Anticipation Or The Best Christmas Present Ever
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Dear Fellow Pastors,
Despite weapons inspections in Iraq and the stock market roller coaster, the thing on the minds of many people right now is the Christmas season. Here at The Immediate Word, we are not interested in another sermon bemoaning the commercialization of Christmas, but one that appreciates the best of what the season offers, including the opportunities to see the needs of people around us with fresh eyes, is timely.
So for this week's installment, team member Carter Shelley has explored that subject. We included team comments, related illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
Anticipation
or
The Best Christmas Present Ever
By Carter Shelley
Psalm 126
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Luke 1:47-55
We can never know about the days to come
But, we think about them anyway.
Anticipation, anticipation ...
-- Carly Simon, 1971,
I remember lying in bed Christmas night. I am 11 years old and feeling a little sad knowing that it would be an entire 365 days until Christmas would happen again. The day had been good: several surprise presents and several that I'd asked for as well. But as I lay there thinking about the day, I realized that it wasn't the day itself I wanted to repeat; it was the whole season of Christmas -- Presbyterians didn't call it Advent in 1964 in South Carolina -- that I loved so much. It was making Christmas cookies with my mother, and rehearsing songs for the church Christmas pageant as a member of the junior choir. It was looking through the magical Better Homes and Garden magazine Christmas edition trying to decide which of the amazing door designs I would help duplicate for our house that year. And it was coming up with some special present for my mom and dad, and okay, my older brother and younger sister. It was driving past the college and seeing the big Christmas tree (as big as the one at the White House) all lit up, and the Christmas specials on television, and all the special Christmas services at our church.
Now, I know that a lot of what I relished and savored about Christmas had as much to do with commercialism as Christianity, but the part that stayed with me into adulthood has been the anticipation and the celebration that come from singing familiar Christmas carols, watching yet another rendition of A Christmas Carol, the special Christmas Eve service our church had every year. The smells, the sights, the sounds, the warmth of Christmas all remain strong.
Christmas. Even as a child, it was more about anticipation, preparation, and the activities that were involved in getting ready for Christmas than it was about getting presents.
Anticipation can keep people alive in the face of horrible obstacles.
Anticipation of God's intervention and grace gave hope to an ancient cultic community singing psalms of ascent and joy at God's favor. Anticipation of further divine favor and liberation from all they had suffered reassured the former exiles as they readjusted to life in their homeland with encouraging words from the prophet Isaiah (Trito-Isaiah).
Anticipation of the birth not only of a son, but also of her Savior led Mary-the-mother-to-be to burst into song:
God has put down the might from their thrones
And exalted those of low degree
He has filled the hungry with good things
And the rich he has sent empty away
He has helped his servant Israel
Psalm 126 celebrates the joyful anticipation of ancient Israel that God is the source and giver of all that is good in life. The enthusiasm and simplicity of the psalm has a childlike tone, and perhaps it was one of the first psalms that young children learned. In four short verses, it contains all the essential ingredients of God's covenant both Old and New: 1) God initiates a relationship with his chosen people; 2) God forgives his people their transgressions; 3) God restores broken relationships and broken hearts; and God redeems not only Jews but Gentiles as well. Who wouldn't worship and praise such a God? Worshiping: That's how the singers of this psalm actively anticipate and celebrate God's intervention in their lives.
Isaiah 61:1-4 and 8-11 are the words of a prophet who actively prophesies God's message to the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem and Judah after the Babylonian exile. Demoralized, dispirited, humbled and in pain, they remain God's people. Thus, Trito-Isaiah's proclamation to them that divine salvation is coming "not by historical event but by divine, miraculous transformation of a condition, the nation's oppression and its impoverishment" will be turned into "its opposite" almost as though God has repented and changed their course from punishment and shame to salvation and hope.1 The prophet's words not only declare a change, they seem to affect it with words of comfort and solace: to heal wounds, to bring liberty to the captives, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all who mourn; in short, to restore wholeness to a shattered people and a shattered nation. By prophesying the good news of God's return with God's people to their homeland and of God's intention to save them from the hardships they have suffered, Isaiah actively anticipates a better future for Judah.
