Category: Christmas

“Back to front land”

Luke 2:8-15

I remember once sitting in Church on Christmas Eve hearing the Gospel read and thinking I’ve heard this every year and I know what happens-there’s no new surprises coming. Then I finally “woke up” and realised that if I hear this same story every year to my death, I may still only hear it 60, 70 or maybe 80 times.

Tonight we’ve heard part of it again, and again yes we know where it all heads and thank God for that. It truly is an amazing story and we should hear it probably every day of our life because although we know it so well, the how and why’s are so back to front to how we would have wrote the coming of the greatest person and event in history, it should still jolt us and our lives to the very core of our existence.

The saying that fact is stranger than fiction is right on the money should we have been there to see and hear of the events that Holy night.

If you were the Pagan emperor or King you were born to a life of privilege. Maybe a spoilt brat from start to finish and never really knowing or caring of how the other half live from your golden crèche to your castle of splendour where you were feted with great public celebrations for brushing your teeth never mind being the supposed “Saviour and Lord” and never did the ancient tabloid reporters of the day use the word humble toward their emperor and “king” as in the day that would have been anything but a compliment.  So much for those guys who had their “Saviour.”

The Jewish were still waiting for their long promised saviour and messiah to arrive so that they would be rid of these Roman tyrants and their big brother tactics of strong arm force and coercion. The Saviour who would arrive and banish their detractors and put them back where they should be as the top dog’s, not just in God’s eyes but in the world’s realities and quite frankly if I was there so would have I considering how my God of unending power had created so precisely from minutest of things to the most amazing all of the earth and its inhabitants. How my God had shown His hand in Egypt and swept us to freedom from our captives with great miracles, provided us with trail blazing leaders to bring us home against the enormous odds of our enemies and indeed the enemies within ourselves, and so I wait-and still I wait to this day along-side a wall, walling and dreaming of the day when again we will have access to that piece of real estate and see the foundation of all what we are and re-build the Holy Temple that then, maybe then alongside God the Father will the great and powerful Messiah be with us.

Tonight I am in no way denigrating atheist, pagan nor any other faith including those of the Jewish because, we like them while having the free will to deny faith in Christ, have no power or desire to come to belief  other than in having received that gift from outside of ourselves through the Holy Spirit

To believe in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, who has brought you forgiveness and eternal life is a greater miracle and treasure than we could ever imagine or hope for and that is why though it be not natural for us, we pray for our enemies and those not yet in Christ that they too will be lifted up and given His peace.

His peace and Glory not brought about in the splendour of castles, the finest robes or even amongst the religious elite in the temple, but given to us as a baby born of a humble virgin in a stable in the less than fashionable town of Bethlehem.

There were no halos, no seen angels hovering over the stable, no choirs singing in the background and not even as was the common practice upon the birth of a baby boy where local musicians would congregate and greet him with simple music, and had we been passing by we may have even
commented to another something about how terrible it was that this couple had brought a baby into the world and they only place they could lay the child was in an animal feed trough.

And yet, the shepherds already reeling that they, the one’s despised by many of the religious elite because of their work keeping them from participating in the religious activities of their communities, that they are the ones to be visited by a great company of angels from heaven singing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all on whom his favour rests” and heralding the arrival of the Good News of great joy that will be for all people.  That “today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you,” (and) “He is Christ the Lord.”

To those of the time, and indeed those of our time it is all “back to front ” and no more perplexing than it is of God Himself. God’s only Son, that is that little boy in the stable. Perplexing because religion is generally about getting our act together to be able to go up, not as with Christianity where the God, Our God The Father does the unthinkable and comes down among the mess.

The is a story about a European monarch who worried other officials by disappearing and walking incognito among his people and when he was asked not to for securities sake he would answer that “I cannot rule my people unless I know how they live.”

Talk about upping the ante, because although he was fully and truly God from all eternity, the Son of God took on true humanity when he was conceived in Mary’s womb and born in Bethlehem.  He was not half-God and half-man, but fully God and fully man.  He did not cease to be God, but was at the same time fully human with the same emotions,
same temptations,
same physical needs,
same pain that we all experience.

We talk about the grace of God and here we see it up close and personal, our God who could have done anything he pleased limit’s himself to become one of us. Grace up close and personal in the coming Jesus who knows the life we lived, because He lived it too.

The island of Molokai is a part of Hawaii and it has an interesting history. Back in the late 1800’s there was no cure for the horrible disfiguring disease, leprosy. In order to keep it from spreading and creating an epidemic, lepers were sent to a colony on the island of Molokai.

In 1873, there was a young Belgian priest named Father Damien who volunteered to spend his life serving the people secluded on the island of Molokai.  When he arrived, he was shocked to see the condition of the people.  Not only were they physically sick but they were also disheartened.  There was drunkenness, crime and an overall sense of hopelessness.  They needed God’s presence in their lives.  And so, in 1873, Father Damien lived among the 700 lepers, knowing the dangers, realizing the inevitable results of so much personal contact with a highly contagious disease.  In fact, in 1885 at the age of 45 he himself contracted leprosy.

