult!
Reverend John Young
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Announcements
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* We extend thanks to Rev. John Young for supplying the pulpit over the month of December. Your messages have been a blessing to us, and we thank you. God’s richest blessings to you and Sue in 2021.
*Rev Faith returns from holidays on Jan 1, 2021.
* Lectio Divina resumes on Jan 7, 2021. Thursday evenings, 8pm via Zoom.
* Reverend Faith will begin scheduling at home Communion for those unable to take part in the online service, and for seniors. We will be monitoring and following lockdown guidelines put in place by the Ontario government. Please call the office (705-765-3797) to schedule a date/time.

* Should you have a pastoral need during my time away, please leave a message on the church office answering machine (It will be checked daily), or contact one of the elders (Knox: Alf MacMillian 705-764-1654 / Edie Bard 705-645-6748 / Scott Murley 647-220-0475 / Cathy Vine 705-764-0320 / Ken Shortt 705-769-3239) and (Zion: Garnet Schenk 705-684-8498 / Inez Laycock 705-762-2075 / Robin Keeler 416-540-4324)
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Call to Worship ~ Advent Candle Lighting
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On the four Sundays of Advent, we lit the candles of Hope, Peace, Joy and
Love. We light them again today as a reminder of our month-long journey
toward Christmas.
On Christmas Eve it is traditional to light the Christ Candle in the centre of
the Advent Wreath. We light it again today as a reminder that we are now
in the 12 days of Christmas, a short season of celebrating the birth of the
Saviour.
We celebrate God’s nearness … God’s willingness to rub shoulders with
human beings … God’s desire to walk with us. We worship the God who is
here!
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Prayer of Adoration & Confession
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God of hope, peace, joy and love … thank you for these twelve days of Christmas to celebrate the presence of our Saviour. Thank you for your love which mysteriously blankets the world and our lives. Thank you for your open-handedness which we see in the way blessings are widely scattered. Thank you for the opportunity you provide us to live a new and meaningful life by sharing your peace and love with others.
In the safety of your love, we acknowledge our need to be redeemed, forgiven, and offered another opportunity to truly live. We confess a brokenness that can only be repaired by your grace. Remind us again that your love and mercy are the true gifts of this season, offered freely to any who will receive them.
Relying on your promises in Christ, to forgive us completely and provide us with a new start, we claim your pardon and commit ourselves to following the example of Christ. In his name we pray. AMEN
Words of Assurance
The Christmas story reminds us that God has already taken the initiative to enter our world and our lives in order to bring us light and life, not judgment or condemnation. In our Saviour we find complete forgiveness
and a new beginning. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. AMEN
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Scripture
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Luke 2:41-52
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
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Message
“ Birth … 12 Years … Adult! ”
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So here we are ... another Christmas is fading into memory ... we are still singing carols and lighting candles ... the baby is no longer a newborn, according to Luke but named on the 8th day, and now, fast-forward a few more verses ... he’s 12 years old! From these few details, we learn that God’s entry into the world in this baby is but a short beginning … the story is rapidly heading toward a real-life, adult vocation.
In today’s reading, the 12-year-old is in the temple ... a favorite theme in Luke’s gospel ... major events in Jesus’ life and ministry revolve around the synagogue and temple ... this is a direct reminder that Christian faith is solidly based in Judaism. Our roots are in the liturgy, the hopes, and the theology of Jewish faith.
Luke’s Gospel leads us to conclude that Jesus’ family was fully engaged in their faith and the faith community ... from the statement of faith which Mary spoke to the Angel – “here I am, the servant of the Lord” ... to the presentation of Jesus in the temple, dedicating him to God ... and now to Luke’s affirmation that Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour. Wisdom and favour are gifts of God ... Jesus had them in abundance, according to Luke. The implication is that Jesus was a person of deep, substantial faith, by age 12. He was a regular attender at Synagogue and increasing in wisdom.
When the next part of Jesus’ begins, at Luke Chapter 3, Jesus is a mature adult and it is John the Baptist who prepares the way for Jesus’ next, and most important, visits to the temple ... as an adult and a teacher.
