Good Morning All,
“Hurry
up or else we’ll be late!” Do you hear
that or say that this time of the year.
There are parties to attend, concerts to go to, most of us have a full
plate this time of year. Maybe you hurry
to pick the kids up from some practice and have to hurry home to bake cookies
for some event tomorrow. Do you have to
hurry off for a quick shopping trip? Now
that Christmas baking is on the upswing, do you have all the necessary
ingredients?
Then there are the different commitments
you make. Do you take a group of school
kids shopping for the underprivileged?
Do you take them to a soup kitchen?
Do you take them caroling? Then
you have office Christmas parties, you have family parties, you have
neighborhood gatherings; all we do is rush from one place to another. Everywhere we go, every time we look at the
calendar; we have somewhere to go, someone to see. The season is full of hustle and bustle. The season is overloaded and so are our
senses, our nerves and our patience.
Do you think that the shepherds could have ever imagined this type of
frenzied life when they came with haste to find Mary and Joseph and the
baby? There is a very certain and very
ironic view here. The shepherds were
quietly watching and tending the sheep that were under their care. They would have to watch for predators, maybe
a few thieves but there was a handful of them to watch the sheep. They could take turns watching while the
others could rest a little. It would
have been a quiet, calm time; nothing like the bustle of the large cities like
Jerusalem. So when the angels startled
them with the announcement of the birth of Jesus the Savior, they dropped
everything and ran to see what the angels had told them. They ran to see Jesus.
Yet today, we often live a life of total chaos and we run to Jesus for
rest and comfort. We listen to the world
and the buzz that it puts into our head and it begins to hurt. We look around and see pain and sadness and
feel it as well. Stress and pressure can
hurt or even destroy relationships, your physical health, your emotional health
and your spiritual well-being. The only
answer for us is to cling to the cross, to hold onto our faith. We need to make haste to Jesus, because this
is where we find our peace and contentment.
The world will always try to speed you up and cause you to “spin” out of
control. Jesus is our control; he is our
source of hope and love. Jesus comes to
us with his grace to hold us close. When
we see the world speed around us don’t follow the world’s view of what is
important but make haste to go with Jesus.
Father
of grace, your mercies are new to us each day.
Guide us to see the hustle and bustle of this world only causes us
pain. Lead us by your Spirit to know
that our true source of comfort, peace and contentment is through you. Be with those who are especially lost in a
world of pain and deceit. Lead them to
your gracious throne. In Jesus’ precious
name we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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