Friday January 10, 2025
Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.
We will finish the twelve days of Christmas today with the “Feast of the Circumcision of Christ” which is celebrated on January 1. Ok I get it, a feast day for a circumcision, well to the twenty-first century ear, ya probably a little weird.
Baby boys are almost routinely circumcised shortly after they are born with, mercifully very little notice. However, we are not talking about the twenty first century, we are talking about first century Judaism. Christians today would do themselves a big favor and get over themselves and realize that while this might sound a little awkward, that this was a profoundly important part of the faith Jesus was born in to, it still is today. Circumcision marked that boy as a part of Judaism, that he was a faithful Jew. Did Jesus “ need” to be circumcised? No. It was God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who set the conditions to be circumcised and Jesus was certainly going to follow those traditions and certainly Mary and Joseph would not dream of failing to observe the Jewish Law and custom of the time. They were faithful in taking Jesus to the temple for the ceremony to be conducted. This was in order to comply with the Law that was given to Abraham, the same one who “saw” Jesus’ day and was certainly a faithful worshipper of Jesus in heaven. Jesus would not have violated Abraham’s Law, especially since He came to save us from our sins under the Law. That Jesus suffered and died to pay the penalty of the sins of the world, to do that He would have to faithfully adhere to the Law to save us. If you want to know what circumcision is message me on the church website.
I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, if you would like a transcript of today’s Thought, go so with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day
Thursday January 9, 2025
Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.
We are going to finish the Feast Days of the Christmas season, the twelve days of Christmas. December 29, is the feast of St Thomas a Becket, he was the bishop of Canterbury England in 1170. Becket was a court favorite, a royal chancellor, a friend of King Henry II. Becket was part of the Christian church early in his life. He had become important to the Archbishop at the time, Theobald. Becket completed many assignments for Theobald and the church. Becket was recommended to be the British chancellor, then when Theobald died, Becket was recommended to be appointed the Arch-bishop of Canterbury. This Arch -bishopric is the head of Christianity in the British Empire. King Henry decided that even though Becket had never been ordained as a priest, that he was marginally a part of the church hierarchy, that he would appoint Becket to the most important Christian office in Britain. Why? Henry wanted to encroach on the Christian church’s power and resources. He thought appointing his close associate Becket as the head of the church that he would have Henry’s six and back him up in this, kind of, take-over attempt. Becket had enough time to really understand and appreciate what the Christian Church was about and decided to stand up to Henry as the leader of the church. Henry didn’t appreciate what he thought was either failure of outright disloyalty. Becket fled to France. He returned and excommunicated three bishops for trying to support Henry’s move to make the church an arm of his empire. Becket was not going to relent on December 29, 1170 three knights of Henry’s entered the arch-bishops church, the seat that he ruled the British church from and martyred Thomas a Becket. He became an example of standing for the church even to death.
I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day
Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.
We are talking more about Epiphany and its importance in the Christian calendar. First, the biggest reason that Epiphany is such an important season is that the magi are not Jewish, they are pagan Gentiles. We really don’t know anything about them. A lot of traditions have grown around them, most if not all are probably not true. Stcatherinecc.org had some interesting points. One legend says that the reason they have been called “Kings” is that they were supposed to really be kings. That is almost certainly not true, but legend has it that Caspar, not the ghost, was the king of India, Melchior king of Persia and Balthazar king of Arabia. That puts them very far apart geographically, which begs how did they meet up? There is a tradition that they became Christians at meeting Jesus or evangelized and they were all martyred for their beliefs. Now Matthew writes that the magi went into the oikia, Greek word for house, not cave. They saw the paidion Greek for the young child, not agoraki, the Greek word for baby. Clearly the magi didn’t get to the scene until about a year after Mary gave birth. The most important part of Epiphany is that it announced to the world that Jesus was not just a Jewish king, Jesus was the King of all creation, and that creation was made through Him. So baby, ya. But having it very specifically portrayed that these men were very important Gentiles, and that they came to Jesus not just to give Him gifts. But to also worship and adore Jesus that Jesus is most certainly the God and Creator of all creation and of all peoples.
I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day
Tuesday January 7, 2025
Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.
