Jesus Said Come and See -- A Message for January 4, 2026

 

Friends, on this first Sunday of the year, we turn to the beginning of the book of John. John is quite different from the other three books of the Gospel: Matthew, Mark and Luke. Instead of starting the beginning of his book with the birth of Jesus, like Matthew and Luke, or the baptism of Jesus, like Mark, John begins philosophically – “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God.” The book of John cuts to the chase – in Jesus, the Word of God became flesh (a person) and dwelled among us (the people). Through Jesus, those of us who believe become the beloved children of God.

In his first chapter after Jesus was introduced, John explained that John the Baptist was not the messiah, but came to point us to the messiah. When Jesus appeared, John the Baptist began to tell his own disciples about Jesus.

Let’s read as John’s disciples began to consider leaving John the Baptist and begin to follow Jesus instead….we will read at John chapter 1 verses thirty-five through fifty-one:

Scripture John 1: 35-51

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 

When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 

And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 

He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Message Jesus Says Come and See

Come – See – Believe

Sometimes people need to “see” things to believe them…I am originally from Missouri – people have teased me about our motto: “The Show-Me” state. The motto comes from a quote Missouri Congressman Wilard Duncan Vindiver made in Philadelphia – he said “...forthy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me.  I’m from Missouri, and you have got to show me.”  Sometimes people are not convinced by the words or writing of others – they need to see things for themselves in order to believe them.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, some of the people who became his most loyal followers wanted to “see” him to “believe” him. John’s gospel doesn’t start at Jesus’ birth – with angels declaring Jesus is the Messiah – or Jesus’  baptism – with God’s voice echoing out from the heavens declaring Jesus is God’s son….instead, John starts with a theological statement that Jesus is God come to earth and then said John the Baptist came to prepare the people to meet Jesus. In this morning’s scripture, John the Baptist announces to his own disciples that Jesus is “the lamb of God.” John’s disciples understood this phrase to mean that Jesus was the Messiah, is the Messiah.

John’s disciples had to then make a decision – should they continue working with John the Baptist to prepare people to meet the messiah? Or should they go be with Jesus and work alongside the man John identified as the Messiah?

But, they also had a few seeds of doubt….John said Jesus is the messiah, but was he?

They needed to go and see – to come and see Jesus. And, once they met Jesus they knew John the Baptist was right – they were with the Messiah. So they left their former prophet, their former guru, and started following Jesus.

Jesus’ invitation to those first disciples extends to us through the centuries. We no longer live in a world or a community where being a member of the Christian faith is a norm. Instead, our communities are filled with people who are opting to not be Christians, or perhaps only be cultural Christians who participate in the fun traditions of Christianity without really believing in our faith. 

We have chosen to “come and see” Jesus.

We choose to follow Jesus. We choose to believe in God. We choose to practice our faith by worshipping in our church, by reading our scripture, by praying, and working to deepen our faith.

We are mandated by our God to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. Just as we have chosen to have a relationship with Jesus and believe in God, part of being believers in Christianity is sharing our faith with non-believers. It is our work to invite others to “come and see’ Jesus.

For Christians like us … UCC Christians, mainline Christians…it is sometimes very difficult for us to be open about our faith when we talk to other people. We associate evangelism with annoying people knocking on our doors early on Saturday mornings or people standing on busy street corners holding up signs that proclaim things like “The wages for sin is death.” 

But, we have something important to share. You can be a Christian and not be like the people who make others uncomfortable. Instead, we believe in a faith that is open-minded. We believe in a faith that works to be non-judgmental. We believe in a faith that welcomes and respects all people – women and men, young and old, straight and gay, poor and rich, of every educational background and professional background and social group and ethnic group.

There are people in our communities who have been hurt by the church. There are people in our communities who have false notions about Christians. They need to know that God loves them, even if they have been told otherwise. They need to know they are welcome here at Trinity, even if they have been unwelcomed in places that professed to be Christian. They need to know there are people who live out the slogan of the United Church of Christ – no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. 

  

We understand our lives are much richer because we believe in God and in Jesus Christ – the word of God. Through our faith, we experience God’s love, God’s forgiveness, and God’s grace. Through our participation in God’s church, we are connected to a community of believers who come together to support other another during the best times of our lives and the worst times of our lives. We have a gift to share with people who need support–who need to know they are loved just as they are, they are forgiven for whatever they regret, and they are the beloved children of God. 

Let us do our part to invite others to Come and See Jesus.

Amen.

