First Post

It is the eve of Christmas Eve and this tonight we watched the Boston Pops put on a really great Christmas concert/pagent. It's really a far cry from the stuffy concerts they used to put on and I enjoyed the show very much. It was full of joy! It was full of celebration! The last song was "Let There Be Peace on Earth" and we came away feeling good and happy.

And that got me to thinking. There is lots of sin in this world and sin always works against peace. The scripture is pretty clear that there will not be peace on Earth until the Lord returns. Yet the angels sang to the shepherds "Peace on Earth, good will toward men." We sing songs of joy and good will, but for many people Christmas is a time of sorrow and loss. A year is coming to an end and if all went well we have cause to celebrate -- but if we lost loved ones or lost jobs, experienced failure, or times are hard and we don't have the financial resources to give our loved ones even token gifts -- it's hard to sing "Joy to the world" and mean it. What in the world could those angels have been thinking?

Well, the answer comes in what real peace is. Real peace is found in the knowledge that the loved one you lost is living in heaven waiting for you to come and join him/her. Real peace comes to us when we trust God to direct our steps to that one job He has chosen for us. Real peace is found when we rest in the knowledge that God even takes our failures and turns them to good. We aquire real peace when we hand our poverty to Him knowing that our future and our provision is His concern and He is actively involved in taking care of it.

Yet the sting of death would still be with us if it were not for that miracle birth in Bethlehem. The uncertainty and fears of unemployment would have no antidote if Emmanuel had not been born. The reproach of failure was placed on the back of that manger-cradled baby. Even our poverty was taken by Him to the cross.

So wars and fighting and hatred and all the effects of sin in this world may not cease until His return, but God, expressing His good will toward man, made peace possible through Jesus' birth. Because Jesus was born in Bethlehem, because He was sacrificed on the cross, we can be freed from the slavery of sin and know the peace and joy the angels sang about.

During that last song of the concert the orchestra was playing, the choir was singing, a children's choir came up on the stage and was singing, the audience was singing -- all crying out "Let there be peace on Earth". Most of us will sing that song in hope that wars and rumors of wars should cease and that all men should be on good terms with their neighbors and certainly that is our prayer. But my prayer when I sing that song is that all men should come to know the Christ child and find that true peace that "passeth all understanding".

Be blessed in your celebration of the Savior's birth.

Pastor John