STOCK IMAGE OF CHRISTMAS/PIXABAY

Retirement gives me time to go through and clean out old files. Recently I came across the following article by Vernon Broyles III in Presbyterians Today, December 2013, based on Revelation 22:1-5. It still speaks to me today, 11 years later. I hope it speaks to you, too.

“The world is broken, even in this ‘promised land’ we call ‘America the beautiful.’ Yes, even in the most affluent nation in the world; even in the nation with the most powerful military the world has ever seen; even where we claim to be the world’s model of democratic governance – even here, our world is broken.

“And where can we find help? It is not in our wealth, available to some, but not nearly enough. It is not in our military power. It is certainly not in our government, riven by partisanship, arrogance, and selfish ambition.

(Are we ready to) “begin to look beyond ourselves to a power not our own? There is no better time to face the mess we are in and look beyond it to the promise offered to us in Jesus Christ.

“The child of Bethlehem came in poverty, challenging our dependency on the acquisition of material things. He came in weakness, challenging our trust in earthly power. He came as a refugee, challenging our claims of ownership of the space we occupy. He came with a glory visible to poor shepherds and to royalty alike, challenging the claims of earthly rulers to sovereignty over others. He came into the darkness of a world like ours, bringing a light that cannot be extinguished and challenging the despair that comes all too swiftly.

“We hear that religion is on the wane in the United States – the rise of the ‘nones,’ the growing ranks among our youth who claim no religion at all. But this decline is not sudden. Our youth watched us too well. They saw Christians who long ago lost an appreciation of … worship, who failed to understand that the vows made on Sunday have bearing on behaviors the rest of the week.

“Yet the vision is still before us: And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. … (We) need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be (our) light (Rev. 22:5).

“When all else fails, this is the promise in which to put our trust. When we are secure in the promise of the child of Christmas, who is King of kings and Lord of Lords, we will know with certainty how to live in these daunting days and be free to make a difference in healing the broken places as we await his coming.”

May this promise bring meaning and hope to you, your family, the Church and the world where it is needed so much this Christmas!