All in the Family – Today is the second Sunday of Advent, and, as the first Sunday of the month, it is also Communion Sunday.  We are not only in Advent, awaiting the birth of the Christ child, but we are also beginning a study of the New Testament, and today’s reading is from the first verses of the first Gospel, Matthew, verses that give the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham, as the writer of the first Gospel is addressing Jews.  In our time, many people explore their ancestry with various methods of tracing their origins.  But, as with the ancestors of Jesus listed in these verses, a lot of people find some messy episodes in their ancestry.  Carol points out several such episodes in Jesus’s ancestry, and that underscores his humanity.  Nevertheless, as the birth of Jesus is evidenced as divine in the first Gospel, we find that we are no longer bound by any shortcomings in our lineage but are free to follow Jesus. 

(NOTE:  Emphasizing the importance of the Word, the video begins with the scripture reading, but if you want, you can scroll back to the beginning of the service in the video – the entire service is available.)