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Christmas 1
31/12/23
Isaiah 62:10-62:3
Luke 2:15-21
Lord Jesus, Light of light,
you have come among us.
Help us who live by your light
to shine as lights in your world.
Glory to God in the highest.
Amen.
Happy New Year Church Family! Blessing on your 2024. How are we feeling about the turning of the calendar? None of us can be too certain about what 2024 holds. That is either good news or bad news depending on how great your need for certainty is. The world and its various governments are not proving to be much help. Mother Nature is adding to the chaos. We have personal challenges and situations that can make life difficult.
On New Year’s Day 2020 I posted this quote from the American bible teacher and writer Beth Moore on Facebook: ‘We have no idea what the coming year holds but this I can promise you based on the unsurpassed authority of Scripture: our God’s going to be faithful. He’s going to be good. He’s going to love us and be our light in the darkness. He’s going to keep His word. He cannot do otherwise.’
This is still very much true as we head into 2024. Many of us have no idea what is coming. We can be sure though that God will be faithful, He is going to love us, He will be our light and He will keep his word. Amen!
While we may be straining at the lead into 2024, I was rather pleased at the Gospel reading we have this morning. Have we not just heard this story?! We might want to move on and look ahead; it is New Year’s Eve after all! The lectionary wants to keep us grounded in the Christmas story for one more Sunday. What might Mary and the shepherds have to say to us on the cusp of a new year?
Luke in his Gospel, writes about the people who respond spontaneously to a divine message with trust and unselfconscious enthusiasm. Mary is the most supreme example of this. Mary has already been visited by the Angel Gabriel and given birth to Jesus. Mary knew that her baby would be special and different; probably not that special and different until the shepherds appeared.
She is likely beginning to understand all that she has been told and there is much more to come. The arrival of the shepherds forces her to ponder what it all means. What she was told in private is now being made very public.
There is something in how Mary accepts the news she is given; I do not think it was automatic ‘this is amazing!’ Her pondering and reflection indicates that we too, probably more than we should, can ponder and reflect on what God is saying to us. We must live out our faith so that it is evident to those around us. This takes some pondering, reflection and prayer.
The shepherds at first are afraid of the angels. This is the common experience of those fortunate souls who encounter angels. It would probably take a big shock for a shepherd to become fearful; they lived in the outdoors and protected the sheep from predators that sought to kill and eat them. They lived in a constant state of uncertainty. Shepherds would not expect a sky full of angels.
The initial fear of the shepherds is quickly turned into excitement and energy. We learn about them from their reaction: they did not question or disbelieve, or react with cynicism, or drag their feet or ponder. They take the message and they act on it.
How do we act on the Good News of Jesus?
The shepherds hurried to see the baby. Are we in a hurry to tell people about Jesus? The shepherds became the first witnesses as they told everyone in earshot what they had seen and heard. It was as simple as that. There was no great theological debate or treatise. No lectures or sermons. Just a report of what they had experienced. Telling people about Jesus does not need to be anymore complicated than that.
In the world (most broadly) and in many lives (most specifically) there are many people living in darkness. The Good News of Jesus is needed more now than ever before. What difference does Jesus make to you? This might be the question to ponder as we move into 2024. What difference do you want Jesus to make to you in 2024?
Christmas is a time of hope, hope that lasts; hope that is beyond what we can imagine and it overcomes our limited vision. Jesus is the light of the world that overcomes the darkness.
Isaiah 61 is talking about a time when God’s favour will come and a messianic figure (the Messiah – Jesus) will bring freedom and health to his people. There is a vision of a future where every nation shall see the glory of God. God will do great things not only for his people but for the whole earth.
John Pritchard, former Bishop of Oxford wrote, ‘Christmas is that wonderful time when we enter into another world. Just temporarily we bask in a different glow, and old hopes are reinstated, and the world is a little less chilly. But if it’s true that at Christmas we enter into a different world, it’s also true that for Christmas to be authentic another world has to enter us. ‘Where meek souls shall receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.’
As we take a last look at the Christmas story may we know the hope and salvation in the baby Jesus as told to the shepherds by the angelic host. Hold onto that hope and share the message of salvation.
I hope that for New Year’s 2024 we want the dear Christ to enter in. Let us pray to overcome fear and complacency, cynicism and lack of faith. Let us continue to pray for peace and justice in those places where it is so badly lacking.
I will finish by reading Psalm 148 which is set for today…
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
6 He established them for ever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.[a]
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and frost
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!
