Vessel….a person whom God calls and who is receptive to that call.

I think the comment I heard most often this Christmas season was how quickly it seemed to arrive. It surely was linked to the late observance of Thanksgiving and possibly that it seemed lost in the middle of the week. So many of us count on that long weekend to complete all our travel plans. And I know that as we age, time seems to pass in a whisper. But I heard lots of younger people say that it just seemed to land on them without proper warning.

Sunday morning Pastor Dennis, at the close of our combined worship service, said that we only have so many words in a year and he thought he’d used his all up. I can certainly understand that feeling when I consider how many regular and special services our church staff worked so hard to present perfectly to everyone who came, church family or strangers. I, too, am at the end of a year, for as I write it is yet 2024. And I, too, wonder if I can find words to express whatever God wants me to say to you on what will be the first day of a new year filled with promise, with hopes and dreams, and surely with challenges as well.

For Ken and I, the hope we hold onto is the answer to health problems that have been a part of our lives for the past six months. We know that God is orchestrating our lives and His answers will come in His good timing, but sometimes our patience comes up a little short.

And this leads me to the message I feel in my heart today. We need to visit Mary one more time before we lay aside this year’s celebration and turn toward our future year. Mary was given a task, a very unexpected task that would alter the course of her life forever. She was asked to be a vessel to cradle the unborn Christ Child until he was ready for birth. I wonder at the awe she must have experienced at this seemingly impossible request and I wonder how often we view a task before us as being impossible. I wonder how many times we miss an opportunity to carry the Light to someone who needs it desperately. Mary became a vessel to carry the Light of the world physically, but we are asked to be vessels to carry the Light to every corner of the world. To people who may seem unworthy according to our human standards but whom God regards as His special children.

For all of us who have carried a child, the weight of it becomes quite burdensome, especially toward the end when we feel our body just won’t stretch any farther. Our patience runs thin as Mary’s must have as well. And yet, everything we know about her suggests that the awe overcame all the doubts and shortfalls. She was the perfect vessel to carry this precious cargo.

Just as the Magi, in Jesus’ day, traveled long and far to lay their eyes on the Messiah, so must we be seekers of the truth and the Light, so that we will be prepared to illuminate our world with the love of Jesus, the one who willingly gave everything for us. That is the true gift of Christmas.

God doesn’t expect us to have all the answers…in fact, He loves the seekers. Be a seeker and go light the world!