Dark night of the Soul was coined in the 1500’s by St. John of The
Cross, to describe times of pain and abandonment. I keep thinking this
is not a Christmas eve sermon, but I think there are many tonight
who see the future as bleak. I think some tonight feel them have been
abandoned by God.
The time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to
her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a
manger,because there was no room for them in the inn.Luke 2:6,7
Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room for you.”
Can you imagine how devastated Mary was when she heard the news
there is No Room in the Inn for you?
On Christmas Eve I also think on the Mothers of Ramah. Rememer
them? When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the
Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in
Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in
accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then
what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A
voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel
weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because
they are no more.”[g] The birth of Jesus brought them great loss,
for some!
Remember there are numerous broken hearts on Christmas eve. For
many battling the loss of a loved one the holiday season is a dark night
for the soul also. Not sure why, but during the holiday season is
highest rate of suicides, depression and domestic violence. For many
the ole Merle Haggard song is true if we can make it thru December. . .
Just like the birth of a child yes there are birth pangs but afterward
comes the joy of a baby. For some of you if you can make it through
the next week you will see the joy of a new year.
One dark period of my life, I have not forgotten is the calling to leave
a ministry I loved and be exiled toOklahoma! The place God was calling
us to was as hard as the red clay beneath this small Oklahoma town.
The hearts of the people were as black as the oil they drilled. They
were proud they had harbored the fugitive Pretty Boy Floyd and all
sorts of illegal activity down thru the years.
The church was very welcoming to us, we had a good Sunday. A couple
invited us back to their house for dinner. They had one child about the
age of our two kids, and Jennifer was carrying Jacob at the time.
After dinner the kids asked if they could play outside, the couple side
sure, but stay out of the back yard there is an abandoned swimming
pool.
I had to preach that night, so I needed to find a quiet place to
prepare. I left the house and maid my way to the minimart but it was a
bustle of activity. So I took a drive trying to gather my thoughts
trying to find a place where I could sit and work. Of all things I ended
up at a historic Cemetery of early Oklahoma pioneers. The historical
marker was fascinating, it chronicled many of their struggles but
made the point that for most of the pioneers they lost over half of
their children! Because of this they loved hymns like When we all get
to heaven. As I read this, I can not explain it, but the Holy Spirit, My
Instinct told me something as terribly wrong and to get back to the
house-Now!
As I turned to last corner before the house I could see their
whole driveway filled with emergency vehicles. I began to run and got
there just as they put my little Ashley in the ambulance with an oxygen
mask on. My wife was hysterical and all I could get from the throng is
she had fallen in the pool. I held my sobbing wife as we prepared to
leave in ambulance, and the story came out in sobs. They were
taking a nap and the Zach and the other boy came running in screaming
that Ashley had fallen into the pool. The adults attempted to go out
the back but the door was locked so they had to go around the front of
the house. They could not see Ashley the pool water was too murky,
mossy and gunky, but then they saw bubbles surface. Our guest
jumped into the muck and used his feet find Ashley. When he handed
Ashley to Jennifer she was not breathing. Jennifer seven months
pregnant fell on her knees getting her out of the pool, stayed on her
knees administrating CPR until Ashley started coughing up black nasty
water!!
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the
goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little
child will lead them. Is 11:6 This messianic prophecy from Isaiah,
comes to mind when I think of this dark night. In a small way I
experienced how a Child can lead the sinful to repentance. By the time
we made to Children’s hospital in Tulsa, the whole congregation had
congregated in the Emergency room and were down on their knees
praying! Revival had broken out because of a threat to an innocent
child! The time we spent with the people of that town, we would
never again experience such sincere faith and prayers!
The Xrays confirmed there was a large amount of water in
Ashley’s lungs. The congregation brought food for us, prayed for us
and called our family. Took care of Zach as if he was their own child!
By the time the sun had risen the next morning their was a buzz in the
Er, the doctors and nurses Kept asking where did all the water go?
Why does she not have pneumonia from all the bacteria infected
water? The dark night had turned to Glorious day that lit up God! By
noon we were headed back north, by sundown exhausted, we pulled over
and found a motel. Ashley threw a fit because we would not let her
swim in the pool! A dark night had turned into laughter. A dark night
had brought us Christmas early!
Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room
for you.” Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s
womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” … And
when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter
rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.” How dark those
times must have been for Jesus. Even today Jesus is given the same
treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter.…
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. Revelation 3:20
Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of
his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives
this great promise: … “In my father’s house are many rooms.” … What a
delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts,
and he makes room for us in his house. I am not certain of the dark
night you are facing, but I am certain Jesus want to walk with you
though it together!
God want’s to take your darkness and brighten it with his Glory. God
want’s to turn you sadness into laughter. This Christmas would you
invite Jesus into your heart? If this is your decision come up front as
we stand to sing!
