After a couple of intense weeks, we’re going to get a bit more practical this week and look at how to go about this business of figuring out what we already believe and digging in to see if there are any layers beneath it.

There are lots of options for how we might go about it, so the goal is to help you find one that fits. I’ll give you some examples and then you can apply those ideas to yourselves.

Almost all of the core Christian beliefs are accepted in Christian churches and denominations. But most of them have interpreted them across the past two thousand years to help people understand their meaning and relevance for the age in which they were being taught.

As different Christian traditions have split from each other, and in many cases become hostile to one another, interpretations of the beliefs Christians profess have also morphed into teachings that can be widely divergent, if not completely opposed to what another church down the street is teaching on the same subject and Scripture.

One of those in the current spotlight is the belief we affirm in every service of Holy Communion, “Christ will come again.” Let’s look at that together.

As we fully launch into our look at examining our own beliefs, this Sunday we’ll take on a question that has been dividing Christian churches and denominations for centuries. Are we saved by faith or by works? It’s more nuanced than you might think!

This Sunday’s sermon will be an introduction for what we’ll be talking about for the rest of my time at Crawford. We’ll be looking at different Christian beliefs—from official church doctrines to Biblical foundations to things that are more cultural beliefs that sprang out of various religious tenets. My goal is not to proclaim what you should believe but to help us all look inward and do a bit of digging to discover what we actually do believe and where that belief came from for each of us.

Christmas is near, friends. Our greens are hung and have been blessed. We’ve gathered each week of Advent to light the candles on our Advent wreath and prayerfully considered their meaning. We (and our choir) have sung beloved carols and other seasonal music. But even if we had skipped all of that, the miracle of Christmas would arrive just the same. I hope you will join us this morning for the last Sunday of Advent, and again at either 5pm or 9pm on Christmas Eve.