A Christmas Message

Christmas is a time for yearning.

Are you yearning for a new day, yearning for times with more hope, more peace, more love and more joy?

Every Advent season is a time for waiting — a time to wait and prepare for the Coming of the Lord. For the Christian Church, Advent is the beginning of a New Year. We wait for the Coming of the Lord, as God came as a babe in Bethlehem, as promised thousands of years ago. The Lord was received, and we wait and look forward to the Second Advent, as the Lion of Judah comes again. Each year during Advent, four candles are lit each Sunday prior to Christmas Day, as we yearn for that final Day completion with the Lord’s return to restore us.

This ongoing Pandemic, much like the pandemic of 100 years ago, though both were and are very deadly and painful as well, led us here in America — in the early 1900’s, into the Roaring Twenties. Have you ever stopped to think that in this time of anxiety, pain, suffering and death good things are coming our way? As we celebrate this New Year with this upcoming Christmas season, and move into 2022, think, “Good things come to those who can wait.” So as you read this today, what is it that consumes your mind, body and soul? Are you ready for what this Christmas can bring to you and your loved ones? Are you able to look at this world, through the eyes of honest anguish, and see that joy that is on the horizon?

At the church I serve, we welcome all peoples with grace and mercy as we together seek the promises from God from the Holy Bible. We worship a wonderful God, who works all things together for good to those who love the Lord and consider the future peace, love and joy of the Kingdom of God. You have heard it said, “Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.” Are you and I able to re-imagine how the “Joy of the Lord can still be our strength?”

In ancient times, years before the Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem — the city of peace — Nehemiah came back from captivity, and with his leadership helped the Hebrew people rebuild the very walls that were destroyed by their enemies, and rekindle the love of God. With a sword in one hand and a brick in the other, Nehemiah rebuilt the wall and its people. He was wise enough first to gather all the Hebrews together and have Ezra, the priest, read the Law of the Lord. As a result, the people wept when they heard it, for they had forgotten its beauty and firm foundation.

In chapter 8, verse 10, of Nehemiah we are told this: “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” It is one of my most favorite Hebrew scriptures. Joy is what sustains us in times of trials and struggles when we are feeling weak and helpless. The people of God gathered to hear the Word of God. So why not in this most wonderful season of the year, return to a House of Worship and listen once again, not only the Law of God, but for God’s grace, mercy and love as we re-imagine what is our strength? I can tell you after decades of ministry in the Bellmore community what gives me strength, when I minister to the people during difficult times — times of sadness and death, times of anxiety and fear — is the joy of the Lord.

It takes a community to raise a child, but it also takes a community to sustain joy for healthy human persons who can become gentle, kind, open minded and open hearted in a world that dishes out way too much pain and headache.

Thanks be to God who gives the world joy.

Merry Christmas, and have a safe and healthy New Year.

GRACE, LOVE, PEACE from the Rev. Dr. James W. Barnum

Pastor of the Bellmore Presbyterian Church

2740 Martin Ave, Bellmore, New York, 11790