Mary the soon-to-be mother of Jesus, must actively agree to accept the call the angel places before her. "I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to his word," she replies to the astonishing and scary news that she is the one who will bear and care for the promised Messiah. It is a responsibility she takes on without any promises of economic security, social acceptance, or a happy ending. She could have been 13 or 23; we don't know her age, her hair color or anything precisely, except that she said, "Yes," to God, and in so doing, became the first to connect the concept of Son and Savior with the long awaited promises of liberation for God's beleaguered people in Judea.
In Mary's words God's preference for the poor is recognized and claimed. God doesn't want his Son born into the family of a king or nobleman, for how can a rich man understand what it is to be poor? Nor can this promised Messiah defend the poor or defeat the rich if he is himself rich and powerful. Wealth and power are not the things that God most wants from humanity or wants to give to humanity. Thus the Son to be born is to be the champion of the poor and the redeemer of Israel, which means his life will not be an easy one. Powerful men will want to kill him. Rich people will hate him and call him a revolutionary. Poor ones will want to use him up in their own need and greed.
And he won't have time for his mother. Mary will have to stand aside and say, "He isn't my son. He doesn't belong to me. His work is his own. I remain the handmaid of the Lord and I must not interfere." Mary actively agrees to become the mother of Jesus and anticipates the liberating future that his birth and life promise.
The psalm singers anticipate God's coming by worshiping God. Isaiah anticipates God's salvation by prophesying the Good News. Mary anticipates God's entry into the world by agreeing to be the mother of his Son.
And what about us? We are not poor and persecuted nomads living in a hostile world. We are not returning to our homeland after years in exile in an alien land. We are not risking our future by agreeing to become the unwed mother of a revolutionary Messiah. But we do feel poor, displaced, and afraid of taking risks at some time or other in our lives, don't we? We do more to get ready for Christmas than just sit around and wait for it to happen. We send Christmas cards, help out with church activities, attend worship services, buy presents, bake special goodies, invite friends and family over for fellowship; we also share of our bounty by giving to charities and to disadvantaged children's funds and gift drives. We are active in our anticipation and our expectation that Christ is come and will come again December 25.
The question is: Are the many activities that we pursue during Advent activities that are in keeping with the best Christmas present any of us have ever received? Yes, we're engaged in the usual stuff, but what else might we do to express our gratitude and appreciation for the gift God has given us in Jesus Christ?
There are ways that we may say, "Thank you," and give something back to God this year. The clues to how we do it can be found in the three biblical texts.
Like the singers of Psalm 126, we can worship God: [Here list services and opportunities for it with family and with church family and in other settings.]
Like Isaiah, we can actively witness in our own communities with programs such as "Seeds of Kindness." That's a program where more than a dozen churches in Middle Tennessee gave their congregants $100 bills to spread through the community in acts of kindness over this holiday season. All told, $50,000 was distributed to be given -- no strings attached -- to strangers who may be in need or neighbors who are down on their luck. The local effort is funded by an anonymous businessman who gave the money to Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, which is administering the program that involves about 15 churches of various denominations. The idea started last year with the same anonymous donor giving $50,000, but it grew out of a similar effort at a California church. It was inspired by the movie Pay It Forward and by the biblical parable about investing one's talents to do good in the world.
One church member, Larry, who participated last year, said it had felt good to be able to give someone a gift. He didn't give his last name, he said, because he is only the vehicle for spreading someone else's gift of goodwill. Larry gave his gift last year to a mother at a Kroger grocery store. She had three children, and the family appeared to be struggling. Larry decided God had placed her in his path. "I kept my eyes open for a long time, and she was just put in my way," Larry said. "I knew she was the one to give it to."2
Like Isaiah, we can also actively witness to God's goodness in countries not our own. Take Leslie Hawke, for example. She is the mother of Ethan, the movie star and novelist, and had been successful herself as an Internet publisher, textbook editor, and fundraiser. Still, she didn't feel fulfilled. So she contacted the Peace Corps and was told there were openings in Eastern Europe. In 2000, she was sent to Bacau, Romania, a city of 250,000 four hours north of Bucharest by car.
