The 1st Christmas Sunday: Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52
Podcast Message: Harmony
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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Merry Christmas. It is the 1st Sunday of Christmas.
After celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it is my prayer that you begin to feel restful, hopeful, and blessed as we approach the end of 2021.
Are you ready to bid farewell to this year? What will you miss the most in 2021, and what will you miss the least? And what would you like to see happen more by knowing that wearing masks will still be the norm in 2022? I am not sure what specific events I would like to see happen more, but having a harmonious life for all would be gratifying.
During my daughter’s middle school years, I attended most of her school’s orchestra competitions. There was one that made me think deeper about the meaning of harmony. Before the competitions, each school had its own rehearsal time led by its own orchestra teacher, and parents were welcomed to sit nearby and listen. Then I noticed that the teachers were switched. My daughter’s team was conducted by a teacher from a different school. She must have a really good ear for music. While she conducted, she stopped at several points and gave some specific directions to specific instrument sections. Once she had done all the corrections, she made the team play one more time. It did sound more cohesive; the balance between tense and relaxed moments was well expressed; each player seemed to have improved just within this short session with helpful instructions and knew how to play their parts in unity by heart.
Could a harmonious life be possible if there is no common ground embraced and abided by a community, a family, or a couple? The passage, Colossians 3:14, suggests that we put on love. It says, “Clothe yourselves with love, that binds everything together in perfect harmony.” My question is: with whose love do we put on? Have you seen a couple who claim that they love each other but fight often? The bottom line of most issues is that each has one’s own definition of ‘love.’ Being the people of faith, we put on not your love or mine but the love of God, only through which a harmonious life in unity can be played out by heart.
For God not only loves, but God is love. God is agape. Jesus did not list all the rules or commandments for us to follow but summarized all into two commandments in Matthew 22:38-39. The first and greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And the second one is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” These two pieces of law have been written on our hearts through our baptism for we are the People of God, said in Jeremiah 31:33. Doesn’t our God know the best on how to orchestrate our lives together? All we need to do is to play our own parts well in unity by heart so that God’s love can be spread into our neighborhoods and beyond!
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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