The Word Became Flesh -- A Message for December 14, 2025

  This is the third week in the season of Advent. During this season, our scripture lessons come to us from the prophets. Some of the prophets who foretold of the coming Messiah lived centuries before Jesus’ birth.  For them, the birth of the Messiah was something to dream of far-off in the future. This morning, we are going to focus on the final prophet who predicted the coming of the messiah: John the Baptist. John was only a few months older than Jesus. But, he started his work as a prophet before Jesus revealed himself to the world. John was working to prepare people for Jesus in the immediate years and months before Jesus’ baptism. And, John was the baptizer – he was the prophet who baptised Jesus and proclaimed that he was here.

This morning, we turn to the book of John and read a portion of the first chapter. Listen now to the word of God….

The Scripture John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

2 He was with God in the beginning. 

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 

7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 

8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 

11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 

13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Let us pray….

The Message – The Word Became Flesh

December is one of the darkest times of the year. The winter solstice is next Sunday, on the 21st. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the 21st will be the blackest day of the year – the sun will rise around 7:20 and it will set around 4:40.

We live in the twenty-first century – we have electric lights. Our technological advances include HVAC systems and warm coats and snow boots. With the light pollution from the prison up the road, we don’t ever experience total darkness…we always have a bit of light.

Yet, our society still considers darkness scary. We don’t like it when we cannot see our surroundings. Gothic novels begin with statements like, “It was a dark and stormy light…” We are afraid of “things that go bump in the night.” We associate darkness with hiding the truth and concealing our true self – darkness is associated with evil and debauchery and misbehavior. Scary movies often have the bad guys sneaking up on their victims in the dark. The night and darkness is still thought to be scary and dangerous – we crave the light.

In the first century, as was true in the ancient world, people had to be very careful when it was dark outside. The main source of “artificial” light came from olive oil lamps made out of clay pots. The light was concentrated to a small area around the lamp. The lamps were fragile. And, when the lamp went out, darkness prevailed.

In Ancient times, the dark became metaphorically associated with night, sin, and evil. And, light became metaphorically associated with God, truth, virtue and good. 

The first chapter of John is John’s introduction to his evangelistic text. He wanted everyone to know about Jesus – through Jesus, God had come to the world in a wholly new way – choosing to be embodied in a human being. Jesus came to transform how we understand God’s wishes for the people of the world. And, Jesus came to bring truth and love to the world.

John’s words are very philosophical – but the key message is that through Jesus “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus is the “light” of the world. Jesus is the source of spiritual illumination and truth. 

Before Jesus came to earth, all people did not have knowledge about our relationship to our gracious and loving God. The Jewish people at least knew about God, but the world was filled with people who had not heard about our God and didn’t know about our loving creator. Since Jesus’ time on earth, Christianity has spread around the globe to people of every continent. People can learn about Jesus and choose to believe in God and follow Jesus’ teachings.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Yet, we are living in a society that is increasingly secular. Many people reject Christianity. Many others don’t understand how or why it could be relevant to their lives. They see pretty churches as part of the landscape of their lives, yet don’t feel the need to walk through the doors.

So, we must work to share the light – the Good News – with our friends and neighbors and family members. We must join with the light to help prevent the darkness from overcoming the light. We must invite people to join us at church for worship – and invite them to join us at church for Bible studies and community meals and special services and potlucks. If you have a friend who is having a hard time with the Christmas holiday, invite them to join us on Thursday at 7 pm for our Blue Christmas service. If you have neighbors without a church, invite them to join us for worship on Christmas Eve at 6 pm. Tell your friends about how being part of a community of prayerful Christians makes a difference in your life. We come here to worship God and to experience and participate in a loving, supportive environment. And, many, many people in our community are lonely and hurting. They need to be embraced by loving, non-judgmental people that are part of churches like ours, churches like Trinity. 

So, as we “wait” for Christmas Eve and recall the birth of the baby Jesus, let us remember to do our work of inviting people to church, inviting people to experience God, and do our part of shining the light of Christ into the world. Together, we will continue to do all we can to not allow the darkness to overcome the world. Amen. 

Seek the Lord -- A Message for December 7, 2025

Friends, today we begin the second week in the season of Advent…the first month in the Christian calendar. This is a season of waiting…we remember the 9 months Mary waited for her baby to be born….we remember the almost 10 centuries the people of God waited for the Messiah after the death of King David…and we are reminded that we are also people of God waiting for the return of Jesus and for the world to turn away from sin and turn towards the Lord.

In the season of Advent, we often reflect on the words of the prophets…instructive guidance for people who didn’t always get things right and who were waiting, like us, for God to intervene in the world and make things better. 