A story as uplifting as is the faith and trust of Abraham daunting to us when we consider his preparedness to take up his Son Isaac to the top of a mountain as a sacrifice to God.

We know God stopped him at the last minute and while I am not sure how Father Damian went with his leprosy, can we ever comprehend the love God the Father, immense in power yet so great in love that he gives His Son not just to this world to save it, but ultimately for this world to devour Him.

On Wednesday morning I awoke from a terrible dream and it took me a couple minutes to realise it was only a dream and then a couple more before forgetting what it was about.

If humans had written a plan to save ourselves we would be still living a nightmare.

Thankfully the creator and orator of our lives wakes us from that nightmare by coming to earth to bring about change in our lives –
to give us peace and hope in the face of difficulty,
to clear away guilt for our sinful actions,
to tear down old barriers and restore love and forgiveness between people and to say to you tonight that in Jesus Christ my Son, we too like the apostle Paul that having been dragged to faith, we too can say with absolute certainty and live with complete  confidence: “that we are convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen.

Luke 2:1-20

Last night on Christmas Eve, we spoke of God reaching the unreachable through His Son Jesus.

Jesus the much awaited Messiah and Saviour whose birth was not broadcast to the religious elite, but to shepherds who were not welcome in the synagogue because of their inability to keep the meticulous ceremonial rules and regulations. Shepherds seen as way down the pecking order of society and of questionable character:  and they are the ones called to a stable where the future of the world lays.

And their response?  Luke 2, verse 20: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard”.

Such a great picture of God the Father, giving himself to Save the World and giving His only Son to such a humble earthly beginning to walk this earth among sinners and The Holy Spirit who comes to these Shepherds and they believe, and then testify to those they meet of what has happened.

It’s a great picture because it shows what God has done and what can happen when Jesus comes into the lives of those such as these shepherds wandering in the wilderness.

And a great picture of their response. The same response we hear each week in the preface each week before Holy Communion where we state similiar:

That “It is indeed right and good, Lord God, holy Father, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. You have revealed your glorious presence to us in a new way through the mystery of the Word made flesh,
so that as we see you in your Son, we are drawn to love you whom we cannot see. And so, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven,

We say these words together in worship each Sunday. Words of praise said by a group of people some 2,000 years ago, that though society had not changed its view about them, they had: and took a leap of faith as they gave witness to what had happened in that stable to people they met, as they continued in their employment as shepherds.

A great picture that we take with us as we enter this New Year as we too like a group of shepherds have seen and heard the truth of Christ. Not a picture of lecturing to do this and that, but the picture of change coming simply from His coming to us, like he did as a little baby to that group of men.

A group of men while wandering the country side in their occupation came to see and know the truth. And though after, they still wandered the country side as fitting the role of a shepherd, they now did not need to wonder.

Though these people still had the same job, probably still looked down upon by society and not welcomed by the religious elite, they were now free to be so in the freeing truth of Jesus Christ their saviour.

Jesus Christ our Saviour who has freed us with the truth. The truth that we need not be something we’re not. The truth that in ourselves that we are no better a person than when we met Him. But the truth that in Him has come forgiveness, redemption, life and freedom.

At the end of the American civil war, after being given their freedom, many of the slaves response to their once were slave masters was that “now I’m free, I’ll work even harder, but now as a free person”.

That is the freedom that Christ brought to this world. The freedom from having to, to the freedom of wanting too.

The freedom from the rules and regulations that if not adhered to kept people from the temple, to the freedom that in knowing that in Him alone is forgiveness and salvation comes the freedom to worship Him at Church, at home, at work without need for false fronts or bravado.

A pastor being questioned upon considering leaving the ministry replied, “I don’t need to be a pastor to serve God. I can serve him back home on the farm, in the shops and among the community”.

That is the freedom Christ has brought us that we take with us into this New Year.

The freedom that with our eyes set on Christ allows us to dream and achieve, or dream and fail.

To work and be rewarded or work only to be scorned. To befriend our neighbour though it may not be reciprocal. To forgive others without return and to help the helpless.

With your eyes on Christ and living in His grace your world is different and in Him so are you, because you know the truth: that in Christ and in trusting in His forgiveness you are saved and given eternal life, as you are.

And though you may still wander, you need not wonder because as He has gone before us and awaits to greet us in our heavenly homes, he goes with you now by your side, hurting when you’re hurt and Joyful when you’re in joy.

So again, I pray you have a blessed Christmas and New Year and achieve all that you set out for, and achieve all that He sets before you.  Amen.

Luke 2:1-20

In the Gospel of Luke we are told that: “Shepherds were out in the field, keeping what over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord’”.

Jesus Christ said “I am the good shepherd” and He said it for a reason because like in His day there were others called Jesus, He differentiated himself with the truth that He was Jesus Christ. The Christ and the messiah. The same, there were others known as shepherds and so Jesus told us that He is the Good Shepherd.

In our day we don’t hear of a lot of people given the name Jesus as we don’t hear of those with livestock being titled as shepherds and maybe the closet we get is to that of those going “droving”.

In biblical times shepherds were well known, but not much admired. In Genesis 46:34 they are called loathsome and in Numbers 14:33 we hear of being a shepherd was to be considered suffering in punishment as we are told: “And your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they shall suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness.”

