Advent 2024
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:13
Liturgies for Christmas
by Zach Boltjes
Liturgy For the Opening of Christmas Presents
As Christmas Day has dawned, we all, family and friends, gather once more to open the gifts that we have given to one another. We know that the wrapping paper, latest trinkets, toys, and tools are not the reason why we celebrate this day. We do not give these gifts out of a desire to get something back. We certainly do not give gifts because it is something that we have always done. For mindless tradition is a pointless endeavor.
We use Christmas gifts and the Christmas tree as simple symbols to remind us of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem. We sit now and give these gifts to one another because God the Father gave His Son as the greatest gift on Christmas day. We give these gifts to one another, wrapped in bright paper, because God the Father wrapped His best Christmas gift in swaddling clothes. We now give things that cost us because the wise men who visited Jesus as a child gave Him something costly. We give out of dutiful love towards another, for it was Christ who became a baby to die for our sins out of dutiful love towards us.
We set up the Christmas tree because, unlike other trees, it never loses its color or leaves and never fades away. In the same way Christ is life and gives eternal life. We hang lights on the tree and around our house because Christ is the light of the world that shines in our hearts and melts away the darkness of sin that once held us captive.
So now as we open these gifts, whether they be the latest gadget, a well knit sweater, or a random object that you never had any desire for, we do it out of thankfulness towards the Lord Jesus Christ for giving Himself as a gift to us. We celebrate with these simple, material gifts in our hands because Jesus became a man in a material world, and we look forward to a time when we will look upon the face and sit around the table of the baby who grew to be the God-man who died for our sins.
Liturgy for The Person Preparing The Christmas Feast
Another year of Christmas baking, cooking, recipes, oven pre-heats, and dirty mixing bowls.
As comes the anticipation of Christmas dinner, so come the anxieties. Will the turkey be dry? Will everybody get here when the food is hot? Will I be able to make food just like my mom used to make? Or will my mom be making comments about how the food isn’t like how she used to make it?
As guests and family cross the threshold of the house with expectations, they step into my expectations of what this feast should be like. Though my expectations for myself are high, it will not be my expectations, met or unmet, that will reign this Christmas. I will set my mind on the greatest host, The Lord who, as the Prophet Isaiah said, “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, even a feast of fined wines, and of fat things full of marrow, of wines fined and purified.” (Isaiah 25:6). It is the Lord who will be King at this table and not my insecurities or expectations.
So as the Lord prepares a table of fat things out of love for His people I will now prepare a table full of tasty things for those whom He has given to me. Whether it’s a recipe of my own or one I found online, I will prepare this feast with joy because The King of life became a baby so that He could one day give to me and others the greatest feast. Whether everyone can walk into a clean kitchen with carols playing in the background or dishes in the sink and flour on the counter, I will ponder the joys of the Christmas story in my heart as Mary pondered the wise men’s gifts and their worship of her son.
So now may the feast of Christmas begin. May the flavors remind us that the grace of God is full and sweet. May we feast with joy because joy has come to the world as a baby in a manger. I will herald with mirth that “Dinner is ready” because the herald angels have sung that the King is born.
Liturgy For Christmas Eve (Responsive Reading) Leader
On the Eve of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ we are reminded of the darkness that once was, before He came into the world. The Prophets had been silent for 400 years. The people of God had gone their own way. The great dragon ruled as he so desired–ruled in darkness and sin.
Responders
Lo, the night was long
Lo, has the light of God departed from earth?
Lo, the dragon rules, tears asunder, and destroys
Leader
Take courage ye people of God. For as the Apostle Paul spoke, when the fulness of time had come our great God executed His plan of redemption that had long been prophesied. Look ye saints of God, at dawn of the morrow the long night shall be over. For Immanuel is born. All the prophecies came to fruition in the arms of Mary and Joseph. The light of the World entered at night and shone as the light of life. Never again shall we fear the night.
Responders
Praise the Lord who established the right time to end the long night, Praise the Father who sent the light into the darkness
Praise the Son who was born to die for our sins
Leader
Though the terrible dragon raged, he could not devour the babe. Though the night was dark, it was lit by the host of heaven. Though there was no room for Mary and Joseph, the baby was still born. Though all hope seemed lost, every promise of God found its fullness in the baby of Bethlehem. We now thank you Father for the gift of Christmas. The long night is over. Winter’s cold is melted away. The curse no longer binds to the heart. For Christ is born in Bethlehem.
