We just finished four weeks of Advent at The Gathering Place. The definition of the word Advent is: coming or arrival. So the purpose of Advent is to celebrate the coming or arrival of something. We are celebrating the arrival that was anticipated for centuries before it happened; the birth of the Messiah.

The only absolute truth we have is the Bible and all 66 of those books are connected. These are accounts of historical events that really happened. The Bible is based on, not only absolute truth as we know it to be, but it is universal truth that connects the Kingdom of God to our lives. For instance: Moses was the only prophet that functioned as a mediator between God and the children of Israel. Other prophets heard from God and repeated what they had heard. Moses actually mediated with God that He would not destroy Israel for turning away from Him and worshipping idols. Jesus now sets at the right hand of our Heavenly Father mediating for us. This connects us all the way back to Moses.

John the Baptist was going to be the forerunner that would set the stage for the ministry of Jesus. His Mother, Elizabeth, and Father, Zacharias, had never had children, now they were too old but an angel came to Zacharias and John was born in their old age. Mary, the mother of Jesus, went to see John’s mother who was five or six months pregnant. Mary, a virgin, was also pregnant with Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit. Both of those births were going to be miraculous. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, John jumped in Elizabeth’s womb and they both were filled with the Holy Spirit. These things just do not happen but they were foretold centuries ahead. Jesus was later born in a stable in Bethlehem. Angels announced his birth to shepherds and a star led the Magi to him.

To be merry is to be happy and I am so happy that Jesus came and opened the door so that the Kingdom of God could operate in all people that will allow it.

These are the truths that we celebrate every Wednesday evening at 7 and Sunday morning at 9:30 and 10:30. Come and join us.

Tonight at 9 we are having Christmas Eve candle light and communion. You are invited to come and take a few minutes from all of the hustle and sometimes stress of this time, and reflect on what it really means to have a “Merry Christmas.”