And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1: 46-47)

                        For nine or ten days Mary had carried in her heart the most astounding secret: She was pregnant, and the child was to be the long-awaited messianic king, Israel’s deliverer. Yet she had been afraid to share the news; for if the wrong person heard, Herod could have had her killed; or, if her loved ones didn’t believe her, the religious leaders might have condemned her and had her put to death. Perhaps she herself was afraid to trust that it was true.

But when Elizabeth prophesied over Mary and announced that she was blessed, Mary finally was able to trust that God really was at work. She believed that, despite the inherent danger in carrying the Messiah, despite the reality that her hopes and dreams had been turned upside down, and despite the fact that she didn’t fully understand, God would work through her and her child. In her acceptance of this amazing truth, Mary finally shouted out her song of joy. Can you hear the tone of her song in its opening words? “my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

Joy, unlike happiness, can come to us independent of our circumstances. It comes not from changing our circumstances but from viewing them through the eyes of faith. The apostles, after being beaten by the Council, rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Paul penned his well-known “epistle of joy”-the Letter to the Philippians-even as he sat in a Roman prison awaiting news as to whether he would be executed for his faith. In the letter he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Paul write to the Christians at Thessalonica, who themselves had been persecuted for their faith, “Rejoice always,” and then told them how this was possible when he continued, “pray without ceasing” and “give thanks in all circumstances.”

Last year I was in Malawi, Africa, visiting rural villages to explore partnerships with local congregations to build wells, schools, and churches. In one of the villages, the people, who earn about fifty-five cents per person per day, took us to the stream of green, brackish water that they used for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. They asked us to consider helping them build a well, so their children might not get sick from the water anymore.

After we had toured their village, they invited us to their church. We stepped inside the mud-brick building. It was just a large room with open holes where windows might go, and daylight shining through the gaps in the thatched roof. And then they began to worship. They sang songs of utter joy despite their circumstances. They sang songs of joy because they trusted God, and they believed that God had brought us to Malawi to help them have safe drinking water (something we ourselves believed). Would that Christians in the United States sang with such exuberance and joy!

Mary, despite dangers, fears, risks, and upended dreams, “magnifies the Lord and rejoiced in God.” She did this with the help of Elizabeth and with her own willingness to trust that God was working in and through her to accomplish his purposes.

Joy is a choice we make when we look at our present circumstances through the eyes of faith, trusting that God is at work and that he will never leave us nor abandon us. And it is often found with the help of another who reassures us that God is with us.

Lord, I thank you, even now, for your blessings in my life. Help me to see past my circumstances, to what you will do with and through them. Help me to trust you. Use my adversity for your glory. Amen.

WEEK THREE

Ein Karem

 When the angel Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant, she also learned that her older cousin Elizabeth was expecting a child. Now, Mary knew that Elizabeth had longed to have a child with her husband Zachariah the priest, and she knew that Elizabeth was past childbearing age. Clearly, this was a miracle! And so, Luke tells us, Mary went with haste to the town of Ein Karem, in the hill country of Judea, to make sense of what had happened and to find someone who would believe her when she explained what the angel had said.

Ein Karem was eighty miles from Mary’s home in Nazareth. This journey by foot would have taken perhaps nine days. Mary would not have traveled alone but would have made the journey with others who were on their way to Jerusalem. It is likely that Mary explained to her parents that she had learned of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and had volunteered to go and help her during the pregnancy. How else would she explain to her parents that she wanted to travel so far from home to see Elizabeth? Further, Mary stayed with Elizabeth until the end of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, which might have indicate that Mary had come to help Elizabeth until the baby was born.

The fact that Mary was willing to travel nine days across three mountain ranges to see Elizabeth speaks volumes about how she was feeling. She longed for someone who might believe here and who could help her make sense of what was happening.

If Elizabeth and Zechariah were like many couples who have struggled with infertility, it is likely that they had conceived and miscarried on several occasions. The chances of a miscarriage in a pregnancy at their age was high. This may explain why Elizabeth went into seclusion for the first five months of her pregnancy. Unwilling to subject herself to the pain of another public miscarriage, she decided to wait to celebrate her pregnancy until she had passed the second trimester (see Luke 1:24). It seems to have been Mary’s visit that drew Elizabeth out of her seclusion. Mary needed Elizabeth, but perhaps Elizabeth also needed Mary.

