Pastoral Letter 96
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
In this joyous fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas, I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in the name of the God of Love. I pray and hope that as we celebrate, we remember that our God is great and good. He loves us, He has been with us in the challenging times and takes care of us. With this understanding, if for any reason you will not be able to come and join us tomorrow, please join us from home by following the Order of Service and please light a candle.
A big thank you to all those who donated unwrapped gifts and non-perishable food for our traditional Exodus Foundation Christmas Appeal. All the goods were delivered to the Foundation on Wednesday morning and were accepted with a big thank you.
The bimonthly Newsletter is ready for collection, which includes details and dates for the next couple of months.
We are planning to have a fellowship meal on the last Sunday of the year, 26 December. If you don’t have any family commitments, it will be good to sit together and share a meal, thanking God for being with us during the past two years as we faced the most challenging two years with the widespread pandemic. Hoping that Omicron, the new variant of the COVID, will not disrupt our programs, let’s keep on praying and seeking God’s blessing.
In the meantime, please continue to pray, remembering those who need our care, support and love.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for our last Advent Service tomorrow as well as the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for Syrian refugees and all those who are suffering under hardship and poverty.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray that we have a fresh start in the New Year and hope that it will be a good year for all.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Krikor
MESSAGE
Luke 1:46-56 John 3:16-21 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13
The birth of Jesus is, no doubt, the most joyous and celebrated of all holidays in our culture. Families get together, gifts are exchanged, and a good time is usually had by all. Even people who know or believe little or nothing about Jesus celebrate His birth. Most people think of Christmas as a singular event.
Jesus’ coming has deep roots in the religious and cultural tradition. He had been expected for a long time. As a nation the Jews had been hoping and praying for His appearance for hundreds of years. The expectation was always there, but crises came and went and no Messiah. We should also note that false messiahs came and went and still will come.
There were many widely divergent concepts of what the Messiah would be like when he came. For the most part their hopes and dreams tended toward a political and religious “strong man,” a warrior-like messiah who would destroy the enemies of Israel, over through the ruling empires and restore Israel to the power and splendour of the reign of David. Only the prophet Isaiah came close with his “suffering servant” who would be a light to all nations (Isaiah 53).
As we read today in the scriptures, an angel appeared to a teenage girl named Mary and informed her that she would bear a son, who was to be called “Jesus.” The same angel informed Mary of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, her kin. So, in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary went to visit Elizabeth. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The unborn baby was prophetically aware of the unborn Messiah. The future mother of the forerunner then recognized the future mother of the Messiah and said to Mary: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” This was a joyous occasion and a time to glorify God. These two women shared a secret that the world has waited long to know. As they celebrated in what they have come to know, Mary spoke a song of praise that has more to do with her unborn son than herself.
It is Mary’s song. We call it “The Magnificat”, from its Latin name. The song thanks and praises God for including her in this unfolding divine drama. As Mary sings of the power of God, we can read what she says to be the power to be exercised by her unborn son. It is the statement of liberation theology in the Bible:
He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant; He has done great things for her; shown mercy; He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, He has lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things; He has sent the rich away empty and has helped His servant in remembrance of His mercy, according to the promise he made to their ancestors, to Abraham and to His descendants forever.
All these He has done and now declares that He is doing more for the salvation of His people. He is coming to them as promised, through the Son, the Christ, and the Saviour. He is coming to express His great, unending, sacrificial and costly love. He is doing this for He so loved the world. In other words, His love was coming down to us to the people He loved and loves. God the loving and merciful.
In the joyous season of Christmas and New Year our tradition is to exchange gifts. Sometimes we give gifts out of obligation or duty and not because of our genuine affection. At Christmas we exchange gifts, forgetting and even ignoring the Child, the Incarnate God, who was born in Bethlehem.
Unfortunately, nowadays the Saviour Jesus Christ is out of the picture and Christmas has consequently been commercialised as people manipulated the event for their own gain.
As we exchange gifts, it is worth considering what is the best and the most perfect gift.
The best gift ever given in the history of the world is of course the gift of God to mankind. The gift of His only Son, who was given to us at Christmas, as an expression of His love. There is no other gift that can replace it.
