From the Pastor's Desk

The Gift of God Himself in Jesus

Before I began writing this column, I was thinking about some practical things I need to do to get ready for Christmas. There are cards to send, presents to buy, homilies to get ready, and the decorations in the church and on our property. Of course the most important preparation for Christmas is focusing on that pithy statement that sums it up so clearly: Jesus is the reason for the season! As much as we look at our own personal hopes, we are given the gift of Advent to see what our ancestors in faith looked and hoped for in a Savior. All of the first readings on the Sundays of Advent come from the prophet Isaiah. Last Sunday we heard that when the Savior comes He will so enrapture us with His love and truth that we will turn swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Never again would people train for war. Well we know that has not happened. But the hope is still there. The key is to look at the “weapons” we use personally every day to defend ourselves or to strike back: anger, harsh words, threats, vengeful thoughts and gossip. In the Gospel two weeks ago, we saw Jesus hanging on the cross and being mocked and jeered at. In the midst of such evil, He listened to the simple prayer of the “good thief” and said to him, “This day you will be with me in paradise.” In such a simple but unbelievable way Jesus rose above the human weapons of mockery, rejection, and insults to bring peace to a repentant sinner and bring him into heaven. At times the last thing our society fosters is reconciliation and peace. Those who disagree with us or judged to be out of the mainstream by us or public opinion in the media are mocked, shunned, and bad mouthed. There is no peace, only a tense feeling within our hearts that we try to suppress but ultimately cannot. As long as we think we have to win and someone has to lose we miss the point of the coming of the Prince of Peace whose birth we are preparing to celebrate.