Peace On Earth
Beth Gedert
Nobody knows how their kids will grow up. My husband Sam and I are expecting our first child in just two weeks. We don’t even know if it will be a boy or a girl, much less anything about who s/he will become later in life. We hope s/he won’t make some of the same mistakes we have, and we plan to do our best to bring him/her up to be a compassionate and trustworthy follower of Jesus, but other than that it’s all just a big question mark.
So today I think of Mary and Joseph who heard all of these predictions about their first child from angels and relatives and shepherds. Today’s reading says that Mary treasured the words of the shepherds’ testimony, and she pondered them in her heart. Perhaps like all mothers and fathers, she was hoping that her child would indeed change the world.
As Christians we believe that Jesus shows us true humanity and true divinity, fully embodying the way of life that we will all live when God’s Kingdom comes and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Through the divine power of God the Source, God the Son reached all of his human potential. Each baby has that same potential, although I don’t think any other human will ever reach it as Jesus did. But on Christmas we are filled with hope for this world that God so loves, filled with the hope that as we seek to live as Jesus did, God will reveal the Kingdom through us. And we will one day see peace on earth.
Action: Consider who you want to be this next year as a follower of Jesus. (Better yet, make it a discussion with your family or friends!) Then ask God to help you reach that potential.
Rev. Beth Gedert is the pastor of Zion United Church of Christ, an Open and Affirming church seeking to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God in Delaware, Ohio.
©2019 by individual authors and Facebook Narrative Lectionary Group. This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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