Here are a few examples of the adult Jesus practicing his faith ... beginning in chapter 4 ... Jesus is tempted by the devil to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple to see if the angels will save him ... not only does he reject overt temptation, he also refuses to test God and firmly rejects any power other than God’s. At the end of chapter 4, Jesus preaches in the synagogues in Judea … his words stir hearts and his healings create controversy. In chapters 6 and 7, he is teaching in the synagogue ... and then there are a series of chapters that speak of his intent to go to Jerusalem – the temple is implied and it promises to be a final meeting with his accusers. And finally in chapter 19, we read the Palm Sunday story where Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and heads straight to the temple and accuses the religious leaders of turning God’s house of prayer into a den of thieves ... fighting words those. Then Jesus regularly teaches in the temple until the last supper in chapter 22.
Jesus is rooted in Jewish faith and tradition. Jesus is also a spokesperson for the kind of faith that refuses to get caught up in easy religion ... Jesus leads his followers into the demanding, strenuous, tough kind of prophetic faith which speaks about loving others sacrificially, giving without counting the cost, standing with the hopeless and the condemned, and claiming God’s grace for those who deserve anything but God’s grace.
This non-traditional faith that Jesus preaches is supported by the story of God’s entry into the world beginning with unmarried parents birthing the King of kings in barn. It is not easy religion but strenuous faith. The rugged power of divinity is set aside for flesh and blood and vulnerability. The divine strength to overpower human choice and force us into goodness or to send us straight to the pit is abandoned so that God’s love and grace might persuade us to choose a better way.
None of this is easy or straightforward faith in God ... in many ways it is the opposite. The religious leaders of the time believed that God rewarded good behaviour and punished the uncooperative … Jesus affirmed that God forgave the undeserving and challenged the self-righteous. This is but one example of the demanding and controversial teachings of our Saviour.
And so we come back to the early chapters in Luke’s Gospel which race past the new-born stage of the Messiah’s life ... pausing briefly on the 8 th day to dedicate him to God ... and then pausing again for a moment at age 12 as the faithful youngster enters adulthood ... and then boom, in the first sentence of the 4th chapter, Jesus is an adult being ordained for tough service.
Welcome to the beginnings of Christian faith! There’s something in all this that has grabbed people, convinced millions over 20 plus centuries, plucked the heart-strings of seekers far and wide, pronounced grace and blessings upon determined sinners, and invited pagans and atheists alike to become believers in divine love incarnate.
The God who is behind all this is not some vague spiritual presence out there in the universe ... nor is this some spy in the sky waiting for people to sin and then wham ... nor is this a divine marionette, micro-managing the world, pulling all the strings, leaving nothing to chance.
Instead, we hear in Luke’s early chapters about the God of love whose only desire is that goodness, justice, peace, and love prevail – not by force or obligation – but by faith and free choice of those who wish to follow.
The baby is growing up fast. The story continues. AMEN
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Prayers of the People ~ Lord’s Prayer (sins)
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Thank you God for this time of prayer, likely shared with many others around the world at this same moment. Thank you God for the many languages, cultures, and traditions of people around the world … thank you that you are loved and served in so many ways.
As we head toward a new year, we consciously recall the struggles and blessings we have known in the past. (a brief silence)
As we anticipate this new year, with its promise as well as its uncertainties, we place it in your capable hands. As it unfolds, we claim your presence with us and your strength within us. (a brief silence)
And now between the old and the new year, we walk in the present. We remember in our prayers the many places and people of the world who, today, need an extra measure of your strength, peace, and hope. We trust that you are already there, working miracles through the willing hands and hearts of those who serve you.
We also remember in our prayers the people and places closer to home who need your strength, peace, and hope … and we trust that you are already here, sending us to be the willing hands and hearts that will work your
miracles.
Go with us this day, O God, even as we commit to going with you, serving you, trusting you. As a sign of our faith, and of our resolve to be a people of loving kindness, we now pray as Jesus taught us.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever. AMEN
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Benediction
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In the midst of whatever life may be bringing to you, may you see God’s light, may you experience God’s peace, may you know God’s joy … and may we all find opportunities to spread God’s gifts around.
May the grace, mercy, and peace of Christ rest upon you, this day and always. AMEN

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!