The Long Wait

December 24, 2020

Merry Christmas

THE LONG WAIT
 
"Where is He? We have waited so long. Prophets foretold His coming so long ago and still we wait. Do you really believe He is coming? Are we waiting in vain?"
 
These same questions have been heard over and over throughout every century since the Garden of Eden. If you listen closely, even today, you will hear these same queries.
 
Thousands of years ago, God's people were waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue them from the oppression of the Romans. In God's perfect timing, Jesus Christ did come. Although He taught the precepts of righteous living, healed the sick, cast out demons and told the people who He was and Who His Father was, He was not recognized as the long awaited Messiah. By the time He came to earth, folks had their own pre-conceived ideas of what a Messiah should be like. A baby, born to a poor carpenter, did not measure up to their dream of a conquering hero on a white horse. Because of unbelief, some of God's people are still waiting.
 
Many of us do believe. Jesus is God's promised gift. He is Immanuel, God with us. He is our Savior, our Sustainer, the author and finisher of our faith, the Alpha and the Omega. If this is true, then Who are we waiting for?
 
Jesus promised when He left this earth He would come back. Angels told the disciples: "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in the same manner as you saw Him go." (Acts 1:11b) Yes, He is coming back, but no one knows the time. Jesus said it would be like a thief in the night, at a time we least expect Him. He also said, "Be ready." And so we wait.
 
Many have lost hope. Many doubt because it has been so long. Many mock and say we are just fooling ourselves. There is no one coming. We live, we die and that's it. But we remember a day in God's time is like a thousand years. God does not operate on our time schedule. He is sovereign. He has a plan and His timing is perfect. Just as Christ was born at the appointed time, so too will He come for us at God's pre-arranged time.

As we wait, we are called to have our lamps trimmed and filled with oil. How do we do we prepare? We take God's word into our hearts; we talk to Him in prayer every day; we serve our families, friends and neighbors selflessly, looking out for the poor and needy. And we keep our eyes open, watching for the Lord. In other words, we walk in the Spirit,
keep the faith and trust God's word. Never doubt. Although the wait is long, Jesus will come again. Will you be ready?
 
…..Pat Earl (brian.earl@sympatico.ca) by way of “Christian Voices” (christianvoices@att.net)




Will the Christ Child Come?
Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there was a knock at the door. We opened it to find a small package with a beautiful ceramic lamb inside. We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days of Christmas were beginning!! We waiting excitedly for the next night's surprise and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realized that the lamb was part of a nativity set.
Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive. Each was exquisitely beautiful. The kids kept trying to catch the givers as we slowing built the scene at the manager and began to focus on Christ's birth.

On Christmas Eve, all the pieces were in place, but the baby Jesus. My 12 year-old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began to devise all kinds of ways to trap
them. He ate his dinner in the mini-van watching and waiting, but no one came.
Finally we called him in to go through our family's Christmas Eve traditions. But before the kids went to bed we checked the front step - No Baby Jesus! We began to worry that my son had scared them off. My husband suggested that maybe they dropped the Jesus and there wouldn't be anything coming. Somehow something was missing that Christmas Eve.

There was a feeling that things weren't complete. The kids went to bed and I put out Christmas, but before I went to bed I again checked to see if the Jesus had come-no, the doorstep was empty. In our family the kids can open their stockings when they want to, but they have to wait to open any presents until Dad wakes up. So one by one they woke up very early and I also woke up to watch them.

Even before they opened their stockings, each child checked to see if perhaps during the night the baby Jesus had come. Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd effect. At least it changed my focus. I knew there were presents under the tree for me and I was excited to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mind was the feeling of waiting for the ceramic Christ Child.

We had opened just about all of the presents when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs of the tree. He handed me a small package from my former visiting teaching companion. This sister was somewhat less active in the church. I had learned over time they didn't have much for Christmas, so that their focus was the children. It sounded like she didn't get many gifts to open, so I had always given her a small package - new dish towels, the next year's lesson manual - not much, but something for her to open. I was touched when at Church on the day before Christmas she had given me this small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation.
As I took off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with gratitude for knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in this year giving me a gift. But as the paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry. There in the small brown box was the baby Jesus. He had come!

I realized on that Christmas Day that Christ will come into our lives in ways that we don’t expect. The spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one another. We had waited and watched for him to come, expecting the dramatic "knock at the door and scurrying of feet" but he came in a small, simple package that represented service, friendship, gratitude, and love.

This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Savior. But we will most likely find him in the small and simple acts of love, friendship and service that we give to each other. This Christmas I want to feel again the joy of knowing that Christ is in our home. I want to focus on loving and serving. More than that I want to open my heart to him all year that I may see him again.

Don't forget the reason for the Season.

…..Gaye Willis ("Will the Christ Child Come?" by way of “Christian Voices” (christianvoices@att.net)
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THE BIRTH OF JESUS

A summary of the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus

More than 2000 years ago a young woman from the town of Nazareth named Mary was visited by an angel named Gabriel. Gabriel told the Jewish woman that she would have a son named Jesus and that he would be the Son of God. At this time, Mary was engaged to her soon-to-be husband Joseph. When told Joseph he was hurt and confused because he did not believe Mary. The angel Gabriel visited Joseph and told him that Mary would be pregnant from the Lord and that she would have a son named Jesus who would save the people from their sins. 

Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem because of an order from the Roman emperor that a census, or record, of all people, be taken in their hometown. After traveling pregnant on a donkey for several days, Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem and were told that there were no places to stay. The inns were full. Seeing that Mary was due at any moment, an owner of an inn told Joseph that they could stay in his stable. 

Mary and Joseph settled down on the hay in a stable with animals sleeping. Mary went into labor and Jesus was born in the stable. The only place for the sleeping baby to rest was most likely in the animals' trough, known as the manger. 

During this time, an angel appeared to shepherds who were watching their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem. The angel told them the good news of the birth of the Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. The shepherds immediately went to find baby Jesus, which the angels told them they would find sleeping in the manger. 

After some time, three wise men, also known as magi, saw the brilliant star in that sky that rested over where Jesus was born. The three wise men traveled from a distant eastern country to find the new king. During the wise men's' trip, Herod the king of Judah met with the wise men and told them to come back and let him know where the baby king was so that he could go worship him as well. The wise men continued to Bethlehem and found Jesus right where the star pointed. They knelt and worshipped the Savior and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They then traveled back home a different way knowing that King Herod was not intending to worship Jesus but that he planned to kill the baby.

…..The Birth of Jesus - Nativity Story Bible Verses & Meaning (biblestudytools.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (christianvoices@att.net)