Psalm 130:1-2, 6 (NIV) 1 Out of the depths I
cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to
my cry for mercy. 6 I wait for
the Lord more than watchmen wait for the
morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Luke 1:76-79
(NIV) 76 And you, my child, will be
called a prophet of the Most High; for you
will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of
salvation through the forgiveness of their
sins, 78 because of the tender
mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will
come to us from heaven 79 to
shine on those living in darkness and in the
shadow of death, to guide our feet into the
path of peace.”
Christmas
is a time of waiting – waiting for the day to arrive, waiting to receive a
special present, waiting on a visit from family and friends … and, for some,
waiting until the whole thing is finally over, overwhelmed by the frantic pace
and frustrations of Christmas. An out of
the depths Christmas can make a person feel at the end of their rope,
uncertain whether to hold on or simply to let go and be done with it. Loss and
sadness during the holiday season can bring about an out of the depths Christmas when the supposed joy of this season
only serves to exaggerate the sense of grief. Christmas can become an abyss of
suffering as one celebration after another happens to remind us of our pain.
For the Psalmist, the depths is neither life’s hassles nor life’s grief, but
rather the overwhelming experience of sin, not just personal, but a sinfulness
shared by the whole world, by all people. It speaks of the perversion and
distortion of life in God’s world, of those who defy His laws for an orderly
and peaceful world. The beauty and color of Christmas seems to bring out the
stark blackness of our sinful world.
The
Psalmist recognizes the way the world is, but also recognizes the way God is.
The truth about the world overwhelms with the depths. The truth about God overwhelms with faith and confidence. It
may be hidden in the world, but in the midst of abundant sin is abundant
forgiveness, grace, and hope. We see it now, very much hidden that first
Christmas night. This Unknown Infant would rattle Herod so that he would risk
his future by ordering the slaughter of children of Israel, and would so enrage
the religious establishment that they would abandon their own laws and system
of justice to try and stamp out this troubler of Israel. The followers of the
Unknown Infant would cause such a commotion in Rome that the Emperor would
order the expulsion of all Hebrew people from the city.
Christmas
is not only our remembrance of the birth of Christ, it is the affirmation that
His life is still at work in the world. Christmas is celebration that His
creative energies are still at work to bring forgiveness and justice to our
world. Even now He is bringing hope and healing to people who have experienced
the iniquities of this world. There is not much more that excites and energizes
a night watchman than the hope and confidence that morning will come. We watch,
not in vain hope, but in confidence, not in impatience of wondering if, but in the certainty of God’s grace, more than the watchman for the morning.
From
a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope December 8, 1985
©
Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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