All
Praise the Lord, the long night is over,
Praise the Lord, Christ is born, let us celebrate Him and his birth as we wake on the morrow, Amen.
Meet Laurent & Amanda Felizardo
putting names to faces…
Laurent, Amanda and their son Sammy moved to the Black Hills from Maryland in July of 2020. God’s grace provided for Laurent to continue his employment, working remotely from South Dakota. Amanda keeps herself busy managing the World Fossil Finder Museum here in Hot Springs (owned by her mother and stepfather, Frank & Debby Garcia)… and caring for the new farm animals they keep acquiring.
Laurent grew up in a Catholic home, but by the time he graduated from college, he became a full blown atheist. He joined the U. S. Navy with a disdain for christianity and openly mocked those who believed in a real God. But through the faithful testimony of a commanding officer, Laurent began to question what he so adamantly resisted, the existence of God. One night, he recalls crying out to God that if He was real, He would show Himself. God moved upon Laurent that night in such a way that he immediately sought a church to learn how He might know this God. By God’s providence, he learned about his sin and the need for the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse him and to redeem him for God. Laurent gives thanks that God has made a way for man to know him and that by faith, he has been saved from the penalty of sin.
Amanda pursued a relationship with the Lord at a young age. Although she did not understand the gravity of her sin, she placed her faith in Christ Jesus for eternal life. Amanda spent her childhood and young adult life learning and growing in church. After leaving home however, Amanda pursued a life serving her own self, leading her into sin and forsaking what she knew to be true. But God, who is rich in mercy brought Amanda to the end of herself, and by the convicting work of God’s Spirit through His Word she was brought to repentance. Learning and seeing what true salvation is and what it looks like, Amanda now sees that our Father’s hand was upon upon her all along. God’s faithfulness continues to work in her life as she grows in His Word and walks in His ways.
Laurent and Amanda will be introduced to the church and welcomed into the membership of Calvary Baptist Church. We thank the Lord for the Felizardo family.
Meet Grant & Justine LeBar
putting names to faces…
Grant & Justine have lived in both South Dakota and Arizona for several years before settling in Hot Springs. Grant grew up in the Black Hills, leaving shortly after graduating from high school. Justine is from Arizona.
Grant grew up in a Christian home and came to faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized at an early age. Like many, his walk with Christ was superficial… it wasn’t real until after he left home. In His kindness, the Lord pursued him, and through the course of life and a series of major events he faced, Grant’s relationship with the Lord became “his own.” Grant believes that Jesus’ death and sacrifice on the cross for the sins of world redeemed him, and that by believing in Him, He is saved.
Not being reared in a Christian home, the first real exposure to the gospel Justine had was after she and Grant started dating. God’s grace began to stir in Justine’s heart and mind early on in her life, creating a longing for something more than what she had known. It was at a Bible study group in a coffee shop in Arizona that Justine first heard the gospel. Hearing it for the first time, Justine knew that Jesus was who she had been searching for. It was then that she came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. As Justine grew in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, she became convinced that she needed to be baptized. So as an act of obedience, Justine was baptized in September of 2019.
The LeBars were joyfully welcomed into the membership of Calvary Baptist Church, last Sunday, November 14.
Created for God’s Glory
Thinking Out Loud
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Psalm 139:13–18
I like to be liked. Suffice it to say, I don’t like not being liked. I feel safe making this confession because frankly, I’ve never met anyone who genuinely claimed to enjoy not being liked. One of life’s realities is that sooner or later, you will meet someone who doesn’t like you. Maybe they simply dislike you because of something you can’t change. Maybe you did something that disappointed them. In either case… I don’t like not being liked. And neither do you.
The matter of needing to be liked, and the fear of not being liked becomes harmful when ones identity and sense of worth rests upon it. If the sense of value, worth and of well being is determined by what people think of you, then chances are, you spend a lot of time in self-doubt, discouragement and perhaps depression. The John Lydgate adage is true: “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Obviously, living life in a pleasing way, with the aim to put others first and to serving them is biblical, but it is contrary to being a Christian to live in fear of not being liked or accepted. You cannot allow your fear of man (fear of not being liked) to dictate how you live and how you think of yourself.
