why worship today?

It's Christmas morning and many of you will be going to family lunches or travelling, some of you will still have presents to open, and for some of you there is a meal to cook this morning.

What is it about worship this day that you make it a priority amongst the busyness.

Maybe it is because there is something special about this child whose birth we celebrate today.

Each time a child is born we invest something into the future, we imagine what their life maybe like, we keep looking for signs of the academic or sport or musical ability, and as they grow we look for their particular personalities.

The child whose birth we celebrate today was born to a young woman and we don't know what dreams she had for her son's future, from what Luke tells us the concern was where to stay where was there going to be a bed. The Angel had told her that this child would be special. This is one baby, small and vulnerable, born to a first-time mother changes not only his parents’ lives, but the lives of many.

In this short time we have together this morning I hope you have time to reflect on the place of this baby in your life. For we can sing carols, listen to the story, and go to our meals and our celebrations unchanged.

What part of this story connects with you? Maybe it is the ordinariness of a man and a woman and a child, maybe it is because the message was given to shepherds some of the lowliest in the land which today would mean those who work in aged care and child care and disability care amongst others.

Maybe the part of the story that connects with you is the travelling to fulfil government requirements and how the good news of God's love came in the midst of political and military Dominion. Maybe what connects with you in this story is not anyone be you can put your finger on.

For me it's an amazing sense that God is willing to do whatever it takes to let us know we are loved. Not in a flashy showy way; not like New Year's Eve fireworks or a big marching band; not by throwing lots of money on advertising or bribes; not by having the biggest artillery and bravest soldiers. God came to be involved in our lives. God came to live amongst us, to walk with us, to teach and to heal and offer new life and transformation.

Jesus came as an underdog, in Australian terms, the Roman Empire was large and powerful. In the coming of Jesus,  a new kingdom was dawning,  the kingdom of God. This kingdom is different to the kingdoms of the Empire. In his lifetime Jesus and the kingdom of God were up against the Roman empire; we don't have empires in quite the same way these days, but they are still the kingdoms of greed and self-interest and oppression.

We might think of Christmas as a time of peace. There is a story that during World War I in places where the German and British forces were fighting in trenches nearby, that on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, troops offered greetings to each other, sang carols and in places got out and played football. Is that peace? that short period of time when the war stopped?  

It's like the peace that happens at a wedding or funeral when members of family get together, grit their teeth and smile through clenched teeth and pretend everything is okay when underneath is turmoil and anger and pain.

I have a part of a reflection to read:

 The Season for Miracles

(Reflection and Prayer Litany)

If we were to list the miracles of Christmas

we’d probably talk about virgin births
angels, perhaps
and stars that light the sky
but perhaps there’s another miracle:
one of Mary saying ‘yes’ when God asked her to believe
and Joseph saying ‘yes’ when God asked him to trust.
They had to change everything about their lives
and the birth of the Christ-child wasn’t possible until they did.
What does it mean for you to say ‘yes’ to this story?
to believe that it might be possible
for the darkness to be transformed to light
and for peace to come in the world?
Those who know the darkest of the world
know the fragility of light;
we hold our breath as the candles flicker
we know they don’t always last.
the birth of Jesus doesn’t make everything right
but it shows us that the only way the darkness can be beaten
is to say ‘yes’ to the birth of light.
....

— written by Cheryl Lawrie, on her blog [hold this space] http://holdthisspace.org.au/

 

The peace that Jesus brings is deeper and more resilient than a temporary cessation of fighting. The peace we seek, we yearn for, is peace that is indwelling, that allows us to live, without fear, without hatred.

Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God, the kingdom that is founded on love, the kingdom of peace and hope and joy. And the peace that Jesus bring is not peace as the world brings it, fleeting, here one day and gone the next. The peace that Jesus brings is like deep pool that never dries up.

Will say yes to the kingdom of peace this day?

 

Duet: Let there be Peace on earth