Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

In one paragraph

Pastor Mark preached on Christmas morning from the angels' announcement in Luke 2:14, following the thread of a message sent from heaven that has to be worked out on earth. He drew on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and the third verse of "O Holy Night" to press the question of what God's people actually do with the light they receive. The sermon opened with a...

Read together

1. Luke 2:14 central verse of the sermon, examined in Greek and across multiple Bible translations regarding 'peace on earth'
2. 2 Peter 3:9 cited to show God is patient toward all, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance
3. Psalm 34:8 quoted as 'taste and see that the Lord is good' to encourage acting on God's prompting

Talk about it

1. Longfellow wrote 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day' during the Civil War, when the sound of cannons seemed to drown out the carol's message of peace on earth. When have circumstances in your own life made that message feel impossible or hollow?
2. Pastor Nathan pointed out that the tiny difference between two Greek words in Luke 2:14 changes the translation from 'peace on earth, goodwill toward men' to 'peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests.' Both, he said, are true. How do you hold those two ideas together in the way you think about God's relationship with people around you?
3. Pastor Nathan said that Jesus walked out his life in 'absolute humility' and submission to the Spirit, and that this is the only way we can be the continuing body of Christ. What does that kind of humility actually look like in your daily life, and where does it cost you something?
4. The third verse of 'O Holy Night,' written in 1849 when slavery was legal in both France and the United States, declares that chains shall be broken and all oppression shall cease in Jesus' name. Pastor Nathan said that kind of change 'is the only way it is going to happen.' Where do you see that claim being worked out, or resisted, in your community right now?
5. Pastor Nathan talked about what he called the 'more light principle,' the idea that if we respond to the light and the message we have already been given, God gives more. What is one specific thing you sense God has been nudging you toward that you have not yet acted on?