The psalmist in Psalm 139 declares with awe the idea that the sovereign God of creation would choose to take thought of him.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you (17-18).
The context of the chapter tells us that the thoughts of which the psalmist writes are thoughts about him in particular, and about God’s people as a whole. They are numerous thoughts (more than the sand), and they are precious thoughts of me. I am ever on His mind, so while awake and while asleep, I am still with you. Simply put. God not only loves, but He likes His people. God likes you! God likes me!
There’s more!
The entire chapter speaks of God’s omniscience and omnipresence, particularly in regards to God’s people. Notice how he describes God’s active role in his development in the womb (Read 13-15). And then, while still yet unformed, every day that man now lives was, before time known and formed specifically for him (Read 16). The Lord is intimately and actively at work in our makeup and has laid out before us the life we would live.
Do you see what the psalmist is proposing? It is remarkable that the Lord, in His mercy chose to place His love upon you, knowing you for who your really are. Equally as remarkable (or perhaps more so) is that from eternity past, He chose you, loved you (Ephesians 1:3), knew you, and predestinated you to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). In other words, you were created for God’s glory through the love that He abundantly pours out upon you.
If you are in Christ, you are loved. You are liked. And in this reality rests your true identity, your value and your worth.
Certainly, there will be times of insecurity because of a person’s opinion of you. At times you will wonder where you fit in, or if your life is making a difference. You’ll wonder if you have a purpose. You will experience struggles, failures, defeats, frustrations and self-doubt. The Christian is not exempt from human emotions, and for this you can thank the Lord. God’s grace however, keeps us from allowing these emotions to define us. God’s grace shows His strength in our weakness. God’s grace reminds us that we are in Christ, and…
… in Christ… you are loved!
… in Christ… you are liked!
… inChrist… you are accepted!
Your worth, your identity and your purpose is this, that you have be created for God’s glory. And His glory is manifested in the abundance of His love for you. So the more you revel in God’s love, the more of His glory is revealed in you and through you to the world. I like being liked, don’t you?
—Soli Deo Gloria! (To God Alone Be Glory!)
Meet Jodie Lim
putting names to faces…
Jodie Lim and her husband Drew moved to Hot Springs in April of 2020, right smack dab in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandamic. After two weeks of isolation from the Hot Springs community, she and Drew, along with their three boys (Jude, Deacon and Malakai) moved in with her ever so quirky in-laws until they found a home for themselves. Praise the Lord, with just a few more details to get past, they will be moving in to their own place real soon.
Jodie and her family moved to Hot Springs in 2001 when she was just 13 years old so that her dad could attend Cornerstone Bible Institute. She and her two brothers eventually attended and graduated from CBI as well. After graduating from CBI in 2009, Jodie remained in Hot Springs until marrying Drew in 2011 and moving to Lakewood Washington where Drew was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord at the time. After leaving the military, Drew and Jodie remained in Washington for 9 Years before moving back to Hot Springs.
Jodie was blessed to have been reared in a home where the gospel was explained and demonstrated on a regular basis. Her parents Dan and Diana Kunnari loved the Lord, His Word and His people. Dan pastors in Ashton, Iowa. At the age of 5, the Lord worked in Jodie’s heart to show her need for a Savior. She says, “I remember thinking I was a ‘good’ girl. I went to Sunday School, I memorized verses and I tried to obey the rules. I knew about Jesus, but I didn’t know I needed Jesus. There are a few distinct memories I have of the Lord using my older brothers to bring out anger and self-righteousness in me that finally opened my eyes to see my sinfulness. I remember a conversation I had with my dad following one of these instances that started in tears and ended in joy. I know he shared verses with me about my sin and need for a Savior and I believe that is when God opened my eyes to understand and accept the Gospel.”
Jodie’s confidence for eternity to come is in Christ’s work on the cross. She’s thankful that the Gospel continues to be at work in her even today, as the Lord often reminds her of her need for Him and then points her once again to Jesus who fulfilled that need.
The Darkness of the Soul
Thinking Out Loud
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139:8-12
The very first time I experienced the starkness of the dark was when Kellie and I first made our way across eastern Wyoming on the way to Hot Springs. Even with headlights on, the darkness on either side of the pickup appeared to be as a black curtain beyond which nothing existed.
