Wonder Sparked and Reborn: Peace

Main point:  The peace and presence of a Savior is offered to all (the world) even when we are not looking for it like these ordinary shephereds.  But we can receive it and see it often in the dark, when we are afraid, and in the ordinary moments of our lives.  

Are you searching for God’s Peace to be reborn in you?

I am not sure?  Many of us come in here and we have some peace.  

401K is doing well - I have peace.

House prices have gone up - I have peace.

We have a target - I have peace.

Michigan beat Ohio State in football -  I have peace, OK, that is just me.

Most of us on the outside are not searching for peace.  But maybe if we go a little deeper. Maybe it is what all of us are searching for.  

And here is the mystery and majesty.  What if God’s peace comes to us even when we are not looking for it.  What if it comes to us when we have done nothing to deserve it.

Shepherds

    I am not sure the Shepherds were looking for God’s peace.  They were just going through their ordinary lives.  And let me tell you.  It is important to know this about Shepherds.  In Luke’s time, Shepherds were the lowliest of the low.  They could not be witnesses in court, they would have been thought of as unclean, they were thought to be liars and cheats.  And yet, this is who God choose to make this announcement to of Christ’s birth.  Well it is a mystery.  But what we can say.  Is that in terms of human standards these Shepherds had done nothing to deserve this honor.  And what we can say is that this has more to do with who God is.  A God who has good news for all because that is what the Angel announces.  This good news is for all people.  This good news of Christ birth of a Messiah a Savior has nothing to do who we are, what we have done.  And there is peace in that. 

Greatest peace, is that it is not up to us.  God is at work.  It is a gift of God’s presence.  And this God often shows up in teh dark.       

God often shows up in the Dark - “watch over their flock by night.”

God seems to show up in the dark in scripture.  In John’s gospel it tells us that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, “early int he morning, while it was still dark.”

God often shows up or we can see God more clearly in the Dark.  And often we are afraid.  Mary Magdalene was afraid, she thought Jesus was the gardener in between her tears.  The shepherds were afraid.  And God shows up in our darkness and in our fear. And says these simple words.  Do not be afraid.  This is God’s most consistent message.  To may thourh the angel gabriel, fear not treasured one, to Paul in Act “do not be afraid, keep preaching” in revelation John has a vision where he sees God saying these words,  “do not be afraid, I am the first and the last.”

And did you hear it in Jesus’s words to his disciples Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid.”  

I was reading a commentary this week and it had a simple phrase that stuck with me.  Jesus was born into a world of fear.  The Israelites had very little control over their life.  And Jesus enters our place of fear, and darkness and says do not be afraid. Not because the fears are not legitimate.  Most of the fears are, but do not be afraid because I am with you.  I am Emmanuel, - God with us.  

These unlikely shepherds go on a journey.  Looking for signs of God’s presence.  And that is our journey as well.  Looking for God’s presence in our ordinary lives, in the dark, and in the fear.  

Tom

Don, the cross at the table.  

Biden or unbidden God is here

What is God’s peace mean well it is the presence of a savior. And we can experience that piece in so many ways in darkness and fear but also in song These ordinary shepherds are inspired to look for Christ’s presence through song.  It says, that an angelic chorus shown around these ordinary shepherds praising God.  I know that music has the power to shape us, and in it sometimes we can experience God’s heaveny peace.  I want to close this sermon with a song we don’t often sing until Christmas eve.  But it is a song where I know I have gotten a foretaste of that peace.  And I wonder, if God’s heavenly peace might inspire us, you and me, a gorup of ordinary shepherds to look for this Savior, in our ordinary lives, in those places of darkness, and in those places of fear.  May you find peace this day and everyday in the Savior, in the Messiah, Christ the Lord.  Please stand and sing with me.  Amen.

We continue a sermon series entitled, Wonder Sparked and Reborn.

The hope of this series is to intentionally prepare for Christ’s  birth, By focusing on imagination, awe, and gratitude, so that hope, peace, joy and love might be sparked and reborn in our lives.

Today, on this second Sunday of advent we explore peace.  And I wonder this question with you?

Do you/we need God’s  peace to be reborn in us?  What if the mystery and majesty of  God’s peace is that it is offered to us  even if we are not looking for it?

We have three scriptures readings this morning.  Our first scripture reading for this morning which I will focus on is Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 14. This is the  story of the shepherds hearing of Christ’s birth..  

