United Methodist Church of Kent Sermon Podcast

“Beulah Land” is the land we have never seen but for which we long. It is the not yet realized bright future that God has in store for us. The term originally described the restored homeland to which God was bringing the exiles, but it describes far more the future we have in Christ. Isaiah speaks of how we can arrive there.

Although we may mess up in life, God never gives up on us. Though we may wander off from God, God keeps searching for us and cares for us like a shepherd. God persists, in spite of the world’s forgetfulness, to bring about God’s aims for good.

Many of the key servants of God in the Bible – Moses, Ezekiel, and ultimately Jesus – met enormous opposition and did not look like they would succeed. They kept on anyway. Rather than being discouraged by defeats, we can keep on in faith, knowing that God is at work.

The closest Biblical parallel to our pandemic experience is the Exile, when the people of Judah were separated from their temple, their homeland, and their way of life. Exile is a time for self-reflection and above all for remembering who we are called to be as God’s people.

The shepherds and the wise men were “outsiders” in their day, not fully accepted by the most righteous Jews. But now, as it is said in Ephesians 2:13, “You who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Through Christ we, though unworthy, are welcomed into the community of faith.

Jesus is the gift who lasts forever. He is the gift that saturates our lives, bodies, and souls.

This has been a rough year in many respects. But the Christmas story is precisely about God entering into the rough places and transforming human lives, giving us purpose, guidance, empowerment, and hope.

Although we are chosen for blessing, we often hit difficult times. In such times we need to be attentive to God, so as to be receptive to what God will do.

God chooses us in Christ to have a wondrous destiny. We need to respond to God’s choice and enter into the eternal destiny God has for us.

Mary, like the whole people of Israel before her, was chosen not because she merited choice but simply because God chose her in grace. God likewise chooses to save and bless us out of pure grace.