{"id":556,"date":"2019-12-26T11:30:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T11:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=556"},"modified":"2019-12-26T16:31:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T16:31:45","slug":"christmas-eve-candlelight-730-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2019\/12\/26\/christmas-eve-candlelight-730-pm\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Eve Candlelight 7:30 pm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luke\n2:1-20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything\nseems such a rush, a blur; everything, at this time of the year it\u2019s just too\nmuch! It seems all I\u2019ve been doing is buying, going to the post office, writing\nsermons, preparing services, wrapping gifts, visiting everyone that is sick and\nhomebound and doing all the social and family stuff. Is there any rest? Can I\nfind time to just sit back and enjoy the wonder of Jesus\u2019 birth, God\u2019s gift to\nhumanity of his Son? It seems not! But then, as I look at my life, I must say\nthat I am so very blessed, how can I really and truly complain; what justification\ncan I have? I look at it all, and I see most of the stuff that I do, is of my own\nchoosing, and I think, so too will you. God didn\u2019t ask us to decorate trees and\nour homes with lights and ornaments. God didn\u2019t ask us to send cards and\nletters and give gifts to our loved ones and put together great feasts with\nfamily and friends. It was, in fact God who, with his angels, lit up the sky for\nus, in celebration of Jesus birth, and the angels who sang carols of such\nwonder and beauty for the people to hear. It was God who sent us the message of\ngreat joy and who presented our world with a gift unmatched by anything we\ncould think to give; that gift Jesus. At times like this, I like to remind\nmyself that everything we do to celebrate Christmas is simply our way of trying\nto give back to our God, who gave us so much, and to share with others the joy\nthat God has made so possible for us; so, how can I complain; how can any of us\npossibly complain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe get so that we feel the burden of our Christmas celebrations, then we might\nwant to remember why we celebrate, who we celebrate and how much Jesus\u2019 birth\nhas given to us in the form of spiritual gifts and blessings. Cathy and I have\nlearned, having had most of our Christmas Eves occupied with church, to let\neverything that is not done fall to a time later that night, maybe to a time a\nfew days from then, or maybe a week later, and accept the fact that maybe some\nof the gifts will not get wrapped; sometimes Cathy and I will wait a few days before\nwe exchange our gifts with each other so that we may get some needed sleep. After\nall, some of our friends and family we will not see for weeks to exchange gifts\nand celebrate Christmas together. Christmas! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right\nhere and right now, here in church, is the place and time to really celebrate\nChristmas. So, take a deep breath; you are, for at least the next hour, out of\nthe rat race; you are here, in a place (that is, if you don\u2019t answer your cell\nphones), where none of that other stuff can bother you, where none of it really\nmatters, where the birth of God\u2019s Son alone matters, and where the mood of the evening\nis happiness and joy. On this night we remember a young woman and a young man,\ntired from their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Tired, maybe a little\ndejected at having to set up camp in a stable, but happy that they would have some\nspace to be alone, to have privacy, and also excited and maybe a little scared\nthat the time was near to deliver the most special baby. All babies are\nspecial, but this one was God\u2019s Son, the long-awaited Messiah of God, Mary\u2019s son\nand Joseph\u2019s adopted charge. They truly believed that this birth would mark the\nend of Rome\u2019s dominance, it would mark Israel\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary\nand Joseph knew their heavy responsibility, but they had come to trust in God\u2019s\nplan and protection. So, their bed made, their things set and stored, the\ndonkey fed and watered, they were able to begin a good night\u2019s rest. But it was\nGod\u2019s plan that was at work, not theirs. The Messiah of God was ready to begin\nhis walk with human kind and their rest was interrupted. In a stable, with just\nMary and Joseph there, Mary delivered her, and God\u2019s, son. Joseph more than a\nwitness, helping where he could and taking up the beautiful baby boy in his\narms, he wrapped him and handing him to Mary. This all according to God\u2019s plan.\nAnd the baby was healthy, and Mary was healthy and Joseph remained strong for\nthem both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nbeautiful picture, that we all of us envision; it may be described as quaint,\nwith animals in the background, eating, and sleeping, and making quiet animal\nnoises, and Mary and Joseph sleeping and the baby asleep in a simple feeding\ntroth; all was well; all was at peace in the world. Simple and natural, but God\ncould not let this wonderful moment go unnoticed and the angels of the Lord\ncould not hold back their joy, so to the, maybe, only people still awake at\nthat time of night, the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks, the\nangels with glorious song and powerful words announced the good news of the\nbirth of God\u2019s Son, the long-awaited Messiah. On the hillside, where there had been\nquiet and peace, there was now joy and excitement. And as the angels went back\ninto the heavens, these shepherds had to go see it all, and they went and by\ndoing so took away the sleep of Mary and Joseph and disturbed the peace and\nquiet that the young parents were enjoying. \u201cDisturbing\u201d is not really the\nright word though, because each word from the shepherds describing the angels\nand the angels\u2019 words and song, brought joy to Mary and Joseph. And for at\nleast that one night in that stable, it seemed to Mary and Joseph that all was\nright, more than right with the world. And for Mary and Joseph it felt so very\ngood that God had revealed to the shepherds, what seemed to be their secret of\ntheir wonderful Son; maybe it even helped them to believe all the more what\nthey already knew to be true. They were not alone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nstory does not end with the shepherds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\ntime later, we don\u2019t know how much later, others came to see the newborn king,\nas these visitors had called him, these were the Magi, wisemen or kings who\ncame from the East to witness to the newborn Jesus and present him with gifts,\ntreasures of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Messiah of God, Jesus was not\njust for the Jews, but for all the nations, all the peoples of the world, for\nus and those others who we neither understand nor find agreement. I invite you\nto bask in the wonder, the love and the peace of Christmas. Enjoy the gift of the\nSavior. Tonight, nothing else matters. Carry this good feeling out from here,\ninto your homes and out into your communities and so spread this love and peace\nfar and wide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 2:1-20 Merry Christmas! Everything seems such a rush, a blur; everything, at this time of the year it\u2019s just too much! It seems all I\u2019ve been doing is buying, going to the post office, writing sermons, preparing services, wrapping gifts, visiting everyone that is sick and homebound and doing Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":557,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}