334 SE Tecumseh Road  P.O. Box 5  Tecumseh, Kansas 66542  (785) 379-5005  Fax - (785) 379-5061

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* Restoration * Psalm 80  Buildings get old, and eventually start to decay if not properly cared for. For that reason, for example, the Big Springs UMC building was recently tuck-pointed, to prevent water from seeping into its walls and eroding the masonry work. With efforts such as these, we seek to preserve buildings for those who come after us. Ancient buildings in Europe, including the numerous cathedrals, would not survive the ravages of time without constant care. Like buildings, people also need to be restored in order to be ‘preserved’, and perhaps to even be returned to their original splendor.  Restoration. In Psalm 80, the poet bemoans the fact that the people have turned away from God, and is evidently concerned that God may also turn away from the people. Four times the psalmist expresses this urgent plea: Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. In The Message, the wording is: God, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.  Restoration. One way to think about Christmas – that is, about the birth of Christ – is to associate it with God’s reply to the palmist. God demonstrates that indeed the cry of the people has been heard. Once again, the people are provided with that unlimited, never ending, totally unearned thing which we call – grace. God’s grace takes on human form. Even before his birth, Jesus is exposed to the hardships of what it means to be human. Born to an unmarried woman in a society which demanded that such women be stoned to death, delivered into a world of poverty, Jesus immediately experiences the ravages of life. God’s response to the plea of the psalmist: Restore us, O God! God, come back!, is abundantly clear in the birth of the Christ child, the Prince of Peace.  Restoration. The presence of Jesus among us serves to restore the people. Jesus: God Saves. Emmanuel: God with us. The stars shine brightly, symbolic of the smile of God as Jesus is delivered into human life in that humble and humbling stable, to humble parents, witnessed by humble and lowly shepherds and simple animals. They were restored, those folks were, as are you, as am I, as are we all. God’s face shines, God smiles the blessing smile in giving us Jesus, and that is our salvation. Jesus: God saves.  - Pastor Piet - December 23, 2007, 4th Sunday of Advent * edited meditation of 12/19/04