We talking about Epiphany and we will go back to the other feast days of the Christmas season. Epiphany is on January 6 and begins the season of Epiphany. In our Pastoral Desk Diary from Concordia Publishing House, I found information I had never heard before or thought about. First, Epiphany is the second oldest season on the Christian calendar. I bet you can guess that the oldest season is Easter. Certainly Easter with all the very explicit descriptions leading up from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday Lent season and Easter season is obviously the most important season of the church calendar. To be frank, despite what they might have read in Luke people of that time were not terribly impressed with little babies, show us what you got and then we will talk about you. Mark’s Gospel doesn’t talk at all about Jesus’ nativity. Hey they’re big tough Romans, babies don’t matter. Heck if a baby was born that didn’t work for them, they’d leave it in the forest for animals to eat. Guess what Christians saved those little babies, ya, nice people the Romans, sort of like today when Christians try to save babies from abortions. John makes some allusions in his Gospel but nothing really specific. Epiphany is when the Magi from the east, came to visit Jesus. Now, again, for most people, this is no big whoop. Their names are traditionally known as Melchior, Caspar, Balthasar. There was probably a whole caravan and many more people than just these three.
I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day
Monday Jan 06, 2025
Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.
Today is Epiphany, for most people not a big name, or not really known as being the end of the Christmas season. Actually Epiphany is a very important Feast Day and has been pretty much from the beginning of Christianity. Epiphany is the observance of the Magi visiting Jesus. Now I know many people are quite sure that the Magi showed up that night, that’s almost certainly not true. It’s so much the superficial reading of the Bible that so many people take and they really have no idea what is true, what is meaningful, important, but they have no hesitation to come to someone like me so that they can set me straight, clue me on the real truth. They are so astonishingly wrong, but people will fall all over themselves to try and minimize God. Why? The more insignificant God is the more people feel they aren’t accountable to anyone, anything. They are going to be in for a rude awakening on Jesus’ return which is big part of what we, are supposed to remember, in the Advent season. Anyway Epiphany is covered in Matthew 2: 1-12, Matt 3: 13-17, Jn 2:1-11. These men show up at the “door”, not in the cave from the account in Luke, so obviously Mary and Joseph have moved out of the cave. This is the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the season of Epiphany, so more tomorrow, we will bring Epiphany to you.
I’m Jim Driskell the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church 1302 E Washington St, New Castle, Pa check us on the web Christlutheran-new castle.org questions comments contact me on the website. For a transcript of today’s Thought go to: https://wordpress.com/view/revjamesdriskellmdiv.com Sunday worship is at 10:30am, with the NCTV 45 thought for the day, God bless your day and a final Merry Christmas.
Monday Dec 30, 2024
Hi this is Pastor Jim Driskell of Christ Lutheran Church with the NCTV 45 thought for the Day.
Merry Christmas! We are in the Christmas season. The Christmas season starts on December 25 and goes until January 6, Epiphany. Epiphany is the feast to remember when the magi visited Jesus. This is an important day for the church because until that time and except for the Book of Isaiah, Jesus was seen as the Jewish messiah. With the visiting of the Magi. We will discuss Epiphany more as the day approaches. Genuine Christians recognize the saints that have been venerated through the centuries of Christianity. Too much of the Christianity that thinks it’s all about me, that Jesus is my buddy and if I’m a good little Christian Jesus will make sure I have everything I should have in life, big house, big car, gorgeous spouse, pretty and healthy. The saints certainly epitomize what is genuine in Christianity versus what is phony and frankly kind of corrupt. Why did the men and women who have been recognized through the centuries have to go through so much trial? To assure us that we would all have a nice, soft easy life in Jesus? No! Jesus said that the world would hate those who are genuine in their faith. If someone is a little too popular, liked by the world, they really should check whether they are more concerned about being people pleasers or whether they are truly standing for Jesus. We recognize those throughout history who stood for Christ in very difficult times and circumstances. Those who think it’s all about Jesus making their life nice and easy, certainly aren’t saints and should take a hard look as to whether they are truly Christians. Christmas season did start on, yes Christmas, so we are starting last week. Christmas is also referred to as the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, that is, when Jesus was born. There is often discussion whether this is the most important feast day of the season or Epiphany is the most important. We will discuss that on January 6, Epiphany
Pastor Jim Driskell 