The shepherds of those times were despised by the orthodox good people of the day. Shepherds were quite unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law as with the constant demands placed on them by their flocks they could not observe all the meticulous hand washings and rules and regulations and were looked down as very common people.”

Yet God specialises in reaching those considered unreachable. People like the shepherds in the first century and people like a man named Michael Braithwaite in America. A man that after coming to know Christ burnt his stock of adult sex toys worth thousands of dollars to transform his store into a Christian book shop.

An adult shop proprietor of ill repute, con men and tricksters and those of questionable character. It was to such that the angels sang of the good news of the Christ child. To the shepherds, the guys who ran the local black markets, the guys not welcome in the synagogue and the guys that could not even testify in the courts of law of the time. Yet the guys chosen to testify concerning the birth of the much awaited Messiah who we are told in Luke 2, verse 20: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen”.

Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd and by association to Him, ministers of religion are called shepherds. Yet a description that is a paradox for many, and certainly me as a sinner in myself and that of a rogue shepherd of the first century. Yet in Christ and washed clean in His blood, allowed to walk in His presence trusting that in knowing His grace upon this sinner, that others may hear of, and know of that grace for themselves.

God sent His Son Jesus, Jesus Christ the Messiah and saviour to reach the unreachable and that He found me, and found you and showed His love and the Love of God the Father by being raised on a cross, to die a torturous death and be raised three days later so that we too will raised on our last day brings tears to our eyes and joy in our hearts.

Tears because we see that after such a great sacrifice, we still fail. Yet the joy of His Gospel, that in Him, though the failures out way the successes, though the sins are prevalent and the good works rare, that by trusting in our Lord and the forgiveness that he has brought, that we stand before the Father spotless and glowing in His righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

This Christmas we remember a little baby that should have been clothed in robes of royal purple, yet was wrapped in simple cloth and lies on the floor of a stable if an animal’s feeding trough. Jesus who would grow from infancy to manhood, and from manhood to Saviourhood. From cradle to cross, from Bethlehem’s cave to Calvary’s crucifixion, Jesus showed us the immense love of God for His people. For us.

His love so great that He only asks we accept His Son as our Saviour, and trust in the forgiveness He brings.

And though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil because He is by our side. And though we may walk unsteady and heavy laden, He takes our weight on himself that we can find the peace that He so wants to give.

The peace He asks we accept this Christmas and in the year to come of not looking back on our sins and failures of past, but looking back to see Him, the Good Shepherd reaching the unreachable.

The peace He asks this Christmas and in the year to come that we take with us, and offer to others.

To us was born a Saviour, and though we may sin and fail, we get up, because in Him, and in Him alone we are saved, and that is peace enough.

I pray you have a blessed Christmas and New Year and achieve all that you set out for, and for that, that He sets for us. Amen.

Christmas Message

A work colleague and friend of mine, when if on his way to or from work happened to notice a bird doing what birds do, simply a bit of flying or worm hunting, would shout out the window to “go and get a job”.

He was a very smart and upwardly mobile young man but his jestful harsh words towards our feathered friends showed clearly that although he was “in the system” he could clearly see the clay from the other substance in our world, and if you’ve ever worked for a multi-national company you’ll know there are plenty of both substances.

In one such company an essential part of our day to day operations was the use of a printer and as it would be, ours broke down. So as per instruction I rang the overseas third party that handled such technology who advised me to fill in the appropriate form in triplicate, send one copy to them, one copy to the Australian head office and the third to the American Head office. After explaining the severity of the situation and that I as can actually see an unused printer no further than twenty metres away and my desire to acquire said printer, I was advised that no such unauthorised activity was possible.

So after I moved the printer and restored operations I pondered over my friend’s advices towards those birds hunting for worms whose indifference towards authority and refusal to submit the required forms before acquiring the new found worm made them virtually unemployable.

When I was fourteen my school mate suggested to me that religion was an organisation that hunted on the vulnerable and those with limited mental faculties in order to swindle them of life and possessions. That was a long time ago but if you read the current newspapers you will see that he is clearly not alone in his thinking. And a Pastor once said that as is the way in life, that after shopping at the same butcher, going to the same post office or sitting at the same seats at the football each week, eventually conversations would start, then introductions and after some weeks or months talk of families and then after replying to the question of “what do you do for a living” he remarked that he could nearly always sees the cogs turning and the thoughts of “but you seemed quite normal”.

As a Christian all this talk of religion, intelligence, being normal and unemployed magpies is a little confusing. Firstly I’m not sure what religion is, I’ve never professed to have anything other than the barest amount of useable brain matter. As for being normal, whatever that is, according to one of the lecturers at the seminary whose task it was to see how we tick, apparently I’m not. And as for the magpies eating worms-I thought that was their job.

You can see why I’m so confused and that our world technology’s change so quickly does not help the situation as I’m still dumfounded by how fax machines work.  That I can fax someone over there the same thing as I have here is so mystifying that if it was done back in the dark ages I would have been burnt at the stake for being a witch.

