From the vantage point of childhood, Christmas time was filled with two realities. First was the story of the birth of Christ. After all, isn't that the reason people go to church? All four of the Gospel writers highlight circumstances around the birth of Christ. The memory of Christmas carols that resonate with most of us put to music different memories associated to the birth of Christ.
Secondly, a couple or three months before Christmas, the Sears and Roebucks Christmas Catalogue arrived in the mail. I can assure you from a child's perspective, the Christmas catalogue was big news. As the story goes, Santa was making a list and checking it twice. Me and my bothers also made a list of things we hoped Santa would bring our way.
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. During my childhood years, I had no reference to Advent. Perhaps that is one of the downsides to growing up Baptist. At least Baptist in every church we attended before we moved to Austin in the mid-1970s did not dedicate a month celebrating the birth of Christ and focusing on hope, peace, joy and love.
Isaiah writes: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone." [Isaiah 9:2 ESV] The concept of people walking in darkness and seeing a great light accentuates the hope God's presence provides us in the darkest of circumstances.
Yesterday our pastor made two suggestions associated to Advent. First we must purposefully slow down long enough to process the difference the light of Christ can make in our lives and in our world. He poignantly stated that Christ didn't come for the righteous. He came that all might have life.
Most of us attempt to camouflage the brokenness of our humanity, but it is a common denominator that we all share. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Consequently, we all need that which only God can provide.
Ours is a troubled world. Individually and collectively most have no difficulty identifying the chaos that surrounds us. God has the power to heal the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.
It would serve us well to have the experience Jeremiah wrote about in the 18th chapter:
'"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."
All My Best!
Don
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