The Symbol of Our Mission - Christmas

Week of December 25, 2011 – Christmas

Theme/Title:  The Symbol of Our Mission - Christmas

Scripture:   Luke 2: 1-20; Isaiah 9: 1-7

Media: The final scene from " The Fourth Wise Man"

Reflection:

C.S. Lewis wrote a poem entitled “The Nativity.”  I think it is a good one to read and reflect on this Christmas.

THE NATIVITY

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length
Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Saviour where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence

My favorite song of Christmas is “Do You Hear What I Hear?”  When I listen to or sing it I find that I have connected somehow to the real meaning and significance of Christmas. It ends with the line “The child, the child sleeping in the night, he will bring us goodness and light.” It makes me aware that the message of Christmas is that goodness and light have come to our world. It also makes me aware that the world will really only know of this goodness and light if I share it with them. The world will be God’s dream when all people know goodness and live in the light. This is when the world will be transformed and people will be shaped and molded into partners of God. So pray for peace people everywhere and have a very Merry Christmas!

Meditation: How has Christmas shaped you? Do you remember a Christmas where you didn’t get much but it was a great Christmas? What made it so? How is Christmas a symbol of our mission to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world?

Prayer: Pray for children everywhere but especially those who will not know a Christmas that is anything like the one you will have. Pray for peace. Pray that all people will find hope and love and know joy. Pray that you will be open to the spirit as it seeks to lead you forward in a life of faithful living.