January 12 Worship - "Preparing with Role Play"

After a one week weather delay, we finally gathered for our first worship of 2014, celebrating Epiphany -- the coming of the magi to see the infant Jesus.  Despite some of the health concerns in the congregation, those gathered were happy and rather chatty, leading to a relaxed and joyful worship service.

After officially installing the officers beginning their terms in January, we turned our attention to a usually unnoticed lesson from the journey of the magi.  In "Preparing with Role Play," I highlighted that the account in Matthew details some obstacles to finding the baby Jesus that we usually overlook.  I believe that these three people must have spent some of the time during their journey figuring out how they were going to see it through -- how they would find the right baby, how they would ask for directions, how they could convince the baby's mother they were not crazy so they could present their gifts.

Ultimately, the magi needed not only perseverance, but adaptability, in the face of unforeseeable challenges.  I think they could only have such adaptability if they prepared themselves for different scenarios -- if they asked themselves, repeatedly, "what if..." different things happened.  The same is true for the goals we seek to achieve in our own lives -- we must not only set good and clear goals, but we must imagine several different ways we might achieve them.

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.