Redeemer East Side Update

We’ve been using these East Side Updates to tell what we’ve been calling “Movement Stories” — historical vignettes of when the gospel came alive in powerful ways and began to spread. During this Advent season, as we learn again to wait expectantly for the God of rescue, I want to take us back to Luke 2, one of the first announcements of the Good News of Jesus. Characteristically, the gospel of grace was announced not to the strong and mighty, but to the lowly and weak. Here is how Luke describes that first announcement given to humble shepherds:

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

I love the wonder and the excitement that runs through this text. Because it is the overflow this wonder that causes the shepherds to spontaneously share with others the amazing things they had seen God do for them. They didn’t construct arguments or offer convincing proofs. They simply yet joyfully bore witness to what God had done. The first “movement” of the gospel began with the lowly and despised who simply could not believe that even they could be saved because salvation would be by God’s work and not theirs.

As we wait for God in the dark during this Advent season, I pray that your waiting would become a resting. After all, if even you and I can be saved by God’s grace, then surely nothing is impossible for him.

Warmly,

Rev. Abraham Cho
East Side Senior Pastor

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Advent is a season that juxtaposes the darkness of our sin with our soul’s enduring longing for “a new and glorious morn.” In Advent, we discover that the hinge that turns our darkness into hope is a wholly unexpected gift—the eternal Son of God, placed in a mother’s womb, made supremely vulnerable for us. We discover that God responds to our sin not by demanding some kind of payment from us for squandering the gift of his love. Rather, he responds by giving us even more.

This Advent season, would you reflect anew on the radical generosity of God for you in Christ?

And as we draw near to the end of the calendar year, we also invite you to remember Redeemer East Side in your year-end giving (or set-up a recurring gift for 2019) as we seek to embody the message of Advent to our neighbors on the East Side.

We pray that God’s breathtaking generosity would cut through all the bustle and glitz of the season, and leave us staggering just a bit as we realize anew that God, in Jesus Christ, gave everything away for us. And then consider how we might invite our neighbors and friends into the wonder of this gift!

— Redeemer East Side Team

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