We rejoice, for the Light of the World has come to darkness. Jesus Christ is the Light that no darkness can overcome. Advent is a season of preparation as God’s people watch and wait for Christ. We will be pondering the songs found in the gospel of Luke. The song of an old priest named Zechariah. Mary, the pregnant teenager. And angels come to shepherds in the countryside. We ponder these songs and rejoice.
Invocation
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. The light no darkness can overcome.
Jesus, open our eyes to your light and our ears to your words of hope. Come, O long-expected Jesus. Our hope is in you. Amen.
Word: Luke 2:19-20
“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Meditation: Back to Work
Today’s meditation is written by Nathan Schultz.
My mother does not require a new birth to treasure a moment and ponder beauty in her heart.
I learned this as I laid on a couch in my childhood home for a few hours. I had returned home from an eight-hour drive, Milwaukee to southeast Michigan, and crashed on the living room couch. I awoke to my mother sitting in a chair across from me. She sat and didn’t bother to wake me though it was nearing 10am.
I dragged myself off the couch around 11, and my mother greeted me with the widest smile. “What a great morning together.”
“Sorry I overslept,” was my groggy response.
It didn’t seem to cause her any grief that I had seemingly ignored her for more sleep. It was enough I was simply there, in her home, and she could now resume her motherly duties after I had handed her, a few months prior, the empty nester status as the youngest child leaving home.
The Onion names this kind of treasuring, pondering, or even euphoric feeling any 20- or 30-something observes in their mother after returning home for the holidays.
Two headlines I love capture this truth:
“Sweating, Trembling Mom Still Coming Down From High Of Having Kids Under One Roof”
“Report: Mom Would Rather Sit Here and Watch You Guys Have Fun”
But from my mother, and maybe your mother, let us walk away with a lesson about holidays, euphoria, and treasuring a moment. Because on the other side of December 25th, there exists a haunting question…
How do you return to work on December 26th, or any day after for that matter?
The shepherds seemingly returned to work glorying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. The shepherds did not quit their jobs. It was back to the salt mines. You could even make an argument when Jesus called his disciples, they too did not leave their work.
Jesus comes into the world, your life, and yet the demands of life do not go away.
You may not feel up to pondering, treasuring, glorifying or praising. But we do have a God who acts graciously toward us. In the monotony, you can know that God did not stay far and away, but came into the world. In Jesus, the first step was becoming present. That, in itself, is an act of grace. Showing up, being there, being present. The baby Jesus had little to tangibly offer, but he was there.
And so will you. You, too, will be there. December 27th is a Monday, but you will get there, and you will be present. And in your life, if you can squirrel away just a moment on a bathroom break, you too will treasure and ponder that this world, where we work and live, in which Jesus came to be present, cannot be the same.
Jesus, help us to learn from the shepherds and from mothers. Teach us to treasure up and to ponder this Christmas. And then give us the courage to return to our daily lives reflecting your glory and filled with praise. Amen.
Prayer for the Church
· For my local congregation, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
· For Christians across my community and city.
· For my denomination or church body.
· For repentance where God’s people have failed or erred.
· For the mission of God given to his people, that all nations know Him.
· For the church where she is persecuted for Christ’s name.
· For church plants and mission frontiers.
· For workers in the harvest: pastors, teachers, evangelists, servants.
· For the everyday, ordinary Christian to serve and witness as the priesthood of all believers.
· For the small, overlooked, and undervalued parts of the body of Christ.
Closing Prayer
Lord God, as the church waits eagerly for the triumphant return of your son Jesus, may we love and serve others in our waiting and so reflect the light of the coming King. Amen!