When Mary arrived in Ein Karem she was, at the most, just a few weeks pregnant, yet already the child forming in her womb had an identity known to Elizabeth. Elizabeth recognized that the child developing in Mary’s womb was none other than “my Lord.” Elizabeth was six months pregnant, and the child in her womb responded to the sound of Mary’s voice-and by implication to the child in Mary’s womb-by kicking. Here, in utero, John the Baptist bore witness to the identity of Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.

It is interesting to note that the first person in all the Gospels to call Jesus “Lord” was Elizabeth, and she proclaimed it even before Jesus was born. This passage sets the stage for the rest of Luke’s Gospel, which is the story of the birth, life, teachings, ministry, death and resurrection of the Lord.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.  And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:39-45)

There are some things you can’t really appreciate in the Scriptures until you’ve visited the Holy Land. I always read this passage from Luke and pictured young Mary leaving Nazareth and traveling for an hour or two until she arrived at Elizabeth’s home. But as I was preparing this book, I traveled to the Holy Land and retraced Mary’s steps from the Annunciation to the birth of Jesus. I was surprised to discover that Mary’s journey to Elizabeth’s home would have taken her eight to ten days. This was no small journey for a thirteen-year-old girl to make without her family.

I understand the Scriptures to be telling us that when Mary made the journey to Ein Karem, she had not yet told her family about her pregnancy. She “went with hast” because she was frightened and uncertain if there was anyone in the world who believe her story. But she had just learned that her older cousin Elizabeth was pregnant despite being beyond childbearing years. Elizabeth was the one woman who might believe her. Then, after telling Elizabeth, she probably went next to Joseph, who lived in Bethlehem, just a few miles away.

The traditional location for Elizabeth and Zechariah’s home is Ein Karem. The town, mentioned several times in the Old Testament, is located on a hill a short distance from Jerusalem and just a few miles from Bethlehem. There are two churches in the hill, marking the traditional locations of Elizabeth’s home and the place of John the Baptist’s birth. The church higher up the hill is the Church of the Visitation, and it celebrates the story from our Scripture today.

As soon as Mary arrived in Ein Karem, Elizabeth immediately prophesied over her. Without being told, Elizabeth knew that Mary was pregnant and that the child would be the messianic king. Elizabeth thrice blesses Mary. Can you imagine what Elizabeth’s words felt like to Mary? For nine days she had been traveling, carrying this secret with her, and wondering if she would be put to death once it became known. For nine days she had imagined what it will be like to live with the shame of conceiving a child outside of wedlock. For nine days she had worried about how Joseph would respond. For nine days she had felt cursed by a burden too heavy for her to bear.

And then, three times in as many sentences, Elizabeth had joyfully pronounced her blessed by God. Elizabeth helped Mary see her situation through the eyes of faith. She helped Mary recognize blessing where others would have only seen a burden. She infused Mary with hope.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to tour the American Stroke Foundation and meet stroke survivors, volunteers, and staff. I learned that most of the people who die after experiencing a severe stroke don’t die from the stroke itself; they die because they lose hope, become depressed, and give up. By contrast, it was amazing to see the hope of the people at the Foundation. The place was filled with Elizabeths-staff, volunteers, and fellow patients-giving stroke survivors hope and willpower to keep pressing on. This was no Pollyanna attitude that minimizes adversity, but a deliberate choice to see the possible, and the blessing, in the midst of adversity.

This type of support and encouragement is precisely what Elizabeth gave Mary in calling her blessed. And it is what we have to opportunity to do when, with compassion and understanding, we help others find blessings and hope in the face of the burdens they bear.

 

Lord, help me to embody good news and to bless those who are struggling. Use me to offer hope and encouragement to those who are weary and heavy laden. Amen. 

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25)

 

Joseph was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old when he was engaged to Mary. We know from Scripture that at first he may not have believed Mary’s explanation of how she came to be pregnant. Though Joseph undoubtedly was hurt when Mary told him, he sought to spare her public embarrassment or, worse, death by stoning; and, therefore, he had determined to break off the engagement without explanation, taking the blame himself. But then he slept on it. And in his sleep Joseph dreamed of a messenger from God who assured him that Mary was telling the truth, that the child would save his people from their sins, and that Joseph was to marry her. Then comes this powerful line of Scripture: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.”

This statement-like Mary’s words, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word”-is remarkable. Joseph chose to set aside his doubts about Mary’s story. (Do you think he ever still had doubts? After all, the angel appeared to him in a dream. I would have needed more than a dream to erase all my doubts.) He decided to commit himself to raising a child destined to be a king. In obeying the angel in his dream, Joseph may have been sacrificing his own dreams for his future, his career, and his family. He would adopt the boy as his own. He would give up his father’s carpentry shop in Bethlehem to relocate to Mary’s hometown of Nazareth. These decisions would lead to Joseph’s fleeing with Mary and the child to Egypt as refugees to save them from Herod. Surely, none of this was how Joseph had imagined his life.