And in a time of fear, uncertainty, God offers to the most unlikely people good news of God’s peace.

Our second  reading will be a grown Christ telling his disciples about the peace He offers to them and to the world.

And the third reading is from Isaiah.  It is  a promise of a coming Savior who is the Prince of Peace.  Hear the word of the Lord first from Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 14.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; 

for see— I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

And from John chapter 14 verses 26 & 27 Jesus says to his disciples

 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate,[k] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

And now from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6: 

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 

The Prince of Peace.

This is the  Word of the Lord.

Thanks Be to God.

Prayer:  

Loving God,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you. You are our rock, our refuge,  and the redeemer of our lives. You are the God of peace.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.  ___________

Do we really need God’s peace reborn in us?  I mean that honestly.  Is that something you need? As you came in this morning.  You might saying to yourself.  I am doing fine.  My 401K is doing well.  .  I am at peace.

You might be saying I like the new Target.  I am at peace.  You might say Michigan beat Ohio State in football and so I am at peace.

OK that is just me.    Sometimes we don’t even know we are searching for God’s peace.  

I am not sure the Shepherds were searching for God’s peace,.  And yet it showed up.  

The great psychoanalyst Carl Jung had a proverb over the door of his house which read “Bidden or unbidden, God is here.” 

I imagine these shepherds.  Just doing their normal lives.  Ordinary people.  Now I have usually thought of them as pastoral heroes, rugged individualists. I thought about King David as a boy, fighting off wild animals to protect his father’s sheep. I thought about shepherding as a noble, if lonely, life. 

But that was not the view of shepherds in the first century. In Luke’s world, shepherds were synonymous with criminals, low-lifes. For the Jews especially, it was a job that prevented one from being ceremonially clean. But beyond that, it was a job that was simply assumed to be filled by dishonest people. 

People assumed that shepherds stole many of their sheep.

A shepherd’s word was not accepted in a court of law. The upright, honest pillars of the community assumed the shepherds would lie, and so they weren’t even allowed to testify.

I wonder, why is it that the news of a coming Savior came to the Shepherds?

Well, one of the first things we notice is taht it is plural.  Sheherds.

Maybe there were three of them.  

Maybe they were each looking for different things, and were different people.  

But God shows up for them, telling them good news and offering them peace.

  Because this Savior offers this peace to all.  This Savior steps into the complexity of our lives.  The messiness of life.

But it is to all.  Whoever we are.  Sinner and saint.

Rich and poor.  And it is offered to these Shepherds Even though they didn’t even know they needed peace or good news.

Or done anything to deserve it.    But it is  offered. 

But what we do know is that God’s presence is often seen in the dark and in our fear.

  In the darkness.  That when the angels showed up.  

In the midst of our fear.  That is when God shows up.  

Why it it that we see God most clearly in the Dark.  I was not only thinking about this moment but I was thinking about the Easter empty  tomb.

It says in the gospel of John, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb…” and that is where she see Jesus. That is where Christ is present to us.  

   God shows up in the dark. When I think about this scene.

Ordinary people, in ordinary lives. God shows up in the dark.

In the fear.  

I went to go visit a minister colleague many years ago, in the Hospital a number of years ago.  He had a heart attack.

And as I sat with him he started sharing his story.  

The experience had caused him to reflect on this life.  

He said, “John you know my real fear is that I will die alone.”

I get it from my Dad.  

My parents were divorced when I was in College.

My Dad never remarried and he resisted relationships.  

By the end of his life he was very isolated and his best friend.  

The only person that knew his name really was the Barnes and Noble Barrista.  

He said, “You know I just got divorced...and you know what my fear was.  My fear was that I was becoming like him.  That I was going to die alone.”

The other day when I was not feeling well.  I went to Urgent Care.

When they took my vitals they saw that I needed care immediately.  

And so they called the Ambulance.  

From what I understand, they had to shock me back to life three times.

Obviously, I was in and out of conciousness but it was the oddest thing.  

As I was, in the that ambulance.

I knew that I was not alone.  

I felt a deep and abiding peace.  

I felt God’s abiding presence.  

I was with someone who jus tlost a loved one. And he said to me.

It was the oddest thing.

I was talking to a friend.  

And I was telling him how angry I was about the loss of spouse. How angry I was at God. He said his friend did not have any easy answers. But he siad it was the strangest thing.

