12/21/12- Longest Night is not the Shortest Day

Friday- 12/21- Ps. 9:18-But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.Longest Night Service

Thoughts: This is the longest night of the year (the winter solstice).  It is the last night in the Mayan calendar-and some say it means the end of time.  However I am writing this at 6:11 AM est and the world did not end.  This means the longest night is not the shortest day in human history.  The Mayans themselves ran out of time.  This means the longest night is not the shortest day in human history.They were a brutal culture that valued human sacrifices and were in constant war.  When the Assyrian culture was overly brutal God sent Jonah to them to rebuke their brutality threatening the end of their culture.  God does not forget the needy, the hurting, the weak who are brutalized by the powerful.  Tonight at our church we will have a Service for Wholeness and Healing, and invite those who are sick, those who wish to pray for the sick, and those who wish to pray for our world to come.  God will never forget the needy, He values life. And because He will never die, hope will never die.

Prayer: While I breathe, I hope, O Lord.  Each breath is a reminder to put my hope in you. 

Application: Come to the Longest Night Service (about 40 minutes).  If you cannot come, then pray 

for those who are in your life who are afflicted or hurting. 

(The rising of the Morning Star- a symbol of the  Messiah- “The bright and morning star of  hope)

Comfort comfort you my people, Tell of peace thus says our God; 

Comfort those who sit in darkness bowed beneath oppression’s load. 

Speak you to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them; 

Tell them that their sins I cover, and their warfare now is over.  (PH #3)