A legendary football coach once said to another aspiring coach that “when you talk to your player’s, keep it simple and look at them like bricks with ears”. In regards to my Christian belief, maybe my friend was right. At times, I certainly feel like one of those bricks and when looking in the mirror I do see I have quite a good set of ears.

So that explains how I got here. But what about these guys:

Albert Einstein who seemed a pretty smart fellow said:

“No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates.”

The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson:

“When Christ came into my life, I came about like a well-handled ship”.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, not that a vulnerable man I would suggest mentioned that in his opinion, that he “always considered Christ to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of humanity”.

I could go on and on but two of my favourites are from United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson:

“We should live our lives as though Christ was coming this afternoon”.

and

“All the world would be Christian if they were taught the pure Gospel of Christ”

The pure Gospel of Christ can become confusing in a confused world where all things must be done in triplicate, faxed to third parties and authorised by some remote person on the other side of the world.

God did not look upon us as bricks with ears, he looked upon us as his wonderful creation, as his loved children and so he decided to keep it simple for us, that in faith and trust alone, to know that Jesus died for our sins-we are forgiven and given life.

God did not look upon us, send a third party and stay remote, he sent himself in His Son-to become flesh and blood and come amongst us.

And when we go outside His authority and break the rules, he doesn’t discard us to an unemployment queue, but employs all avenues available to bring us back to himself.

The world and we ourselves will continue to change. Today we are told certain foods are good for us, and no doubt soon enough we’ll be told the opposite. Once if your mobile phone was big you were out dated, but now they have grown in size again and one day fax machines will only be found in museums.

Things, and we change and I’ll still be confused but that’s O.K. because there is only one thing that is a constant, that the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are the same today as they were 2,000 years ago on that First Christmas.

God did the unfathomable, by doing it himself and bringing to us the pure Gospel in Jesus Christ his son, His Son the truth-the same truth given to us today as on that First Christmas.

His Son our Saviour who has promised us that:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.

“This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believe in Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise them up at the last day”

“Because I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”

“And I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also”.

I wish you a safe, joyful and peaceful Christmas and pray that every day that each of us see that small child in the manger, every day we see his healing in our lives, every day we stand at the foot of the cross and see what he has done for us, and every day go forward living our lives in hope and jubilation seeing our resurrected Christ saying to his Father, they are my children, I know each personally and by name, and they are mine. Amen.

 

The Gift

Text: Luke 2:10-11
The angel said to them (the shepherds), ‘Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David’s town your Saviour was born – Christ the Lord’

Christmas is a very exciting time, for adults and children alike. It’s a highlight of the year and part of the excitement is the giving and receiving of gifts and, of course, before you can give you need to give thought into what you will give.

The kind of gifts given at Christmas has changed a great deal over the years. My dad, who grew up in the years between the two World Wars, tells of the simple homemade gifts he received at Christmas. Somehow mysteriously gifts appeared under the Christmas tree during the Christmas Eve service – a pair of socks knitted by his Granny and a pair of shorts made by his mum and one year the boys did get something bought from the shops – a small bag of marbles each. With eight kids that was no small task for Granny to knit eight pairs of socks. Those were hard times but from what I gather the Christmases celebrated then were no less joyous and no less exciting and no less full of anticipation than they are today.

And when our own children woke up on Christmas morning they were excited just as I was when I was a kid and just as excited as their own children are this morning. Gift giving, and sharing in the delight that the gift gives, is a highlight of the Christmas celebrations.

We know that the first visitors who came to visit the Christ-child brought gifts. The shepherds who were watching over their flocks near Bethlehem were poor but they brought the baby in the manger their love and adoration. The wisemen from the east brought expensive gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but more importantly they knelt before the little child and gave him honour and worship.

In a very moving moment in the movie The Nativity Story, a rough looking group of shepherds, some carrying lambs, gather around a rather perplexed Mary and Joseph. They kneel and one old shepherd reaches out with a trembling hand to touch the baby but he thinks better and withdraws his hand. Mary says gently, “He is a gift for all mankind” and she holds out the baby and he reaches out again to touch the little one whom the angel had said is “your Saviour – Christ the Lord”. The old man is overcome with emotion as Mary says, “We have each been given a gift”. If you watch the sleeping baby carefully, he gives a little smile as baby’s do – almost a smile of approval or acknowledgment of the old man’s devotion.

Whatever was going through the shepherd’s mind at that time, he was overcome with joy to know that he was included in the happy news that the angel had announced. Today in David’s town his Saviour was born, the Messiah, the Lord God himself came in the flesh and was wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. This child was his Messiah – the Saviour – God’s Christmas gift to the shepherds and to all of us.

Sometimes we focus on the giving and on the gifts so much that we miss the fact that what we are celebrating at this time of the year is God’s gift to us. Our gift giving is a reflection of the generous gift that God gave to us at the first Christmas – the gift of his Son. This gift from God is for all people – no one is excluded.

It is a gift given out of extreme love – a love so immense, so deep, so wonderful and powerful that we can hardly begin to fathom what kind of love it is that would cause God – the ruler and creator of everything – the supreme power that holds the universe together – to become a vulnerable and helpless baby born to human parents, subject to the laws of nature and the laws of mankind, and to come into this world in such a way that is hardly believable. God came from heaven to earth to the sound of a mother crying out in childbirth in a stable; his first bed was a manger; his first visitors strangers.

