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Fulfillment of the Promises Phillips Brooks, one of America’s great 19th century preachers attended a five-hour Christmas Eve service in Bethlehem in 1865. He was so moved that when he came home to Philadelphia, he wrote the words of “O Little town in Bethlehem.” He asked his organist to write the hymn tune. In fact, he said to his organist – whose name was Lewis Redner – “I will name the tune after you, if it is good enough.” The organist evidently was in a dry spell – came up with nothing – until the day before the pageant when Phillips Brooks wanted the children of his congregation to sing his new song. Lewis awoke with a hymn tune flowing through him. True to his promise, the hymn tune carries the name St. Louis. The stanza, often omitted in hymnbooks — Where children pure and happy — speaks so poignantly of this evening. Hopes, expectations, promises have held us through these four weeks of waiting and preparation. Tonight: have we gathered together to celebrate the fulfillment of those promises? Are we satisfied that the dark night is moving into glory? Does faith hold the door open – and love stand watching? Is there peace on earth? More American soldiers died one day this week than any other during the war on Iraq. Is there justice in this land? More children are hungry tonight than in many other years. There is still major discrimination in this land. Is there an over-abundance of love? Pain and conflict within families do not seem to be on the decrease. Is there healing among us? Our hospitals are full tonight. If we came this evening to close the deal on the promises we thought would come to fruition …then we may walk away disappointed. In actuality we have not come to celebrate – but to ponder the implications of God’s invasion among us…to hold onto the reality that God’s work among us is not done, that God’s grace will continue to break through in ways that we cannot conceive. The joy of the nativity story is that God’s promises are not often fulfilled in the way we would want or expect. They don’t come wrapped the way we come to anticipate. Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Mighty God, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace … names not consistent with a humble carpenter whose pregnant-before-marriage wife would give birth in an animal shelter. The miracle of Christmas is that we are able to receive the fulfillment of God’s promises – even though they may not correspond to the way we would have painted that fulfillment. Jorgen Moltmann – the great theologian of hope, wrote that we like to talk about the “God above us”…the god that is transcendent and powerful and able to change the world. We like to talk about the “God within us”… that part of God that is a conscious making force driving our morality and personal choices. We like to talk about the “God between us”…that nature of God that enables relationships between and among us and is so alive in congregations. What gives us true, sustained hope, however, is the “God with us” the God who can be trusted to always be with us in despair — the God with us who can travel through our joys and celebrations as well as our defeats. Emmanuel – God with us – this has been our longing through these weeks. This is the fulfillment that has certainly come. God with us — to live with us…to struggle with us…to be constant companion — is born to us this day…and every day. O holy child of Bethlehem • SW |
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