Thought for Today
John 21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.”
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all were able to be with family and/or friends. I especially hope that everyone took some time on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the gift of his Son, whose birthday is the basis for what Christmas is in our world. “The English term Christmas (Christ’s mass” or “mass on Christ’s day”) is of fairly recent origin. The term originated from the Middle English Christemasse, which came from the Old English Cristes maesse.” (www.britanica.com)
Many churches had special services on Christmas Eve. First Parish Church of Newbury observed a service of Lessons and Carols. It is a common tradition, pairing the biblical passages of promise and the birth narratives with (usually) traditional hymns. I must admit to a certain bias, but I believe First Parish Church does it the best!
Since I am responsible for the Order of Worship, even for special services, our Christmas Eve service does include what I euphemistically call my “Christmas Meditation.” A sermon by any other name is still a sermon. However, in my defense, my Christmas Meditation is only about half the length of my usual sermons.
That Christmas Meditation is on my mind this morning because of the opening paragraph, “Christmas Eve is ‘the night before.’ We gather together, here in God’s house, to worship, to sing, to remember. We remember events from more than 2000 years ago. Yet, they are events that have shaped our world and continue to shape our world.”
The name for our celebratory day may be of recent origin; but, the event occurred long ago. When we think about the world in which we live, it is easy to forget the world of 2000 years ago. Historians generally label that period in history as being in “Ancient history – Aggregate of past events from the beginning of recorded human history and extending as far as the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. The span of recorded history is roughly five thousand years, beginning with the earliest linguistic records in the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt.” There is a subset sometimes known as the “Classical antiquity – Broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world.” (en.wikipedia.org)
Whatever we call it, no matter how long ago these events did take place, their impact especially on western European societies and thus upon the Western Hemisphere is undeniable.
Most of the names we associate with the birth of science and technology in what we call the Enlightenment are familiar ones like Sir Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, Nicolaus Copernicus. They were often referred to as polymaths, we remember them as scientific pioneers, but they were also theologians. Initially, church and science were not opposed to each other, they were inextricably linked.
The Founding Fathers of the U.S.A. are often referred to as deists. They were primarily students of the Enlightenment. I have heard people claim that they were not Christians, they were deists. Deism is “A view contrasting to atheism and polytheism . . . It holds that knowledge of God comes through reason rather than revelation, and that after God created the world, God has had no further involvement in it.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 73)
Think of those words above from Jesus to Peter. "Feed my lambs." "Tend my sheep." "Feed my sheep.” Think for a minute about all of the food pantries that have arisen to combat food insecurity. Think about organizations like Habitat for Humanity or Doctors Without Borders combating housing insecurity and medical need. All of these sorts of organizations exist and are staffed by volunteers, supported by donations, because of the birth of that child in that manger 2000 years ago.
Stay safe, give thanks, trust God,
Pastor Ray