Like any new parents I’m sure Mary and Joseph were overcome with emotion as they held this new life in their arms for the first time. A new life had entered the world and he was theirs to care for and to love. They also realised that this tiny bundle was God’s gift not only to them but also to the world and the world would never be the same again. This child is a gift for all mankind; he belongs to everyone and he will give everyone the greatest gifts of all – peace, forgiveness, reconciliation with God, eternal life.

And like all gifts, this child in the manger, brings joy.

After visiting the stable “the shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen.”

In fact, not only the people on earth but also the angels of heaven rejoiced at this baby’s birth. “A great army of heaven’s angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God.” The Christmas story is about a gift that brought joy to all people.

This Christmas gift from God changes things.

The father of Tom and John Peterson had died and willed the farm to his sons with the idea that the farm would “bring his sons closer together”. But it didn’t work. John had married and lived nearby in a small town with his family. Tom, who remained single, lived alone in the old farmhouse.

Tom thought, “John is always preoccupied with his family. He does what he has to on the farm but then he’s off home to the missus and the kids. I do more than my share to keep the farm going. Who gets up in the middle of the night when there’s a sick cow? Who rounds up sheep that get through the fence during the night?” And so he began to resent his brother.

On the other hand his brother John was thinking, “Tom has become so grouchy lately. It must be living alone in the old house. He seems to resent me going home to my family. He’s become such a grumpy ol’ man.” And so a wall of bitterness gradually built up between them to the point where they would hardly speak to each other.

On Christmas Eve they sat on opposite sides of the church. One of the carols they sang went like this.

Now to the Lord sing praises,

all you within this place,

and with true love and brotherhood

each other now embrace;

this holy time of Christmas

all others doth efface:

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy,

As John sang these words he was troubled because he had hardly acknowledged his brother’s presence in church that night.

On the way home he said to his wife, “Tom is alone in the farmhouse and has no one to share Christmas. I know he won’t come to our place. Maybe we can take a nice Christmas dinner to him.” His wife prepared a delicious meal. It was only a short walk so he wrapped up the dinner to keep it warm and headed for the farmhouse.

Tom was sitting alone and thought, “Life is too short for this kind of thing. John is my only brother and it hasn’t been easy for him to provide for his wife and family. I’ve just smoked some fresh metwurst and I’ve got some gifts I’ve made from wood for the kids.” So he set off toward town with his arms full of goodies.

Down in the valley between the farm and the town they met. They were silent for a moment, and then they embraced with tears in their eyes and words of “Merry Christmas! Brother, please forgive me!”

You can see what happened. The barriers came down, reconciliation took place and peace came to those brothers. The peace that God gave to each of them through his Son; the peace they heard about as they sat in the church that Christmas Eve moved them to be peacemakers toward each other.

You and I know what devastating effect sin has in our lives. Sin is so destructive. It destroys everything that is good. It destroys good relationships, like the harmony between God and us, or the friendship between people. Just think of pride, or greed, or impatience, or unkindness and how destructive they can be. We all know what it means to feel guilty when we have hurt someone in some way. Christmas changes all this. The baby in the manger is our Saviour – Jesus – the one who rescues us from our sin.

Or what about the illness, the trouble, the tragedy, the unresolved problems that burden you? You wonder why this has to happen to you. When will it end? When will we have peace of mind again? How will you ever be able to cope? Christmas changes all this.

The gift that God gave us at Christmas is a Saviour. Christmas is a celebration of God becoming human, being born in a manger, for us. As unintelligible as it is to think of almighty God becoming a weak helpless baby born in a cattle shed, that is what happened so that he could be Emmanuel, that is God with us.

That is the whole point of Christmas. There may be lots of traditions, customs associated with Christmas. There may be the giving and receiving of lots of gifts. There may be Santas, Christmas parties, and Christmas Day celebrations with friends and relatives but in the end the only thing that really counts is the gift we receive from God. The gift of a Saviour is “God with us” in all the sin, the trouble and death of this world.

This is the gift that brings peace.

This is the gift that saves.

This is the gift that lasts.

In David’s town our Saviour was born – Christ the Lord.

Isaiah 9_2-7 Born for a purpose

Well, by now most of us have opened our Christmas presents, taken a look and perhaps, especially the kids, have even played with them, using the gifts for their intended purpose.  Every gift has a purpose.  Every gift is given to be used and enjoyed for what it is.  Perhaps you received chocolates.  They were made to be eaten and enjoyed.  Or perhaps you received a digital camera.  It is made specifically to take pictures, so that we can record the special moments in our life.  We receive and give gifts for a specific purpose.

Christmas Day is a special day in which we remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus as a baby, born to human parents, Mary and Joseph, and yet born the son of God.  We also rejoice and celebrate Jesus’ birth because he was born to us, given to us, as a gift from God.  His birth is good news and of great joy to us, because he was born to fulfill a specific purpose.  Now, none of us could say that about our lives.  Yes, we can look back after many years and see how God has used us for one purpose or another, but none of us could say that from our very first breath, to our last, we were born for just one purpose.  Jesus can.  From his first cry at the breast of Mary, to his last agonising cry from the wood of the cross, Jesus life was purely and only a gift for us.

