“Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” Luke 2:9
This is how our Christmas Eve story begins. Along with the startled shepherds, we’ve grown accustomed to the ordinary and the uneventful embedded in our day-to-day responsibilities. But into the ordinary breaks the extraordinary. With the Angel announcing, “good news of great joy,” we learn that the whole world is going to change. And change is terrifying.
The psychologists tell us that humans are naturally resistant to change, not because we’re afraid of what’s new but because we’re afraid of what might be lost. Even if what might be lost isn’t good for us, we’re predisposed to preference it over the potential benefits of the unknown. Can you think of a time in your life, now looking back upon it, when you were fearful of the changes to come but they ended up being for the better?
God is always making all things new. Perhaps this is no truer than in the moment of the divine in-breaking we celebrate tonight. God has arrived and we are invited, along with the shepherds, to swallow our fears, forget what might be lost and focus on what will be gained. We are invited to witness firsthand, a miracle arrival, cradled in a manger and attended by a young mother and her dutiful husband. Love is the light shining in this darkness
Good news of great joy indeed. There is so much that needs to be changed in this world – too much to list here, though I know your list is as frighteningly long as mine. Let’s give thanks that God has not left us alone in this world to deal with all this on our own. And that there is no brighter light to illumine the path out of the darkness than the love of God, found in Jesus. Love has come. Gloria in Excelsis Deo, love has come.
Merry Christmas! -Pastor Peter
Let us pray…
Love has come—a light in the darkness!
Love shines forth in the Bethlehem skies.
See, all heaven has come to proclaim it;
hear how their song of joy arises:
Love! Love! Born unto you, a Savior!
Love! Love! Glory to God on high.
Amen.
Love Has Come, ELW 292, Text: Ken Bible © 1996 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP) c/o Integrity Media, Inc., 1000 Cody Road, Mobile, AL 36695