"By the tender mercy of our God,

the dawn from on high will break upon us,

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Luke 1:79

Christmas is, at its root, the hope of dawn breaking in the darkness of long night.

Did you ever notice?  In a lighted room, when a closet door is opened, the light from the room spills into the darkness of the closet-- and the reverse is never true-- that is, the dark from the closet does not ever spill into the lighted room.  

It is light's nature to overcome darkness.  

It is God's nature to show tender mercy to us, to give light to us who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

It is our nature to respond to God's extension of tender mercy.  

We are created to respond to God. 

Our response to God's tender mercy, according to Zechariah's words in Luke 1?

To walk, by God's guidance, in the way of peace.

How can I, on this busy Christmas eve day

walk, guided by God, into the way of peace?

What does that even look like?

God at work

Luke 1:57-66 details the unusual circumstances of the birth of John to Elizabeth and Zechariah (who had been struck mute).  

This, too, is part of the birth narrative of Jesus-- there were remarkable events preceding his birth as well as following it.  When Zechariah confirmed that their son's name would be John, the text notes: "And all of them were amazed."  

But their amazement grew as "immediately [Zechariah's] mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God." 

Amazement turned to fear: "Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea."  

Fear turned to wonderment as "all who heard them pondered them and said, 'What then will this child become?'"  The passage ends with noting the fact: "For indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him."

Amazement.

Fear.

Wonderment.

As John was the one who prepared the way of the Lord, so too, God used the events of his birth to prepare the people for Jesus.  It's like God was causing events to occur in such a way as to lay down tracks of amazement, fear, wonderment.  Then when Jesus came the people could say, "Oh! Yes!  I know these signs!  Amazement.  Fear. Wonderment!  These mean that God is here, that God is at work in our midst."  

I have to admit that at our last session meeting, we had moments of amazement, fear and wonderment at what God has been doing here at FPCB, at how God has so clearly been at work in our midst.  Texts like today's have laid down the tracks for us so that we recognize the signs of God at work.

Where do you see God at work?  Where do you sense amazement, fear, wonderment?

are you expecting?

... look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."  [Isaiah 7:14]

Advent is waiting.  

For those of us who have been pregnant, it is a waiting also.  

A time of preparing.  

A time of promise.  

A time of impending change and a venturing into the unknown.

In my mother's day, you would not ask someone if she was pregnant-- instead you would ask, "Are you expecting?"  

Sounds kind of quaint today, but it is a lovely way of holding the impending birth of a child as something so wonderful as to need special words that hold tremendous meaning.

Today's passage [Isaiah 7:10-14] made me ask myself, "Am I expecting?"  

Am I approaching the celebration of the birth of Christ with real expectation of promises fulfilled, of impending change and a venturing into the unknown?

[image © Astroid/dreamstime.com]

freedom grace

What is staying with me this morning is not so much the Scripture reading, but one of the weekly prayer "stages"-- freedom.

"There are very few people who realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace.  I ask for the grace to trust myself totally to God's love."

What does it mean for me to be "formed by God's grace"?  

To be molded and shaped, 

not by the pressures of daily life 

or the expectations of others, 

or by my own ideas and "shoulds"-- 

but to be molded and shaped by the grace of God-- 

the unmerited favor of God, 

the outpouring of the love of God to me?

I'm pondering what kind of shaping is done by grace.  

What kind of molding is done by love?  

How can I abandon myself, today, into the hands of God?  

For me it means taking some time out of this very busy season to absorb this truth. This requires discipline to put some of the so-called "urgent" tasks aside for the moment-- maybe to set my phone alarm to go off every couple of hours to remind myself:  

Let me be formed by your grace right now, Lord God.

I trust myself, all that I am, totally to you.

grumps vs. charmers

I have to admit, when I read the "Inspiration point" for today's reading (Matthew 21:28-32-- about the two sons who are asked to work in the vineyard by their father-- one says no, but then works, the other says yes, but then does no work), I thought it was kind of dumb:

"The first son sounds like a grump, hard to live with.  His first reaction tended to be No.  He and others probably suffered from his grumpiness but you could still trust him to help.  The second son was a charmer; he flattered but deceived his father.  When he should have been working, he found something better to do."

I kind of rolled my eyes when I read this.  Then I thought about it and was, oddly, comforted by the thought that my obedience matters to God-- even when I obey grudgingly!  With a bad attitude!  It still matters that my actions are obedient, even if my heart isn't in it.  

I'm holding on to that today.  My actions matter more to God than my attitude/feelings about being obedient.  Not that this is license to grumble-- no.  

But I can trust that as I act in obedience, my heart will follow.

two-fer

Because yesterday's reading was so powerful, I can't help but note that it encourages me greatly this morning.

"For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what it sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all nations." 

Isaiah 61:11

It is a natural function of God to bring forth righteousness and praise-- it is the nature of God to do so-- I want to be open and courageous enough to participate in that outworking of righteousness and praise whenever God offers me the opportunity to do so.

Oh-- praying for courage, again!

Regarding today's reading [Matthew 21:23-27], am I wrong to find this exchange amusing?  Jesus was God, for heaven's sake, and the religious authorities try to "get" him with a trick question-- Jesus adroitly turns the tables and leaves them, foiled again.  

Jesus is never mean or condescending.  But it seems he always knew the right response to every question.  Partly I guess because he completely knew the person he was talking to in a way that I cannot.  It's like he always knew the question beneath the question and responded accordingly.  

Sacred Space asks:  "Do I let fear run my life?  Do I make decisions on the basis of preserving my position and power?  Can I talk to Jesus about this and ask for the grace to be free, as he was?"

What do you think?

[image © willi1972/dreamstime.com]

then the disciples understood...

I'm just grateful for the witness of Scripture this morning-- again it reveals that even those people who were actually in the presence of Jesus and heard the words from his mouth often had trouble understanding what he meant.

If "God's messengers tend to be rejected" as Sacred Space claims, then all of us need to be ready to be rejected, or not liked, or disrespected, mocked or even despised.  This is absolutely the opposite of what I want-- being God's messenger means making myself vulnerable to rejection.

And, as Kris has pointed out, this is why we need to be praying for courage and we need to be ready to support one another and to stand together in faith.

God the Holy Spirit has given us to each other to be a community of faith in Christ.  We are not in this vulnerable position of being God's messengers alone.

We are not alone-- isn't that the essential message of Christmas-- Immanuel, God-with-us?