The prophet Isaiah foretold of Jesus’ destiny, telling us of his purposeful life, saying he will be all of this “a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and a Prince of Peace.”  The angel of the Lord, who appeared before Mary, told how he will be called Jesus, because the purpose of his life is to save people from their sins.  The shepherds, who were out in the fields, looking after their sheep, heard an angel say “Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  No other baby has ever been born to such a destiny and for such a purpose, only Jesus.  He was born as a gift for humanity and he was born to be given to you and me for the specific purpose of being the Christ.  Since Jesus the Christ is a gift to us, as with every gift we receive, it is important we acknowledge and receive the gift for its intended purpose.

The title ‘Christ’, used by the angel announcing his birth, is not Jesus second name, it is the meaning of his birth; Christ means ‘The anointed one’.  He is specifically born the Christos in Greek, translated from the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning ‘anointed to be king.’  Jesus, born in a stable, a place where only slaves, the poor and the hired workers go, is the king of humanity.  Jesus, lying in a dirty manger wrapped in rags made into cloth, surrounded be frighten parents, smelly animals and sinful shepherds, is the world’s Christ.  The lowly place of his birth, and the humble people that gathered around him on that holy night, reveal to us the purpose for his birth; to be the Christ to those without hope; to be the savior to those who are sinners and to be Lord to those whose only king is sin, death and the devil.

Jesus was born into the messiness of life to be Christ the saviour.  And Jesus the Christ is purposely born into the messiness of our life, not so we will try and clean up our act…the stables were never cleaned for his birth; but that he clean us with the waters of baptism.  He was born into our failures, not so we try and be better people, the shepherds remained shepherds, but that he may save us from our sins; the sin we were all born into, and the sin that rules our life and leads to death.  Just as Jesus was born king in the dark Bethlehem night, so too is Jesus born to us Christ the king, in the darkness of our life, where only we know and go, not so we shine with good works, but that he shines in us like the star over Bethlehem, pointing us to that good news that he has been born to redeem us.

The words of Isaiah are now true for you “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined.” This is the purpose of the gift to us of Jesus birth.  And for this purpose we come here today, to worship the Christ; to receive the gifts of his kingdom, the forgiveness of sins.  And to leave this place, this stable, and finally this life, in peace with God.  “Saviour of the nations, come, Virgin’s son, make here your home!  Marvel now, O heav’n and earth, that the Lord chose such a birth.  For you are the Father’s Son who in flesh the vict’ry won.  By your mighty pow’r make whole all our ills of flesh and soul.  Amen (LSB 332:1, 6)

Luke 2_1-14 What can contain God

I have this present I want to give to a friend of mine.  But I can’t just give it to him like this.  It needs to be put into a box.  It needs to be all nicely wrapped and on show, so it looks like a present from me.  I have a few boxes here.  Let’s see.  (try fitting into the boxes).  Oh no, the boxes are just too small; perhaps if I just push a little harder and squeese it into the biggest of the boxes.  There is just no way it can fit…oops, now I’ve broken it!

Tonight is Christmas Eve when we celebrate Jesus’ birth.  And part of celebrating Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is to give and receive presents; to place gifts into boxes, wrap them and either put them under a Christmas Tree or give them to people we love and care for…belongs we have the right size box that is!

What size box would it have to be to contain Jesus who is God?  How big would it have to be?  In the gospel of John, we are given some glues, he writes “I the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  The whole universe was created through Jesus.  Everything that is in existence is smaller than God; that means, he is very big.  Let’s try and measure just how big God may be, to see what size of box we would need, if we were to wrap him up as a gift.  1. Here is a picture of the earth, its circumference is 40, 000 km’s, that’s big, but God is bigger.  2. Here is a picture of our solar system which is 5, 913, 520, 000 km’s across from the sun to Pluto, big, but God is bigger.

3. Here is a picture of just part of the known universe.  One of those bright dots is our solar system.  Scientists say the universe is immeasurable, but if we were to try, it would be about 46 Billion light years across!  Now if light travels at 186, 282 miles per second, you do the sums!  That’s big, but God is bigger!  Work out what size box you would need to wrap God…you just can’t.  God is immeasurable, unknowable and beyond our understanding.

All things were created through him, so he is beyond creation.  Yet tonight we hear something astonishing, something remarkable that is announced by the angel of the Lord “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you…[or this is the box you will find him in]…a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Jesus Christ the Lord, through whom the whole universe was created; the Son of God, who was, who is and who is to come, the biggest of big, is so small and venerable, that he can be wrapped in cloths and be lying in a manger.  The angel said “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”  The good news is that Jesus came to us so small, that Mary could hold him in her arms; that we too can hold Jesus in our heart through faith.  The great joy for us is that Jesus came to us so harmless that shepherds could dare to come near, that we too can dare to come to him and be touched by his love and forgiveness.  He came for all people, so that even three wise men traveled from afar just to bring him gifts; so that we too, no matter where we live in response to Jesus we may raise our holy hands to him in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.

