[FONT="]Christmas is the time of year for sending messages. That's why the postal service estimates some five billion Christmas cards and [/FONT][FONT="]letters will be mailed in the next few weeks. [/FONT][FONT="]By anyone's standard, that's a lot of money, time and trouble invested in [/FONT][FONT="]sending a message of good news to friends and family. But messages are important, and for many of us, Christmas is the only time in [/FONT][FONT="]the year when we hear from old and distant friends. [/FONT][FONT="]Christmas is a time when God sends a message to the world as well, and these words [/FONT][FONT="]from Isaiah bring us a message from the Lord that we long to hear. [/FONT][FONT="]This ancient prophet was called upon to be God's message-bearer to a people [/FONT][FONT="]who had lived in despair and misery as captives of the Babylonians. [/FONT][FONT="]The Hebrews were a despised people, displaced persons who lived in a [/FONT][FONT="]world that had been turned upside down. [/FONT][FONT="]Their daily lives were filled with injustice and conflict, and there was [/FONT][FONT="]little in which they could take courage. [/FONT][FONT="]But Isaiah was chosen of God to bring a message of good news, and the [/FONT][FONT="]prophet's beautiful vision may well be the same kind of message God wishes to [/FONT]send us in this Advent Season.
[FONT="]Isaiah's first words are words of hope in the midst of despairing times: "There shall[/FONT][FONT="] come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse ...." [/FONT][FONT="]Now this is much more than some twig that begins to grow out of a dead stump. The Hebrew words suggest a strong healthy branch, tough new growth [/FONT][FONT="]on a tree that has long produced much good fruit. [/FONT][FONT="]In this case the new branch is a king from the house of David whose [/FONT][FONT="]gifts come directly from God and under whose leadership, all life will [/FONT][FONT="]be changed. [/FONT][FONT="]Now this hope is good news for the poor, the meek and the oppressed, and bad [/FONT][FONT="]news for the unrighteous, the sinful and the oppressors. [/FONT][FONT="]Good news and bad news - the hope that God promises in the midst of despair is[/FONT][FONT="] a message that forces us to see our world for what it has become in its brokenness and [/FONT][FONT="]sinfulness. [/FONT][FONT="]To be sure Christmas is coming, but in Central America the destroying, the [/FONT][FONT="]killing and the oppression are daily facts of life. [/FONT][FONT="]Christmas is coming, but the very fabric of our society is threatened by new [/FONT][FONT="]realities called drug wars, drug lords and drug traffic. [/FONT][FONT="]Christmas is coming but for those who live in the Middle East, all talk of peace [/FONT][FONT="]and good will seems to be little more than empty rhetoric.[/FONT][FONT="] Christmas is coming but the FBI says that every 54 seconds a violent crime [/FONT][FONT="]occurs in this nation, a robbery every other minute, and another woman [/FONT][FONT="]violated by rape every 17 minutes.
Let's not pretty up God's Christmas greeting so much that we miss the real reason why [/FONT][FONT="]Christ came into our broken world. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Christ came as the fulfillment of Isaiah's vision of a whole new order. [/FONT] [FONT="]Christ came to change both the hearts of humankind and the society in which [/FONT][FONT="] we live. [/FONT][FONT="]Christ came to call us to repentance and to turn us away from all the lesser gods [/FONT][FONT="]who have usurped the place of the Living God on the throne of our hearts. That's the real hope that God has always offered to a world in the midst [/FONT][FONT="]of despair. [/FONT][FONT="]It's a hope that calls us in this Advent season to get ready for the King [/FONT][FONT="]who is coming. [/FONT][FONT="]But like the Hebrews of old, we can dismiss this hope as something in the far distant [/FONT][FONT="]future - something like a new branch that will take years and years to grow into a [/FONT][FONT="]strong and powerful limb. [/FONT][FONT="]I recently saw a birthday card that showed a man carrying a big sign that said, [/FONT][FONT="]"Repent." [/FONT][FONT="]But when you opened the card, it read: "Repent, but do it tomorrow ... today's [/FONT][FONT="]your birthday so have a ball." [/FONT][FONT="]Repent yes, but there is no hurry. [/FONT]The Lord's new king won't be coming for years and years![FONT="] I wonder if it is not our human tendency to push hope into some far distant future that [/FONT][FONT="]causes us to miss the fulfillment of so many of God's great promises to us. [/FONT][FONT="]So often God's answers to our cries for help and deliverance come in a form we [/FONT]could never imagine[FONT="]. The hope which Isaiah envisioned so long ago comes to us in ways we never [/FONT][FONT="]dreamed possible as the Living Christ enters our lives and turns our despair into [/FONT][FONT="]newness of life.
