Words of encouragement. At some point I decided. that that would be the thing to offer you tonight. And it is a

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Words of encouragement. At some point I decided. that that would be the thing to offer you tonight. And it is a"

Gwen O’Brien’
6 years ago
Views:

1 Blue Christmas Service 2011 Green Street UMC, Augusta, ME Thomas L. Blackstone, Ph.D., Preacher Words of encouragement. At some point I decided that that would be the thing to offer you tonight. And it is a good choice, but I m not entirely sure that I m the guy to do it. Unlike most Advent seasons, I m feeling rather discouraged this season, discouraged by personal grief, by the many tasks that I left undone over the last 4 weeks, by the suffering and struggles of friends and family who are recovering in hospital, dealing with unemployment, nursing broken relationships, or dealing with loneliness. To ask the question first articulated by Anonymous on an undetermined day, What is this world coming to? Fortunately, into the middle of all this angst came a call from our Bishop Pete Weaver. I don t think that I ve

2 ever had a call from a Bishop before (which is typically a good thing), but I did get one this morning. Bishop Peter s father passed away just before Christmas, as did mine a few days ago. And he told me this morning that he read the Christmas passages that year as he had never read them before. He was dreading preaching on the Christmas gospel in the wake of his father s death, until he realized that the Christmas story is only noteworthy because of another event: Easter. There are a lot of people in the world whose birthdays we don t know. I looked a few of them up at random in the 2011 edition of the Verizon Yellow Pages: does anyone know Isaac Kopecky of Litchfield? Michelle Rossignal of Greene? Amy Graham of Farmington? And even if you do, do you know the circumstances of their birth? Probably not. I m sure these random strangers are all nice people,

3 but not necessarily famous people. Their story isn t told from one end of the country to the other. The Gospel writers were interested in Jesus birth, however, because they believed in his resurrection, that he had defeated death and suffering through God s unilateral and unprecedented action to deny evil its power over goodness. Christmas matters because Easter matters, and Easter matters because our lives continue to be a mixture of light and darkness, hope and despair, joy and sorrow, encouragement and dis-couragement. Have you read the song of Zachariah? the Bishop asked me this morning. Have you read how he says, while looking down at the infant John the Baptist, And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people knowledge of salvation through the

4 forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace? to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death That s resurrection talk, that s Easter language, seeping into our Christmas story drop by drop by precious drop. We who prepare this Christmas to stand by caskets and death beds, in prison cells and bankruptcy courts, in unemployment lines and hospital rooms, in addiction recovery meetings and foreclosure proceedings, we will stand in those places by the grace of the Risen Christ, he who looks at sickness, poverty, racial hatred, persecution, corrupt political and religious leaders, and even death itself and says no more.

5 No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns invest the ground, the hymn says. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. We who dwell in the land of deep darkness this night may the rising sun find each and every one of us this Christmas season. Amen.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10 Remembering Our Brother James Miller, FSC Born: 1944 - Died: 1982 Remembered on February 13th Brother James Miller, a De La Salle Christian Brother, who was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and was a member