J. Michael Thurman

I’m taking a break from wrapping Christmas presents. 

    It’s Saturday night…the 23d of December.   I will soon be finishing up two sermons…one for the morning services and one for the Christmas Eve service.  My reflections, as usual, focus not on the gifts I’ll give and receive, but on the Great Gift bestowed upon us by God.  That gift, as most of you know, is the Eternal Word become flesh (cf. John 1:1-18) in the person of the baby Jesus.  I won’t recount the whole tale for you now.  If you aren’t familiar with it, read the first few chapters of the Gospel according to St. Luke. 

     What a blessing, indeed!  In this one act, God…the Creator and Master of the Universe…continued His work (yes…God reveals Godself in masculine terms…I shan’t argue)…  That work is the reconciliation of the Triune God and humanity.   Think on that concept for a time………..

    A secondary part of Advent, the season when we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth, is looking forward…not to presents on Christmas morn…but to the return of the King in final victory to bring an end to suffering and death…to bring a Peace that shall endure.

     Peace.  Healing.  Reconciliation.  These are all themes surrounding the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and return of Jesus.  The need for them was made once again painfully clear this week.

      It was Friday morning about 5 a.m.  I had just responded to an e-mail from a very dear friend who is stationed overseas in the Marine Corps when the telephone rang.  Who could be calling me at 5 a.m.?

      That call was from my friend in Okinawa.  As we laughed and caught up on the goings-on in our lives, I asked about his parents.  They are also very dear to me…so much so that I refer to them, with my own mother’s permission, as "mom" and "dad."   They are a wonderful couple in their late fifties…and live only about fifty miles from Lamar.  "Dad" is on active duty with the Arkansas National Guard…and has been on active duty in the regular army or national guard for almost thirty-five years.  His term of service had been only thirty-three years when he, and the Arkansas National Guard, deployed to Iraq as part of a cavalry division.

      Before you read further you need understand that this entry is not about the political or military decisions taken by the government of the United States.  It is about a man and his family and their trials…and our lives with God and each other.

     I knew that "Dad" had been slightly injured in Iraq.  I didn’t know the rest of the story. It seems that the physical injuries were to be the least of his worries.  Now, he has flashbacks that involve the family dog running off with his severed hand…or the are about him trying to put one of his friends back together again.  No, he has all of his limbs…but friend was hit by a rocket propelled grenade as "Dad" looked on…….  Now his dreams won’t allow him any peace….. 

   Peace.  It’s such a fleeting thing.  Whether it’s international relations, the family budget, or emotional stress, it seems that few of us know peace.   No, most of us aren’t haunted by horrible visions, but we still have a tough time finding peace in our families, our communities, our churches, our workplaces…or deep within us.  Saint Paul wrote about Christians know a "peace which passes all understanding…"  Where is it in our lives?

    Healing.  It’s a much needed thing.  Not just for soldiers with nightmares, but for abused spouses and children, for distraught relationships, for our minds, emotions and spirits.  Yet, it, too, seems far off most of this time.  St John Chrysostom wrote that the Church is "a hospital for sinners…"   I wonder…how many of us go to church looking for healing not just for our bodies or our finances, but for our emotions and our spirits?

      Reconciliation.  This, too, is a missing facet of many of our lives.  It’s not just for soldiers returning home…or for estranged children and parents…or for racial and ethnic groups.  Why is that God is working to reconcile us to himself and each other…yet…it is such a hard thing to effect?

      I have to wonder if peace, healing, and reconciliation are so hard to find because they are hard won prizes…or if we are just too distracted to work for them.  That’s right…we have to work for them.  No…that doesn’t detract from the enormous work of God’s Grace in our lives.  The "work" is no substitute…but it is the path by which we make room within us for God’s Grace to do it’s Work. 

    This Christmas my prayers are with many…but especially with all of you who long for Peace, Healing, and Reconciliation in your lives.  It is a work that only God can perfect.

      May God so strengthen us that we may do the work of clearing a place for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to live within us.

      May you have a blessed Christmas.

      May you find God before you, behind you, and within you.

     May the Light of God shine from within you so that you may be an agent of Peace, Healing, and Reconciliation wherever you may be in our Father’s world. 

Amen.