The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light
Those who lived in a land of deep darkness –
On them light has shined
This is the first word of Scripture we heard tonight –
A word of hope and promise
To all people, really,
Because who doesn’t know some form of darkness in their life?
We face it in various forms
And at different times in our lives
And for those who are experiencing particular struggles
Or sadness
Grief
Or loss
At this time of year
When everybody seems to expect
That everybody’s going to be happy
All the time
Because, you know, it’s the most wonderful time of the year
And all that
Things can seem darker than dark
Sadness can be accentuated
One can feel more acutely than ever that sense that they’re alone in a crowd
And it’s to us, then, as much as to any other people
Living in any other time or place
That this promise comes
For a child is born for us
A Son is given to us
And this child is none other than Messiah Jesus
Son of God
Born of Mary in a Bethlehem stable
And his name is Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace…
Ponder the mystery of these names
Wonderful counselor
On the night of his betrayal
Jesus gathered with his closest friends
And promised to not leave them orphaned, saying:
“If I go I will send the Advocate to you”
The Spirit of God
The Spirit of Jesus
He is our Counselor
And it’s this Spirit of God who has come
And sealed us in Holy Baptism
As God’s own beloved children
It’s in this Spirit that we live and move and have our being
This One born to us is with us always, even to the end of the age
The Spirit of Jesus is with us
Teaching and guiding us
Giving us life
And empowering us to bear the fruit of love of God and neighbor…
Ponder the mystery of these names
Mighty God
It’s very easy to focus on the birth of the baby Jesus
In an overly sentimentalized way –
Oh, what a cute baby
What a sweet vision –
This perfect little baby who doesn’t even cry
According to that well-known carol “Away in the Manger”
But this baby is none other than almighty God
Whose glory we are to make known among the nations
Who made the heavens
In whose presence are majesty, magnificence, power and splendor
To whom honor and power are ascribed
This one is Lord and King and judge
This one spoke at creation, and all the universe leapt into being
And in the fullness of time
This One called Mighty God came as a human baby
Devoid of all power and prestige
Completely dependent for his very survival
On a young, unmarried, peasant, human, virgin, mother
Yes we must guard against over sentimentalizing this birth
Or else we lose the point of this whole thing
This child is born to die
In order that we might have life…
Ponder the mystery of these names
Everlasting Father
In the ideal sense of fatherhood
There should be no-one more devoted
More encouraging
More supportive
More protective
More life-giving
Than a father
And what could be better than this –
Than to have the God of light and life
The God of love and compassion
The God of healing and forgiveness
The God of grace and mercy –
As your own Father Forever?
I am no perfect father to my child
Though I try to be the best father I know how to be
But in the end, I’m father to my child only for a time –
As all earthly fathers are here only for a time
As our children grow
They come to rely less and less on their earthly fathers
And that’s good –
It’s the way things are meant to be
But we must never lose our dependence on the One who is our Father Forever
Who grants to us all the gift of adoption
As God’s own daughters and sons
In the water and the word of God’s promise in Holy Baptism
The grace of God has appeared in the birth of this One who is our Father Forever Bringing salvation to all –
Reconciling us to God through the blood of his cross
And opening the way to eternal life through his victory over death and the grave…
Ponder the mystery of these names
The Prince of Peace has come
Born of Mary
Wrapped in bands of cloth
Laid in a feeding trough
Announced to shepherds
And praised by the heavenly host who sang God’s glory
And announced the peace of God’s saving grace to all people
In his holy birth
In his living and dying
In his resurrection
This child born for us
This son given to us
Brings the ultimate gift of peace
In and through God’s saving love for all the world…
Mary treasured all that she heard
And she pondered it all in her heart
May we find blessing as we join with her this night
In pondering the mystery of the birth of the One who is our
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
Amen
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