Saturday, December 7, 2013

Sermon (December 22) by Rev. Robert McDowell - "Love…Gotta Have It"

     


     One of my favorite ice cream shops uses the phrase “Got to Have It” when you want their largest ice cream cone size.  The name for a medium size cone is “Love It.” And the small size is, “Like It.”

     Christmas is definitely a “Gotta Have It” type of holiday. The Christmas story reminds us of a God who was willing to go to all of the trouble of sending his only Son into the world to be our Savior.

     And if we really want to appreciate the true meaning of the Christmas story, we also need to keep in mind the bigger story of what God did for us by sending his only Son. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus offers us four eternal gifts that we have been exploring during this Season of Advent. Jesus offers us hope, peace, joy, and love. God went to great lengths to offer us these eternal gifts.

     Ron Lavin, a pastor shares the story of a mother who was living in a tenement house and went shopping for groceries. While she was in the store, a fire engine raced by. She wondered, "Is the fire engine going to my home?" She had left her baby asleep at home. Forgetting about the groceries, she ran toward home. Her building had fire hoses aimed at it. It was burning like a matchbox. Rushing to the chief, she cried out, "My baby is up there." He shouted back to her, "It would be suicide for anyone to go up there now; it's too late." 

     A young fireman standing by volunteered, "Chief, I have a little baby at home, and if my house were on fire, I'd want someone to go up to save my baby. I'll go." The young fireman climbed the stairs; he got the baby, threw her into the rescue net, and just as he did, the house collapsed and he was burned to death. 

     The scene is 20 years later at a graveside. A 20-year-old woman is sobbing softly. Before her, at the head of this grave, is the statue of a fireman. A man stopping by asks respectfully, "Was that your father?" She replies, "No." "Was that your brother?" "No," she says. "That's the man who died for me." 

     During this holy season, it’s important for us to pause and consider the costly love that God poured out for us by sending us Jesus. In our Gospel reading for today, Joseph is visited by an angel who explains to him that he is to name Mary’s son, “Jesus” for he will save his people from their sins. This costly love led Jesus to go so far as to die on a cross so that we might have the hope, peace, joy, and love, that God intends for us to have.

     God’s love is a “Got to Have It” kind of love. It’s a love that accepts us just as we are. It’s a love that assures us that death is not the end. It’s a love that reminds us that with God, new life can begin. It’s a love that reassures us, especially during the dark times of life.  It’s a love that reminds us that we are never alone for God is our Emmanuel, our God who is always with us.

     Christmas is about love. The word that the bible uses to describe God’s love is the Greek word, “agape.” Agape love is an unconditional love. It’s a love that is offered with no strings attached. It’s a love that is offered to us regardless of who we are or what we have done.

     When we receive the love of Christmas, we can’t help but to want to share this love with the people around us. This love is so wonderful that we just can’t keep it to ourselves.

     In our Romans scripture this morning, the Apostle Paul explains that he has been called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel, the good news of God, concerning his Son, Jesus. Why would a small group of people located on a tiny sliver of land in the Middle East even think about risking their lives to share the good news of Jesus with the wider world?

     It was because this news was too good to keep to themselves. This news was so good that they just had to share it with everyone around them. God’s love becomes more special to us when we share it with others. God’s love becomes even more meaningful to us when we share it with others.

     In a world that would have us believe that the true meaning of this season is “What’s in it for me?” our scripture readings remind us that the true gift of Christmas is when we share the gift of God’s son with others. That’s what brings us the most joy and happiness.

     Let’s watch this video about a ministry in Fort Worth, Texas and how a church is sharing Christmas love with the homeless. Let’s watch.

(Video)

     I love this ministry because not only is this church sharing the love of Christmas with people who are homeless, but they are providing opportunities for those who are homeless to share this same love with their friends and family. A “Gotta Have It” kind of Christmas love is a love that is always meant to be shared with others.

     It’s hard to believe but tomorrow will be Christmas “Eve-Eve.” Our Worship Team decided to add this new Christmas “Eve-Eve” candlelight service this year so that we can reach even more people with our regular Christmas Eve services that will be held two days from now.

     As many of you already know, Christmas Eve is the highest attended worship time for our church. More people come to church on Christmas Eve than any other time during the year. Even if people might not attend church at any other time during the year, there is something about Christmas Eve with the singing of “Silent Night” and the lighting of candles that makes it really special.

     I wonder if there’s some way that each of us can share some Christmas love especially with people who will be new to our church for our services over the next two days. This might mean attending the service tomorrow night to help free up more seating when the larger crowds come on Tuesday evening. Or it might mean helping to serve as a greeter at one or more of the services to welcome people as they come through our doors and help them find a seat.

     Some of our church members are intending to come to tomorrow night’s candlelight service and then serve as a greeter the next night. Or sharing Christmas love might be as simple as making room in your pew for that couple who has arrived late for the service.

     Christmas love is meant to be shared. It’s just too wonderful to keep to ourselves. Just think what Christmas will be like if we intentionally offer hospitality to those around us.

     Many of you know that we have a new District Superintendent, Rev. Kathy Brown of our Capitol Area South District which consists of about 125 churches. Each year, the pastors in the district have one to one meetings with their Superintendent to discuss how things are going in our churches.  And one of the first things Kathy said to me during my one on one time with her  this past August was, “My husband and I visited your church for worship not too long ago.”


     Now, when pastors hear that, we panic and we just hope and pray that it was one of our better Sundays.”  And then she told me which Sunday it was.

      She came during one of our low attendance Sundays because we just had the Lancaster Festival and then there were a lot of people who were on vacation including myself and only one person from our praise band was there. The air conditioner had broken down earlier that week. It was also a Sunday where a couple of people became ill during the services that Sunday which brought in the emergency squads during worship.

     And so I said to her with a bit of a shaky voice, “Oh, you came on that Sunday.” I braced myself for what she was going to say next.

     And here is what she said about her experience at our church that Sunday morning. She said, “We weren’t really that familiar with the church but when we got to the door, someone was there to greet us and welcome us with a smile. The person introduced himself to us and asked if we were new to the church. When we said that we were visiting, he invited us to pick up a gift at the information desk in the parlor and said that they would be able to answer any questions about our church.”

     “When the person fainted during the service, one of your members immediately jumped out of the pew to be of assistance and helped care for this situation in a loving way. And during this whole time, Pastor Cheryl was calm and invited the congregation to be in prayer for this person. It was all handled very well. I just want you to know that we were really impressed with your congregation.”

     Inside, I was saying, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus!” Friends, thank you for being a church that welcomes people even though things might not go as planned on Sunday morning. Thank you for being a church of hospitality. And thank you for being a congregation that doesn’t want to just keep the love of Christ to yourself, but you also want to share it with others. Thank you for being that kind of congregation especially during one of our more challenging Sundays.

     Christmas is a “Gotta Have It” kind of love. It’s a love that led God to send us his only Son to free us from our sins and offer us the wonderful gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love.

     And when we share these gifts with others, it keeps Christmas real.
  

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