*Please Note: We are aware of some new restrictions in place in the South West Oxford Region in order to keep us all safe. Our capacity and usual attendance at Springford Baptist Church will permit us to continue to meet for Sunday Worship time as we have been doing at 10:30 each week.
We do plan to hold a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service this year on December 24th at 7 pm. If you plan to attend the Christmas Eve Service, please confirm with me (Pastor Lola) so that we can ensure that we do have adequate capacity to accommodate safely.
Service transcript follows:
Luke 1:34-38
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.37 For nothing is impossible with God.
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:39-43 LISTENING FOR PEACE
Springford Baptist Church: Dec. 5, 2021.
I was talking with a man who described a small bird that had come into his house. This man very carefully cupped his hand over the bird who stayed perfectly still and then the man carried the little bird outside and released it.
Jesus, a tiny baby born in a manger, seemingly so fragile and yet powerful beyond words.
And when Jesus at the right time is released into our world the very real possibility of PEACE is realized!
Mary is listening intently for PEACE in her conversation with the angel Gabriel recorded in our Scripture from Luke 1. The angel has told her that she will be the mother of Jesus, God’s Son. As we recognized last week, this is a miracle-something where the only way of explaining it is God.
Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Jesus will be born because, “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:38). Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Mary will be given PEACE because, “Nothing is impossible with God.”
Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, we can be given PEACE because, “Nothing is impossible with God.”
PEACE is much more than a word when Jesus brings us PEACE!
When have you encountered the PEACE that Jesus has to offer?
How have you been listening for PEACE lately?
We may think of finally obtaining PEACE when a situation we are troubled over is resolved, or a broken relationship is mended, or a long prayed for circumstance is settled.
For all of us there will be times of waiting and listening for PEACE. Waiting does not come easily.
Even when we are waiting for something very good to happen, waiting can be difficult.
For young children so excited and looking forward to Christmas, it is hard to wait!
For older people waiting for family to come home or for special gatherings with family and friends, waiting is not easy.
Young ones sometimes begin to think that what they are waiting for will never come.
Older ones have seen plenty of Christmases come and go so they know that there is an end to the waiting.
We know that those who did wait for Jesus, the Messiah, our Saviour to come the first time, grew tired of waiting. They began to wonder if God’s Promise would ever come about.
Then God sent the angel Gabriel to visit Mary and as she listened to the words of the angel, PEACE settled in her heart.
I want us to reflect on LISTENING FOR PEACE as we wait for what God is going to do.
That’s right, waiting with PEACE. This is a PEACE that does not have to wait for the outcome, but can be experienced in the midst of waiting…
While we are listening and waiting for PEACE, we can wait with PEACE that comes from God.
PEACE was possible for Mary as she listened to the words of the angel and would then wait for the birth of Jesus.
We can wait with PEACE because God waits with us.
As we are listening for God and listening for PEACE, God can bring to our attention what will interfere with us having PEACE.
Our sin that we each continue to deal with in very personal ways, affects us and it affects people around us.
In our LISTENING FOR PEACE, we will need to identify the sin in our lives that interferes with the PEACE that God wants us to experience.
It is not complicated to recognize that bitter thoughts, words, and feelings will deprive us of God’s PEACE.
PEACE is a gift from God that we cannot hold in our hands if we are tightly clutching resentment and anger.
When any of us think of misunderstandings or annoying interactions that we decided with God’s help to deal with and to move forward from, we are reminded that it is a remarkable relief to have PEACE in our hearts and minds instead of a swirl of troubled and frustrated emotions.
Jesus entered our world and as the angel announced to the shepherds, this was a time to declare, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.” (Luke 2:14)
Those who have been treated unfairly or have had a very difficult experience that came about because of someone else’s sin can choose to forgive and to welcome what God sends to replace heartache and that is PEACE.
I do want to emphasize that we do not have to see everything restored to the way we would prefer to have PEACE from God. Our God can provide deep PEACE while we are waiting. This PEACE comes from choosing to be in right relationship with God ourselves which is really all any of us has control over.
Mary was in right relationship with God. Her attitude of acceptance and trusting God is revealed in her words to the angel,“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38)
She could receive PEACE with the assurance that, “Nothing is impossible with God.”
Advent is a time of waiting and we can use this time of waiting to engage in careful self-examination.
In our desire to prepare the way for the Lord, to prepare our hearts again for the celebration of Jesus coming into our world to be God with us, we can look to see if there is anything we are holding on to that would get in the way of us waiting with PEACE.
If we determine that there is, this could be the time, right now that we choose to turn that over to God.
Sometimes we have pushed away the thoughts about what is bothering us or we have submerged what we have said or done that caused hurt to someone else.
God can clearly bring these things to our awareness if we are willing.
As much as Christmas is promoted as a happy time and a family time, there can be tensions and unresolved matters in any family.
My encouragement this morning is that each of us consider how we can determine to LISTEN FOR PEACE and to wait with PEACE by allowing Jesus to replace our stubborn thoughts and battered emotions with His powerful PEACE.
It is not just what others may have done to us, it is also what we have done to others.
God’s forgiveness can bring healing for all of this because it is true that, “Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37). The Communion Table we will gather around this today, reminds us what Jesus was willing to do in securing forgiveness for all of us by giving His life on the cross at Calvary.
We truly can LISTEN FOR and wait with PEACE as we with intention surrender all to Jesus and allow Him to do His work in us. This is the transforming work of the Holy Spirit that prepares the way for the Lord.
Like that tiny, fragile bird, that I began today’s message talking about, we can hold God’s PEACE in our hands and then in an act of tender love release it into our world, into the lives of those all around us.
LISTEN FOR PEACE. The opportunity is ours to LISTEN FOR PEACE!