December 24 2020 Pastor Jacqueline Hines Isaiah 40.1-5 “Covid Christmas Comfort”

 

December 24 2020   Pastor Jacqueline Hines Isaiah 40.1-5 “Covid Christmas Comfort”

Our church historian Michael Osiol wrote in the December issue of Coventry Living the story of a four year old who was taking a train ride to his home on our nearby New Hanover Street in Pottstown. He was waiting with his mother at the same station as John Ellis for whom Ellis Woods Road is named. John had a white beard, long white hair and in the eyes of the four year old, John Ellis looked exactly like Santa Claus. It turns out that John not only had the look, he had the heart of St. Nicholas, and since he lived in the same neighborhood as the little boy, John paid him a visit with a special gift that no doubt brightened the youngster’s spirit and fulfilled his hopes and dreams.

Christmas is a holly, jolly time of year, and many of us look forward to it. 

We are so blessed to have the spirit of Christmas as part of our culture. How wonderful it is to see the love of Jesus influencing people throughout generations all around the world.

However, not everyone celebrates the joy of Christmas. Some historians suggest that Puritans in England even banned Christmas in the 1600’s. They saw that some were using the holiday as an excuse for having drunken brawls, not to mention losing a day’s work. So, when Methodists left England for America in order to exercise freedom of religion, Christmas was not widely celebrated. In fact, the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church of 1784 in Maryland was held on Christmas Eve because Christmas was not as big a deal as it is today. All the preachers and church members had an open calendar with only a service on Christmas.

Thank God, we have not lost the Christmas spirit that has been cultivated for some time now. Even, in spite of the Covid crisis, we are free and eager to worship and celebrate. However, there is the saying, “If it is not one thing, it is another. There is always something or someone that may make one Christmas a little harder to celebrate than others. Whether it is private and personal or public and painful, there is always something going on somewhere that makes Christmas so necessary in the first place.

Whatever and whenever our challenges exist, we need Jesus. We need the Christ that comes with Christmas. The word “Christ” in the Greek language is translated “Anointed One,” One chosen to fulfill God’s special purpose and specific plan. In Hebrew, the Greek word Christos has been translated as “Messiah.”

God’s chosen leaders were anointed with oil sweetly scented with precious herbs such as frankincense. The oil would be worn as a symbol of God’s presence and calling. Prophets like Isaiah predicted that the Messiah – the anointed one - would come for the purpose of being a Jesus or “Yeshua” – which is the Hebrew word for “Saviour.” There are about 300 biblical passages that point to God sending a Jesus Christ into this world with the purpose of saving us, rescuing us from our sins and the sins of others. Is there an area in your life where you need to be saved?

Here we are at a Covid Christmas, and we are desperately praying to be saved! Some have asked, “Is this terrible virus upon us because God is punishing us.” The answer is “no” AND “yes.”  The bible says we do well to judge ourselves. As with all judgments, if the shoe fits, then wear it. Or, as one lawyer put it, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

Living our lives in the light of God’s love can keep us out of many troubles. Nevertheless, whether we are suffering innocently or because of our own doing, we are always loved and cared for by our Creator who is also known in the bible as the “God of all comfort.” (2 Corinthians Chapter 2 verse 3) Still, we are comforted through God’s word from Isaiah 40 verse 1 “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” Can you hear this verse as God giving us direction to comfort one another, to care for one another, to cherish and cooperate with one another? Covid-19 is not the only virus that plagues us and from which we pray to be saved. There are a multitude of spiritual viruses that disrupt our lives, causing us to die young, early, or in isolation. Calm, forgiveness, and compassion are the vaccines we need immediately! Verse 2 goes on the say,

² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, ( that symbolic place where all of God’s children live ) and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Can you appreciate the idea that God casts our sins into the sea of forgetfulness and allows any consequences to complete their course instead of live streaming into our lives forever? That should be a comfort to each and every one of us.

Finally, verses 3-5 announce ³ A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

As we prepare the way of the Lord in our lives, in our hearts, and in our homes, let us begin by embracing the comfort that God has for us. And let us comfort, really comfort others because that is what God calls us to do. If we are willing, we may even be anointed with Godly comfort to share!

Some of us are as good with discomforting and needling others as we are with comforting them. If we want more of God, if we hunger and thirst for righteousness and the fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then we are willing to clear a path for the Lord in our hearts and homes. Jesus is so willing to talk with us and walk with us and lead us in a way that is good.   Then we can experience what Isaiah was talking about when he said ⁴ Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Amen.