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[FONT="]Isaiah's message from God not only brings the hope of a new order, but a description [/FONT][FONT="]of a world where justice rules, and where the whole creation lives in peace and [/FONT][FONT="]harmony. [/FONT][FONT="] In all of scripture, you cannot find a picture more idyllic than this one! [/FONT]
[FONT="]Who of us can even imagine a world where the wild beasts and little children [/FONT]play together and where the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord![FONT="] And that's our problem! We tend to dismiss such a picture as an idealistic utopia, an [/FONT][FONT="]impossible dream shared by a few sentimental environmentalists but not something we [/FONT][FONT="]can ever imagine happening on our earth. [/FONT][FONT="]We have our own methods of dealing with wild beasts. [/FONT][FONT="]The high-powered rifle is our answer and that is just one more evidence of how [/FONT][FONT="]we identify a golden age to come with materialism and our own achievement [/FONT][FONT="]and power. [/FONT][FONT="]Our visions of a peaceful age are based on greater prosperity, more government [/FONT][FONT="]services, no unemployment and more of the good life for everyone.
But Isaiah's vision of justice and peace is much more than some human effort to [/FONT][FONT="]reorder the society. [/FONT] [FONT="]It is based not only on changing the structures of the society but on changing [/FONT][FONT="]human hearts so that they will be "full of the knowledge of the Lord as the [/FONT][FONT="]waters cover the sea." [/FONT][FONT="]God's Christmas message has always been about peace on earth and good will [/FONT][FONT="]among people, but it finds its genesis in Jesus' demand that we seek first the[/FONT][FONT="] kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added. [/FONT][FONT="]Our difficulty in catching hold of Isaiah's vision of peace may rest in our [/FONT][FONT="]misunderstanding of what the peace of God really is. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Some years ago an art contest was held in a Maine seacoast town. [/FONT][FONT="]Local artists were invited to submit a painting that portrayed the idea of peace. Many entries depicted beautiful idyllic scenes of peaceful landscapes and [/FONT][FONT="]gentle waters lapping against the shore. [/FONT][FONT="]But the picture which took first prize showed a rocky seacoast in the midst of a [/FONT][FONT="]violent storm. [/FONT][FONT="]Waves were crashing against the rocks sending the sprays of water high [/FONT][FONT="]into the air. [/FONT][FONT="]On the surface of it, the scene was anything but peaceful! [/FONT][FONT="]However, a closer examination of the painting showed a sea gull, just a tiny [/FONT][FONT="]bird, huddled in a cleft in the rock. [/FONT][FONT="]All around the bird, the angry sea pounded on the seacoast, but the little gull [/FONT]shielded by the rock, was safe and secure in the midst of the storm[FONT="]. That is much closer to the Bible's understanding of peace- not an [/FONT][FONT="]absence of conflict, but a sustaining presence within our troubled lives [/FONT][FONT="]that keeps us safe and secure in the midst of the turbulance. [/FONT][FONT="]God's Christmas message to you and to me is that we can know that [/FONT][FONT="]peace through the presence of our Lord in our daily lives.
Isaiah's vision of a world where peace and justice are possible is based on that same [/FONT][FONT="]conviction that it is God who brings us peace. [/FONT][FONT="]Isaiah never forgot that this is still God's world, and that one day God will be [/FONT][FONT="]triumphant over everything that is evil and oppressive in our world. [/FONT][FONT="]Isaiah could envision a reconciliation that would not only include human [/FONT][FONT="]beings and the Living God, but even the animal kingdom and all of nature. [/FONT][FONT="]In Jesus Christ our broken, troubled world catches a glimpse of a time to come [/FONT][FONT="]when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. [/FONT][FONT="]In the midst of wars and rumors of wars, we need not despair. [/FONT][FONT="]God is already at work through the power of suffering love to bring [/FONT][FONT="]about that new age, and every now and then, you and I are privileged to [/FONT]see God at work.
