The Semi-Seminarian

<p>What happens after Christmas is over—after the angels stop singing and the shepherds go back to their fields? On the First Sunday of Christmas, we sit with Matthew 2:13–23 and follow the holy family as they leave Bethlehem, flee danger, and eventually settle into Nazareth—an ordinary, overlooked town where Jesus grows up in obscurity.</p><p>This sermon explores the often-skipped part of the Christmas story: the quiet days after the miracle, when faith becomes faithfulness and glory gives way to ordinary life. If you’ve ever wondered “now what?” after a holy moment fades, this message is for you.</p><p>Recorded in a small-town church in Oklahoma, with real pews, real people, and real coffee—this is church for the long road home.</p>

<p>On Christmas Eve, the gospel doesn’t begin in a sanctuary—it begins in a field. In this reflective Christmas Eve homily on Luke 2:8–20, we step into the long night with the shepherds and witness the moment heaven interrupts ordinary darkness. This episode invites listeners into the ancient story of the angels’ announcement and into the living tradition of a small-town candlelight service, where generations have gathered to hear again that the good news is for <em>all people</em>. A quiet, pastoral word of hope, comfort, and incarnation for anyone who needs light to break in where they are.</p>

<p>What if love didn’t stay safe? What if it showed up at your door, moved in, and asked you to make room?</p><p>In this fourth and final week of Advent, we look beyond sentiment and into the soul of the Gospel—where <em>the Word became flesh</em> and refused to love from a distance. In a world that talks about love as a feeling or a slogan, John’s Gospel proclaims something scandalously real: God’s love arrives in skin, breath, and vulnerability.</p><p>This sermon explores what it means for divine love to dwell among us—not when we’re ready, but precisely when we’re not. We’ll walk through John 1:1–14, 1 John 4, and Romans 5 to see that love is not an idea to believe in, but a presence to receive.</p><p>Whether you’ve been burned by love, exhausted by it, or just wondering if it still exists—this Advent episode is for you.</p><p>Love didn’t stay abstract. Love moved in. And it's still moving in—every time we make room.</p><p>Light the candle. Open your heart. Let love take up space.</p>

<p>🎄✨ <strong>No Room, Still God</strong> ☕📖 Midweek Bible Study | Luke 2:1–7</p><p>Just days before Christmas, we return to the part of the story that rarely gets enough air. Luke doesn’t give us a quiet night or a tidy scene. He gives us crowded roads, closed doors, tired bodies—and God showing up anyway.</p><p>This midweek fellowship dinner Bible study walks slowly through Luke 2:1–7, asking what it really means that <em>there was no room</em>—and why that didn’t stop God from coming. This isn’t a lesson about preparing your heart or getting everything in order. It’s about the scandal of incarnation: God entering a world already full, already strained, already saying no.</p><p>If you’re heading into Christmas carrying exhaustion, grief, loneliness, or questions you can’t quite name, this study is for you. Pull up a chair. Grab a cup of coffee. Let the story breathe again. Advent was never meant to rush us—it was meant to teach us how to wait without losing hope.</p><p>If this time in Scripture mattered to you, consider liking and subscribing so you’ll know when we gather again. We’ll be here through the Christmas season, opening the text, telling the truth, and listening for grace.</p><p>Be blessed.</p>

<p>🕯️💗 Joy doesn’t wait for everything to be fixed. Joy doesn’t ask permission. Joy enters the room.</p><p>In this Advent Week Three Bible study, we sit with one of the most surprising moments in Scripture: Mary and Elizabeth, two women carrying promises the world doesn’t yet understand—and joy showing up before anyone explains it.</p><p>This is not sentimental joy. This is not manufactured happiness. This is joy that recognizes mercy when mercy walks in the door.</p><p>Walking through Luke 1:39–56, we explore how joy arrives in ordinary rooms, among weary people, before certainty, before resolution, and often before we’re ready. This study is for anyone who’s tired of being told to “feel joyful” and ready instead to notice when God draws near.</p><p>Whether you’re carrying hope, peace, grief, exhaustion, or all of it at once—you are welcome here.</p><p>Light the pink candle with us. Stay for the song. And watch what happens when joy enters the room.</p>