Will Vaus

It seems to get harder every year to focus on the real message of Advent and Christmas, don’t you think? Now the bombardment of a commercialized Christmas begins before Halloween. And then when we do get to December the world is singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. Now, I personally have no problem with Santa Claus. But the Church for almost 2000 years has had a different message during this season. That message is: Jesus is Coming to Town. And I think it is important that this message does not get lost in all the hubbub of the season. Let’s take a look at what Luke has to say about this in Luke 21:25-36. Listen for God’s word to you… “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.  26  People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  27  Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in...

When I was in high school, my parents encouraged me to get involved in various activities at school, in the church, in the community in order to discover my interests and perhaps a life direction. Thus, one day I tried out for a high school play and, without any previous experience, I landed the lead role. That was the first of many productions I got involved in, and in college, I consequently became a drama major. People have debated for centuries what is most important in a play. Is it plot or character? For my money, I would bet on the characters being the most important element in a play. After all, it is the characters and their motivations that drive the plot. Thus, I would suggest to you that the power of the play is in the characters, and as we come to our text in the Gospel of John today, we approach what William Barclay has called “the most dramatic account of the trial of Jesus in the New Testament”. You may wonder why we are looking at this text today that focuse...

Have you ever heard about the person who ordered plans for a birdhouse online? Instead of sending the plans for the birdhouse, the company sent plans for a sailboat by mistake. The customer tried to put it together, but it just wouldn’t work. He couldn’t figure out what kind of bird was going to live in this dumb birdhouse. So, he sent the parts back to the company and wrote them an angry email. In response the company emailed the customer. After their apology they added this post script: “If you think it was difficult for you, you should have seen the man who got  your plans trying to sail a birdhouse.” Sometimes we face problems in life because we don’t understand the purpose of something or even someone we are working with. In our text for today the writer to the Hebrews tells his readers that they have misunderstood the purpose of the law and the sacrifices in the Hebrew Scriptures. They thought they had plans for a birdhouse when what they really had were plans and pa...