Typically life does not unfold the way we dreamed it would. We move, marry, begin careers; but seldom do these things work out exactly as we had planned. John Lennon captured it well when he wrote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

It appears that Joseph did not live to see that thousands of people came to Jesus during his lifetime to learn of God’s kingdom. He did not know the impact Jesus would have upon the world. But that impact was shaped by an earthly father who “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” and gave up his own dreams to follow through with the marriage and raise a very special son.

My mom and dad conceived me when they were still in high school. Each had dreams of what they would do with their lives. Neither had anticipated that it would include getting married at ages seventeen and eighteen, bypassing college to raise a child, and working multiple jobs to make ends meet. My dad would work seventy and eighty hours a week. My mom, too, worked to support us. Even in 1964 they had choices that would have kept their dreams alive. The fact that I am alive today is because of their willingness to give up their dreams and to do what they felt God was asking them to do. How could I ever thank them for it?

Sometimes life’s disappointments, the curveballs and detours, are a part of God’s greater plan. Our task is to be willing, like Joseph, to “do as the…Lord commanded.”

Lord, guide my life. When my dreams get in the way of your dreams for me, help me to understand. Grant me the courage, O God, to pursue your dreams for my life. Amen.

 

But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20)

 

It is not by accident that Matthew tells us that, while Gabriel spoke directly to Mary, Joseph’s message came in a dream. We can see a connection between this Joseph and the patriarch Joseph, whose story fills nearly thirteen chapters of Genesis. God spoke to that Joseph in dreams (hence the title of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), and in a similar way God spoke to Joseph the carpenter in dreams. Matthew looks for these kinds of parallels between the Old Testament and the story of Jesus.

Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? I hardly remember the dreams I have when I sleep. But I frequently have what could be called day dreams. Some might call these visions. In them I sometimes see what could be, what I believe God wants to be. These are ideas that come to me while I’m reading Scripture, or hearing someone else preach, or meeting with my small group, or conversing with others. Often these are dreams that come when seeing places of great need. I carry a little black book with me to write down these dreams to see if they appear to be only my ideas, or if it is possible God has placed these dreams in my heart. I look to see if they line up with Scripture and our church’s purpose; if they are personal, I consider how they line up with my personal mission. I share these dreams with my wife and ask for her thoughts. I share them with the lead staff and lay leaders of the church and with my closest friends. All this is a discernment process that helps me avoid chasing after a whim. Over the years some of the most meaningful and productive things I’ve been a part of have started with a dream that I felt was from God.

Your dreams nay emerge as you hear other people’s dreams. Several years ago Karla, one of our staff at the church, felt compelled to start a worship service for senior adults who had Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other forms of memory loss. She announced it to area nursing homes, and they began sending buses of people to worship service in our chapel.

Karla and her team filled the service with well-known hymns, familiar creeds, the Lord’s Prayer, and simple messages that might help people remember who they are. Recently the teachers in our daytime Kindermusik program began bringing the little children to sing for this worship service. The three- and four-year-olds sand, “Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong.” As the children sang the chorus, “Yes, Jesus loves me!” voices of people who could not remember their own names joined the children: “Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.”

The dream of one woman became the dream of a host of volunteers, and together they did what they felt God was leading them to do. The result was something extraordinary.

God spoke to Joseph in dreams. Joseph’s dreams called him to devote the rest of his life to nurturing, mentoring, and protecting Jesus. My dreams from God seldom come at night. They are a sense of calling that well up inside.

Are you listening for God to speak to you? And if God speaks, are you willing to obey? Listening for God’s dreams, and following them, made all the difference in Joseph’s life; and it makes all the difference in our lives as well.

Lord, help me to listen for your dreams for my life, and give me the boldness and courage to pursue them. Speak, Lord; your servant is listening. Amen. 

Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. (Matthew 1:18b-19)

We often read Matthew’s account of Joseph’s “annunciation”-that is, his learning that Mary was going to bear the Christ-without really seeing what was happening here. His fiancée was pregnant. She told him a strange man had come and told her she was going to have a baby and, as far as she knew, she was already pregnant. The man promised her the child would one day be the long-awaited Messiah. If you were Joseph, her fifteen- or sixteen-year old fiancé, what would you be feeling as Mary told you this? We know that at first Joseph did not believe her story. What did he believe? Do you think he took this news calmly?

