{"id":8565,"date":"2020-12-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faith-andover.org\/wp\/?p=8565"},"modified":"2020-12-23T07:18:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T12:18:00","slug":"good-news-of-great-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faith-andover.org\/?p=8565","title":{"rendered":"Good News of Great Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by William Wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Good
The Birth of Jesus – Luke 2:1-20<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Luke 2:1-20<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.\u00a02<\/sup>This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.\u00a03<\/sup>All went to their own towns to be registered.\u00a04<\/sup>Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.\u00a05<\/sup>He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.\u00a06<\/sup>While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.\u00a07<\/sup>And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8<\/sup>In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.\u00a09<\/sup>Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.\u00a010<\/sup>But the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid; for see\u2014I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:\u00a011<\/sup>to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.\u00a012<\/sup>This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.\u201d\u00a013<\/sup>And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,\u00a014<\/sup>\u201cGlory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!\u201d\u00a015<\/sup>When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, \u201cLet us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.\u201d\u00a016<\/sup>So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.\u00a017<\/sup>When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;\u00a018<\/sup>and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.\u00a019<\/sup>But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.\u00a020<\/sup>The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a morning of sharp irony.    I was reading After God<\/em>, by Don Cupitt, and came upon a line of utter despair \u2013 \u201cWe know, if we know anything that there isn\u2019t literally any supernatural order, and there is not literally any life after death.   <\/em>This is all there is, and, as everyone knows, when you\u2019re dead you\u2019re dead.\u201d   <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Cupitt was infamous in the 1980s as an Anglican atheist priest and academic, who eventually abandoned the church.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time I was listening to the Christmas concert from St. Olaf\u2019s, entitled \u201cAll Earth is Hopeful\u201d and I heard the reading from Luke chapter 2 \u2013 \u201cIn those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be so easy to join Cupitt in his atheistic despair.   We are separated from our friends and family by a disease that rages through our country.    The normal democratic process is under threat, bringing crushing uncertainty to our future governance.   Hope appears to be in short supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cupitt had succumbed to the spirit of the age \u2013 how could you believe in the technological era?   Man had conquered the world and was reaching out beyond \u2013 it was only a matter of time before we realized that God was just a construct of our need.   Once we understood that, Christianity and all religion would die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet what Cupitt failed to understand is that belief is a choice, not a logical conclusion.   We choose to believe, and the intellect follows.   We choose to trust, and faith is born.   In that small flickering flame of faith, a nascent hope emerges, and God is there, waiting for us.  The God who created it all, who is beyond our wildest imaginings, greater than we can conceive.   But this is the same God who we can see in the baby born at Christmas and the man Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this Christmas, despite all the fear, uncertainty and anxiety, I will hear the voice of the angels bringing good news to all people.   I will trust that \u201call shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.\u201d   I will choose hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by William Wood Luke 2:1-20 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.\u00a02This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.\u00a03All went to their own towns to be registered.\u00a04Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to 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