This is wonder and amazement of Christmas, that God would become one of us in baby Jesus.   That God, who is big enough to fill the universe, is small enough to fit in a box, the size of a manger.  The good news of great joy of his coming is that he was born as a child, as one of us, so that nothing can separate us from the love of God; neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.  For he is our present, our gift, our Lord and our salvation, sent to us with love from God.

Luke 2:1-14 double vision

 

Have you ever gone to a 3D movie?  You know the ones, where you have to
wear those silly looking glasses with one red coloured lens and the other blue?  Before the movie starts, no one wants to look silly, so the special glasses are not put on!  As you begin to watch the 3D movie without the glasses, everything seems to be doubled up, nothing seems to be connected, one picture seems to overlap the other; yet they are the same picture.  You can watch the movie, but it is very difficult to really see what is actually going on.  It is only when you put on the special glasses, do you see clearly and enjoy the 3D special effects.  With the glasses on, the doubled pictures become one and then you become part of the movie, those with out the glasses remain watching in double vision and have no concept of what is going on.

St Luke deliberately opens the miracle of the first Christmas Day, when God the creator of the universe enters into his creation as a baby, with a very grandiose earthly introduction ‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to his own town to register.’  An earthly king, who’s reign is short and who’s life as a man is but a shadow, as Job says ‘He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow,’ gains great notoriety and power with his announcement and  plans to unite Rome and conquer the world, as reflected in Luke’s account.

Jesus, on the other hand, the creative word of God, who is born Christ the Lord, king of heaven, who has dominion over rulers and principalities, who entered into the world of this earthly king; into the earthly affairs and organization structures of the Roman Empire, gains little notoriety, Luke writes ‘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.’  Two kings, two kingdoms, two rulers, both with their purpose to conquer and rule, both with plans to unite and call home their subjects.  One is known everywhere on earth, the other, Jesus, is known only by a few.

Like when we go to the 3D movies without the special glasses on and we only see double, it appears to be a confusing doubling up; two kings, two plans, two kingdoms, yet two completely different purposes; one earthly, one heavenly; one seen one unseen.  Caesar’s rule has its purpose and fulfillment in this life.  Jesus’ rule has its purpose and fulfillment in the life to come at the end of time.  There seems to be no connection what so ever between the two. Caesar’s rule, or for that matter, any earthly ruler, seems more important to us.  Jesus rule here on earth has little or no significance for our life now, his birth as a heavenly king only finds its purpose for our life after we die.  Double vision!

We often suffer this double vision, this disconnectedness between our life now and the relevance of Jesus’ birth for us today, because of sin.  Our sinful nature blinds us to the reality, to the hope and to the joy that Jesus birth in Bethlehem was to redeem all people from the bondage to sin.   The devil blinds us to the good news that Jesus does rule in our life now.  Double vision stops us from seeing that Jesus’ birth as Lord and saviour means he rules now and in eternity; we are blind and cannot see the hope Jesus can bring in our life now, as Jesus said ‘For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

The one special Christmas word, the gospel word that enables us to see again and to connect the importance of Jesus birth to our life now, the one word we need to hear to correct our double vision, is this…‘today’.  The gospel word ‘today’!  ‘Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’  The word ‘today’, that the angel spoke as part of the announcement, meant that right at that very moment, Jesus was already ‘Christ the Lord’.

‘Today’, the angel announced, while nothing had changed and the shepherds watched their sheep, baby Jesus was already the good shepherd, Christ the Lord, who shepherds people from their sins.  Today, while Caesar was busy counting his people, Jesus was NOT counting sins against humanity, as Paul writes in 2 Cor ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.’  As the angel spoke those words, ‘today’ right at that very moment salvation dawned upon all people and it will continue to dawn on every man, woman and child until Jesus’ return.

Jesus emphasized the fact that his kingly rule justified sinners ‘today’, that is, immediately, in the lives of those still living, by using the same gospel word ‘today’, as the angel did on that first Christmas night.  To Zacchaeus the tax collector, Jesus said ‘Today salvation has come to this house.’  To the man still hanging on the cross, who could do nothing but die, Jesus said ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’

The gospel word ‘today’ brings the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus as Christ the Lord into our lives.  The word ‘today’ brings salvation to our house; it is ‘today’ that we will surely be with Jesus in paradise.  Jesus’ word is living and active…it says what it does and does what it says.  That is why there is no dualism in life, no double vision, no separating Jesus from our everyday life.  Because of the gospel word of Jesus ‘today’, our whole life is one with Christ who paid the ransom for sin and redeemed us to himself on the cross.

Today, as you hear and believe Jesus’ word ‘whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned,’ you are the recipient and the joyful hearer of the of the angel’s Christmas message ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’

Titus 2:1, 11-15  The epiphany of grace

 

I have a wonderful Christmas gift here.  Its just the perfect present for you,
everything you dream a present would be or imagine a present to be.  (hold out the ‘unseen present’)  This is the ‘unseen gift’ because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone by giving you something they don’t want.  I am relying on your good will that the intention is good…I mean well!

