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 2:9
“Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!”
Meditation: The Worst of Things
Today’s meditation is written by Susan Becher Schultz.
Tonight I am sitting with my husband in front of our Christmas tree, the same tree that sat in our living in New Jersey last year. It was painful, actually, to bring decorations up from our basement yesterday. It signals an end of a year that I can’t say was glorious or beautiful or radiant. The word from the text that strikes me is ‘terrifying’. At times this past year was downright terrifying.
Earlier today we unpacked ornaments, markers of past Christmases we’ve spent together. The tree is beautiful once it’s lit up and wrapped in ribbon. A glittery star shines on top. My cats swish their tails at the base, waiting for us to leave the room so they can pick the ornaments off one by one. I’ve always loved sitting in the glow of our Christmas tree. But this year it hits me differently.
I imagine the shepherds sitting in their fields, with their individual worries dancing in and out of their minds. Will their sheep be safe tonight? Will the weather cooperate? They’ve prepared for the worst of things. They aren’t expecting the unimaginable. Certainly not an angel to proclaim the coming of the Savior.
I wish an angel would have come to me this last spring, reassuring me that I didn’t need to be afraid. Or that the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded me in the midst of my PTSD. It didn’t. It felt more like falling down, then faceplanting, and then falling some more until eventually it didn’t hurt as much to fall.
As my brain struggles to comprehend this year as it comes to a close, I try to take time to slow down. To recognize that while I endured a trauma, I also came back to a place that finally feels like home. Not one that I was told to go, but one that I got to choose. Some things in my life are falling into place in ways I never could have imagined.
What scares me most as I look to the year ahead, is that like the shepherds, I’ve already prepared for the worst. What happens when the good comes? When life opens up and is beautiful and glorious and radiant again? That’s really what worries me. I know God is there, in the darkness, even when it’s impossible to see. It’s terrifying though, isn’t it? To know he’s working through it all. Even the worst of things.
Lord, help me to learn from my fear. To see that even in the terrifying you are working. Prepare me not just for the good and the bad, but for the unimaginable. Amen.
Prayer for Family
· For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
· For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
· For close friends that are as family to me.
· For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
· For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
· For provision where there is need in my family.
· For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
· For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Closing Prayer
Lord God, you enter into our mess. You meet us in the midst of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. You break through with eternal hope, that through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus all our pain will be healed, all of our sin is forgiven, all of our messes will be redeemed. May we live in that hope this day, amen!