I have met with dozens of people in my congregation after they discovered their spouses had been unfaithful. This is painful enough. But in the case of Joseph’s discovery, Mary was carrying the baby of the one with whom she had been unfaithful. (Again, keep in mind that Joseph did not yet believe Mary’s story about a virginal conception; he believed she had been with another man.)

What words would you use to describe what Joseph must have been feeling? Betrayal? Hurt? Anger?  Do you think he was brought to tears when he was all alone, thinking about Mary with another man?
The law of Moses made provisions for such cases: “If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death” (Deuteronomy 22:23-24). We don’t know how often this sentence was actually carried out, or whether such persons were more often merely publicly disgraced, but the penalty was possible; and such penalties are occasionally still carried out in the Middle East.

Listen again to our Scripture: “Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.” Despite his hurt and pain he was unwilling to expose Mary to public disgrace. Why not? Matthew tells us it was because Joseph was a “righteous man.”

Righteousness or holiness is often seen as closely linked to obeying the law or following the Scriptures. But in this case, Joseph’s righteousness led him to ignore the clear teaching of the law. What does this tell us about the New Testament’s definition of righteousness?
Righteousness, as exemplified first by Joseph and then by Jesus, is more about showing mercy and compassion than it is following the law. Here Joseph was acting upon the words of another Scripture, in which God said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13), which quotes Hosea 6:6).

I wonder if there is anyone who has wronged you, for whom Joseph’s story is an invitation for you to show mercy. It may not change the one to whom you show mercy, but it most certainly will change you. Blesses are the merciful.

 

            Lord, you know the grievances I carry in my heart for the wounds others have inflicted upon me. Help me to extend compassion and mercy as Joseph did, and in so doing to find true righteousness. Amen.

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

(Matthew 1:18-21)

  

Do you ever struggle with doubt? I know some people who seem never to doubt. They tell me that “I know that I know that I know that I know” that this or that thing is true. But faith has not come quite that easily for me. Over the years I’ve questioned and studied and wrestled with my faith. Some things I no longer wrestle with-I choose to believe them based upon the witness of Scripture.

Some decry doubt, as though it were the enemy of faith. But doubt is not the enemy of faith; it is often the doorway to a deeper faith. I take great comfort in the fact that some of the most challenging Christian doctrines to believe, namely the virgin birth and the Resurrection, were difficult even for the people who were first confronted with these ideas.

Let’s consider the Resurrection, for example. When the women who first saw the empty tomb told the disciples that Jesus was raised from the dead, the disciples didn’t believe. When the disciples saw Jesus raised but Thomas wasn’t with them, and told Thomas, Thomas refused to believe.

In our Scripture today one might infer that Mary had told Joseph that she was pregnant and that the pregnancy was a miracle somehow made possible by the Holy Spirit.  Did Joseph believe in the “virginal conception”? Not yet. In fact, he was so convinced she was making up the story that he planned to break off the engagement and have nothing to do with Mary again!

Joseph was the first person in the Gospels who doubted; he might be considered (with “Doubting Thomas”) the patron saint of doubters. Yet Joseph, after hearing from God in a dream that Mary was telling the truth, chose to believe her. And that decision changed the course of his life and the life of the child he would raise as his own.

How do you overcome doubt? You remain open to possibilities, as Joseph was. You listen and watch and you weigh the testimony of the Gospels and of modern-day disciples. Belief, in the end, is a choice. You look at the evidence and testimony available to you, and in the end you make a choice. You choose to trust, and to believe.

 

Lord, help me to be patient when others doubt. Help me, when I share my faith, to be a credible witness. And help me, Lord, to trust in those truths I don’t fully understand, but which you know to be true. Amen.

[Jesus] came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogues, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man et his wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:54-55)

  

In Matthew 13:54-55 we find Jesus preaching in his hometown. Some of the townsfolk questioned his credibility and ministry. They were not earnestly wondering where he got his wisdom and power; they were attempting to discredit him because he was only a “carpenter’s son.”

The word used here for carpenter, tekton, signifies a common laborer working with his hands, usually in wood, though the word was also at times used to describe stone masons. So Joseph might have been a builder, or a furniture maker, or one who built farm implements. He might also have been a handyman who fixed things for folks. A carpenter who was master builder was called an architekton (from which we get our word architect); but Joseph was only a tekton-and ordinary builder, woodworker, or handyman.