The down side for you is that you will never see any evidence that I mean well.  You will never actually receive anything that is tangible, useful or even of benefit from this ‘unseen present’; a present that supposedly expresses my love.  In the end you will never be certain that I have actually given you anything.

The grace of God, the love of God…God is faithful, we even sing ‘God is an awesome God’, how often have we heard these phrases?   Yet in a way, these words and phrases lack substance and bring us little assurance.  After all, can we describe or experience the ‘grace of God?’  I mean, what is really meant by the grace of God and how can we be certain we have it?  Just talking about and knowing about ‘the grace of God’ means very little and gives us nothing, which means this ‘unseen gift’ is not a gift at all; a ‘gift’ implies there is actually something given that will benefit the receiver…The grace of God implies he has something to give us that will benefit us.

Tonight we celebrate the grace of God.  Tonight we celebrate with the words of St Paul in Titus ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.’  God did not remain hidden nor did he give us an ‘unseen gift’ of grace.  The grace of God has appeared to all people.  The grace of God has appeared in the human baby Jesus; born in a real stable, in a real manger and born to a real mum, Mary.  He is both truly God and truly human.  At Christmas we celebrate the epiphany, the revealing of God’s grace to us, the ‘seen gift of God’s grace’, the baby Jesus who will save us from our sins, as St John also declares ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

The grace of God is real and tangible in the Christ Child Jesus.  The grace of God, Jesus, who saves you and me, saves all people from their sin, is not an idea, a philosophy, a hope or wish, like an ‘unseen gift’, here tonight we celebrate the tangible; the historical fact and the reality that God has actually given us a gift of grace in his Son Jesus that will benefit all people, as we sing in, Hark! The herald angels sing ‘mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.’

Like with a real gift given to us that needs to be unwrapped once receive, Jesus’ birth was just the beginning of God’s epiphany of grace.  The depth of his love for us, the awesomeness of his grace was fully revealed on the cross, when Jesus was crucified for our sin.  On that real wooden cross, with real wounds, and real blood, God’s epiphany of real grace paid the dept of our real sin, as Paul writes in Romans ‘He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.’

The epiphany of God’s grace for all people began in the manger.  The awesomeness of God’s love was unwrapped on the cross.  The fullness of God’s grace has been completed in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven.   At Christmas we celebrate the epiphany of God’s grace to all people.  Every Sunday we celebrate the distribution or the giving out of God’s grace in Holy Communion.  Every Sunday God continues to reveal his grace to us, through his word and sacrament.  It is in the church that his gift of forgiveness is given and received.  The church and its liturgy are now the new manger of Jesus.  The church is the stable where we, who are made wise unto salvation, come and worship the king.

May this Christmas give you joy, hope, peace and the certainty that in Jesus, the grace of God is revealed.

Amen

Christmas Eve 2008 Isaiah 9:2-7 A Son is given to us

 

Do any of you young people know what this is? (a yoke that goes around a horses neck-explain what it does and how it works).

 

A yoke is a symbol or reminder of suffering and burden.   It cannot be removed by the one waring it and must be carried around all the time.

 

You and I have a yoke around our necks and we were born with it on.  (place the yoke upon my shoulders to symbolise death around us all) The difference between this sort of yoke, and the yoke around our shoulders, is that we cannot see ours.  Our yoke is the burden of death.  As sad and as difficult as it is to talk about on Christmas Eve, one day we will all die; it is the yoke around our necks that burdens us.  I the book of James it says ‘sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.’  Death is the invisible yoke around all of us.  Like a horse wearing this yoke and pulling a burden, it seems to us that there is no way out of our situation.

 

Left on our own, we cannot change what has happened or what will happen.  We live with this darkness overhanging us.  However, God in his great compassion and mercy, couldn’t just look on and leave us suffering under this burden.  He refused to see his people, you and me, die a death that would mean total separation from him.   In his great love for us he chose to change our situation.  Like a farmer taking this yoke off his horse, God sent his Son Jesus to remove our yoke.

 

The prophet Isaiah foresaw this saying ‘The people walking in darkness,(that foretells of all people, not just Israel), have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.  You [the Lord] have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.’  The yoke, the bar across our shoulders, the rod which pierces our hearts…death, has been shattered; totally smashed to pieces because of the birth Jesus, which we celebrate tonight.

 

Isaiah continues his excited vision saying ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’  The Child of God, Jesus, is a child who is not born for God, but to us; the Son of God is given to us.  And his birth, if you listen carefully, will remove the yoke around our shoulders.  The government will be on HIS shoulders.  That is, Jesus was born to us in Bethlehem to take the yoke, the rod we bare upon our shoulders, death, and to place it on his shoulders. 

 

(Take the yoke of my shoulders and place it on the manger and say ‘From the words of Isaiah ‘he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.’)   The wood of the manger, points forward to the wood of the cross, where Jesus, the Son of God, took the punishment for our sin, and died in our place at Golgotha.  This is the great light of Christmas; this is the light that shines in our darkness.

Jesus, the little baby in a manger, is the greatest gift we will ever receive.  So receive him into your heart through faith, let him be born into your heart this Christmas and be filled with the great joy.  For Jesus truly is reason for the season.