{"id":558,"date":"2019-12-26T11:52:24","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T11:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=558"},"modified":"2019-12-26T16:54:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T16:54:03","slug":"christmas-eve-late-candlelight-11-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2019\/12\/26\/christmas-eve-late-candlelight-11-pm\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Eve Late Candlelight 11 pm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Isaiah\n9:2-7, Luke 2:1-20                     <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

I\u2019ve often wondered what\nit might have sounded like, were I to have been able to eavesdrop on Mary and\nJoseph as they made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem and then into\nChristmas morning. Obviously, their trip would not have been an easy one, Mary\nnearing the end of her pregnancy surely struggled with finding the least bit of\ncomfort and I can\u2019t imagine there not being at least a small amount of tension.\nWell, this is what I think their conversations might have sounded like, on\ntheir final day of travel, as their conversations were fit between long\nstretches of silence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        How are you doing Mary? Are you okay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Yea! Is this trip supposed to\ntake this long?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you get the\ndirections, as I had told you, from my father? You know, he\u2019s been there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Are you sure we are going the\nright way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes Mary, and I warned\nyou that it would be a long trip; I am trying my best to make this journey as easy\nas possible for you. There were other routes, some shorter but much harder and\nyou are not in any condition\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence\nas they on continued through the day. They ate their meals and traveled on and\non and on. Then Mary again spoke.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m scared! This whole\nthing with being the mother of God\u2019s Son, my being pregnant and all, I\u2019m\nscared. What will we do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will we be good enough?\nWill we be good parents for God\u2019s Son?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yea, I\u2019m scared too; I\nguess God would not have asked this of us if he didn\u2019t think we were up to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Yea, I guess you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence\nfor another stretch of time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You shore you know the\nway to Bethlehem? It\u2019s so long! I look around and we seem to be out in the\nmiddle of nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m scared? And yes, I\nknow that God would not give us such a responsibility if he didn\u2019t feel we\ncould do it, but I\u2019m scared also of what might be out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Animals, robbers, what if\u2026.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No what if\u2019s, we need to\ntrust in God; I\u2019m scared too, but you know I will do all that I can to protect\nyou and the baby, and look, God is with us; God will protect us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Yea, I guess you are right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again,\na period of silence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary\nagain speaks.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did\nyou send ahead to your uncle about reserving a room for us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bethlehem will be\ncrowded; I may be ready to deliver soon; I don\u2019t want to deliver the Messiah\nout in the street or in a stable; God\u2019s Son shouldn\u2019t be brought into the world\nlike that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t worry, I wrote\nahead; my uncle is a good guy, I told him about the coming baby; he will get us\na nice room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        I hope so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                He will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again\nsilence. But Mary was still unsure.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if there is just no\nplace in Bethlehem to stay; it is a very small town?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll\nbe fine; there\u2019s always the inn; God will provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Are we almost there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again,\nthe two were quiet. As the sun began to set this day, Joseph now is the one to\nspeak.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There Mary! Look! There\nit is! There\u2019s Bethlehem just coming into view! We\u2019ll be there soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank\nGod! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town seems awful\ncrowded; people in tents everywhere I don\u2019t know? Look, are you sure your uncle\nhas a room for us? I can\u2019t have my baby out in the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nplace is just down there; come on, we will soon find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\na face as long as can be Joseph leaves his uncles doorway.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary, I\u2019m so sorry, my\nuncle didn\u2019t get my letter; he doesn\u2019t have any room, but we\u2019ll try the inn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your\nsorry! Humm!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph\nspeaks with, pleads with the inn keeper, but to no avail; then the inn keeper\ncalls to Joseph already walking away; he has an idea.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary,\nthe inn is full too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis what I was afraid of!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, the inn keeper is\nnot uncaring; I explained your condition; he said that we can stay in the\nstable; I know it\u2019s not what you wanted; it\u2019s not what I wanted for you; but he\nsaid there is fresh clean straw there for us to make our bed and it will be\nmostly private. In the inn he was renting space to two families for a room;\nthis will be space for us alone; I can only guess that this is what God wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph, I still love you;\nI know you are doing all you can; we had better get ourselves settled, I\u2019m\nbeginning to feel something different; Joseph, I\u2019m scared! Maybe this will be\nthe time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nI\u2019m really, really, scared!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthey didn\u2019t need to be afraid, not on the journey or even at the time of Jesus\u2019\nbirth; God had a plan; God made everything work to his plan. His Son was not to\nbe a pampered boy and later a man of wealth and power, but to be a man like most\nother men, with callouses on his hands and the physique of a man who knew work.\nHis birth was to be no different. To others he would appear nothing special; he\nwould be seen as just one more poor baby born to parents of limited means.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary,\nholding her new born son spoke.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph,\nthank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minutes\nlater Mary again speaks<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m still scared, but I\nwill trust God as you have told me. Joseph, How can I not? He gave me a good\nman to stand with me, to provide and protect us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitor\u2019s\ncame and went through the night, not for their donkeys and livestock but to see\nthe child that the angels had announced.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary, can you believe all\nthis, I don\u2019t mean believe, it\u2019s just so overwhelming; you go to sleep; we\nshould both get some sleep; I can\u2019t imagine what God has planned for us\ntomorrow. I love you too, Mary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything\ndidn\u2019t go as Mary and Joseph hoped; Mary and Joseph both had to struggle; they\nlearned that their love was strong and that God had a plan and would not leave\nthem without. We could learn something here. Merry Christmas!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2:1-20                     Merry Christmas! I\u2019ve often wondered what it might have sounded like, were I to have been able to eavesdrop on Mary and Joseph as they made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem and then into Christmas morning. Obviously, their trip would not have been an easy 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-558","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\/558","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=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}