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Comfort for All Who Need It: The Longest Night · Beyond the Sermon

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  You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast of First
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  Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
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  On our podcast, the goal is not just to share the sermons we've
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  preached, but to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're
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  learning and what God is doing in US and in our community.
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  For Advent 2025 we are in a series called Brought to the
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  Light, Advent for all who need it.
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  This series is looking at the themes of Advent and how Jesus
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  comes to us all. You can find more information
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  about our church at fumccollingswood.org.
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  Thanks for listening. Second scripture reading tonight
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  comes from Paul's letter to the Corinthians.
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  His 2nd letter to the Corinthians beginning in chapter
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  1 verse 2, Paul writes, May God our Father and the Lord Jesus
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  Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God the Father of
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  our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and
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  the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our
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  troubles so that we can comfort others.
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  When they are troubled. We will be able to give them the
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  same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for
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  Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through
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  Christ. Even when we are weighed down
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  with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation.
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  For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly
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  comfort you. Then you can patiently endure
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  the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you
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  share in our sufferings, we will.
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  You will also share in the comfort God gives us.
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  We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the
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  trouble we went through in the province of Asia.
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  We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure.
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  We thought we would never live through it.
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  In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped
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  relying on ourselves and learn to rely only on God who raises
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  the dead. And He did rescue us from mortal
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  danger, and He will rescue us again.
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  We have placed our confidence in Him and He will continue to
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  rescue us. And You are helping us by
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  praying for us. Then many people will give
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  thanks because God has graciously answered so many
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  prayers for our safety. I mentioned earlier that it's
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  amazing how much can change in a single year.
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  On this Sunday a year ago, my third son looked a little rough
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  after church told him I thought he needed to go take a nap, and
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  by that night he had started vomiting.
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  And when that vomiting hadn't gotten better by Monday night,
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  we called the pediatrician. They said there's a bug going
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  around and we should just keep hydrating him.
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  Well, Tuesday morning, Christmas Eve, I woke up to Meg saying
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  Josiah needs to go to the hospital and within half an hour
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  I was carrying him into the pediatric emergency room at
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  virtual hospital. Weak and disoriented him, not
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  me, and he was quickly diagnosed with being in keto diabetic
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  ketoacidosis, and after they stabilized him, we were
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  transferred by ambulance to the ICU at Children's Hospital of
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  Philadelphia. He woke up Christmas morning in
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  the PICU and to spend a few minutes together as a family, we
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  had to gather around his hospital bed.
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  He spent the rest of that week in the hospitals.
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  We learned how to deal with how to live with type 1 diabetes,
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  which in a world where some parents have a story that's
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  turned out much differently. I don't want to make that
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  experience a bigger thing than it was.
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  But I'd be lying if I said those were easy days, or if I said
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  that this year hasn't been one of the most difficult our family
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  has gone through. There's there's a heaviness that
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  has hung over these days. There's an anxiety that my body
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  carries even though my head knows that this year isn't the
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  same as last year. These experiences that we have,
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  they, they contribute to the conflicting feelings that we
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  might feel during the holiday season.
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  Some of the familiar traditions that have brought us joy become
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  reminders of what we've lost. There are empty places at our
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  table and in our hearts. The season that was once full of
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  joy is now something tainted with sorrow.
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  And it's into the midst of the brokenness and sorrow of this
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  world that God entered into the human experience, right?
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  Taking on all that it means to be human, including our grief,
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  our losses, our sorrow, so that He could redeem it.
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  He came into it. He took it on so he could redeem
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  it. And into the midst of our griefs
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  and our losses, that God speaks words of comfort that He draws
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  near to those who are broken hearted.
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  Jesus said one of the the primary aims of his earthly
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  ministry was to to bind up those who are broken hearted.
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  And that might be some of us here tonight.
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  The passage that I read just a few moments ago from Second
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  Corinthians chapter 1. It's a passage that sometimes
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  misused to tell people that we shouldn't be sad in the midst of
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  life's sufferings, life's difficulties, because God will
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  use it to comfort you so that you can comfort other people
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  down the road. I think that's wrong.
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  Well, maybe wrong's a little too strong, but I think it misses
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  the point that Paul is trying to make here.
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  Yes, it's, it's true that God will use the, the, the comfort
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  that we've received to share that comfort with other people.
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  But I think the bigger point that Paul is making here is that
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  God is the God of all comfort, that he is the source of the
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  comfort we need and the comfort we receive.
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  I don't think Paul is saying that God only comforts us so
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  that we can comfort others, although that's a beautiful
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  effect of receiving the comfort of God.
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  But but when we use the good that God could bring out of a
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  difficult situation or or a painful situation to jump over
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  the sorrow that we're experiencing, the pain that we
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  feel, the grief that we're going through, when we try to jump
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  over that rather than walking through it with God, we actually
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  miss the comfort that God wants us to experience and receive
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  ourselves right. God wants to meet us in the
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  midst of the difficult things of life and in the negative
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  emotions that come along with them.
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  And He wants to meet us there so that He can comfort us in those
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  things, so He can heal the wounds that they've created, so
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  He can show us His fatherly love.
