My childhood is peppered with small-town memories I can still taste, see, and smell. Past sensory experiences I was privileged to bank as a kid still pay wonderful dividends when I pause and let them surface.
The old library in Waynesville is one such example. In its initial glory days, the Mary L. Cook Library was the first public school for our small Ohio village. With progress and growth, the two-story giant exchanged classrooms of kids for books, lots of books.
As a nine-year-old, I would ride my Huffy 5-speed, complete with a sparkled purple banana seat and sissy bar to the library. I was greeted with a hotting owl and competing Bob White quails. Immediately I was confronted with a massive, thick, heavy wood, front door requiring the full body weight of an 80-pounder to budge open. And then the smell would hit you. The musty, envigorating old smell of knowledge and buried book treasures would wrap and enrapt you in her arms, begging for exploration.
The screaming quiet of narrow aisles, high ceilings, and the oft-heard sound of someone else attempting to open the huge front door was just too much for me to take in. Goosebumps followed by a quick excursion to the bathroom meant I could find, read, navigate, invent, and discover just about anything the Dewey Decimal card catalog would point me to. I would eventually have a stack of books (as high as I could carry on my Huffy 5-speed) to check out. The final hurdle of the library adventure was getting past the sushhhing lady with bifocals chained around her neck. The clunky sound of return dates being stamped in each book meant my time was fruitful and my future bright with possibilities. But were my childhood expeditions a quest for news or advice? Hmmm.
Have you ever grabbed your Bible and had similar feelings of anticipation and holy goosebumps? You just know this is more than a dusty, musty old book. Its holy pages invite an experience with a living God because the book itself is living and active and never allows room for non-affects.
This Sunday, I’ll be speaking from a text I’ve never tackled before. In fact, I’ve avoided this text for some 37 years. I’ve skipped it, skimmed over it, taken precursory glances, and flat-out ignored it. But Matthew 1:1-18 is a gem. I can’t wait to teach this! There are grace gifts beneath the tree for us to consider.
This Sunday, we’ll start our Christmas series, “Grace Beneath The Tree.” You can’t look at a cradle without seeing the cross… where there’s grace beneath the tree.
Would you bring your Bible, pen, and goosebumps this Sunday… and perhaps a friend or two? It’s gonna be a good one. I believe you’ll discover, navigate, and find fruitful, Gospel possibilities that point to news (good news!) and not more stuffy advice that nobody needs! Come and anticipate God to speak through a very unique passage. You’ll also find we have no huge doors to fight through or ladies with bifocals to shush an amen or two! See you this Sunday…
Blessings!
Pastor alan
p.s. – So many signed our “Gospel-Driven. Together. Covenants” last Sunday. THANK YOU for helping make Lifebridge a Biblical and radically inclusive family for all. If you missed last Sunday, you’ll have an opportunity again this Sunday to sign the covenant. AND… as we get closer to ending this year, I want to thank you for your faithful giving and year-end giving considerations. God is moving as we live out His revelation of being Gospel-Driven. Together.