[FONT="] I read a story about a pastor who lost an eye during the Second World War. [/FONT][FONT="]He ended up being taken prisoner on Christmas Eve by German forces. [/FONT][FONT="]Taken to a field hospital, it seemed as if nothing could ease the terrible pain in [/FONT][FONT="]his eye, nor the empty loneliness he felt in his heart. [/FONT][FONT="]It was Christmas Eve, but there was no peace on earth. [/FONT][FONT="]He lay in the midst of wounded, dying men wondering if he would even see another Christmas Day.[/FONT] [FONT="]And then a hand reached out from the cot next to his, and a wounded German [/FONT][FONT="]soldier tried to say something to him. [/FONT][FONT="]He could not understand the words, but suddenly he realized that the German was singing. [/FONT][FONT="]In a voice filled with the anguish of his own pain, this German was [/FONT][FONT="]singing the words, "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright." Slowly those patients who could, began to sing as well, and before long the [/FONT][FONT="]guards, the doctors and the nurses lifted up their voices in praise to the Christ [/FONT][FONT="]Child, the Prince of Peace. [/FONT][FONT="]It was one of those incredible moments when like Isaiah of old, we can glimpse [/FONT][FONT="]a world where the power of God's love is greater than human hatred. That message of hope and of peace is God's Christmas greeting to you and to me. [/FONT][FONT="]It's a message of good news to a world often filled with bad news. [/FONT][FONT="]More than that, it's a Christmas message that can change your life![/FONT]
[FONT=palatino linotype][I]Merry Christmas
BSW[/I][/FONT]
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[FONT="]Isaiah's first words are words of hope in the midst of despairing times: "There shall[/FONT][FONT="] come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse ...." [/FONT][FONT="]Now this is much more than some twig that begins to grow out of a dead stump. The Hebrew words suggest a strong healthy branch, tough new growth [/FONT][FONT="]on a tree that has long produced much good fruit. [/FONT][FONT="]In this case the new branch is a king from the house of David whose [/FONT][FONT="]gifts come directly from God and under whose leadership, all life will [/FONT][FONT="]be changed. [/FONT][FONT="]Now this hope is good news for the poor, the meek and the oppressed, and bad [/FONT][FONT="]news for the unrighteous, the sinful and the oppressors. [/FONT][FONT="]Good news and bad news - the hope that God promises in the midst of despair is[/FONT][FONT="] a message that forces us to see our world for what it has become in its brokenness and [/FONT][FONT="]sinfulness. [/FONT][FONT="]To be sure Christmas is coming, but in Central America the destroying, the [/FONT][FONT="]killing and the oppression are daily facts of life. [/FONT][FONT="]Christmas is coming, but the very fabric of our society is threatened by new [/FONT][FONT="]realities called drug wars, drug lords and drug traffic. [/FONT][FONT="]Christmas is coming but for those who live in the Middle East, all talk of peace [/FONT][FONT="]and good will seems to be little more than empty rhetoric.[/FONT][FONT="] Christmas is coming but the FBI says that every 54 seconds a violent crime [/FONT][FONT="]occurs in this nation, a robbery every other minute, and another woman [/FONT][FONT="]violated by rape every 17 minutes.
Let's not pretty up God's Christmas greeting so much that we miss the real reason why [/FONT][FONT="]Christ came into our broken world. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Christ came as the fulfillment of Isaiah's vision of a whole new order. [/FONT] [FONT="]Christ came to change both the hearts of humankind and the society in which [/FONT][FONT="] we live. [/FONT][FONT="]Christ came to call us to repentance and to turn us away from all the lesser gods [/FONT][FONT="]who have usurped the place of the Living God on the throne of our hearts. That's the real hope that God has always offered to a world in the midst [/FONT][FONT="]of despair. [/FONT][FONT="]It's a hope that calls us in this Advent season to get ready for the King [/FONT][FONT="]who is coming. [/FONT][FONT="]But like the Hebrews of old, we can dismiss this hope as something in the far distant [/FONT][FONT="]future - something like a new branch that will take years and years to grow into a [/FONT][FONT="]strong and powerful limb. [/FONT][FONT="]I recently saw a birthday card that showed a man carrying a big sign that said, [/FONT][FONT="]"Repent." [/FONT][FONT="]But when you opened the card, it read: "Repent, but do it tomorrow ... today's [/FONT][FONT="]your birthday so have a ball." [/FONT][FONT="]Repent yes, but there is no hurry. [/FONT]The Lord's new king won't be coming for years and years![FONT="] I wonder if it is not our human tendency to push hope into some far distant future that [/FONT][FONT="]causes us to miss the fulfillment of so many of God's great promises to us. [/FONT][FONT="]So often God's answers to our cries for help and deliverance come in a form we [/FONT]could never imagine[FONT="]. The hope which Isaiah envisioned so long ago comes to us in ways we never [/FONT][FONT="]dreamed possible as the Living Christ enters our lives and turns our despair into [/FONT][FONT="]newness of life.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Isaiah's message from God not only brings the hope of a new order, but a description [/FONT][FONT="]of a world where justice rules, and where the whole creation lives in peace and [/FONT][FONT="]harmony. [/FONT][FONT="] In all of scripture, you cannot find a picture more idyllic than this one! [/FONT]
[FONT="]Who of us can even imagine a world where the wild beasts and little children [/FONT]play together and where the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord![FONT="] And that's our problem! We tend to dismiss such a picture as an idealistic utopia, an [/FONT][FONT="]impossible dream shared by a few sentimental environmentalists but not something we [/FONT][FONT="]can ever imagine happening on our earth. [/FONT][FONT="]We have our own methods of dealing with wild beasts. [/FONT][FONT="]The high-powered rifle is our answer and that is just one more evidence of how [/FONT][FONT="]we identify a golden age to come with materialism and our own achievement [/FONT][FONT="]and power. [/FONT][FONT="]Our visions of a peaceful age are based on greater prosperity, more government [/FONT][FONT="]services, no unemployment and more of the good life for everyone.