This humble estate of Joseph is consistent with the picture we have of him in the Gospel accounts where he is present. Unlike Mary, Joseph has no “lines”- we don’t read a single word he speaks in the Gospels. It is universally recognized that he played an important role in the life of Jesus, but there are no “hail Josephs” offering to him. He is the patron saint of those who serve and do the right thing without seeking any credit.

I sat in a meeting recently in which I received reports about our clothing ministry at the church. As part of the ministry, our members donate clothing in good condition. It is sorted, separated by size and style, and then carefully folded or hung on hangers and delivered to area homeless shelters and programs for low-income people. The workers in these programs love the fact that our volunteers so skillfully and lovingly prepare the clothes for their people. When I asked about these volunteers, I was told they don’t want to be recognized, and that they don’t look for any credit except what come from knowing that they are helping people in need. The person telling me this said, “They are a team of twenty Josephs.”

Of all the qualities Jesus learned from Joseph, I suspect the most important had to do with humility and servant-hood. When Jesus taught his disciples that “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26), when he washed his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper (John 13), and when he said to them, “those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11), I believe he was teaching what he’d seen modeled by Joseph’s life.

 

Lord, forgive me for those moments when I’ve sought the limelight or resented others for outshining me. Forgive me for those times when I’ve forgotten your call to “in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Help me, that I might, like Joseph, live as your humble servant. Amen

            But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

                       who are one of the little clans of Judah,

                  from you shall come forth for me

                      one who is to rule in Israel,

                  whose origin is from of old,

                      from ancient days. (Micah 5:2)

 

“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6)

            We turn from the story of the Annunciation (the announcement that Mary would have a child) to the story of how Joseph came to know that Mary was pregnant. First, we turn to his hometown, the “little town of Bethlehem.”           For years I thought that Joseph was likely from Nazareth as Mary was, and that Joseph only went to Bethlehem with Mary as a result of the census that we’ll consider shortly. But for reasons I describe in the book that accompanies these reflections, I’ve come to believe that Joseph’s hometown was actually Bethlehem. Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t mention Nazareth until Jesus is likely several years old, after the return of the Holy Family from Egypt.

Bethlehem was only somewhat larger than Nazareth; but, while Nazareth was considered a town of low esteem (“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”), men and women would proudly say they hailed from Bethlehem in Judea. The name Bethlehem means “House of Bread,” probably a nod to the fact that there were farmers, millers, and bakers there who supplied bread for nearby Jerusalem. Bethlehem was best known as the home of King David and his family. It was known, along with Jerusalem, as “the City of David.”

Other well-known people were associated with Bethlehem as well. Jacob buried his beloved wife Rachel near Bethlehem. (The traditional site of her tomb can still be seen outside Bethlehem’s wall to this day.) One of the leaders of ancient Israel, Ibzan the judge, was from Bethlehem, and he was also buried there. The Book of Ruth is set in Bethlehem and gives us a glimpse of what the village was like eleven hundred years before the time of Jesus.

All these people were a part of the rich history of Bethlehem. Yet it was the words of the prophet Micah that made Bethlehem a name synonymous with hope and with God’s future deliverance of his people. Bethlehem was the name associated with a promise that God would not abandon his people. One day God would send a ruler who would “stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord” (Micah 5:4) and who, as king, would “be the one of peace” (Micah 5:5). This promise of a king who would shepherd his people and bring them peace sustained God’s people over the centuries. The promise, and Bethlehem as a symbol for it, gave them hope in exile, in war, and in adversity. They believed that one day, from Bethlehem, would come a shepherd king, a man of peace.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the great American poet, wrote a poem on Christmas Day 1864 while the Civil War raged. Three years earlier, his beloved wife Fanny had died. His heart had been broken by her loss, and for some time he was unable to compose verse. But that year he wrote of an undying hope associated with Christmas in a poem originally called “Christmas Bells.” In that poem he wrote of the war and the cannons drowning out the sound of “peace on earth, good will to men.” But he ended the poem with these words:

And in despair I bowed my head;

              “There is no peace on earth,” I said;

              “For hate is strong,

              And mocks the song

              Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

              Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

              “God is not dead; nor doth He sleep;

              The Wrong shall fail,

              The Right prevail,

              With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

 

Longfellow captured in his poem the effect that Micah’s words about Bethlehem had on future generations. When hate seems strong and mocks the songs, we remember the words of promise, both form Micah and from the angels at Jesus’ birth, that with his birth came the certain promise of “peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Lord, during this season of Advent I remember the promise that you would “be the one of peace” and long for the day when peace will reign on earth. Help me to remember and trust that “the wrong shall fail, the right prevail.” And make me an instrument of your peace. O come, O come, Emmanuel! Amen.