As a shepherd in the middle east, David knew this sort of darkness, perhaps even more so than we. Thus, he wrote the above. But the darkness of which he wrote was likely not the darkness of the night, but rather the darkness of his own soul. You don’t need to read too far into the Psalms to notice that David had very strong emotions, and that often those emotions experienced great sorrow. For example, throughout Psalm 42 David writes, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? (5, 11) My soul is cast down within (5), Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? (9)
This darkness of the soul is not unique to David. We call the prophet Jeremiah, “The Weeping Prophet.” The Apostle Paul spoke of being utterly burdened beyond… strength and of despairing of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8). The Reformer Martin Lutherwas afflicted with a melancholy that threatened to destroy him. The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon suffered from depression for many years, even in the midst of a thriving ministry. His wife, Susannah Spurgeon wrote, “My beloved’s anguish was so deep and violent, that reason seemed to totter in her throne, and we sometimes feared that he would never preach again.”1 Of course, the prophet Isaiah describes Jesus as a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death (Matthew 26:38). This is not to indicate our sorrows to equal that of Jesus, but to point out that Jesus identifies with us in affliction.
Sorrow, affliction, despair, depression… whatever you’d like to call it, is a reality of life in a fallen world, even for a Christian. This is why passages such Psalm 139:8-12 is such an encouragement. Let me make just a couple of observations and then encourage you to look at it yourself.
First, notice that although David spoke of personal emotions, the primary focus of the passage was the Lord, not himself.
Second, notice that David was speaking of the omnipresence of God. Specifically, he spoke of God’s omnipresence in his life (or the life of every person). This is not just in a spacial sense, but in the omnipresence (omniscience) of the whole of who you are (read the entire chapter).
Third, notice that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
Finally, notice that there is no mention that the darkness that overcomes is ever removed. It may be, in the sense that in God’s presence, His light dispels the darkness (John 1:5)… but maybe not. It doesn’t actually say. What it DOES say is that wherever I may be, even in darkness of soul, your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Ponder that for a moment…
The confidence of the psalmist was not that the darkness would be removed, for God’s purposes may be to work in the midst of the darkness rather than in its removal. Because the Lord is omnipresent, the confidence of the psalmist was that He would be with him in the midst of it all… even when it didn’t feel like it.
If you find yourself in a dark place (or before you get there), be encouraged to read and to meditate on Psalm 139 and Psalm 42-43. Read it numerous times, marking it and making notes of what you learn. Also, I found the following articles to be helpful in thinking through these matters from a biblical perspective.
Did You Know That Charles Spurgeon Struggled with Depression? by Michael Reeves (https://bit.ly/MRonSpurgeon)
Spiritual Depression in the Psalms by John Piper (https://bit.ly/PiperonPsalm42)
Spiritual Depression: The Dark Night of the Soul by R. C. Sproul (https://bit.ly/SproulonDepression)
Honesty About Depression by Heath Lambert (https://bit.ly/LambertonPsalm102)
—Soli Deo Gloria! (To God Alone Be Glory!)
Meet Sheri Coleman
putting names to faces…
Sheri was born in South Dakota and raised in Wyoming. She and her husband Gale lived in Kaycee, Wyoming before moving to Hot Springs in 1986. Sheri is a “retired” school teacher after 40+ years of teaching. She enjoyed teaching in town schools as well as in the one room school house in Buffalo Gap. With the many years of experience and training, Sheri now coaches and mentors teachers for the Oelrichs and Hot Springs School Districts.
Sheri enjoys quilting when the weather turns cold but has spent much of her summer camping, kayaking and bike riding in the hills with her lady friends. She and Gale have two children, Jason in eastern South Dakota and Amanda in Custer, and seven beautiful grandchildren.
Gale and Sheri have been a part of Calvary for 34 Years, and have seen its ups and downs. With servant’s hearts, they have poured their lives in almost every aspect of the life of the church and have had an immeasurable impact on the lives of many who have come across their paths. Many students from Cornerstone Bible Institute have spent Sunday afternoons and days throughout the week in their home learning the practical side of Christian living and Christian loving.
Sheri came to a saving faith in Christ Jesus in 1980 as the result of many years of hearing the gospel. They were loved and discipled in their early Christian life by Pastor and Mrs. Arthur Bigelow and Pastor Ray and Grace Herd. Sheri’s confidence for an eternal hope rests in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ on her behalf.