But Isaiah's vision of justice and peace is much more than some human effort to [/FONT][FONT="]reorder the society. [/FONT] [FONT="]It is based not only on changing the structures of the society but on changing [/FONT][FONT="]human hearts so that they will be "full of the knowledge of the Lord as the [/FONT][FONT="]waters cover the sea." [/FONT][FONT="]God's Christmas message has always been about peace on earth and good will [/FONT][FONT="]among people, but it finds its genesis in Jesus' demand that we seek first the[/FONT][FONT="] kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added. [/FONT][FONT="]Our difficulty in catching hold of Isaiah's vision of peace may rest in our [/FONT][FONT="]misunderstanding of what the peace of God really is. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Some years ago an art contest was held in a Maine seacoast town. [/FONT][FONT="]Local artists were invited to submit a painting that portrayed the idea of peace. Many entries depicted beautiful idyllic scenes of peaceful landscapes and [/FONT][FONT="]gentle waters lapping against the shore. [/FONT][FONT="]But the picture which took first prize showed a rocky seacoast in the midst of a [/FONT][FONT="]violent storm. [/FONT][FONT="]Waves were crashing against the rocks sending the sprays of water high [/FONT][FONT="]into the air. [/FONT][FONT="]On the surface of it, the scene was anything but peaceful! [/FONT][FONT="]However, a closer examination of the painting showed a sea gull, just a tiny [/FONT][FONT="]bird, huddled in a cleft in the rock. [/FONT][FONT="]All around the bird, the angry sea pounded on the seacoast, but the little gull [/FONT]shielded by the rock, was safe and secure in the midst of the storm[FONT="]. That is much closer to the Bible's understanding of peace- not an [/FONT][FONT="]absence of conflict, but a sustaining presence within our troubled lives [/FONT][FONT="]that keeps us safe and secure in the midst of the turbulance. [/FONT][FONT="]God's Christmas message to you and to me is that we can know that [/FONT][FONT="]peace through the presence of our Lord in our daily lives.
Isaiah's vision of a world where peace and justice are possible is based on that same [/FONT][FONT="]conviction that it is God who brings us peace. [/FONT][FONT="]Isaiah never forgot that this is still God's world, and that one day God will be [/FONT][FONT="]triumphant over everything that is evil and oppressive in our world. [/FONT][FONT="]Isaiah could envision a reconciliation that would not only include human [/FONT][FONT="]beings and the Living God, but even the animal kingdom and all of nature. [/FONT][FONT="]In Jesus Christ our broken, troubled world catches a glimpse of a time to come [/FONT][FONT="]when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. [/FONT][FONT="]In the midst of wars and rumors of wars, we need not despair. [/FONT][FONT="]God is already at work through the power of suffering love to bring [/FONT][FONT="]about that new age, and every now and then, you and I are privileged to [/FONT]see God at work.
[FONT="] I read a story about a pastor who lost an eye during the Second World War. [/FONT][FONT="]He ended up being taken prisoner on Christmas Eve by German forces. [/FONT][FONT="]Taken to a field hospital, it seemed as if nothing could ease the terrible pain in [/FONT][FONT="]his eye, nor the empty loneliness he felt in his heart. [/FONT][FONT="]It was Christmas Eve, but there was no peace on earth. [/FONT][FONT="]He lay in the midst of wounded, dying men wondering if he would even see another Christmas Day.[/FONT] [FONT="]And then a hand reached out from the cot next to his, and a wounded German [/FONT][FONT="]soldier tried to say something to him. [/FONT][FONT="]He could not understand the words, but suddenly he realized that the German was singing. [/FONT][FONT="]In a voice filled with the anguish of his own pain, this German was [/FONT][FONT="]singing the words, "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright." Slowly those patients who could, began to sing as well, and before long the [/FONT][FONT="]guards, the doctors and the nurses lifted up their voices in praise to the Christ [/FONT][FONT="]Child, the Prince of Peace. [/FONT][FONT="]It was one of those incredible moments when like Isaiah of old, we can glimpse [/FONT][FONT="]a world where the power of God's love is greater than human hatred. That message of hope and of peace is God's Christmas greeting to you and to me. [/FONT][FONT="]It's a message of good news to a world often filled with bad news. [/FONT][FONT="]More than that, it's a Christmas message that can change your life![/FONT]
[FONT=palatino linotype][I]Merry Christmas
BSW[/I][/FONT]
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I know that Christmas trees are pagan.......I just love the multi-colored lights and the trees. It's a way to light up the world to tell Jesus Happy Birthday. Yes, I know that He wasn't REALLY born on December 25th. Actually, to be honest, Christians should celebrate Christmas all year round, but hey, no one asked me.
