A message from Pastor Tim

A book that I recently read is “Holy Envy” by Barbara Brown Taylor. The premise of the book is simple enough. Taylor is an ordained Episcopal priest, a world-renowned preacher and teaches a “Religion 101” class at Piedmont University. The book, “Holy Envy” is not a primer on world religions, but rather it details her experience of teaching the “Religion 101” class through the eyes of her students and shares what she has learned and appreciates from other religions and how that influences her view and understanding of Christianity. I highly recommend this book.

I bring it up now, because today is the first day of Hannukah. For me, I grew up knowing its name but nothing else. Perhaps I knew something about a dreidel but that was it. Over the past few years, I have learned more and come to appreciate its significance and importance in the Jewish faith. I won’t try to explain Hannukah here, but ask you to watch this 3-minute video that, I feel, does a terrific job sharing its meaning. Please watch before continuing reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvFqBimGuIQ

Like Taylor, in her book “Holy Envy” the more I learn from the faith of our neighbors, the more I learn about my own faith. After watching the video, I think there are a couple of questions that stem from Hannukah that we can ask ourselves as Christians (or anyone can and should ask themselves).

What can we dedicate ourselves to during this time?

and

How can I bring a bit of light into the darkness?

A way in which I think the general understanding of Christianity needs to change is that we need to move away from the thinking of “How can I save neighbor?” to “What can I learn from my neighbor?”

God saves. We serve.
A way to serve is by learning.
A way to serve is by understanding.
A way to serve is by appreciating.

While we, as Christians, are in Advent and preparing to celebrate what God has done in the past (Christmas and the birth of Jesus), it is also about looking forward to what God is going to do in the future. God is going to bring light and life into the world fully when Christ comes again. Until that day arrives, may we all dedicate ourselves to understanding how we may participate in it.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Tim