Cross, to describe times of pain and abandonment. I keep thinking this
is not a Christmas eve sermon, but I think there are many tonight
who see the future as bleak. I think some tonight feel them have been
abandoned by God.
The time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to
her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a
manger,because there was no room for them in the inn.Luke 2:6,7
Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room for you.”
Can you imagine how devastated Mary was when she heard the news
there is No Room in the Inn for you?
On Christmas Eve I also think on the Mothers of Ramah. Rememer
them? When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the
Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in
Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in
accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then
what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A
voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel
weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because
they are no more.”[g] The birth of Jesus brought them great loss,
for some!
Remember there are numerous broken hearts on Christmas eve. For
many battling the loss of a loved one the holiday season is a dark night
for the soul also. Not sure why, but during the holiday season is
highest rate of suicides, depression and domestic violence. For many
the ole Merle Haggard song is true if we can make it thru December. . .
Just like the birth of a child yes there are birth pangs but afterward
comes the joy of a baby. For some of you if you can make it through
the next week you will see the joy of a new year.
One dark period of my life, I have not forgotten is the calling to leave
a ministry I loved and be exiled toOklahoma! The place God was calling
us to was as hard as the red clay beneath this small Oklahoma town.
The hearts of the people were as black as the oil they drilled. They
were proud they had harbored the fugitive Pretty Boy Floyd and all
sorts of illegal activity down thru the years.
The church was very welcoming to us, we had a good Sunday. A couple
invited us back to their house for dinner. They had one child about the
age of our two kids, and Jennifer was carrying Jacob at the time.
After dinner the kids asked if they could play outside, the couple side
sure, but stay out of the back yard there is an abandoned swimming
pool.
I had to preach that night, so I needed to find a quiet place to
prepare. I left the house and maid my way to the minimart but it was a
bustle of activity. So I took a drive trying to gather my thoughts
trying to find a place where I could sit and work. Of all things I ended
up at a historic Cemetery of early Oklahoma pioneers. The historical
marker was fascinating, it chronicled many of their struggles but
made the point that for most of the pioneers they lost over half of
their children! Because of this they loved hymns like When we all get
to heaven. As I read this, I can not explain it, but the Holy Spirit, My
Instinct told me something as terribly wrong and to get back to the
house-Now!
As I turned to last corner before the house I could see their
whole driveway filled with emergency vehicles. I began to run and got
there just as they put my little Ashley in the ambulance with an oxygen
mask on. My wife was hysterical and all I could get from the throng is
she had fallen in the pool. I held my sobbing wife as we prepared to
leave in ambulance, and the story came out in sobs. They were
taking a nap and the Zach and the other boy came running in screaming
that Ashley had fallen into the pool. The adults attempted to go out
the back but the door was locked so they had to go around the front of
the house. They could not see Ashley the pool water was too murky,
mossy and gunky, but then they saw bubbles surface. Our guest
jumped into the muck and used his feet find Ashley. When he handed
Ashley to Jennifer she was not breathing. Jennifer seven months
pregnant fell on her knees getting her out of the pool, stayed on her
knees administrating CPR until Ashley started coughing up black nasty
water!!
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the
goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little
child will lead them. Is 11:6 This messianic prophecy from Isaiah,
comes to mind when I think of this dark night. In a small way I
experienced how a Child can lead the sinful to repentance. By the time
we made to Children’s hospital in Tulsa, the whole congregation had
congregated in the Emergency room and were down on their knees
praying! Revival had broken out because of a threat to an innocent
child! The time we spent with the people of that town, we would
never again experience such sincere faith and prayers!
The Xrays confirmed there was a large amount of water in
Ashley’s lungs. The congregation brought food for us, prayed for us
and called our family. Took care of Zach as if he was their own child!
By the time the sun had risen the next morning their was a buzz in the
Er, the doctors and nurses Kept asking where did all the water go?
Why does she not have pneumonia from all the bacteria infected
water? The dark night had turned to Glorious day that lit up God! By
noon we were headed back north, by sundown exhausted, we pulled over
and found a motel. Ashley threw a fit because we would not let her
swim in the pool! A dark night had turned into laughter. A dark night
had brought us Christmas early!
Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room
for you.” Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s
womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” … And
when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter
rejection? “We don’t have room for you in this world.” How dark those
times must have been for Jesus. Even today Jesus is given the same
treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter.…
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. Revelation 3:20
Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of
his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives
this great promise: … “In my father’s house are many rooms.” … What a
delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts,
and he makes room for us in his house. I am not certain of the dark
night you are facing, but I am certain Jesus want to walk with you
though it together!
God want’s to take your darkness and brighten it with his Glory. God
want’s to turn you sadness into laughter. This Christmas would you
invite Jesus into your heart? If this is your decision come up front as
we stand to sing!