Shortly after arrival, Hawke found herself beguiled by Alex, an 8-year-old Gypsy beggar who worked the same street corner every morning, barefoot. Through him she learned about a problem peculiar to Romania -- impoverished women, chiefly Gypsies, cannot earn a living, in large part because people refuse to hire them. So they send their children into the streets to beg.
Hawke decided to help. Using as a model New York's Doe Fund's Ready, Willing and Able Program, which teaches the homeless trades, then provides jobs and modest salaries, Hawke arranged to bring 10 Bacau officials to New York to see firsthand the Doe operation and some child welfare programs. Then with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Hawke launched a two-pronged program to help both mothers and their children. Working with the city officials of Bacau, she arranged for jobs, mostly cleaning work, for the mothers, with the requirement that their children must be placed in schools, rather than on the street begging.
First, she began recruiting poor, uneducated women for jobs. "Mostly it's cleaning," she says. "The city of Bacau has hired them to clean streets, and we hire them to clean offices and schools." For a mother to be in the program, she must place her children in school-they can't be on the street begging. The program has gone a long way toward solving the problem.3
Like Mary we can take risks in God's name that match the ministry and risks that Jesus has taken in our name.
James Cone, African American theologian, would recognize in Mary's words in the Magnificat the radical nature of the promises God fulfills through the sending of his Son: "Theology is political language. God, Jesus, the church cannot be separated from their social and political status in society ... In Jesus, God is at work telling his story and disclosing the divine plan of salvation which includes a better life on earth as well as life in heaven ... With Jesus the Old Testament role of Servanthood and King are combined. Jesus comes as a king who will work to ease the sufferings of people during his life on earth, but he also comes as the Servant King who suffers on behalf of his people in order to liberate them from suffering ... The pain of the cross was God suffering for and with us so that our humanity can be liberated for freedom in the divine struggle against oppression ... If we are created for God then any other kind of allegiance is a denial of freedom, and we must struggle against those who attempt to enslave us ... With God 'salvation is a historical event of rescue.'"4
Think of the salvation rescues:
* the slaves out of Egypt
* the Spirit of the Lord descending upon various Judges for defense against various other warring peoples
* the return of the exiled Jews from Babylonia to their homeland
* the sending of Jesus the Christ on Christmas
* the opportunities we have as followers of Jesus Christ to aid in the attempts to rescue the world from sin and suffering, pain and heartache, despair and loss, war and fear.
"Keep in mind that the purpose of freedom is to create it for others," writes Bernard Malamud in The Fixer.
Or as fellow Immediate Word team member George Murphy put it recently, "Christ is not only a gift once given to us but a gift we continue to receive, and thus we are continually called to live according to the pattern he gives. We are called to be a part of God's promise of peace on earth, good will to all, by helping make Christmas truly Christmas for others."
Wouldn't it be amazing if our government put as much energy, brainpower, intellect, and creativity into helping the Arabs and Israelis come to a fair and acceptable peace over Palestine? Imagine what might happen if our current president and his advisors and Congress decided that was where their energy and imagination and our prayers should go rather than ferreting out weapons of mass destruction in Iran. Why not disarm Saddam Hussein with peace-making instead of war-mongering?
Wouldn't it be amazing if each of us who is blessed with American citizenship and American comforts -- heat, electricity, sufficient food and clothes, nice homes and apartments, and the ability to celebrate Christmas -- tried to figure out how we might alter our lives this coming year so we could know, understand, and support our neighbors in need more effectively?
According to a National Public Radio interview that aired Dec. 4, 2002, in the U.S., 7-9 percent of children do not have enough to eat. In some Third World countries, 50-60 percent of the population cannot feed their children or themselves enough not to be constantly hungry. We've been told many times that there's enough food for all. We just haven't figured out how to redistribute it so that it doesn't wreck havoc on geopolitics, balances of power and prosperity, and local economies.
