Messages from the pulpit for Christmas

Holiday sermons in area churches range from finding your way at Christmas to facing fear — with other variations of religious themes surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Daily Inter Lake contacted a number of area pastors to find out what they will be preaching about Christmas Eve.

The Rev. Joan Grant, Christ Episcopal Church, will preach at 4 and 9 p.m. on “Do Not Be Afraid.” Referring to the angels’ proclamation to the shepherds in Luke 2, Grant notes the angels said to “not be afraid” and brought “good news of great joy for all the people.”

Grant added, “In an economy that raises people’s anxiety levels and fear, we need to trust Christ all the more. The opposite of love is not hate but fear.”

“The birth of Christ is also about God’s grace,” she said. Because of God’s incarnation, he can understand our humanity and our fears. “All people are loved unconditionally.”

The lectionary readings for the services are: Luke 2:1-14; Titus 2:11-14; Psalm 96; and Isaiah 9:2-7.

Christ Church is located at 215 Third Ave. E.

 Pastor Levi Lusko, Fresh Life Church, will preach at 3 and 5 p.m. on “Do Not Die Until Christmas.”

He referred to Simeon in Luke 2. Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn’t die until the Messiah came. Once he saw and held the Messiah, Simeon said, “Now I can die in peace.”

“Before we die, we need to experience Jesus,” Lusko said. “He who has the son has life. He who doesn’t have the son does not have life,” quoting 1 John 5:12.

The 1,500-member congregation holds services at two former downtown theaters, the Strand and Liberty. Lusko preaches at one location and the service is streamed to at the other. People do not know which location will be “live” until they arrive.

Lusko also will talk about “The Winter of Our Discontent” at 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday.

“God wants us to grow and if we’re content with our progress, we’ll never grow. Growth starts with a holy dissatisfaction.”

The Strand is located at 120 Second St. E., while the Liberty is located at 120 First Ave. E.

 Pastor John Gregg, Christian Center, will preach on “What the Baby Became” at 3 and 5 p.m. today.

“This is a different approach,” said Gregg, a pastor for 28 years. Using John 8, Gregg will focus on Jesus’ adult ministry and “how he cared for the woman caught in sin through his redemptive grace.”

It will be a 15-minute sermon, Gregg said. Christian Center is located at 255 Summit Ridge Drive.

 Pastor John Bent, Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish, will preach on “Find Your Way This Christmas” at 3, 5 and 7 p.m. today.

“Look at how God directs our ways in various ways,” he said.

“Scriptures and stars are some ways. The ultimate way is through his son, Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me,’” Bent said, quoting John 14:6.

Christ Lutheran is located at 5150 River Lakes Parkway north of Montana 40.

n Pastor Daniel Lambert, Easthaven Baptist, will preach from Luke 2:6-7. Service times are 5 and 8 p.m.

The sermon is about Jesus’ birth in a feeding trough, “a very common birth in a very dismal delivery room,” said Lambert, who has pastored the church for 19 years.

“The question for us is: Is there anything really beneath us? Is there anything we shouldn’t be willing to do for the Lord after what He’s done for us?”

Easthaven Baptist is west of Whitefish Stage Road, north of Reserve Drive.

Pastor Paul Arends will preach at 5 p.m. at The River and 7 p.m. at the Cowboy Church on “Love Came for Me.”

The sermon centers around what our reality would be if Jesus hadn’t come. “It moves into the reality of why God sent his son: His love for us and desire to rescue us and set us free and give us the life we’ve been longing for.”

The River is located at 859 W. Reserve Drive. The Cowboy Church is one mile north of Reserve on U.S. 93 on the east side of the road.