Dear FPCLA,
Happy happy New Year! I hope and pray that 2022 will be better than the last two years. Please continue to practice safe protocols as Covid is active and on the rise. If there is any sign of sickness, please get covid tested. If you need any support or assistance, please reach out to one of the pastors. Our hope and prayers are with you.
Is there New Year’s ritual you practice? For our families, we do the Corean rituals of eating Dduk Kook (rice cake soup) and formal bowing to our elders and then words of wisdom from them. The kids usually get money, but I am too old now…hehehe. :)~
Sermon: FPCLA Top Ten for 2022
Scripture: Luke 2:41-52
1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
15 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
16-18 We all live off his generous abundance,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.
Announcements:
- We are back to in person worship at 1:15pm and remote worship. There is no fellowship hour afterwards, but instead will head out for meal and drinks.
- Our annual congregational meeting is on January 30, 2022 at 2:30pm on zoom. We will send out an annual review packet a week or so before. If you would like to attend, please send me an email and a zoom link will be sent to you along with the packet.
- If you have the means, please give to FPCLA.