Last week, Laura preached on the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abeindigo – three followers of God who were loyal to the Lord despite their own great personal risk.  They refused to worship a false god, the king of Babylon, and were thrown into a fiery furnace in punishment. God saved them – their story is a reminder that despite impossible odds, and personal risk, loyalty to God will lead to both salvation and rescue. 

This morning we read from the book of Isaiah. The name Isaiah means “the Lord saves.” A very fitting name because when Isaiah walked the earth, the people of God were worried God would not save them. The Holy Land had been conquered by the Babylonians – their leaders and priests and royal family and the majority of their population had been forced to walk to Babylon as captives of war – the heroes of last week’s scriptural focus were children of Israel born to the captives in Babylon. The Jewish captives were not sure they would ever return to their homeland – they were not sure they would ever be free – they were not sure they would be able to worship freely or govern themselves again.

In the midst of their despair and their hopelessness, Isaiah offered a word of promise….a word of hope.

Today, we turn to the fifty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah. Listen to these words of hope in the midst of despair and darkness. 

Scripture Isaiah 55:1-13

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.

See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.

Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
 

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 

You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen

Let us pray….

The Message Seek the Lord

When we are struggling, it is hard for us to have hope. We know this from our own experiences – we can look back over times in our lives when things were bad – perhaps we were looking for a job when nothing seemed available; perhaps we were in a failing relationship and nothing we did seemed to make it better; perhaps we were failing a class in school and we just couldn’t understand the material; perhaps we were struggling with an addiction and no matter how we tried, we couldn’t kick it; perhaps someone we loved was sick and they weren’t getting better. When we are struggling, it is hard for us to have hope.

When Isaiah prophesied, the people of God were in exile. People who once were prosperous, were now struggling. They had little to eat; they lived in squalor; they were far, far away from their former homeland. They didn’t know if they would ever be free again. When people are struggling, it is hard for them to have hope.

Similarly, the situation when Jesus was born was also grim for followers of God. The Holy Land was an occupied territory. Their land had been conquered by the powerful and brutal Roman empire. The majority of people lived hand to mouth. The Roman army policed their towns and cities. They had to pay unfair taxes to the Romans, and the tax collectors took money off the top to enrich themselves. A handful of people thrived by colluding with the occupiers, but the rest of the people suffered. When people are struggling, it is hard for them to have hope.

 The people of God who heard the prophesies of Isaiah were also struggling. They were in exile – forced to leave the Holy Land and live in Babylon…hundreds of miles away from home. They had lost their freedom, their sovereignty, their ancestral homes. They were transformed from being the rulers to being the peons – they were slaves who were ruled by the whims of their Babylonian overlords. The kings of Babylon were tyrants who were cruel to the people who lived in their land – last week’s story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abindigo is just one of many examples of their brutality.  When people are struggling, it is hard for them to have hope.

So, what was Isaiah talking about? His words invite the exiled Jews to come and be refreshed by living waters and free food. He calls them to embrace the everlasting covenant God made with David. He claims God will pardon even people who are wicked and unrighteous.  And, his words promise restoration – the exiled Jews will return to Israel. These words offer hope to people who are struggling – everything will turn out all-right.

And, it did in many ways….the descendants of the exiles returned home and rebuilt Israel. Over and over again, the Jewish people have returned home and rebuilt Israel.

We are also people of hope and promise. Jesus came to earth in the first century to offer hope to people who were struggling then and his words and teachings still bring hope to people who are struggling now. 

And, we currently live in a time when people are struggling. Our immigrant neighbors are worried they will be accused of a legal infraction and be deported. The prices of food and toiletries and cleaning supplies have risen quickly for everyone. People’s health insurance costs are also quickly rising, making insurance less affordable. Wars continue to be fought in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Tensions continue to be high among people of different political views, causing disputes between families and neighbors. Every time we turn on the news, we watch and hear more and more stories about how hard things

In the midst of these scary times, we must rely on our God. In the midst of our struggles, God promises us abundance. In times of trial, God promises peace. Jesus’ words to us echo down from the centuries: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Our relationship with God provides comfort and respite no matter what we face. We can depend on God. And, our faith guides us through times of trial and persecution. We can depend on God to never leave us alone. Isaiah’s words remind us of God’s great love for God’s people: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

God created the world to be full of abundance – delicious food, fresh waters, building materials, people who love each other and support each other. Our faith reminds us that no matter what we face, God is with us. And, the promise of God is that we will also experience abundance….things get better. And, we will always have a home with God, the source of our strength and our salvation. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.