Yellowknife United Church

Peace on Earth, Good Will to All

Peace on Earth, Good Will to All
Christmas Eve 2009


Let us pray:
You are with us this night, O God, as you always are, but for us your presence seems just a little closer, your spirit has touched our souls just a little more deeply because this is a night of nights, this is your time. Amen.

It always happens in the days preceding this night. You are walking down the sidewalk or scanning the shelves in a local department store when you see someone you know. “Are you ready for Christmas?” is the typical exchange. I don't know about you, but it always makes me do a quick mental scan of everything I need to do – how many more gifts do I need to buy, how many more worship services do I need to prepare, are my clothes packed, are the gifts wrapped, and the decorations all up? And of course the answer is usually “no” because there always seems to be something more to do.

But what if the query is a different kind of question? What if it has nothing to do with all the many things that fill our to-do lists? What if “are you ready for Christmas” was all about the inner stuff – the deep stuff – the stuff that helps us to understand why we're here – not here at worship – although that's part of it, but here on earth. Of course the “to-do” lists are a part of it – we wouldn't have them if it wasn't important for us to buy gifts as an expression of love, and we wouldn't be packing our luggage if it wasn't important for us to be with family at this time of year. If it weren't for the deep stuff we wouldn't put the Christmas lights outside and decorate the Christmas tree inside.

So what would it mean to us if we considered that question about readiness as a “soul” question, as a question about what's important to us in our lives. What would it mean to be ready? What would it take to get ready?

During the season of advent we spend time considering aspects of a healthy relationship with God – beginning with a word of hope, followed by a desire for peace, then an expression of joy and finally a celebration of the gift of love. Advent literally means “getting ready” - soul ready that is, as we are called to reflect on each of those characteristics as an expression of God's presence in our lives.

The focus of all this preparation time is all on this night, Christmas Eve, with the birth of a child. What hope is wrapped up not just in the baby Jesus, but in every baby ever born! Who among us, when considering a sleeping infant would want nothing more than peace for them in the days that lie ahead of them! And there are no clearer expressions of joy and love than in the welcoming a child to life on earth. What better image could we choose than to tie all these desires, all these longings into that of a child.

So being ready is about opening ourselves to welcome a child – to consider all the promise, all the joy, all the love that comes with such an event. But we also know that the birth of a child carries with it one of the most important, one of the most influential, one of the clearest expressions of responsibility there ever was. We can't just sit idly by and let a child delight us. No we need to care for the child: feed him, bathe her, clean up after him, and of course love her. These are all necessary for their survival, required as conditions of the relationship.

The responsibility of course branches out much wider than just the urgent needs which are of course so important in the early days. No it has something to do with all of our relationships.

The angels sang a song of peace on earth. That was not just a statement of effect, it was also a call for action. There has never been a time when we are so conscious about the kind of world we are leaving for the children of the world. Peace on earth is also about peace for the earth. Peace from the ravenous appetite we have for earth's resources, peace that will leave something good for that child to enjoy, peace that will tread more lightly on the earth so that the children will have something to tread on at all.

Are we ready for what it means to be in relationship with God? God is revealed in the vulnerability of a child, but God is also revealed as a powerful presence in our lives – a presence that calls us to live our lives with a mind and a heart turned to others. It's no accident that the first witnesses of the birth in Bethlehem were lowly shepherds. They are a symbol to us of the importance of every person, that God chooses with a different value system than the one we use.

The angels also sang a song of good will to all. Are we ready to be challenged by that angel song? When Mary discovered she was going to have a baby, her words echoed as a revolutionary statement about upside down value systems which would bring hope to the powerless, excitement to the lowly and send the rich and powerful scurrying away in fear and haste. Why? Because God is interested in justice, God values each person by who they are and not by what they have, and God has a special concern for the poorest and weakest.

As we gather this night we may still have a few things on the to-do list, and we all know that Christmas Day brings a busyness of its own. But this night is also one that invites us to dig a little deeper, to look with inner eyes into the depths of our own beings, to listen with ears that are finely tuned to hear the whisper of God telling us that we are loved, that all things are possible, that hope lies within grasp.

Are you ready for Christmas? Really ready? Open your soul and awaken to the presence of God, as child in manger, as companion on the journey, as Holy One calling us to live with courage and hope, as close as the air we breathe, as out there as the stars in the sky, as wondrous as the northern lights, as real as the earth beneath our feet, as binding as the spirit that gathers in and around us here this night.

Merry Christmas! Amen.

 

 

© 2009


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