I got up from teh table and as I was about to leave. There was a smll cross laying there.

He said, “John,I had not seen it the whole hour we had been sitting there.”

Do you think that was a sign from God?

Maybe God was with my that whole time.  

Often times God shows up in the dark and says, 

Do not be afraid.  

In studying for this sermon I was struck by the reflection of one commentator who said this…

Jesus was born into a world of fear.  Israel was occupied by the Roman army. The destiny of the country was in the hands of people who did not have their best interests at heart. Fear consumed first-century people of Israel. 

And maybe it does us as well.  “And we too have fears - afraid of what others think of us, afraid of rejection, afraid of failure, afraid of the future.

Fear of the other.  Whoever the other is.  

Fear of not getting into the right school.  Afraid about not accomplishing enough or being enough.  

We live in a time of fear. 

But Jesus was born into a world of fear.  Jesus entered into our world of fear. 

And through the angels shares this good news with the Shepherds and with the world.  

Don’t be afraid… I am with you.    

In scripture, one of the most common phrase that God communicaties for God’s people is “ Do not be afraid.” From the Gabriel to Mary, “do not be afraid, prized one.” (Luke 1:30) Jesus to Paul in Acts 18:9, “do not be afraid.” Jesus in a revelation to John on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1:17. 

Do not be afraid. 

And did you hear it.  In both passages from the Angels to Jesus saying as he is leaving his disciples, the message is the same. Do not be afraid.  

Why not be afraid?

Not because your fears are legitimate.  In each case the fear were legitimate.

But don’t be afraid….

because I am with you. Do not be afraid… why?  Because I am with you. I am not leaving you alone. 

Do not be afraid…

For I am giving you a sign.  

You will be able to see me. 

A Savior.

A Messiah.

The Lord.  Do not be afraid because of Emmanuel - which simply means.

God with us.  The good news is not the absence of fear.

But it is in the mist of fear, and fearful world.

God is with you and me.  

And we can find peace much like shepherds. Looking for Christ’s presence. Trusting in the presence of a living God in the here and now. 

Trusting in Emmanuel which means God is with us. Here is the wonder of it all. This Savior shows up  to those who did nothing to deserve it.  For this Savior favors all. This Savior shows up in the ordinary and diverse people like the shepherds and you and me.

This Savior shows up most often in teh dark and into a world of fear.  

Offering himself.   His presence.  Saying do not be afraid.  

I am with you.

Do we need this God’s peace reborn in us?

I think we do.   

Even if we don’t know it.  

But what does this peace feel like?

I know this goes against tradition.  But our middle Hymn is Silent Night.  And we sing it this day. As a reminder of a Savior  who offers a heavenly peace. 

And we need this peace not just one day on the 24th but everyday.  And I pray.  That just like these unlikely shepherds.

Somehow mysterious God’s peace and prsence will show up for you.  

Even when we are not looking. Even when we are fearful. Even when we are in the dark.

Will you stand and join me in singing - Silent Night….

Amen.

MAybe God showed up to the Shephereds because they would be open to it.  

_________________

Option 2:

We continue a sermon series entitled, Wonder Sparked and Reborn.

The hope of this series is to intentionally prepare for Christ’s  birth, By focusing on imagination, awe, and gratitude, so that hope, peace, joy and love might be sparked and reborn in our lives.

Today, on this second Sunday of advent we explore peace.  And I wonder this question with you?

Do you/we need God’s  peace to be reborn in us?  What if the mystery and majesty of  God’s peace is that it is there even if we are not looking for it?

We have three scriptures readings this morning.  Our first scripture reading for this morning which I will focus on is Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 14. This is the  story of the shepherds hearing of Christ’s birth..  

And in a time of fear, uncertainty, God offers to the most unlikely people good news of God’s peace.

Our second  reading will be a grown Christ telling his disciples about the peace He offers to them and to the world.

And the third reading is from Isaiah.  It is  a promise of a coming Savior who is the Prince of Peace.  Hear the word of the Lord first from Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 14.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; 

for see— I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

And from John chapter 14 verses 26 & 27 Jesus says to his disciples

 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate,[k] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

And now from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6: 

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 

The Prince of Peace.

This is the  Word of the Lord.

Thanks Be to God.

