Daily Lesson for December 21, 2015
Ryon Price, Pastor, 2nd Baptist
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1:
Verse 13, But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John."
As much as we think of Christmas as a time of promise for children with all the world before them, it is also and was first a time for promise for the elderly whose best and brightest days they were sure were behind them.
That's the first story of Christmas anyway -- the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were an aged couple without children and without the prospect of ever being terrorized by either a child or a grandchild. They were barren. And it is to them in their barrenness closing of womb and sadness of aging that the first promise of Christmas comes: "You will have joy and gladness."
Now it is of course doubtful that any aged and barren couple I know is going to suddenly get pregnant in old age and have a child like Zechariah and Elizabeth had John. As one wheelchair-bound woman quipped to a pastor friend who was preaching this story at the local nursing home, "Pregnant? Now? Try telling that to Medicaid."
So maybe a baby isn't on the way. But the promise of Christmas can still come -- even into the nursing home.
That's the first story of Christmas anyway -- the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were an aged couple without children and without the prospect of ever being terrorized by either a child or a grandchild. They were barren. And it is to them in their barrenness closing of womb and sadness of aging that the first promise of Christmas comes: "You will have joy and gladness."
Now it is of course doubtful that any aged and barren couple I know is going to suddenly get pregnant in old age and have a child like Zechariah and Elizabeth had John. As one wheelchair-bound woman quipped to a pastor friend who was preaching this story at the local nursing home, "Pregnant? Now? Try telling that to Medicaid."
So maybe a baby isn't on the way. But the promise of Christmas can still come -- even into the nursing home.
Or even for those of us who cannot imagine "giving birth" to something new at our age.
Daily Lesson for December 22, 2015
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1 verses 34 through 38:
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Yesterday I was with a friend who just recently got engaged. Five years ago his wife passed away and two years ago he had no sense or notion that he would not spend the rest of his remaining days alone. Then suddenly things changed, Cupid struck, and he's soon to be moving into a Methodist parsonage -- a pastor's spouse-to-be!
I thought of what one of my childhood pastors liked to say, "God's middle name is Surprise."
An old woman said to be barren is suddenly pregnant. Holy Saint Viagrus! And a virgin is pregnant with child! And God will be born of Mary! Surprise!
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Yesterday I was with a friend who just recently got engaged. Five years ago his wife passed away and two years ago he had no sense or notion that he would not spend the rest of his remaining days alone. Then suddenly things changed, Cupid struck, and he's soon to be moving into a Methodist parsonage -- a pastor's spouse-to-be!
I thought of what one of my childhood pastors liked to say, "God's middle name is Surprise."
An old woman said to be barren is suddenly pregnant. Holy Saint Viagrus! And a virgin is pregnant with child! And God will be born of Mary! Surprise!
Auden wrote:
How can the Eternal do a temporal act
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible.
A rod shoots forth from the barren bough. A branch grows up from the hidden roots. The rose blossoms pink and beautiful in December chill. Nothing is impossible with God.
For God's middle name really is Surprise.
And ours is Delight.
How can the Eternal do a temporal act
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible.
A rod shoots forth from the barren bough. A branch grows up from the hidden roots. The rose blossoms pink and beautiful in December chill. Nothing is impossible with God.
For God's middle name really is Surprise.
And ours is Delight.
Stay tuned...
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