As we prepare to celebrate another Christmas, I wonder what will be the core of our celebrations! Will it be a matter of getting together with family and friends? Will it be the many parties? Will it be a “binge” – eating and drinking all that we can? Will it be a matter of making sure that everyone in our circle gets a gift of one kind or another? Or will we stop a while and really meditate on the meaning and implications of this celebration for all of us?
At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God in His love for His creation took on human flesh and came to his earth. In St. John’s Gospel we read, “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father’s son, full of grace and truth.”
Christmas has some wonderful things to say to us. Christmas has some wonderful things to do for us. Christmas has some wonderful things to give us. But we have to possess the ears of faith to hear them, the eyes of faith to see them, the heart of faith to feel them and the grace to accept them.
One of the best gifts Christmas gives us is the gift of peace. One of the key themes of Christmas is, “Peace on earth, good will toward all.” Christ is the Prince of Peace. He brings peace that passes all understanding.
Christmas is the dramatic reminder that Christ came into this world to redeem us and to bring peace to our troubled souls. If in faith we will accept it, Christmas has the great gift of peace. Christmas offers us peace within, peace with others, and peace with God.
There are many people who are longing for peace. In their search for peace, they are trying all kinds of things; they are searching in all the wrong places. True and lasting peace can only be found in a life lived with and for Christ. Here the words of St. Augustine of Hippo are so apt. “Our souls are restless, O Lord, till they find their rest in Thee”. And the poet describes it like this: “Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, if He is not born in you. Your soul is all forlorn”.
May I recommend that as part of our celebration this Christmas we invite our family and friends to attend worship. Let us assemble with fellow Christians in offering thanks and praise to God for the gift of His Son, Jesus. The church which exists because of Christmas is the place to come when we need comfort, when we need forgiveness, when we need to make a new start, when we need peace for our troubled souls. The Christ of Christmas is our personal Saviour.
Secondly, Christmas gives us peace with others. It is so sad how estranged people can become, how hostile they can feel toward one another. When will we ever learn? We spend so much time and energy brooding over resentments, calculating ways to get even. We minimize the maximum and maximize the minimum. We fail to understand that violence only breeds more violence. Hate poisons the soul. Resentment and jealousy are spiritual viruses that will make us sick. Jesus came into this world to show us how to be peacemakers, bridge-builders, how to seek forgiveness and offer it. That is why we call Him The Prince of Peace.
In our national context, we are gearing up for another opportunity when the electorate will go to the polls to choose persons to work on our behalf. The temptation will be for opposing sides to engage in mud-slinging and to tear down the other person. There is no need for that! There are and there will be differences of opinion. We are free to express our views but we must do so with love, respect and sensitivity. Always remember that everybody is somebody! More than that; everybody is somebody for whom Christ came and for whom Christ died. If we could always remember that … and treat everybody with that kind of love and respect, what a difference that would make in our relationships, in our society and the world! If you are at odds with anybody, do not let the hostility go on. Fix it, go set it right. With the help of God make peace today. This would be a Christmas with a difference for you; a Christmas to remember.
In the third place, Christmas gives us peace with God. Let me ask you something – do you know the One born on Christmas Day? Do you really know Him as Lord and Saviour? Do you know the One who came to visit, redeem and save? Have you accepted Him into your life? Has He been born in your heart? In the hymn “Hark! The Herald angels – sing”, we sing: …
“Born that we no more may die,
Born to raise the Sons of earth,
Born to give us Second Birth”
Then there is an ancient legend which says that when the child of Bethlehem was taken from the manager, no cow or donkey or sheep or goat would eat the hay left there where he had been cradled. And when the stable boy wondered why, he discovered that the wisps of hay had turned to gold. It is only a legend, but this much is parable enough to tell us that where Christ enters in – in the hearts where he finds room to be born – everything changes, and the peace with God and with one another, which we so need become God’s gift to us. By the grace of God, it can happen to us.
A Blessed Christmas and a Christ-filled 2020 to all!
