9.30am Christmas Day 25 December 2003
Rev Des Botting
Reading: Luke 2:1-20
Today, along with Good Friday, are the only two days of the year when much of the Western world shuts down. The shopping malls are silent. No newspapers are published, and there is an eerie quietness about our streets. And we may well ask, how can an event that happened just over 2000 years ago still have such a profound effect on our world today?
The answer is found in the words of the angels to those shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem. Dont be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ, the Lord. Praise God in heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God.[1]
From the angels words we learn how to make the most of Christmas:
1. Make Christmas a time for CELEBRATION. The angel said, Dont be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. Christmas is a time to be joyful because of all God has given you and done for you. Christmas says, God wants you to know what he is like, and so he sent his Son to both tell and show you. But even more than that, Christmas says that he wants YOU to know him, to have a personal relationship with him, which is what the Bible means by eternal life.[2] As we sang a few moments ago, Celebrations come because of something good and Christmas is the greatest celebration of them all. It is a time to put aside your problems and pressures and focus on Gods amazing gift to you. Today we celebrate the birthday of Jesus. Birthdays arent complete without a birthday cake. Graham Goodwin has kindly baked us one and you can have a piece at morning tea this morning. (Put words of birthday song on screen when cake is brought into church.)
2. Make Christmas a time for SALVATION! The angel said, This very day a Saviour was born for you. If we had needed information, God would have sent us an Educator. If we had needed better government, God would have sent us a politician. But what we need most is salvation - so God sent us a Saviour. What is salvation? Its forgiveness for my past, power to manage my present problems, and a guarantee for my future. When you receive Gods gift of salvation, He takes care of everything your past, your present, and your future. But like any gift, you must receive it in order to benefit from it. When a lifeguard is trying to rescue someone, they can do little until the person stops trying to save themselves. Its the same with us. Many people have a problem with receiving gifts. They find it much easier to give something than to. Gods gift of salvation in Jesus Christ is a gift that must be received. The Bible says, ..to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God.[3] Make Christmas a time for salvation by receiving the Saviour God has given you in his Son, Jesus Christ.
3. Make Christmas a time for RECONCILIATION. We sang a short time ago the words, Hark the herald angels sing glory to the new-born King; peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Christmas is a time for reconciliation; a time to be reconciled with God and to be reconciled with one another. First you make peace WITH God, and then you receive the peace OF God. Once you have that youll find it easier to make peace with other people.
I want to share with you a true story that illustrates the joy that comes when we are reunited with the one to whom we belong, and from whom we have been separated through the work of the enemy of our souls.
A pastor and his wife in their first ministry were assigned to open a church in suburban Brooklyn. They arrived in early October excited about the opportunity given them. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. The next day a terrible storm hit the area that lasted for two days.
On the 21st the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.
The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped by. One of the items was a beautiful, handmaid, ivory coloured, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colours and a Cross embroidered right in the centre. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.
By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it, and so the pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in the pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the centre aisle. Her face was like a sheet. Pastor, she asked, where did you get that tablecloth? The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EGB were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before in Austria.
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just bought it. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housekeeping job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit of the service were great. At the end the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.
One older man, whom the pastor recognised from the neighbourhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasnt leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war, and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike. He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.
The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the womans apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.
This is something of what it is like when we are reconciled to God.
We can make the most of Christmas when we make it a time for celebration, salvation and reconciliation.
[1] Luke 2:11-12,14 (All Bible references are from the Contemporary English Version unless otherwise stated.)
[2] cf John 17:3
[3] John 1:12 NRSV
[4] The Headings for this Outline were taken from Rick Warrens contribution to New Zealands Willow Creek Association Just a Minute for December 2003 under the same title as this message, Making the Most of Christmas.