Monday, December 23, 2024
This devotion is the written accompaniment to a video Advent message that can be viewed on our YouTube Channel by clicking HERE.
Please read Luke 2:1-20
“Have You Heard the Good News?”
“Have you heard the Good News?” It seems like an inane question to ask in a time where much of the ‘news’ we hear and see is not always what most would call “good.” Yet, those words resonate in my soul during this season. Every year, growing up, I would hear this question asked of the people who came to our Church’s Live Nativity. It would be silent, every person in the scene as still as they could be until the question was spoken: “Have you heard the Good News? Have you heard the Good News?” followed simply by the rest of Luke 2:1-20 (RSV, if a more stylized version).
This scripture of Luke 2:1-20 is familiar to so many of us, heard almost annually in church as part of our Advent and Christmas seasons. We, particularly those of us raised as Disciples of Christ, can indeed answer YES, we have heard the Good News of Jesus’ birth. We have heard it, again and again. But…as people of faith though, it is not enough to only hear the Good News about Jesus we are called to then give evidence to what is being proclaimed. Even in Luke 2 the scriptures tell us to look for signs of a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. It begs of us to not only hear the Good News but to witness the Good News to see the love of God come down, tangible, visible, real.
Have you heard is easy, it is showing, proving the Good News that people find harder. Taking the words and turning them into actions is making visible the Good News of God’s love came down. Our actions in this season help others to connect what has been heard with what has been seen.
So have you heard the good news and have you shared the good news so that God’s love that we hear about can be more visible all around us?
Prayer: Holy One, help us to not only hear the familiar words of your love in this world but help us also take action to show signs of that love so all may see your love made more visible throughout this season. Amen.
Rev. Kara Swartz,
Co- Minister at Newark Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)