1. Final greetings of the Epistle
Today, we observe the last worship service of the year 2010. We are reading the Epistle to the Romans since last October and this session is the last lecture of the series. Paul wrote ending greetings to believers in Rome in 15:30 ; - Brothers and sisters, I beg you to help me in my work by praying to God for me. Do this because of our Lord Jesus and the love that the Holy Spirit gives us. (³¤­…)

1. Harmony in love
We observe Christmas worship today. ¡ÈChristmas¡É meant etymologically ¡Èthe Mass for Christ¡É which celebrates the arrival of the Messiah in a human body on the earth. In reality, it is rather difficult for us, modern people, to recognize that the man was the Son of God as a fact. Nonetheless numerous persons admit that the event should concern their real life. Today we will reflect on the meaning of Christmas by reading Romans 15. (³¤­…)

1. Romans Criticized each other
Today is the third Sunday of the Advent and will observe the Christmas worship the next Sunday. On that very day, we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birthday which happened 2000 years ago isn¡Çt a past event of the history. It still has a great importance for us who live in today¡Çs world. Because the arrival of Jesus Christ on the earth renewed the whole world. We are about to live a new life thanks to his birth. Therefore Christmas is the most appropriate time to meditate how our life-style should be in this renewed universe. We reflect on the meaning of Christmas by reading Romans 14 in today¡Çs session. (³¤­…)

1. Sorrow for the Jews who rejected Christ
Paul had the calling to preach to Gentiles and led many of them to conversion to the christianity. The result itself gave him a great joy but he couldn¡Çt help worrying about the salvation of Jewish people. Because the majority of them were still refusing to believe in Jesus Christ. (³¤­…)

1. Paul obtained confidence through the experience
We keep reading Epistle to the Romans, almost the first half of which we finished. Today is the ninth session and the lecturing part is the second half of chapter 8. Frankly saying, I find the whole letter very difficult to comment. I dare think that believers of the church in Rome scarcely understood the message of Paul. However the letter gave a huge impact to the Protestant thinking throughout the history. Martin Luther*1 established the theory of ¡ÈSola fide¡É by reading Romans then launched the Protestant Reformation. ¡ÈThe Comment of Romans¡É by Kanzo Uchimura, a Christian evangelist*1, formed the foundation of Japanese Non-church movement. Moreover, the theological commentary ¡ÈThe Epistle to the Romans¡É by Karl Barth, a Swiss Reformed theologian*2, is still strongly influential in the Protestant christianity. Therefore we should courageously continue the lecture of the text. (³¤­…)