Christmas is over. The stockings once hung by the chimney with care
have been emptied of their goodies and are folded and ready to be put
away until next year. The lights that twinkled so brightly in past
weeks have lost their glow and have been wound neatly around one of
those light reels that those of you who are super organized buy and
use, or thrown into a shoebox by the rest of us too tired to deal with
them now.
The ornaments have been carefully removed from the tree branches and
placed back in their designated boxes. The smaller children who once
nestled so snug in their beds are playing with toy trucks or the
fashion doll of the year, and older kids are decking out their tablets
and smart phones and other electronic gadgets in the new colorful
“skins” so prized by teenagers today.
Leftovers from the dinner of Christmas past are chilling in the
refrigerator awaiting a resurrection in days to come in casseroles,
soups, and sandwiches.
Trees and garlands and wreaths and ribbons, wrapping paper and bows
and gift bags and tissue stuffing are piled high in the corner for
sorting and disposal later.
The manger scene, or nativity display, or creche, depending on what
you call it at your house, has been put away along with the shepherds,
angels, Wise Men, Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus.
But, wait. Maybe that’s the problem. When we put away the Baby
Jesus, did we symbolically, even without thinking, put away the Divine
Son of God, whose birth we just celebrated? Or did we let HIm speak
to us in this Holy Season about our daily walk with Him through the
year?
I confess that I am deeply troubled by what is going on our country,
and even though I pray for our leaders every day, I tend to be one of
the crowd who laments about what our world is coming to.
I realize there is a difference in being concerned and in being
worried and anxious, but perhaps you, like me, cross the line between
concern and worry way too often.
Instead of saying “Look what our world has come to”, perhaps we should
let our daily devotions center on “Look Who has come into our world”.
The Bible refers to Him as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. We also know Him as the Great
Physician and Worker of Miracles.
We witnessed that in our own city this past week as one of our Circuit
Court Judges who had been airlifted to a Springfield hospital in
critical condition and put on life support just a week ago and was a
patient in ICU for most of the week was miraculously healed through
the prayers of his family and friends along with the God-given wisdom
and technology of his medical team. He was dismissed to go home on
Christmas Eve.
I daresay many of you could testify to a similar situation this past
year. Some of you have found Him to be your Counselor and Prince of
Peace after your loved ones found their healing by passing on into the
presence of God. We have seen this in our own immediate family this
past month.
The baby whose birth we celebrated this week came into the world to
bring peace to all people. But the world has never known complete
peace either before or after His coming. So is He the answer to all
the world’s problems? Is He even the answer to America’s problems?
In a society as diverse as ours, can there be any one answer, or
solution?
I am not so naive as to believe that everyone is going to accept
Christ as their God. But let’s lay aside the theological implications
of that and assume that we will always have believers and
non-believers among us when it comes to Jesus Christ. But what if all
men and women would live by the principles He taught - love instead
of hatred, kindness and patience with others instead of rudeness,
sharing instead of greed, forgiveness instead of revenge, desiring the
best for others instead of selfishness?
Would that not make a difference in our world, whether we worship
Jesus as God, or not? Would that not ease tensions between
Republicans and Democrats, between blacks and whites, between rich and
poor, between liberals and conservatives, even between atheists and
believers?
I have often seen things change when two people of totally different
worldviews sit down on a one to one basis and discuss their
differences. If it could happen between individuals, could it not
happen among groups?
Of course we will always have people among us who promote hatred,
rudeness, greed, revenge, selfishness. Nothing is going to change
that. No religious leader nor political leader can persuade them to be
otherwise. But I believe they would definitely be in the minority
instead of the major story on our newscasts every day.
I submit to you that Jesus is the answer to the problems of this world
and that the ultimate purpose of Him coming as a babe in the manger
could be accomplished in this world in so far as how we live and get
along with each other, in the workplace and the marketplace, in the
halls of Congress and the statehouses, and in our own homes and on
social media.
