Good
Morning All,
Psalm
103:17; “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who
fear him, and his righteousness to children's children,”
My
grandson is opening 25 small packages for the Advent season. Each one is a small ornament that he hangs on
a small tree in his room. Each time we
see him, he tells us how excited he is about the ornaments. I don’t know if he has figured out that there
are only about four different ornaments that he is getting six times or not
just yet. Bet each time he opens the
bag. He is excited at what is revealed to him.
Many of us have lost the excitement of when something new is revealed to
us. We view it as a ho-hum event. We may even tend to ignore the joy that
others experience when the something new is revealed. It might be that we have become accustomed to
what we already have or know and that we fail to really see the importance of
it. We may even be somewhat jaded to the
event.
I think that we are somewhat this way towards Christmas. We complain about the commercialization of
Christmas; we complain about how it is not politically correct to celebrate
Christmas anymore. We sigh and shake our
head when we think of the money spent, the promises made that soon will be
broken, the emptiness we feel when it is over.
There seems to be a disconnect for many of us at Christmas. We may even feel like Charlie Brown and
wonder if anyone knows what Christmas is all about.
Christmas is God’s great revelation to us. Christmas reveals the very heart of the Father
to us. In Christmas, God opens his
heart, his nature, even his soul to us to reveal to us a love so great that we
cannot even comprehend. Scriptures
describes it in many ways, like a father for his children, like a hen gathers
her chicks, or like our verse from everlasting to everlasting. We see God’s love for us revealed in a tiny
baby so vulnerable to the world. This
baby would experience the pain and the sorrow of this world and yet always be
about bringing healing and hope to those around him. He does the same for us today; he brings us
healing and hope.
Our sinful nature tends to be a hardened heart, a “bah humbug” if there
ever was. Yet God continually reveals
himself to us through Jesus; we continually experience the Father’s love in
ways that we often take for granted, commonplace, or even deserved. When we feel this way, we lose the excitement
about this greatest of revelations; God’s love for us reconciles us, restores
us and redeems us. We are in God’s holy
family, heirs of the kingdom, recipients of God’s eternal blessings. Even if we have heard this story many times
over; it should fill us with great joy and wonderment. Jesus lives so that we may know God’s love;
celebrate this every day.
Father,
your mercies are new every day. Give to
us the certain knowledge of your love. Guide us by your Spirit to cling to this
great truth and amazing promise. Keep us
safe in your arms. Be with those for
whom this truth has lost its luster.
Restore your people to know your love and joy. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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