National Baptist Memorial Church, Washington, DC, Dec. 19, 2004
These are stressful days. There is too much going on. Too much work, too much to think about, too many demands. Stressful. We’d really like some peace, wouldn’t we? Just a moment or two of quiet – wouldn’t that be great? But there is too much going on for that. Too much in the world, too much in Iraq, too much in Ukraine, too much crime, too much in Adams Morgan, too much at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! I remember that Dr. Grizzard used to say that this church was located between the zoo and the White House, and sometimes it was hard to tell the difference! Too much.
Too much traveling. I heard an astonishing statistic. I heard that 61 million Americans will be in the air, on the rails, or on the highways, traveling for Christmas. Hey, if there are that many going to see other folks, will the other folks be there when they arrive? Too much traveling, too much stress, too much. Gifts to buy, cards to write, trees to trim, mince pies to make – or in my case, to taste. Lots to do. What we wouldn’t give at our house for a day or two of peace!
Oh, wait, you say. I thought you were retired, or semi-retired. How can you have too much to do? It is true that I won’t have pastoral work to do this year. People at Takoma Park had a terrible habit of dying at Christmas time; I always had to work in a funeral or two along with Christmas Eve and everything else. I don’t have that this year, but I tell you, between medical visits and grandchildren and grading final exams for my seminary students and getting ready for a new job, I think I am as stressed out as I have ever been at Christmas. Peace! Where do I go for that precious commodity?
But now on top of all of that – on top of the hurry and scurry, the too much to do and too little money to pay for it – on top of all of that, there is something else that stresses us. It’s not just the hurry and the rush that get to us at Christmas. This season brings back hurts and pains we thought we had left behind. This season opens up old wounds, and the losses and defeats of the past crowd into our memories. It’s not easy to feel peace when you remember what you have lost or think about the mistakes you cannot correct. Old wounds stress us and steal our peace.
Not long ago someone connected to our family – a young man, only sixteen years old, took his own life. No one knows why, but we do know lots of folks hurt because of this, and among them our niece and nephew, the cousins of this young man. So our son, Bryan, who is also their cousin, but on their father’s side, and who never even knew the young man in question – our son decided that he would go and invest some time with those two teenagers. When he told us why he wanted to do that, it came as a revelation to us. Bryan said, “You know, it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve enjoyed Christmas again. Grandpa Rust died at Christmas in 1991, and Grandma Smith died at Christmas in 1992, and for several years I just dreaded Christmas.” I say that came as a revelation, because it wasn’t obvious to us that he was feeling that, but he was. It took him quite a while to get past those wounds. It’s not easy to feel peace at this time of the year when you remember what you have lost or think about those mistakes you cannot correct.
The words of the poet Longfellow ring sadly true for us, “And in despair I bowed my head; ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘for hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’”
And yet deep down in my soul I believe that God is working to give us the gift of peace. God is not idle; God is not indifferent. That is at the very heart of the message of Christmas. Our God is working to give us the gift of peace. The question is, “How shall we receive it?” The issue is how we shall find this peace, the gift of God’s love?
You remember the phrase children use to start their games, the little formula, “Ready, set, go”? You’re about to run a race, and everybody knows what to do: ready – get rid of everything that’s in your way. Set – get your body positioned to run. And then go – go run that race with all your might. Ready, set, go. That’s what we have to do to receive peace. The simplest, the most childlike, of all the characters in the Christmas story show us that – the shepherds who heard the angel’s song. The shepherds were the first to witness God’s gift and to receive His peace. The shepherds will show us what it takes to find peace and to get past those hurts hovering in the heart: ready, set, go.
I
First, in order to receive God’s gift of peace, you and I must be ready. We must be open. We must be willing for God to do a new thing in us. That means we must face our fears. It is fear, more than anything else, that keeps us from receiving the gift of peace. In order to receive God’s gift of peace, we must be ready and open for God to do something with our fears.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news.”
Do not be afraid. Fear. Fear is unwilling to listen to the silence. Fear creates conflict because we cannot be comfortable with our own hearts. Fear cannot see God at work because fear is our struggle with our own silence.
Do you ever just turn on the television and watch something, anything, because you cannot stand to be alone? Do you ever sit at your window and start to feel sorry for yourself because no one calls, everyone is busy, no one seems to care? That is about fear, the fear of the silence within.
Do you ever find yourself pushing people to fight? Do you ever drop a little word over here, and then another little word over there, suggesting that he doesn’t like her very much, and that she doesn’t do what she ought to do? Pretty soon she and he are into it, accusing each other of all sorts of garbage, while you sit off on the sidelines, enjoying the World Wrestling Federation?! Sometimes we provoke others to fight and disturb the peace! What’s that really about? That’s really about being afraid that if I sit still, I will have to listen to my own heart. So I stir up trouble among others, to distract me from paying attention to my own spirit.
But oh my friends, God wants to give us the gift of peace. He wants to give us good news. To the simple shepherds, terrified at facing the heavenly host, He spoke the ultimate word of assurance, “Do not be afraid; we bring good news.” God’s word is not a word of condemnation. The God of the hell-fire-and-brimstone preachers is not the God of Bethlehem. God wants to give us not the torment of a bad conscience, but the joy of His love. Our God brings good news, of great joy to all people. It is the good news that God loves us, God cares for us. And when you hear that, deep down, you are ready to receive peace.
