I N ALL THE YEARS we have been in ministry together, Pastor Keith has always taken one of his vacation weeks beginning Christmas Day. This year, when he prepared provided an outline of December worship services, he listed Dec. 27 (that would be today), as “Pastor Jody Beth wraps up the year and sends us into a great 2021.”
No pressure!
To take a look back over 2020, we need only watch the news, skim through Facebook posts, or listen in on conversations anywhere and everywhere. I could list the things that have taken place this calendar year in the Foley/Elberta area, or within Baldwin County, or include the tragedies through the United States and the entire world. But I’m not going to. We are here to hear a word from God, not a summary of tragedies.
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TRAGEDIES ARE NOT NEW, and God’s word has an abundance of compassion, understanding, and encouragement for us. The book of Titus is considered a good scripture to study just after Christmas.
When Paul wrote a letter to his friend Titus, Titus was ministering to a troubled church on the island of Crete. It is a short book in the New Testament, three chapters, just after 1 and 2 Timothy, and before Philemon. To help Titus in his ministry, Paul writes about qualifications for church leaders, division among believers, and guidelines for living a godly life.
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THE PORTION of Scripture Cheryl read today, roughly summarized:
■ Jesus has been born for all people.
■ We live sinful lives, and Jesus came to teach us how to live godly lives here and now.
■ We are waiting for his return.
■ For he gave himself to redeem all us from our sin.
■ While waiting for his return, Jesus is the one that makes us be eager to do what is good.
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THAT IS THE FOCUS of today’s message: being eager to do what is good.
To be eager to do what is good is not something that comes to us naturally, but is possible because of the baby who came to live among us.
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THE ADVENT WAIT is over. Now we sit in the calmness following all the preparations that we have made. And we are here to settle into a mystery — to follow the star to Bethlehem and join the crowd that is gathered around a manger.
This is a day when all the cynics among us take a break and we all suspend our disbelief — believing, if only for a few days, that God is born among us and everything is possible.
It is a time when, with all of our singing, we wish Jesus a happy birthday. And us, too — all of us who call him Lord — because it is our birthday, too. Somehow, a time when we gather to celebrate everything that has been born in us — because of this singularly wonderful event.
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TODAY IS THE DAY when everything is in place. We know the carols. We know the readings. We know the whole story so well we can recall it by heart: the star, the shepherds, the angel, the baby … .
What kind of baby? Well, that depends largely on you. A perfect baby, at any rate. The kind you find in art masterpieces of the world, or on the highest shelf of your imagination. A pink-cheeked, faintly glowing baby, wrapped in incandescent flannel with a silk banner above his head that reads “Joy to the World. Peace on Earth. Good Will Toward Men.” The God child at the center of your favorite Christmas card.
Well, today is the day — to do him, and yourself, a favor. By reaching into those pictures and taking him into your arms … . A little bundle about as heavy as a sack of flour … his head a little bruised from his rough entrance into the world. Examine his tiny fingernails … count his tiny little toes … wipe a little fleck of cow manure off his cheek, and say to yourself, “This is God in my arms.”
Smell Mary’s milk on his breath, feel the damp warmth spreading through his swaddling clothes and repeat it. “I am holding God in my arms. This is what God has decided to look like, and all for the love of me.”
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EMMANUEL. God with us. And yet, this year in particular, we have been a troubled people.
Yes, we’ve lost loved ones, endured a pandemic with differences of opinions, been rattled by a hurricane and a half, been strained by politics in an election year, had surgeries, waited on test results, heard of horrific auto accidents and of homes burned to the ground. This is in our immediate area.
And yet, I have witnessed a God’s people “eager to do what is good.”
■ One church member cutting branches back from one of the more mature member’s house.
■ Three people quickly offering to wash muddy, moldy clothes from a home that was flooded.
■ Meals being made and delivered to the porch of people diagnosed with illness.
■ An overflowing Swift food pantry.
■ Pledges to the church budget brining us near our goal.
■ People wiping down pews and furniture after worship and meeting.
■ Cards and calls to check on one another in isolation.
■ Offers to help in any way possible.
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WE LOST SO MUCH this year. Friends, trees, fences, tempers, patience, hope, faith, subfloors, sheetrock, complete homes, everything in the freezer, our health, our ability to worship in person or dine out for a while.
Weight. Several of you have asked. I lost 65 pounds since last Christmas, mostly intentional and some while I was ill. And though I lost it, I’m not looking for it!
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I AM LOOKING for how we made it through the year.
How did we do it? How did we get through 2020, individually and as a people? How did we do it? We didn’t, God did.
■ “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” — Psalm 23:4
■ “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” — Psalm 46:1
■ “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13
■ Facebook posts, email, text, verses that have helped us remain eager to do what is right.
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HOW DID WE DO IT? We didn’t; God did. And he will in 2021, whatever it brings. You are those people, “eager to do what is right.”
Through Christ. That baby. With the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God. Amen.
