For many of us this year, we are searching. Hopefully we will find, in a simple haystack, a silver needle. On the head of that needle we will find an eye, and running through that eye we will find a golden thread. And somewhere in the golden thread in the eye of the needle in the middle of a haystack we will find our name written on a small gift wrapped in plain paper.
Some of you might recall a time when something very special, or something you have lost which you wish to find again, remains hidden longer than you can stand; and there seem to be haystacks everywhere and not one of them holds your lost treasure ... the one with your name wrapped in plain paper.
No shining star appears to guide us and, Hark! - No angels sing with good tidings, praising God and singing, "Glory to God in the highest heaven"; ... and there is no peace on earth, not even in our little space.
But the shepherds trusted the angel's words, "To you is born today a Savior." The great prophet, Isaiah, told of the promised coming of Jesus. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light", he said, "those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them the light has shined."
"For a child has been born for us ... and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
How easy it was to find the right haystack that night on the first Christmas Eve! It was the only haystack to be found and with the only silver needle with golden thread, and it wove around a small gift wrapped in plain clothing. On the golden thread the shepherds found their names, each written by the hand of God, each tied around a small gift, labeled with one small word, "HOPE".
It was the gift of "hope" - the gift that too often has been laid aside, forgotten like a needle in a haystack somewhere, waiting for us to remember. It is the gift of Hope that waits for each lonely child, that none should go to bed hungry and none should be without a bed. The hope that consoles each isolated man or woman, and lifts every sick or crippled soul.
It is the gift of hope that comes to every prisoner, where Jesus sits waiting by his side. It's the hopeful gift of laughter, of smiles exchanged with strangers who pass it on again, and when we say "Merry Christmas", we mean it all year long.
It is the gift of Hope that waits on all the battlefields - waits expectantly to turn a "Christmas truce" into lasting peace.
It's the gift of Hope God sent us in a little child named Jesus - to teach us what a child can teach us best.
Hark! Christ, Our Savior is born! ~ Pastor Todd