This past Monday I sat in a doctor’s office, and heard words I never really expected to hear, because I have been so healthy all my life. The doc put me in his examination room, popped in for a quick second and said, “You have a fast-growing cancer, but we have caught it early and we can manage it well.” And then he rushed back out to take a phone call and left me with those words ringing in my ears for a good ten minutes. Do you know what I felt during that time and what I feel now?! I feel nothing but calm. I feel assurance. I feel nothing but peace. In my heart of hearts I know the babe of Bethlehem, I know He cares for me and for those I love. I am not afraid. I know the good news, and I am ready for whatever comes. I have heard my own heart and am ready for peace.
Be ready for the gift of peace; as the shepherds were open to the good news. Take your old haunting fears, take the guilt that will not go away, take leave of the shame of past mistakes, and put them all at the cradle of the one whose love is unconditional and eternal. Be ready! Good news is coming.
II
All right. But the formula is: ready, set, go. Get set. Set about doing what the Spirit of God prompts you to do. Ready, set: obey what you know God wants you do. Be where God wants you to be. Follow the prompting of your heart. Set out on that spiritual journey that will lead you to a place of awe and wonder.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste –
Let us go now and see – so they went with haste. How unlike most of us, who procrastinate! And how much an explanation for why the shepherds got peace and we just go to pieces! The shepherds, prompted by God’s messengers, got up off their blessed assurances and went, with haste, to see what God was doing. If God was doing it, it was more important than anything else. The sheep could take care of themselves. Their families would have to understand if they were a little late getting home. The owner of the flock, who might criticize them for leaving their posts, would just have to live with his disappointment. They had Kingdom business to do, and that took priority.
Brothers and sisters, there are times when what God is doing ought to override all of our agendas and ought to overshadow all of our namby-pamby normalcies. There are times when the work of God is so extraordinary that business as usual just won’t get it! The shepherds got set for the gift of peace because they walked away from business as usual and went to see what God was doing. Get set!
I do not want to be morose at Christmas, but I do have to say that over the years the finest spiritual experiences I have had have been those associated with ministering to dying people. So many precious things I have learned just standing by bedsides and listening to God’s children in the hour of trial. One of the members of Takoma Park asked me to work with a friend of his who was dying. I visited this gentleman over a period of several weeks. Here was a man who had been successful in business, had made a great deal of money, and described himself as “the field marshal” – that meant that when he said, “jump”, you were supposed to ask, “How high?” He gave himself the rank of field marshal because his friend, my church member, was an army general, and Jerry wanted to be sure to outrank everybody. It was a fascinating several weeks. Jerry began our relationship by telling me that he had lived a good life and had nothing to be sorry for and why was I there anyway? – a kind of bragging defiance in the face of death. But the more we talked the more he began to recognize his need of a savior, the more he admitted his need for forgiveness. I saw this man begin, at this late hour, to get set for the gift of peace. He set out on a spiritual journey because at that moment nothing else took priority. The day came when he sought Christ as his savior, and then I watched Jerry move from knowing God’s forgiveness to reaching out toward others to ask for their forgiveness. Jerry was getting set for the gift of peace. He was going with haste to where he saw God at work.
The shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing … So they went with haste …”
Too many of us miss the moment. We procrastinate. We are so stuck in where we have been that we will not go now, with haste, to the place where God is at work. I’ve taught in two different churches the current book, “The Purpose-Driven Life”, and have seen people get excited about rediscovering where God is at work. Friends, if you see God doing something in your life, hurry there. Get those priorities in order now. That is the road to peace. Get ready for God to do something special; and get set when you see Him doing it!
III
And then go. Go. No matter how great today’s experience, the time comes when it is all over and it is time to go. I want you to notice where the shepherds went when the night of miracles was all over. I want you to see what their destination was when it was time to leave the stable. Did they go to the palace of the king to report their findings? Did they run up to Jerusalem to ask the theologians in the Temple for an interpretation? Where did they go and what did they do? They went back to their normal pursuits! They went back to tending sheep! They went back to their homes, their families, their jobs! They want back to the same old same old, as you and I will have to do the day after Christmas. But they themselves were different! They were changed! The circumstances didn’t change; but they brought change with them. Get ready, get set, and go.
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When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them …The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen ...
You see, too many of us are waiting for somebody else to give us a new start. We are expecting the world to grind to a halt on its axis and give us what we need. It isn’t going to happen. As long as we depend on somebody else to make us feel good about ourselves, it isn’t going to happen. As long as we think that changing our circumstances would make us happy, it isn’t going to happen. A minister friend of mine, who had made a mess in the church he had been serving, told me he had been called to another church, and that this new church was a church without any problems! I bit my tongue, tempted to say, “Well, they have at least one problem now.” But you can guess it, can’t you? Within two years he was griping and grumbling about this church and all its problems. Some of us think that if we go somewhere else our problems will go away, but, no, we just take the problems with us.
Men and women, if you want peace, get ready, get set, and then go. Go right back into the life you lead, but as a different you. Not a different life, but a different you. Go tell somebody what God is doing. Go tell somebody what is happening in your life. Go wherever you have to go, glorifying and praising God, and you will have peace. It will not be because where you have to go is different; it will be because you are different. It will not be because your circumstances are better; it will be because, in the spirit of God, with the good news in your heart, you will take hold of the circumstances. Ready, set, go, go tell.
Ready, set, go, and the infant who brought a glow to a dark stable will give you peace.
Ready, set, go, and the child who heard the bleating of oxen will hear your cries.
Ready, set, go, and the babe whose mother pondered all things in her heart will give you a quiet heart.
Ready, set, go, and the one whose tiny arms reached out will embrace you with the everlasting arms.
Ready, set, go tell it on the mountain, go tell it at home, go tell it in the workplace, go tell it where you live and whatever you do, go tell that Jesus Christ is born, and the peace of God, that passes all human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus.
