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THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER |
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A Christmas message by Pastor Mary Pharmer, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
We call the four weeks before Christmas Advent, a time of remembering once again the longing of our ancestors in the faith for the fullness that God promises to all creation. We pray and sing the ancient words "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. The rough places will be made smooth, the crooked straight, the valleys lifted up, and the mountains made low." These are not just hopes for people in the dim and dusty past; these are our hopes today as we cope with the tensions and turmoils of our modern world. From the office to the classroom to city streets and across our planet, God says, "I want the lion to lie down with the lamb.'' We have the picture of a world that in God's grace and justice can be welcoming and loving to all. Entering into these images found in the Hebrew Scripture, especially the psalms and the prophets, helps us be ready to receive the birth of hope that is found in Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ is a time in history that is made new every year. As we realize the invitation to make our own lives, our own homes, and our whole world a birthing place for the power of God's love, the event of the birth of Christ happens again in our times. God's power for new life is not limited to 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. Our God is able! God can birth love right here and now. The birth of Emmanuel, God-with-us, happened to overwhelmed and bewildered parents in the depths of poverty. For God's people now, the situation may be the same: fears due to losses of jobs, few financial resources, or lurking homelessness. Into these frightening places, God wants to bring hope and new life with the presence of Jesus. Perhaps the narrow places of despair are not just economic, but include grief over shattered dreams from a broken relationship or the pain of addictions; these, too, can bring sadness and pain. These places also can become a manger place for the birth of Jesus, for our God is able! God's new life comes into all the crevices of despair and fills them with hope. In the power of life in God through Jesus the Christ, we know continual hope and promise. This is not limited to the month of December, but can be part of every moment of our lives. We can be charged with the grace of new life in all we are and do in this world. The words of Howard Thurman, a theologian and prophet in our day, can lead us into a way to celebrate the birth of Christ throughout the year: "When the song of the angels is silent, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are again tending their sheep, When the manger is darkened and still ... The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost and to heal the broken. To feed the hungry, to rebuild the nations. To bring peace among the people. To befriend the lonely, to release the prisoner. To make music in the heart.”
END OF OPINION SECTION |
Soon
after the "back to school” sales end, Christmas comes to
the malls. The glaring lights, blaring music, and shiny stuff
to buy are lures that are difficult to resist. All the new gadgets
and "must haves" or "kids’ wants" beckon
us into a world that is marked with consumption and empty promises
of satisfaction. In our worship at St. Mark's we are invited
into a different world, one that is a reminder of God's promises
made thousands of years ago. Promises made to a people wandering
in the desert, struggling to stay together as a community and
straying often from the God who loved them: A God who loved
them despite their outright rebellion against that love.