Prayer:  

Loving God,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you. You are our rock, our refuge,  and the redeemer of our lives. You are the God of peace.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

Do we really need God’s peace reborn in us?  I mean that honestly.  Is that something you need? As you came in this morning.  You might saying to yourself.  I am doing fine.  My 401K is doing well.  .  I am at peace.

You might be saying I like the new Target.  I am at peace.  You might say Michigan beat Ohio State and so I am at peace.

OK that is just me.    Sometimes we don’t even know we are searching for God’s peace.  

I am not sure the Shepherds were searching for God’s peace,.  And yet it showed up.  

But  my hunch is,  that just below the surface…all of us are searching for God’s peace.  

A book title caught my attention.  It is number 11 on Amazon charts of books.  It is entitled The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness What the author,  Jonathan Haidt notes is that anxiousness, and mental illness is on the rise in our country especially among kids.  

He makes the argument that we have overprotected our kids offline and underproctected them online.  And cites numerous statistics about the rise of anxiety among adolescents.  

But it it not just kids.  When you read the news, or get breaking news.  Beacuse most of what I read in the news causes fear.  And what often gives us a lack of peace is fear. 

What we can forget but one commentator reminded me of in preparing for this sermon was that Jesus was born into a world of fear.  Israel was occupied by the Roman army. The destiny of the country was in the hands of people who did not have their best interests at heart. Fear consumed first-century people of Israel. 

And maybe it does us as well.  “And we too have fears - afraid of what others think of us, afraid of rejection, afraid of failure, afraid of the future.

Fear of the other.  Whoever the other is.  

Fear of not getting into the right school.  Afraid about not accomplishing enough or being enough.  

We live in a time of fear. 

But Jesus was born into a world of fear.  Jesus entered into our world of fear.  God enteres our world of fear.

And through the angels shares this good news with the Shepherds and with the world.  

Don’t be afraid… I am with you.    

In scripture, one of the most common phrase that God communicaties for God’s people is “ Do not be afraid.” From the Gabriel to Mary, “do not be afraid, prized one.” (Luke 1:30) Jesus to Paul in Acts 18:9, “do not be afraid.” Jesus in a revelation to John on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1:17. 

Do not be afraid. 

And did you hear it.  In both passages from the Angels to Jesus saying as he is leaving his disciples, the message is the same. Do not be afraid.  

Why not be afraid?

Not because your fears are legitimate.  But Because I am with you. Do not be afraid… why?  Because I am with you. I am not leaving you alone.  I am giving you and advocate. Or in our passage, I am not leaving you alone.  I am giving you a sign.  Do not be afraid because of Emmanuel - which simply means.

God with us.  Christ is present with us.  And in that presence we can find peace.  I have come to believe that Christ’s peace is not the absence of fear.  And fear is not all bad.  

But fear can overwhelm us. It can shape us.  And Fear must always be balanced with trust.  

And our lifelong struggle is to trust in God.  Trusting in the living God.  Trusting in the presence of God here and now. 

Trusting in Emmanuel which means God is with us. I went to go visit a minister colleague many years ago, in the Hospital a number of years ago.  He had a heart attack.

And as I sat with him he started sharing his story.  

The experience had caused him to reflect on this life.  

He said, “John you know my real fear is that I will die alone.”

I get it from my Dad.  

My parents were divorced when I was in College.

My Dad never remarried and he resisted relationships.  

By the end of his life he was very isolated and his best friend.  

The only person that knew his name really was the Barnes and Noble Barrista.  

He said, “You know I just got divorced...and you know what my fear was.  My fear was that I was becoming like him.  That I was going to die alone.”

The other day when I was not feeling well.  I went to Urgent Care.

When they took my vitals they saw that I needed care immediately.  

And so they called the Ambulance.  

From what I understand, they had to shock me back to life three times.

Obviously, I was in and out of conciousness but it was the oddest thing.  

As I was, in the that ambulance.

I knew that I was not alone.  

I felt a deep and abiding peace.  

I felt God’s abiding presence.  

I was with someone who jus tlost a loved one. And he said to me.

It was the oddest thing.

I was talking to a friend.  

And I was telling him how angry I was about the loss of spouse. How angry I was at God. He said his friend did not have any easy answers. But he siad it was the strangest thing.

I got up from teh table and as I was about to leave. There was a smll cross laying there.

He said, “John,I had not seen it the whole hour we had been sitting there.”

