“But you are a chosen
people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you
may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light” (1Peter 2:9).
I will conclude our meditation on Peter’s first letter, by asking the
question, “How does 1Peter prepare me for Christmas? Are there any
“things” that can inform/improve my Christmas celebrations?
I believe that reading 1Peter with the “Christmas glasses” on, we can be
informed in the way we celebrate Christmas.
Peter’s letter, let us remember, was written specifically to God’s
people who were experiencing hard times. Peter’s specific purpose of writing
was two-fold: to encourage and to testify (to bear witness).
What can better encourage the Church than being helped to grasp God’s
love for them? Who other than Jesus Christ could be the main subject of Peter’s
testimony?
Once we start talking about God’s love towards us – manifested in the
person of Jesus, we must include Christmas. Christmas is the beginning of God’s
“personal” intervention to save the world – God stepping down to our
level to lift us up from our hopeless/desperate condition.
In the beginning God stepped in to bring order into the initial “chaos
of creation”. Among the first items on His agenda was dispelling the
darkness. “Let there be
light…”
Enter the fallen human race, living in the darkness of the absence of
God’s presence…where there is no God/where God is missing, there is darkness.
So Isaiah was given the insight of God’s majestic plan: to bring light
into darkness. “The people walking
in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow
of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).
Peter calls us to focus on declaring the praises
of Him who called us out of darkness – into His marvelous light.