Christmas Sermon 2016: Christmas Reveals God and God s Call on Our Lives Introduction: Merry Christmas

Transcription

1 Christmas Sermon 2016: Christmas Reveals God and God s Call on Our Lives Introduction: Merry Christmas Merry Christmas! Thank you. That s got to be one of the sweetest greetings for our hearts in all of the year; A greeting of hope; a greeting of joy; a greeting of love; A greeting that brings the promise of gifts and sharing Of special foods and Santa Claus for many of us; Oh, I believe. Merry Christmas is the greeting that draws our hearts from a lot of different directions In this season of giving and sharing and busyness and travel; But ultimately, it s a greeting, a hope that draws our hearts And our lives in some way to this night with Mary and Joseph; To angels and shepherds and the glory of heaven; And most importantly to this child, lying in a manger, to Jesus. Every year we re drawn in some way to the gentle poetry and soft light of Luke s story About the birth of Jesus that first Christmas in Bethlehem; Drawn to the hope of the world, to the hope of our lives, to the hope of God; Revealed to us in the form of a baby child, born in a lowly stable; In the most humble of circumstances imaginable. Some of us are drawn to the manger tonight with a sense of confidence; Either by our faith or lives that happen to be going well in this moment; And we come to kneel before the child, before God, in gratitude; And with a sense of hope that has been fulfilled And a hope and love that will continue to grow. Some of us are drawn to the manger and the Christ child for just the opposite reason; Our lives aren t exactly what we expected them to be right now; And merry we are not: Christmas is a little bit of bah humbug and a bother. 1

2 We expect something more from this God come down among us And we kneel or sit before the child with reservations about this whole business; Wanting a little more Christmas sprinkled over all our lives; In ways that make sense, in ways that are tangible. And some of us are drawn to the manger tonight because we are struggling mightily; It may be because of the world: Aleppo, Berlin, the rise in poverty and hatred; Or we re struggling in our own lives to make ends meet; To keep family and friendships together; Or we have loved ones who are sick or who have died; We re not sure what s coming next and we kneel before the child; With a hope that s grown razor thin, Asking for relief, for healing, for forgiveness, for courage and strength. And the remarkable truth about Christmas and this child who has come among us; The remarkable promise of our Christmas greeting and our Christmas hope Is that He greets all of us into His presence just as we are tonight; He greets us with gentleness and kindness and love; He greets us with a deep and profound hope and promise; He greets us with all the power of God in the most unassuming packaging; To draw us into a life that is really life and to reveal a light that will never be put out. For the God who came that first Christmas in Bethlehem; Is the God who comes among us now, here at St. David s, here, in our hearts; To keep our hope strong; To give us a wider perspective of our lives; And to bring healing and restoration for this life and for a life to come. And though the light of Christmas, the light of God seems dim and overshadowed Flickering like a single candle in the wind at times; It is a light that shines in the darkness and one day will dispel all darkness forever; As God multiplies the light of Christ in hearts like ours for all the world to know. 2

3 And the power of this light, the gentle, persistent power of God will always grow; When we show up on Christmas Eves like this one; When we are seeking to know the love and presence of God in our lives; When we come seeking the light of the Christ child. And not only find Him, but are found by Him; And keep that light shining throughout the year. Christmas at Bethlehem That s one of the many things we share with the cast of characters in Luke s story; With the people who are gathered around the manger in Bethlehem On that first Christmas they showed up. Joseph has shown up in Bethlehem, seeking the Christ child Through a combination of heavenly and worldly invitations; He s been directed by a heavenly angel to take Mary as his wife, Even though she s already pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit; And Joseph has been directed by the worldly power of Rome To register in his home town of Bethlehem; He has chosen to come as Mary s provider and protector. Mary, too, has come to Bethlehem by heavenly and worldly invitation; Mary is the willing servant of God who chose to accept God s invitation To bear the Son of God into the world; So that all the world may be saved through Him; And the light of God would shine for all. The angels, scaring the heck out of the shepherds and singing praise to God; Have come to Bethlehem as God s messengers To the shepherds and to the world; So that others may come to seek the child of Bethlehem And be drawn into the life with God that they already know so well. 3

4 The shepherds have shown up at the manger at the invitation of the angels; They may have been unsure, given the strange happenings in the night sky; But they come to Bethlehem seeking the child, nonetheless; They simply show up. And in showing up, Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds are all changed; They are changed, touched, inspired, empowered by the nearer presence of God; In the form of the child of Bethlehem. In showing up, they ve opened their lives to God And God has drawn them closer to His heart and a life of light and love. Oh sure, Joseph goes back to being a builder in Nazareth Just as we ll go to back to our lives next week; And Mary to the life of caring for her new baby; The angels return to heaven and the shepherds to their flocks; But they go back to their lives changed by their encounter with God; Changed by the experience of God s love and presence in their lives; To a life that may look the same, but is entirely different as a result of their showing up And God entering into their lives. And though the baby grows up to become a man And preaches and teaches the good news of God s love for everyone; Heals the sick, gives sight to the blind, cures the lame, raises the dead to life Offers His own life on a cross to take away the sins of the whole world And is raised from the dead as the sign that death will no longer have power over us; It s enough for Christmas to simply show up in Bethlehem; Enough for you and me to show up tonight and make the way for God to enter in And light up our lives through the gentle, powerless baby of Bethlehem. 4

5 Enough for us to be changed by the loving hand of God; And empowered and called to share that light and love for all the world. So Easy Some of you may be wondering why this sounds so easy, so straightforward; Just show up, just make a move toward God, just open our hearts in some way; And the love and light of God will come to us and we will be changed; We will be drawn into a life that is really life; Connected to God and touched by God s love and light. Well, look, I only get ten minutes on Christmas Eve, So you may want to come back again to get into more of the details; Of the life God is offering to you and me. But the deep truth is that the spiritual life always follows the physical life; And the fact that we are physically here tonight, In whatever state or condition of life; Opens the way for God to enter into our hearts and lives With the light of His love and forgiveness, His grace and power; We are not in charge of God s grace and love for us. We are only in charge of our wills; And God is the God who always comes, who is always ready to be with us; Who longs to draw us into the sphere of His vision for our lives And for the life of the world. And like the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes who is only a sign Of the salvation and the life that is to come; So our presence here tonight is only the sign of our hearts open to God; And the life and the love and adventure that God will bring. 5

6 So now may God grant you the gift of the light of Christmas, which is faith; The gift of the belief of Christmas, which is hope; The gift of the warmth of Christmas, which is love; The gift of the radiance of Christmas, which is truth; The gift of the joy of Christmas, which is God. May there be peace in your heart and over the earth And good will for all in God s love this night and throughout the year. Merry, merry Christmas! Amen. 6