Do you think that was a sign from God?

Maybe God was with my that whole time.  

I imagine these shepherds.  Just oding their normal lives.  Ordinary people.  Now I have usually thought of them as pastoral heroes, rugged individualists. I thought about King David as a boy, fighting off wild animals to protect his father’s sheep. I thought about shepherding as a noble, if lonely, life. 

But that was not the view of shepherds in the first century. In Luke’s world, shepherds were synonymous with criminals, low-lifes. For the Jews especially, it was a job that prevented one from being ceremonially clean. But beyond that, it was a job that was simply assumed to be filled by dishonest people. 

People assumed that shepherds stole many of their sheep.

A shepherd’s word was not accepted in a court of law. The upright, honest pillars of the community assumed the shepherds would lie, and so they weren’t even allowed to testify.

Why is it that the news of a coming Savior came to the Shepherds? Because this Savior offers this peace to all.  This Savior steps into the messiness of life. This Savior’s good news is always a surprise. These Shepherds didn’t even know they needed peace or good news.  But ti is offered.  This Savior always shows up to the least, lost, last, lonely. To the sinner and saint.  To the messiness of our lives.  Is often when Christ shows up.  

Do we need this God’s peace reborn in us?

I think we do.   

Even if we don’t know it.  

But what does this peace feel like?

How is it real?

Maybe God’s peace is something we feel.  

And so this Sunday. I know this goes against tradition.  But our middle Hymn is Silent Night.  And we sing it this day. As a reminder of a Savior Born in a time of fear, Who shows up to unlinkley people. People who are seeking peace and those who didn’t even know they needed it.  And offers a heavenly peace.  And we need this peace not just one day but everyday.  We need this heavely peace to be reborn not just on December 25th but every day.  I pray as we sing it.  You will be reminded.   we all will be reminded to seek out this peace and to be open to signs of God’s presence and peace every day.  Even when we are not looking. Even when we are fearful. Even when we are angry.

Will you stand and join me in singing - Silent Night….

Amen.

MAybe God showed up to the Shephereds because they would be open to it.  

The great psychoanalyst Carl Jung had a proverb over the door of his house which read “Bidden or unbidden, God is here.” 

Notes:

Unlikley Shepherds.encountering signs of a Savior, (peace for our community) A savior who invites us not to be afraid but to see the good news and maybe to even look for signs…. (peace for ourselves in the midst of real fear)

Silent night a call to peace in a divided world (peace for our world)  - God who can bring us together

Let us remember the prince of peace.  The Lord is my Shepherd.  Changing my perspective.  A reality where God is not involved.  God would meet me.  What does this worry say about what I care about?

I am not in this alone.  

Congregation was never going to be able to do what God was going to bring.  What thirsts of my soul (they will meet me there).  God can meet me there.  Bringing abundance.  The non-anxious side is to see the abundance.  Find something my soul needs in the congregation.  If my identity is rooted at what I say, accomplish, it is bit of an identity treadmill.  Running faster and faster.  Find how God would meet us in our place of thirst.  Where do I feel small, so that it can be transformed into abundance.  Anxiety creates a tunnel.  The spaciousness of peace.  How is our anxiety a blessing to others.  

Interesting that it is plural.  Shepherds not shepherd.  Community to encourage us.  What happened next.  Maybe they needed each other.  Is this real? Should we believe.  And maybe one encouraged another.  And that is how it happens.  We need friends, community, to encourage one another.  

I have come to regard God sending angels to shepherds as bigger than reaching out to outsiders. Spend enough time in the field, shunned by decent and religious folk, disappointed by God, or overwhelmed by grief, and we stop caring that we are outsiders. We give up trying to get inside religion, or even on God, to get on with life. But God does not give up on us. God sends angels to people who have given up on God. How would you respond to God sending angels to you when you’d given up on God? Like the shepherds, I’d be terrified. 

We find peace in a Savior.   A Messiah. Because we need one.  Why would he favor the Shpeherds.  Because maybe just like the 10th leper a few weeks ago a Samaritan.  We should never limit God’s shocking grace.  

I will always remember the story of Joyeux Noël  (which means Merry Christmas in French) In 1914, World War I was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorised, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood.  It began with singing Silent Night. 