Now back to that theological issue and how you feel about Jesus
Christ. You might want to talk to a spiritual counselor about that.
have been emptied of their goodies and are folded and ready to be put
away until next year. The lights that twinkled so brightly in past
weeks have lost their glow and have been wound neatly around one of
those light reels that those of you who are super organized buy and
use, or thrown into a shoebox by the rest of us too tired to deal with
them now.
The ornaments have been carefully removed from the tree branches and
placed back in their designated boxes. The smaller children who once
nestled so snug in their beds are playing with toy trucks or the
fashion doll of the year, and older kids are decking out their tablets
and smart phones and other electronic gadgets in the new colorful
“skins” so prized by teenagers today.
Leftovers from the dinner of Christmas past are chilling in the
refrigerator awaiting a resurrection in days to come in casseroles,
soups, and sandwiches.
Trees and garlands and wreaths and ribbons, wrapping paper and bows
and gift bags and tissue stuffing are piled high in the corner for
sorting and disposal later.
The manger scene, or nativity display, or creche, depending on what
you call it at your house, has been put away along with the shepherds,
angels, Wise Men, Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus.
But, wait. Maybe that’s the problem. When we put away the Baby
Jesus, did we symbolically, even without thinking, put away the Divine
Son of God, whose birth we just celebrated? Or did we let HIm speak
to us in this Holy Season about our daily walk with Him through the
year?
I confess that I am deeply troubled by what is going on our country,
and even though I pray for our leaders every day, I tend to be one of
the crowd who laments about what our world is coming to.
I realize there is a difference in being concerned and in being
worried and anxious, but perhaps you, like me, cross the line between
concern and worry way too often.
Instead of saying “Look what our world has come to”, perhaps we should
let our daily devotions center on “Look Who has come into our world”.
The Bible refers to Him as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. We also know Him as the Great
Physician and Worker of Miracles.
We witnessed that in our own city this past week as one of our Circuit
Court Judges who had been airlifted to a Springfield hospital in
critical condition and put on life support just a week ago and was a
patient in ICU for most of the week was miraculously healed through
the prayers of his family and friends along with the God-given wisdom
and technology of his medical team. He was dismissed to go home on
Christmas Eve.
I daresay many of you could testify to a similar situation this past
year. Some of you have found Him to be your Counselor and Prince of
Peace after your loved ones found their healing by passing on into the
presence of God. We have seen this in our own immediate family this
past month.
The baby whose birth we celebrated this week came into the world to
bring peace to all people. But the world has never known complete
peace either before or after His coming. So is He the answer to all
the world’s problems? Is He even the answer to America’s problems?
In a society as diverse as ours, can there be any one answer, or
solution?
I am not so naive as to believe that everyone is going to accept
Christ as their God. But let’s lay aside the theological implications
of that and assume that we will always have believers and
non-believers among us when it comes to Jesus Christ. But what if all
men and women would live by the principles He taught - love instead
of hatred, kindness and patience with others instead of rudeness,
sharing instead of greed, forgiveness instead of revenge, desiring the
best for others instead of selfishness?
Would that not make a difference in our world, whether we worship
Jesus as God, or not? Would that not ease tensions between
Republicans and Democrats, between blacks and whites, between rich and
poor, between liberals and conservatives, even between atheists and
believers?
I have often seen things change when two people of totally different
worldviews sit down on a one to one basis and discuss their
differences. If it could happen between individuals, could it not
happen among groups?
Of course we will always have people among us who promote hatred,
rudeness, greed, revenge, selfishness. Nothing is going to change
that. No religious leader nor political leader can persuade them to be
otherwise. But I believe they would definitely be in the minority
instead of the major story on our newscasts every day.
I submit to you that Jesus is the answer to the problems of this world
and that the ultimate purpose of Him coming as a babe in the manger
could be accomplished in this world in so far as how we live and get
along with each other, in the workplace and the marketplace, in the
halls of Congress and the statehouses, and in our own homes and on
social media.
Now back to that theological issue and how you feel about Jesus
Christ. You might want to talk to a spiritual counselor about that.
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