Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Sermon (Christmas Eve) by Rev. Robert McDowell - "Keeping It Real"


     According to an NBC news affiliate which aired around this time last year, well over half of us prefer an artificial Christmas tree instead of a real one. According to this report, only 18% of us are old school when it comes to our Christmas trees.

     My brother happens to part of that 18% and he proudly reminds me of this every single Christmas. He knows that Penny and I sold out a long time ago when it comes to buying real Christmas trees. We think we have a very beautiful Christmas tree, but all he can see are the metal tubes and the fake pine needles.

     I must admit that I’m envious every time I see his 12 foot tall authentic Christmas tree that has been freshly cut down and always includes the delightful smell of pine throughout his house. That’s something you just don’t get with an artificial tree that gets stored in a box year round.

     In one of the churches I pastored, the young adult Sunday School class invited me to a Christmas decorating party that was held in their classroom. When I arrived, they had punch and cookies and after about ten minutes, somebody said, “Let’s start decorating.”

     I watched as a couple of the class members walked to a nearby storage closet and carried out an artificial Christmas tree that still had the lights and the decorations on it from the previous year. They stood up the tree in the corner of their classroom, plugged in the lights, and someone yelled out, “We’re done. Help yourself to some more punch and cookies.”

     I guess there is something to be said for real Christmas trees.

     Whether you have a real Christmas tree or an artificial one isn’t really the point. The real question is if our faith is real or not. 

     The Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke is all about keeping it real. The gospel writer reminds us that God risked everything by sending us Jesus.

     The one who would be given the title the King of Kings was first born in the shadow of the mighty Roman Emperor Augustus who claimed this title for himself.

     The one who would go on to heal the sick, calm the storm, and feed the multitude would first be placed in a lowly manger upon his birth. 

     And the one who would face rejection and betrayal, would be turned away at his birth because there was no room in the inn.

     Yes, the Christmas story itself is a story that helps us to keep it real.

     Over the past several Sundays here in church, we have been asking ourselves this very important question. Are we keeping Christmas real?

     During the first Sunday of Advent, we looked at how we can keep Christmas real by embracing the hope of the coming of Christ into the world. George Iles once said, “Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.” A little later in our service tonight, we will be doing just that. We will be lifting our lit candles in the dark of the sanctuary and the hope of Christ will bring light to this place.

     To help make hope more real, some of us have been doing some fridge journaling where every time we open the refrigerator we jot down on a note pad, a time when God got us through what seemed at the time like a hopeless situation.

     And then we were given the challenge to share some of these experiences of hope with the people around us. Sharing hope with others is a way to keep Christmas real.

     On the second Sunday of Advent, we focused on embracing the peace of Christmas. When we put our focus on Christ, rather than on the materialism of Christmas, we experience a deeper sense of God’s peace in our lives.

     Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” One of the ways we can keep it real this Christmas is by seeking peace rather than division. We will discover that it’s when we are actively seeking peace, that we will experience a peace that passes all understanding.

     On the third Sunday of Advent, we discovered that we can keep it real through an attitude of joy. That’s why one of the candles around the Advent wreath is pink and not blue like all the others. Blue reminds us to patiently wait for the coming of Christmas but the color pink reminds us that we can experience joy along the journey.

     The pink candle represents the third Sunday of Advent leading up to Christmas. The church refers to this Sunday of Advent as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is a Latin word that means “Rejoice.”

     Helen Keller once said, “Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence a glow.” If you want to keep Christmas real, just look around at how God is at work in our world, and you this will lead you to a Gaudete moment of rejoicing.

     And this past Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, we gave some thought to how love helps us to keep it real at Christmas. It’s when we share the love of Jesus that we experience the deepest kind of love there is. This love is an unconditional love that accepts us for who we are and loves us just the way we are.

     Morrie Schwartz once said, “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love and let it come in.”

     I see so many examples of people sharing God’s love through our church and it’s all because God’s love is just too incredible to keep to ourselves. It’s the kind of love that fills us and we can’t help but to share it with the people around us.

     If you are looking to keep it real this Christmas, just remember these four themes of our Advent season. Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. These Advent Candles remind us of how we can keep it real this Christmas and beyond.

     For the past four years, people in our church and from the community gather at our church’s Crossroads facility on West Fair Avenue from 8:30 am to noon on the second Saturday of each month.  Our mission is simple.  We want to be a blessing in our community. We call this our Second Saturday outreach ministry.

     We have painted several of the city’s fire hydrants, painted over graffiti on bridges, served as volunteers for charity events, helped with house repairs, laid new flooring at Foundation Dinners, given away quarters to people at the Laundromat, helped residents at a nursing home play bingo and chair volleyball, taken bags of fruit and cookies to first time responders and to people who are shut-in, raked people’s yards, helped with the Habitat for Humanity resale store, made warm blankets for nursing home and hospice patients, helped build a tree house for the students at Forrest Rose school for Developmental Disabilities, along with several other projects just to give you an idea of what Second Saturday is all about.

     A couple of weeks ago, we had fun assembling and wrapping Christmas presents for several needy families in our community.  I am terrible at gift wrapping and even I ended up wrapping several gifts that somehow passed inspection.

     One of the people we helped for Christmas last year is a man in his 50s who shared this letter with us. If anything can help us keep Christmas real this year, it would be this man’s letter. Here’s what he wrote and these are totally his words:

     “I receive disability and both kids live with me right now.  Me and my wife separated a year ago and in February, we learned that our son who was 5 at the time was being sexually abused by a cousin.

     My wife had a mental breakdown and had to stay in a hospital for a while and we both agreed that it would be best for the kids to live with me but while my wife was in and out of the hospitals, me and the kids were homeless and we stayed in a shelter for a couple of months and recently received help to get me and my kids into an apartment.

     From April to July, me and the kids have lived in a tent, took baths in creek water, cook food over an open fire. Community Action helped us get into an apartment.

     In September, I had a heart attack and found out I have a big blood clot in my heart.  They say I have not got much time so I hope that this Christmas will be a good one for me and the kids. The kids and I don’t have much but at least we have a home thanks to people who have helped us.”

     I called this dad to let him know that I received his letter and that our church was glad to help them for Christmas. I offered him words of support and shared in a prayer with him, reminding him that God was with him and that God loved him.

     After I hung up the phone, I remember thinking that Christmas never felt more real to me than it did in that moment. And I know it had something to do with hope, peace, joy, and love.


     This past week, I was on the phone with my insurance agent. As she was pulling up my policy, she noticed that I was a minister. To kill time she said, “So Rob, are you ready for your Christmas Eve services? I mean, this is a really busy time of year for you.”

     I told her that I was close to being ready. She said, “Well, that’s good, Rob.”

     Since the computer was slow in pulling up my information she asked me another question just to pass the time. “So, it must be really hard to preach on Christmas Eve. Don’t you ever run out of something new to say?”

     Now, up until that very moment, I had been feeling pretty good about tonight’s sermon. All of the sudden, I wasn’t so sure anymore.

     So I told her, “Yeah, it is a challenge, but I think I’m ready again this year.” She said, “Well, that’s good to hear, Rob.”

     Ok everyone, so here’s my super insightful and genius thought to leave with you tonight. Are you ready for this? This is going to blow you away. Here’s my genius thought.

     This Christmas, remember to keep it real.

     Merry Christmas!

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