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  And there are things that that God wants to teach us and refine
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  in US and shape in US and transform in US through the
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  process of walking with him through the midst of that pain
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  we might not be able to learn or receive at any other point in
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  our lives. God's goal is to raise us up to
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  maturity, right, to form the image of Jesus in US.
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  And we don't want to just spiritually bypass that just so
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  we can avoid the painful and difficult emotions of life,
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  those emotions that that we or or maybe those around us might
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  find uncomfortable. Now, will God use our experience
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  of receiving comfort to help someone in the future?
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  Absolutely, I believe that. But I think first and foremost,
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  God comforts us because we're hurting.
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  He comforts us because he loves us.
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  Now, the other part of this whole conversation is that there
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  are different kinds of suffering that we go through in life,
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  different kinds of suffering we experience as we travel this
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  journey. And here Paul, in First or
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  Second Corinthians, Paul is talking specifically about
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  suffering for Christ, right? He's facing persecution for
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  sharing the faith. And did you hear what he's
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  saying in in verses 8 and following, he says that they'd
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  seen trouble, they'd felt crushed, they were overwhelmed,
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  they didn't think they'd make it.
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  They expected to die because they were sharing their faith.
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  Now, even though the circumstances might look
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  different for us who are here tonight, right safe and warm
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  within a beautiful building that's been dedicated to
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  Christian worship. We're not worried about anyone
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  busting down the doors and arresting us, putting us on
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  trial or to death for our faith. But it doesn't mean that what we
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  feel in response to the circumstances of life is all
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  that different from what Paul and his companions experienced.
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  I don't know about you, but there have been days and weeks
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  this year when I have felt crushed, when I have felt
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  overwhelmed, when I didn't know how we'd ever get through the
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  difficulty to some kind of new normal.
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  Even as I was thinking about this message, I could feel the
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  tension rising in my shoulders. I, I could feel the anxiety in
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  my chest reflecting on all that happened last Christmas and over
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  the past year, and I was grateful for that.
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  I was grateful because it helped me recognize that I've been
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  carrying this in a different way as we've been approaching
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  Christmas than I realized. It's allowed me to name those
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  feelings and, and point to the source, which has helped me
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  bring those things to God again. And that's, that's part of the
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  cycle, right? That's, that's part of what we
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  do when we feel that grief rising up again, We offer it
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  back to God again. We offer that loved one back to
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  God. We offer that situation back to
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  God again. Because God is faithful.
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  He's carried us through this year in ways I never could have
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  imagined. He's met us in the midst of the
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  dark emotions of pain and grief, as we've grieved the simplicity
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  of what life used to be as well as what life now is for us and
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  our 13 year old son. He's met us in the tears and the
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  sleepless nights and the highs and lows of Type 1, and He's
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  comforted us with His presence. And tonight, if you're in a
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  place of pain or sorrow, I believe Jesus wants to meet you
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  there too. I believe He wants to to bring
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  comfort in the midst of whatever it is you're going through
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  because He loves you, not primarily so you can comfort
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  other people, although you may someday.
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  I believe Jesus wants to grow your confidence and faith in Him
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  and His promises that He will never leave you nor forsake you.
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  You can trust that's true even when it doesn't feel true in the
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  moment. You can learn to rely on him, or
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  learning again to rely on him, even in what may not yet feel
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  like a new normal. And there are times we need each
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  other, right? We need the Church to remind us
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  of what is real and what is true, to hold on to faith and to
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  hold on to us when we don't have the strength to hold on
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  ourselves. There's nothing wrong with
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  admitting that. In fact, it's it's often only
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  when we do get to the point of admitting that, that people can
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  come around us in love and prayer to help us, to remind us,
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  to comfort us with the comfort they have received.
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  So wherever you are tonight, Jesus is there and he wants you
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  to know that he's there with you because he is the source of all
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  comfort, all peace, all hope. Would you pray with me?
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  Oh, Jesus, we thank you that you come to us even in the midst of
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  the difficulties of life. Maybe, Jesus, we're grateful
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  because especially you come to us in the midst of the
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  difficulties of life, in those unexpected situations, or in
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  those moments when the grief we thought had kind of subsided
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  washes over us again like a wave.
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  God, we thank you that you don't leave us there to drown in the
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  midst of our own sorrow and grief.
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  You come to us. You.
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  You actually never left us. And so this Christmas season,
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  when everything around us tells us to be happy and bright and
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  merry and joyful, would you help us?
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  Would you help us to be honest with ourselves and honest with
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  you to admit that we feel overwhelmed, to admit that we
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  can't do it on our own, and to reach out to those around us who
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  can hold on to us and our faith even when it feels like too
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  much? Thank you for meeting us here
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  tonight. Thank you for speaking to us.
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  Thank you for walking through the midst of the difficulty of
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  life with us as one who knows our sorrows and is acquainted
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  with our grief. And Jesus, we do look to that
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  day when you come again, and you come to wipe every tear from
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  every eye on that day when there will be no more sorrow or
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  sadness or death. We long for that day, Jesus, but
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  until it comes, we choose to place our hope in you because
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  you are the God of all comfort. We pray this Jesus in your name.