To evaluate this special gift let’s think about the Nativity Scene. There we see the Magi, the shepherds and a few animals. But in the middle, we see Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus wrapped in cloth and sleeping in the manger.
The depiction of the Manger demonstrates the love in the giving of the Child Jesus.
1. The stable of Bethlehem depicts the love of God
One of the central figures of the Christmas story is the child born in the manger of Bethlehem to the unmarried couple. Interestingly, this arrangement encompasses both the tension of the situation and the hope. Joseph and Mary were engaged; but Mary was pregnant. The child who was going to be born was man and God at the same time. But who was going to believe such a thing? In the eyes of people, they were sinful.
We also see the little town of Bethlehem, which was one of the small suburbs of Jerusalem in today’s terms, where He was born, in a stable. Not very suitable for a king. Why did God choose Mary, Joseph and the stable?
God trusted Mary and Joseph’s clean and pure hearts. He chose Bethlehem to show that Jesus was being born in the house of David. And finally, the stable to show that Jesus came for all. All this shows God’s perfect love for us.
2. The child in the manger depicts the love of God
John in his first epistle wrote: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). Here we see that God starts to build a relationship with us. This is completely opposite to what religion teaches us. Religion begins with the assumption that we should start the relationship with God. Religion also teaches us that we should change to gain the love of God. We cannot persuade God to love us more, because He already loves us; and that was the main reason why He gave His Son. God is love. Love is His nature. It is impossible to imagine a love like this. The birth of Jesus shows God’s wonderful love towards us.
It is left to us to accept the gift with a thankful heart. John says: “Great love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
God loves us to the extent that He was ready to sacrifice His life for us.
The fourth theme of Advent is Love. A love which was revealed to us by the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. God demonstrates His unexpected costly love to the sinful human being, who is buried in sin and has fallen short of the glory of God, the only consequence is death. But thanks to God, for with the grace of the Lord we have the possibility to be rescued from death. God’s love can do this.
At present, the word Love is used very lightly. We use it as an adjective to express our feelings for objects and not sincerely.
During these days of Advent, as we wait for the coming of the Lord, it is worth thinking about the real meaning of Love. What is love? We have heard these words many times: “God is love”. We can summarise the whole New Testament in these three very simple words.
We can explain love in the following way.
1. Love is to extend a hand and to serve the lost. Jesus knew who Zacchaeus was well; he was a sinful tax collector. But He wanted to go to his house, to sit at his table and give him a call for salvation. With our prayers we should go out to those who need the Good News of salvation. This is done only through love.
2. Love is to pray for our enemies. It is very easy to get angry and upset with those who wrong us and gossip. But it is better to forgive even though it is difficult to do. When they were crucifying Jesus on the hill of Golgotha, He prayed to God and said: “God forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. He prayed and forgave them when He was dying on the cross. Following His example let us pray and show our love.
3. Love is self-sacrifice. There are many explanations for self-sacrifice. For example, saving money and giving to the poor. But real self-sacrifice is to give our life to others, like the four believers did during the Second World War, when their ship was being sunk, they gave their life jackets to others. Jesus gives His life for us. How much are we ready to give our lives for our brothers and sisters with the love of the Lord. He does this to show His perfect love that He has for us. This is His love story.
God so loved the world, us, that He gave His only Son. This is the ultimate love; we cannot imagine a greater love than this. So, as we celebrate Christmas, let us remember that God did His best and gave His best. And the reason is very simple; He loved us and still He does. According to the prophet Jeremiah, God made a promise to restore the people and give them hope for a better future. He promised that for He is good, and His love endures forever.
Let us show a similar love to others.
Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Thessalonica saying that he was impressed with the report that Timothy brought to him. Timothy reported to Paul about their faith and love. That was good news and he encouraged them to grow in that love. He also exhorted them that their love may increase and overflow for each and every one. Paul pleaded to them to grow in their love and share that love with all.
Today as we think about the fourth theme of Advent. Let us remember that God loves us, God is love, we are His beloved children, we have the love in us through Jesus Christ and we ought to share it with others.
May the love of God rule our hearts and help us to grow and love those who are around us.
As we accept the greatest gift ever given, the birth of Jesus Christ, let us share this great gift of Love with all.
Amen!