Merry Christmas. Joy to the world; the Savior is come. The
Lord blessed us with a brilliant Christmas Eve. He blessed us during our
Christmas Eve Services. Indeed it was holy and silent yet vibrant, triumphant,
and joyful. Our second Christmas Eve service that began at 7:30 PM, concluding
with the singing of Silent Night and lighting of the candles exactly at 9 PM.
When the worshippers were about to walk out of the sanctuary it began to snow
gently and beautifully. My wife had been praying longingly for snow for
Christmas, and the Christ of Christmas granted the desire of her heart by
blanketing the area with fresh and friendly snow. He makes all things glorious
and beautiful in His time.
Sunita and Andy have come from Washington for the week. Tom
and Jessica came yesterday as we were walking after Christmas dinner. They will
be here for the whole week. Laureen has taken this week off to have time with
her sisters and us. We are blessed beyond belief. Micah, Simeon and Ada stayed
with their parents in Boston. They had an old Boston style Christmas, attending
Christmas Eve services in Cambridge. We spoke to them twice yesterday via Skype.
It was a great thrill and a treat. I preached on Christmas Eve from from Luke 2,
“The angel said to them, I bring you good
news of great joy which is for all people, for unto you is born this day in the
city of David, a Liberator, who is Christ the Lord.”
One of the most exciting and most dramatic rescue missions of
modern times happened in Entebbe, Uganda, located in Central Africa on July
4th, 1976, on the 200th anniversary of our Declaration of
Independence. That rescue mission
captivated the whole world. An Israeli
airplane has been hijacked by a group of Palestinian guerillas after it left
Paris, France. These Palestinians had
made arrangements with Idi Amin of Uganda to land their plane at Entebbe, a
remote city in Uganda. The hijacked plane
landed at Entebbe, and "Big Daddy" Amin, one of the cruelest dictators of all
time, who had brutalized his own country into submission and who had murdered
his own people by the tens of thousands, came out to meet the hijacked
airplane. He fumed and railed at the 150
prisoners on the plane. They expected
death at the hands of this violent, cruel man.
The hostages were kept isolated, captive for several days and then…it
happened. . .so suddenly, so
secretly. No one had an inkling that it
was going to happen. Suddenly and
silently in the middle of the night, at 1:00 AM on July 4, 1976, on the
200th anniversary of our own national liberation, a plane quietly
glided into Entebbe and out jumped a squadron of forty commandos. There was a blast of gunfire. Two Israeli soldiers were killed, but the
Ugandans immediately surrendered. Quickly
there were two airplanes in the dark sky, the first plane which had been
hijacked and the second, a rescue plane. Both planes flew to freedom. The next day, Amin fumed and railed that his
airspace had been violated.
Liberation is a good word.
Liberation is good news.
Liberation implies positive change, being set free from an awful
situation. Liberation happens to us. We don’t liberate ourselves. We can not
liberate ourselves. Many try to liberate themselves by their self help methods
or by their own ingenuity. They become frustruated , disappointed because they
can not liberate themselves. Outside intervention is needed. Liberation is exciting, life giving, and
thrilling to see when it happens.
Jesus comes to liberate us from our selfishness,. that
enslaves us to our own whims and appetites and egos.
Jesus comes to liberate us from our painful
pasts, to set us free from all the mistakes we have made years and years ago -
mistakes with the kids, with the spouse, on the job, as a neighbor. Jesus comes
to actually set us free from our uncountable mistakes.
Jesus comes to actually liberate us from our
fears - the fear of disease, the fear of death, failure, and growing old, as
well as the fear that there is no God, and that your kids won’t turn out
right. Jesus comes to liberate us, to
bring about a wonderful transformation within us and around us.
Jesus comes to actually liberate us from our
addictions, from our rage, our anger, our sharp tongues
and sharp comments, our sarcasm, our putting others down, our need for revenge
and the dreams of inflicting revenge on someone who has hurt us and needs to
hurt by us. Christ the liberator comes to
free us from all of that. He comes not
only to forgive us, but to liberate us.
Whenever God in Christ comes into our lives and
frees us from all this stuff that stifles us, cripples us, corrupts us, it is
good news and great joy.
It is Christmas. two thoutand years later, we still
hear the angel’s choir singing their song:
I bring you good news of great joy which is for all people, for onto you
is born this night, a liberator, who is Christ the Lord. Amen.
Joy to
the world; the Savior reigns.
In
Him,
Brown
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