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Luke 1:26-38 – Listen! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 4, 2022 One of my least favorite Christmas songs is “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Sorry if it is one of your favorites, but I’ve never liked it that much except for the last verse when the King commands, “Listen to what I say! Pray for peace, people everywhere! Listen to what I say! The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night He will bring us goodness and light, He will bring us goodness and light.” Now don’t get me wrong the message of the song is great, the night wind whispering to a little lamb about a “star with a tail as big as a kite.” The lamb asking a shepherd boy if he can hear the same song he hears, and the shepherd boy asking the mighty king, “Do you know what I know?” Now if you listen closely at the words, you will notice that each phrase is contingent upon one thing: listening! In our day and age where everything demands our immediate attention it is often hard to get people to simply listen. In the verses we will look at ...

The Joy of a Father’s Heart By Pastor Lee Hemen December 12, 2021 I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; I will enter His courts with praise! I will say this is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice for He has made me glad! The JOY of the Lord is my strength; it has to be especially now. This is both the happiest day and the saddest day of my life! But as you can see, I think I will focus on the happier part! Oh Lord, my Yahweh thank You for being the Lord You are. Thank You for my daughter, Miriam and of course Yoseph! A father knows this day will come but he never realizes just how fast it does come. Your daughter is one day playing with your beard, learning to walk, learning the Psalms and singing them sweetly around the house, and the next… she has growing into a fine young woman! Can it be that she is fourteen now? They grow up so fast! This last year she has learned to cook, sew, keep a household, and to manage affairs well like a good Jewish woman should. Just...

Do you share the Good News? – Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20 By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 1, 2021 As a family drove home from worship the mother exclaimed, “What a wonderful service we had this morning!” The oldest daughter from the backseat asked, “So, what do we do about Christ’s resurrection?” “What do you mean, honey?” “I mean Christ’s resurrection supposedly changed everything. We say it changed our life. It seems to me we should be doing more to indicate Christ has made a difference in us and he wants to make a difference in others.” It made the mother realize that she needed to share the good news with others joyfully and more consistently. Let me ask you, “How does your worship influence your daily service for Christ?” As Sunday morning dawned, two lowly women walked to the tomb of Jesus. An earthquake occurs, and an angel of God rolls back the stone at the entrance of the tomb and sits on it. He tells the women not to be afraid because Jesus had risen from the dead. What occurs ...

Ramblings from Retirement – Lost! By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 10, 2021 Have ever been lost or have you had a child get lost? I’ve had both happen to me. When I was little, about 3 years old, my family was visiting the downtown area of the small town we lived near. They met another family that they knew and began talking to them and as they did my father reached over and placed me on the hood of a nearby car. No one thought anything about this in that era because cars were made a lot sturdier and out of sheet metal. It was a sunny spring day, the car hood was warm and I fell asleep. Waking up a short time later I realized that my family was nowhere to be seen. About this time a policeman came walking by and asked me if I was lost and where my family was. We were taught to trust any policeman. Shortly my family came running around the corner; my father first, then my brother, sister and mom. Of course they asked me where I had wandered off to but then realized that they were the ones...

Ramblings from Retirement - Nativity By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) December 24, 2020 A couple traveling was nothing new especially at this time when everyone was required to head back to their ancestral places of birth. It was required and they had no choice in the matter. The government dictated that they had to go and be counted and so they went. To do otherwise would have brought the full force of the Empire down on them. This one couple walked side by side carrying a few meager possessions, food, and things for the baby that could be born any time soon. The young woman was pregnant. Her husband was worried because there were so many traveling and what if he could not find anywhere for them to rest and for her to be protected from the weather. She was pregnant after all and that alone was risk enough. Many women died in child birth but she was strong, young, and a lovely person who loved God and he was certain that God loved her. I wonder if he thought about what had transpired in b...

As Silent Nights Go By Pastor Lee Hemen December 19, 2020 As silent nights go, it was nothing new; Only noted by a chosen few. The evening breeze blew soft that night, And stars twinkled in heavenly delight.      Shepherds watched their flocks in fields, Covered themselves from the cold to shield. While in a little town in a manger lay, A small baby boy tucked in soft brown hay. Near his crude crib his father knelt, His young mother in wonder felt; Her son so tiny chosen to be, The one who’d come to set captives free. Back in the fields angels sing, Hallelujahs to the Godly king! Born that day in the tiny town, A baby wears a heavenly crown. The shepherds rush to the manger scene, To tell the parents of what they’d seen. The mother wonders at what it meant, About her son that God has sent. How could it be that one so small, Born in a simple manger stall, Could be the savior of all mankind That even wise men would seek to find? And yet the carols we still sing, Of the baby...

