I want to draw your attention to the large Christmas box that is up here by our altar. Each Sunday during the month of December, we have opened a new Christmas gift based on different characters from the nativity display that we have been placing on the altar.
We first opened
the gift of expectation. And the symbol
for this Christmas gift is Mary, the mother of Jesus. For those months of her pregnancy, Mary was
filled with the expectancy that God’s promises for Israel and for the whole
world were about to be fulfilled through the birth of her son. This gift of expectancy is what prompts us to
look for signs of God’s kingdom through our day to living. It makes a difference in our lives when we
know that God is at work in the world in new and exciting ways.
The second
Christmas gift we opened was the gift of acceptance. The symbol for this gift is Joseph. God was asking a lot from Joseph. Joseph had been busy making wedding plans and all
of the sudden he needed to accept a new reality that Mary was with child by the
Holy Spirit. This was a lot for Joseph
to accept in a short amount of time, especially since he knew that nobody would
believe him.
When we receive
the Christmas gift of acceptance, like Joseph we sometimes just need to accept
the reality of the situation we are facing as well as how other people will
respond. We can accept our present reality
when we know that God is with us even when we may feel alone.
Then we opened up
the Christmas gift of family. The
shepherds are the symbol for this gift. They
were the unexpected guests at the manger scene since they were viewed as
outcasts in their society. God chose to
include the unlikeliest of people to gather around the manger there in
Bethlehem.
Whenever we feel
outside of God’s family, it’s so good to know that God’s invitation is always
being extended to us. A while back, a church member wrote these words about what makes the church special.
“My beloved church is always there whether
I’m there or not. No matter how long I’m
gone or how quickly I return, the door is always open.”
The shepherds
remind us that God’s door is always open.
There is always room for us.
Shepherds symbolize the gift of family.
And then this morning during our 4th Sunday of Advent services, the Christmas gift that we opened was a mirror.
It was a mirror because we are the gift.
The innkeeper who isn’t even part of the manger scene, symbolizes this
gift because we’re not sure whatever happened to this person. Sometimes we get so busy preparing for
Christmas that we forget to see ourselves as part of the manger scene. Christmas is about opening the gift of
yourself.
So these are the
four Christmas gifts so far in the month of December – the gift of expectation,
the gift of acceptance, the gift of family, and the gift of yourself. But we do have one more gift to take out of
the Christmas box.
I need a volunteer who is willing to open the gift tonight on our behalf.
(Opening of the Gift)
The gift is the
Christ Child!
The nativity
display wouldn’t be complete without baby Jesus in the manger. Yes, this is the gift for us to receive. The gift of Jesus is why Mary, Joseph, the
shepherds, and the innkeeper found themselves together in the little town of
Bethlehem on that holy night. And the
gift of Jesus is what has brought us here tonight. It’s a gift that we are invited to receive in
a new way every Christmas. It’s a gift
that is meant to be opened again and again and again.
For a little girl
named Jessica, it was a perfect Christmas.
She got every single gift she wanted.
Her favorite cousins were there to share the holiday with her. She had eaten her favorite foods all day
long. As her mother tucked her in for
bed, she looked up and smiled and said, “Mom,
I sure hope Mary and Joseph have another baby next year.”
The gift of the
Christ Child is meant to be opened not once, but every year. Why else do we decorate our homes and set up
the nativity display each year? It’s
because we know deep down that there is something very special about this gift
that God is offering to us. We want it
to last and to be with us always.
Speaking of
Christmas presents, I received a really nice present one year.
A lot of you remember
the electric football game, 1970’s style, right? It was so much better than today’s Madden
NFL. So much better! Those of you who are in your 40s and 50s know
what I mean. Did you have an electric
football game when you were growing up?
It was
awesome! The technology on that thing
was genius. With a flick of the switch,
your carefully lined up tiny players would vibrate on this metallic surface. But the players would never ever go in the
direction that you had them pointed. It was a miracle if the player went five
yards in the correct direction.
All it took was
the slightest piece of dust or fuzz on that sheet of metal and your prize
running back would turn a promising fifteen-yard gain into a gut-wrenching thirty-yard
loss. It was sooo frustrating. Lucky was the kid, who ever had a plastic
player vibrate straight down the field for a touchdown.
I remember one
time, my little running back man made it all the way to the one yard line,
which in reality was literally three millimeters and something caused him to do
a 180 and run the whole way to the other end zone for a safety. It was the
worst feeling in the world. In that
regard, Madden NFL is a lot better!
So anyway, Santa
gave me this electric football game for Christmas one year. I was so happy. Best Christmas present ever! My brother and I played it all day on Christmas. The next day, the day after Christmas, my
neighbor came over and we were playing with my electric football game. And you won’t believe what happened.
My little
vibrating plastic man went the entire length of the field and scored a
touchdown. He never turned around. Nothing stopped him. He avoided every single piece of lint and
fuzz between him and the end zone. He
went like Chris Berman says, “HE –WENT-ALL-THE-WAY!”
To celebrate this
once in a lifetime achievement, I did a handstand next to the field, but I
couldn’t keep my balance. I flipped over
and my body landed on my new electric football game. I put a dent near the sideline around the
forty yard line. I was never so crushed
in my life! I could still play a game on
it, but if the players were anywhere near that side of the field, the gravity
would pull them into this dent every single time. I tried to fix it by pushing up the dent from
underneath the field, but then the players couldn’t make it over the little
hill that was formed.
My favorite
Christmas present was broken. My favorite
Christmas gift ever was broken. But when I was in my twenties, my brother came
to visit us for Christmas one year. And
guess what he gave me for Christmas that year?
A brand new electric football game, just like the one that I had damaged
so many Christmases ago.
Christmas is a time to remember that God
specializes in making all things new. God
is more than able to take the dents and the brokenness of our lives and give us
a new future. Old Christmas gifts can be
transformed and made new. We can be made
new. Every Christmas is a time to
receive God’s gifts of new life.
Like Mary, we can
receive the gift of expectation. Like
Joseph, we can receive the gift of acceptance.
Like the shepherds, we can receive the gift of family. And like the innkeeper, we can receive the
gift of ourselves and take our place around the manger scene.
And tonight, we
are invited to receive the gift of the Christ Child. Picture yourself around
the manger scene with Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. As you look upon this baby, what will your
response be to this wonderful gift that God is offering us tonight?
Years ago, a
young man was riding a bus from Chicago to Miami. He had a stop-over in Atlanta. While he was sitting at the lunch counter, a
woman came out of the lady’s rest room carrying a tiny baby. She walked up to this man and asked, “Would you hold my baby for me? I left my
purse in the rest room.”
He did. But as the woman neared the front door of the
bus station, she darted out into the crowded street and was immediately lost in
the crowd.
When he finally
calmed down, he went to the Traveler’s Aid booth and together with the local police,
they soon found the child’s mother. The
woman who had left him holding the baby wasn’t the baby’s biological mother.
She had taken the child from someone.
Maybe she took the baby to satisfy some motherly urge to hold a child or
something else. No one really knows. But we do know that this man breathed a sigh
of relief when this baby’s mother was found.
After all, what was he going to do with a baby?
In a way, we’re
all in the same sort of situation as this young man. Every Christmas, we’re invited to hold this
baby. The Christ Child is placed in our
arms. And we are left with the question,
“What are we going to do with this baby?”
It’s
Christmas. It’s time to open our gifts
and be made new.
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