"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." - Isaiah 9:2
Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that whether you are home for the holidays, abroad on some adventure, or anywhere else, that you are feeling the love, joy, and peace that this day traditionally symbolizes for us as Christians.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
Love, because although we live in a world that is separated from God, He loved us enough to send Jesus down to earth. This wasn't Jesus' vacation, as my pastor said this morning, but Jesus' mission: to act as the reconciliation between humankind and God. When we read John 3:16, we tend to wield it as the ultimate Evangelical trump card: "Perish or have eternal life, unbeliever! Bible says so!" But how appropriate this verse is for Christmastime, especially the first half! God gave us his son! That's Christmas for you. The most priceless gift ever: a gift because God gave it to us for free, priceless because there's no way we could ever work to deserve it or repay it.
"And Mary said: 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.'" - Luke 1:46-47
Joy at the news of Jesus' birth! This was the moment that all of creation was waiting for: the incarnation of its Creator as one of its own, a being of flesh and bone, just like the rest of us. And who isn't filled with glee at the sight of a baby? The angels definitely had something to sing about. Mary was pretty stoked, too. Everything about Jesus' birth was "good news" - which, when rendered in Middle English, becomes gospel. The knowledge of God's love for us and the salvation we acquired through his son Jesus is enough to keep us joyful even when there are no decorations, no trees, no cookies, no carolers, no presents, parties, or even people. Christmas is all about just one person: Jesus, our Savior.
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." - Luke 2:14
Peace on earth. Today, it seems both more desperately necessary and desperately futile to wish for peace. I mean, I don't think Jesus was even born on a "silent night". Probably lots of cows mooing and donkeys getting fussed up about a baby taking up room in their feeding trough. Of course, today it's hard to find silence anywhere, what with phones and TVs constantly feeding ads and music into our homes, missiles and bombs going off in a third of the world's unstable regions, people arguing, weeping, mocking, cursing; and when you want to escape it all and just withdraw into your own mind, it's hard even then to tune out the doubt, the anxiety, the pride, the distractions... in short, peace is hard to come by.
But it's so, so, so important to pursue peace, to make it manifest in our lives in the lives of everyone around us. To actively go out and create it in places or people that don't have it. It's more important now at this time of year than any other, and I'd say more important at this point in the history of the world than any other.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." - Matthew 5:9
No coincidence that Jesus is the son of God, is it? His birth was the beginning of the restoration of peace in the universe, the harbinger of shalom. But he has entrusted us, sons and daughters of God, to be peacemaker ambassadors of God's kingdom to this world. The celebration of Christmas should be a reminder for us to continue to live lives of peace, as well as lives of hope, healing, and salvation. But when Jesus was born, the message of the angels (God's messengers) to mankind was: peace on earth.
Said the king to the people everywhere, "Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people everywhere; Listen to what I say!
The child, the child sleeping in the night,
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light."
How are you pursuing peace?
What other reminders has God placed on your heart this holiday season?
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