The birth of Jesus – Matthew 1:18-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 30, 2018 Matthew is the first of what is commonly called the “Synoptic Gospels”. “Synoptic” comes from the Greek adjective synoptikos, which is from two words syn and opsesthai, “to see with or together.” While Matthew, Mark, and Luke have distinctive purposes, they nevertheless view the life of Jesus Christ in a common way. There have been multiple arguments concerning why they are similar and yet also different. Everything from there supposedly being some mysterious other source document known as “Q” no one has ever found a single scrap of to the notion that it was all made up. None of these are correct. The Gospels are similar and yet different simply because they were written by different individuals who either used firsthand accounts they remembered or the testimony of others. When my brother, my sister and I get together we often share common stories of our youth. While we may share the same events we experienced e...

3rd Sunday of Advent - The Joy of our worship - Matthew 2:1-12 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 16, 2018 Though not everyone agrees on the timing of the arrival of the Magi from the East, they apparently came sometime after the birth of Jesus. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, though still in Bethlehem, were now in a house (oikia) or residence. Matthew could have simply been describing where Mary and Joseph were staying. Jesus was also called a child (paidion) rather than infant. The focus is the Magi’s joyous worship. When Denise and I first began to date, I would drive hundreds of miles, often times during very bad weather just to see her. I wrote her letters where I painstakingly drew cartoon characters just to make her smile. I was and am willing to sacrifice anything for her happiness and contentment. Why would I do this? I did it because I love her. She is the joy of my life. And isn’t that the way believers should respond to the joy of their worship as well? Let’s discover just what the joy ...

Resurrection! - John 20:1-9 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 16, 2017 We are at a spiritual crossroads in history. We live in a day and age whereby folks do not use critical thinking but rely on their instinct or passion. This is dangerous because we are then motivated to think that what we feel is more important than facts. Or worse, that we can distinguish what is right or wrong in life simply by how it feels to us. From personal relationships, what we believe in, or to whom we vote for is a matter of feelings and not what we truly know. We end up hurt and confused when our emotions have steered us in the wrong direction. The resurrection is not a matter of emotion or personal feelings. It is a historical physical fact. This is why later when Mary is crying by the empty tomb and the angel rebukes her by reminding her of the facts, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son ...

Christmas Is About Three Fathers... By Pastor Lee Hemen December 25, 2016 The other day as I was changing the diaper of my baby granddaughter it all of sudden hit me that Christmas is about so much more than a baby boy. It is about fathers as well. In fact it is about three of them that I know of. First, I cannot but wonder about the father of Mary who watched as his little pregnant daughter walked slowly down the dusty road leaving Nazareth. The trip would not be long by today’s standards but a huge undertaking for a new couple. Food, clothes, and necessities for a new baby and of course her care had to be carried. We forget people usually did not live past their 40s during this time and at a distance of about 89 miles would be a hard journey. I wonder if he looked at the night sky full of stars noticing that the one which shown brightest was in the sky near the place where his daughter journeyed to and thought about her. Was she safe? Had she given birth? Was Joseph taking care of he...

The love of God! - John 19:23-30 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 14, 2016 What is love? Poets, songwriters, novelists, psychologists, and philosophers have all tried to answer what love is all about. It is more than being hooked on a feeling and high on believing. Some sing that they want to know what love is but then they get confused that it is a feeling or a sex act, so they want to say they're sorry 'cause he's "missing more than [her] body." Wow, do you think they misunderstand what love is all about? Here in John's gospel we discover not only what love is all about but how it was manifested for all time. It is the kind of love where Paul would write that "love is patient, kind, doesn't envy, boast, or is proud. It isn't rude, self-seeking, easily angered, and it never keeps a record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Love never fails." (1 Corinthian...

Jesus Is Anointed - John 12:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 26, 2015 When we graduate from high school we have a ceremony to commemorate the event; when we are married for a long time, live into very old age or have been at a job for a long time, folks usually commemorate the event; and when a ship is launched the event is commemorated as well. Here in John's gospel we discover Jesus being remembered by those who owed him so much, especially by one gracious lady. We do not fully understand the idea or the reasoning behind why folks of Jesus' day would anoint him. In fact, I would venture a guess that there are a lot of folks who do not even know what it means to anoint someone. Today we are beginning an entire section that covers the very last days of Jesus' life. Let's discover what it meant for Jesus to be anointed. READ: John 12:1-11 Good food and good company are two of the wonderful things in life. This is why Thanksgiving is especially important to me, because it al...