Today's message is brought to you by Hope. Hope is the thread running through each element even though these paragraphs (and photo) will seem like a strange collection at first.
From Frank Laubach, 18 April 1930 -- "Everywhere people are beautiful -- or at least they have a beautiful side. On the boat from Manila last week was a painted woman, alone. I spoke to her because she was lonesome. Three of the ship's officers nearby tittered as thought they thought a scandal was brewing, so I talked loud enough for them to hear. I told her I was looking for God. As naturally as a preacher she replied, 'God is everywhere around us and in us if we only open our eyes. All the world is beautiful if we have eyes to see the beauty, for the world is packed with God.' 'Thank you for that,' I said."
From Matthew 1:18-24 -- "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these thing, behold, and angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. and she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.'
"So this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.'
"Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS."
From Luke 6:35-36 -- "But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful."
I mentioned in my last post that our nativity set stays up year round in a back bedroom. On the first day of Advent, the stable is moved to the fireplace mantle, the shepherds are set up on green grass (a green placemat :D) on the piano, the kings stay where they are until Epiphany, and Mary and Joseph start their journey to Bethlehem (aka out of the bedroom, down the hallway, to the front of the house). The granddaughters move them each time they are over. This year the oldest granddaughter looked for a different first spot: nestled among the books on the shelf. Mary is kneeling, a position we can not change since this little plastic figurine kneels while in the stable with her Son; still, Joseph looks protective. The verse that popped into my mind was the one where God places Moses in the cleft of the rock so that Moses can live when God's glory shines forth. The Lord does pass before Moses and He reveals Himself as "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, forgiving of iniquity, transgression, and sin..." (Exodus 33:18-34:9).
Hope -- Joseph places his hope in God and believes Mary carries Immanuel within her. Laubach has such a hope in his God as Savior that he is able to see the painted woman as a potential carrier of Christ within. No, Mary and the painted woman are not the same, but certainly the townspeople would have been thinking such thoughts about Mary had not Joseph chosen to trust, hope, and believe. Mary literally, physically carried Jesus, but the painted woman is a human being made in the image of God, possibly a future sister-in-Christ which would make her a woman in whom Christ dwells.
Hoping for something in return, hoping for what we want, hoping for fame and fortune, hoping for power and praise -- these hopes are tenuous at best. The only sure hope we have is in Jesus. And, that hope, causes me to walk out the door, into the world, with great joy, ready to see Jesus and beauty all around me.
No comments:
Post a Comment