Monday, December 5, 2011

Sermon (December 4) "Christmas Around the World: Mexico" By Rev. Cheryl Foulk



       As we begin this second week of Advent, our Christian friends in Mexico are also counting the days until Christmas. They are preparing  in much warmer surroundings.
High of 79 today in Monterrey, Mexico!

        I would like to share with you about a colder place and time.  In the winter of 1979, a friend and I were traveling back from Dallas ,Texas to Lexington Ky. We were seminary students and had been at a conference at Southern Methodist University. Somewhere in Arkansas, we were in the midst of a heavy snow storm. We went as far as we could but the interstate was closed. We were in a small town with no motel.

        As I remember, we called the the local UM Church to see if they knew someone who could take us in. A young school teacher in a small house volunteered to be our hostess. We along with some additional students camped out at her house. She made a huge pot of chili and we found shelter on that bitterly cold day. We played board games and talked  until sometime the next day when the road reopened. I don't remember her name but I certainly remember her kindness and willingness to take in folks that she had never seen before.

       I would imagine that we have all been in situations where we needed someone's help. Think of the times when you have been  welcomed. Maybe it was when you were helped  to fix a flat tire, or someone gave you a ride to the doctor,or lent you some money until pay day. Somehow these persons extended an attitude of welcome and  a  helping hand.

       The Las Posadas tradition (which is part of our service today )began when the Spanish missionaries told the story of Jesus birth in Bethlehem to the native people of Mexico. The  remembrance of Mary and Joseph traveling and needing a place of shelter developed into a 9 day event where groups of pilgrims search nightly for a home that will allow them to enter.   If the participants are allowed inside, there will be a festival of prayer and  carols and fiesta.

     We remember that it was after Jesus' birth that Mary and Joseph and their small son had to flee for a safe place because Jesus life was in danger. They made their way  from Judea all the way to Egypt where they were strangers and had to depend upon those around them  to offer hospitality and help. They were refugees far away from home.

     In our lives, we find ourselves in both roles. Sometimes we receive help from others, and sometimes we are there to give help to those in need. In the Old Testament there is a Scripture where God  reminds the people of Israel to  treat the stranger with kindness:

 “When a  stranger resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. . . Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. “

      I once worked with a woman named Grace who was a nurse. I appreciated her friendship because I was new in that town. During our breaks, we talked  and she told me of her life. She was Japanese American  and had grown up in California. During WWII ,as a little girl, she and her family had to leave their home to go to one of the U.S. government  internment camps for persons of Japanese background. She told me how frightening it was to leave everything they had, and not know how long they would be gone, or what would be there when they returned. Even though they were American citizens, they were required to go to the camps. She and her family lived in barracks until the end of the war.  

        When Grace and I worked together, I became sick and missed several days of work. Of all my coworkers, Grace was the one who found my apartment, and delivered homemade chicken soup which aided in my recovery. May be she did this  because she was a nurse, or maybe it was because her name was Grace, but it probably was because she knew what it was like to be looked at as a stranger, to be in trouble, to depend upon someone else. Grace lived out her faith as she cared intentionally for those around her.

        We are in midst of the Advent season where we are  reflecting on God's gift of Jesus to our world and what that means for our lives. It is a season of  great hospitality. We gather together for Christmas events  and dinners. We have special parties in our organizations We draw names and buy gifts for friends and family. It is a time of year where we express our love for one another.
We send cards and  try to be thoughtful to those we care about. It is a great season of giving. How large can our circle of care reach? Are there limits to the love and welcome that we can give?

         In the marketplaces and in homes , preparations are also being made in Mexico for Christmas.  In worship services in the Methodist Churches there, people will be singing carols and remembering the story of Jesus birth.  One of the newest Methodist churches in the Oriental Conference in Mexico is Templo Alleluya. Besides gathering for worship, the Templo Alleluya Church has a daily feeding program for children and  hopes to also start a school  for the neighborhood.

        Templo Alleluya is located in a area of shacks built along a railroad track  in Piedras Negras,a  border town across from Eagle Pass,Texas.   The assigned minister,Pastor Hector ,wasn't sure if the church could survive in this place with limited water and electricity. The church however survives and ministers among and with the people there. Pastor Hector and his wife Berta  saw the great needs of the neighborhood, especially hunger. He and his family prayed that there would be enough food to satisfy the hunger of the people who came to his church.

      “One day, we had no food, but we came across some bags on the side of the road..and they were full of bread.” Pastor Hector recalls. “There were enough for every person in the church. We found out (that day) that God was in charge of the food!”

     Repeatedly they have been amazed at the way God has provided.

      I think that it is also true  that God is in charge of  Advent and Christmas!
When we make our lists of all that needs to be done, leave room for what God wishes to include on that list.  Let's begin each day with the prayer that we will be  ready to
receive and welcome those who may be in need of friendship, of support, of help.
It may be the server at your table, the cashier at the store, the new neighbor down the street, a co worker you don't know very well, the person who is very different from you.

        A friend of mine who is a pastor was telling this story of what happened to him on a Christmas Eve. He was working late at the church trying to get every thing prepared for the 7:00 service. It was 5:30 and he still had things to do. There was a knock at his office door. A young couple were there along with their baby. The couple were heading for West Virginia; they had enough money for gas and a meal, but they needed diapers.

     My friend was frustrated by this interruption. He really did not want to have to deal with a  baby on Christmas Eve!  And then the realization came to him: isn't that what Christmas Eve was all about ? A new born in need far from home. Opportunities to offer hospitality don't always come at a convenient time or place or according to our schedules. They come in God's timing.

      Leave room on your lists for the opportunities that God will give you this Advent.
Remember the times when you have needed grace, forgiveness, compassion, and how God has met those needs. What a privilege that we can also treat someone else as a cherished guest!
     There will always be people in need of welcoming. The world yearns for cups of cold water, for acts of kindness,for interest instead of indifference, for looks of understanding instead of disgust. This Advent let the Las Posadas be reflected in our lives as we make room for others!

     James 2:14-18  The Message
     17Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is  nonsense?
     18I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."

     Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
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