The genius of Luke’s story, of course, is that he portrays all this through the simple, sympathetic, and even everyday characters of a young mother and common shepherds. If God can work in and through such ordinary characters, we are bid to wonder, perhaps God can also work in and through us. Luke wants, I think, to make sure we realize that it is not just human flesh “in general” that God takes on in Christ; it is our flesh. And it is not simply history “in general” that God enters via this birth, it is our history and our very lives to which God is committed.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID ! Emmanuel! God is with us!

Wisdom to know what I can change and what I cannot. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference" 

Unlikely recipients of the message:

The focus this week is on the reaction of those who first heard the news of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, both on earth (the shepherds, then Mary) and in heaven (the angels and the heavenly “army”). The two aspects I’d like to focus on are Luke’s choice to make shepherds the first recipients of the news of the savior’s birth, and his focus on Mary’s reaction to what had taken place.

If you’ve preached on this text before, I’m sure you’ve attempted to dislodge from your audience’s mind the romantic, sentimental associations we usually have of the shepherds — not to mention the bathrobe-clad children of the Christmas pageant. Shepherds were not only among the lowest social class, spending their lives among animals, sleeping with them in the fields, and smelling like, well, sheep dung. They were also seen as dishonest and crafty, for they were often accused of grazing their sheep on land that was not theirs; thus the early rabbis counted them among those who were unfit to serve as witnesses or judges! On this score, it’s hard to avoid seeing the shepherds as foreshadowing the type of people to whom Jesus himself will bring “good news” — as well as the reaction it will generate. In contrast to what happens here, there will be no heavenly hosts giving glory to God when Jesus lays out his “mission statement” focused on the poor, outcast, and prisoners (Luke 4:16-21); indeed, his inclusion of outsiders in the sphere of God’s love and mercy results in an attempt by his own town to throw him off a cliff, and brings him into direct conflict with many of his fellow Jews, and ultimately the Romans.

One of the most powerful moments of all of the Advent and Christmas seasons is when we dim the lights, and all of us light candles.  Beginning with the Christ candle, we begin to pass the light to one another.  And we visibly see the light shining in the darkness, and it brightens the whole room.    

This past week all of us experienced the darkness as it came near to our community.  A crime was perpetuated in the community we love.  It affected all of us, but it especially impacted the poor and vulnerable.  Our family had transportation and the means to find resources to survive but I worried about those that did not have those means.  Many of the poor and vulnerable were stuck, cold, and struggling.  Those that were on oxygen, dialysis, or isolated were particularly impacted and it was a significant struggle for survival.  I also know that many of us felt afraid, especially as those early reports came out of an attack.  Many of us wondered in the dark, “what could be next?”        

We should not ignore the darkness.  It is real, and we have all experienced it.   We should take this opportunity to continue to explore how we can continue to bring this community together in love, peace, and harmony.  We should take this opportunity to name the darkness but recommit ourselves to the light and love of Christ.  

As real as the darkness has been in our community I have seen the light of Christ shining.   

Yesterday in partnership with 1st Baptist Brownson served 1100 free meals.  I wondered beforehand if anyone would come but I was surprised by the very real need.  The need was great and people were so thankful for a warm meal.  The thanksgiving that I heard from so many people was heartfelt.  It was expressed to you who support our church, and the Session who supported this initiative.  So know that you made an impact.  

I saw the light in neighbors helping neighbors.  In offering a cup of coffee, access to a generator, one members family made a pot of chilli and shared i with many, or in just a phone call to ask, “how are you doing?”  

I saw the light at the Cantata rehearsal last night.  John Tyson has done a marvelous job to reconvene the choir and orchestra.  The kids were practicing signing and the orchestra and choir were amazing.  As I sat in the sanctuary and I saw people reconnecting and caring for one another I saw the light.  I can’t wait to experience and see the light this Saturday and Sunday.  

I go back to that moment on Christmas eve when we pass the light with one another.   That is our charge.   Yes, the darkness is real but the light is shining in the darkness.  Through our Savior who is coming go and be the light of Christ.  Our charge and calling is more clear than ever.    

Do we need God’s  peace to be reborn in us?  

Maybe part of Peace being reborn in us is the openness to see God again and to trust that this is our Savior.  What if the peace is that somehow even in the midst of fear, uncertainty, God is going to show up.  

Trust that there is a Savior is how we find peace.  Even if we are not looking for it.  

God are you really there?

Main statements:

The peace of a Savior  is there even when we are not looking for it.