The best Christmas gift we ever received was Jesus Christ. Young and old, rich and poor, white, black, yellow, or brown, what gift shall we give to God this year? We've got 10 more days until Christmas. What gift shall you give?
Notes
1 Westermann 366.
2 From Brad Schrade, "Church members to distribute $100 bills to needy," The Tennessean, November, 25, 2002.
3 Biography magazine, December 2002, 75-78.
4 Cone, God of the Oppressed.
Team Comments
Carlos Wilton responds: Your theme of anticipation is so appropriate for this time of year, and has the added virtue of being slightly different from the familiar (and perhaps over-used) Advent theme of "waiting." "Anticipation" focuses not so much on the time element as on the subjective experience of waiting: the thoughts, hopes, and dreams of the person doing the waiting.
It also describes a particular quality of waiting. It's not so much the waiting that's important, after all - for any person can wait (indeed, in many cases we have no choice about it). It's what we do through and with the season of waiting.
George Murphy responds: While there were general messianic expectations by the Jewish people of the first century, I doubt that they spent a great deal of their daily lives thinking about this. Maybe the fact that the Christmas gift par excellence is largely unanticipated is significant. Perhaps it's a little like C. S. Lewis' essay "The World's Last Night" -- if we knew that this night were to be the world's last, we should be found at our stations, in our callings. And so even if the biblical folks were actively anticipating the Messiah, Joseph was carpentering, the shepherds shepherding, and Mary doing whatever 13-year-old girls of the time were supposed to be doing.
The James Cone quote is at best a partial statement. Christianity is first of all about our relationship with God -- "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart..." -- and then about neighbor -- "and your neighbor as yourself." The priority of the first doesn't at all mean that the second is to be ignored. But ignoring the first (or even assuming "everybody knows that") means that there's no firm basis for the second.
Stan Purdum responds: The Leslie Hawke example seems too removed from the opportunities most of us have, but many of us could give away $100. In the Seed of Kindness program, people are giving away somebody else's money, but we can do the same with our own. What if this Christmas we put some chosen amount of money in our wallets and purposely looked for someone to give it too? That's a great Christmas opportunity.
Related Illustrations
Here's a good way to begin a sermon based on the material in this installment:
If you are 12 or under and sitting in church this morning, are you excited about Christmas? If you are, raise your hand. If you're really, really excited, raise your other hand. Okay, keep your hands in the air. Today is December 15, do you know how many days are left until it's Christmas? If you do, show me by holding up that number of fingers. 1, 2, 3 ... 10! That's right 10 more days, and it will be Christmas. Thank you. You can put your hands down now, because it's your parents and the other adults here today's turn.
Okay, adults, are you excited about Christmas coming? Yes? No? Maybe? Argh!! Are all possible replies, right? So let me ask you this, do you remember what it felt like to be excited about Christmas as a child? (From Carter Shelley)
----------
Inside the elevator in one of our local hospitals, on the panel where the buttons are located, is a small white disk that simply says, "Help is on the way." It's obvious what this is for: if someone's stuck on the elevator and pushes the nearby alarm button, the hospital security department can remotely illuminate the "Help is on the way" button, notifying the trapped riders that a rescue is underway.
The "Help is on the way" button is not like the alarm button or the buttons elevator riders press to choose a particular floor as their destination. Unlike those other buttons, it doesn't really do anything. But when the small electric light behind it is illuminated, a psychologically calming message is communicated to the elevator's occupants. It won't hasten their rescue, but it makes the waiting easier.
The prophetic words of scripture that we frequently read during Advent are like the "Help is on the way" button. All of us are trapped by the claustrophobic reality known as sin. We realize the rescue may take some time. Yet the prophets have alerted us to the truth that, by God's grace and in God's time, a process has begun that will lead to the doors of our prison sliding open, and our breathing deeply of fresh air again. (From Carlos Wilton)
----------
If we do not wait patiently in expectation for God's coming in glory, we start wandering around, going from one little sensation to another. Our lives get stuffed with newspaper items, television stories, and gossip. Then our minds lose the discipline of discerning between what leads us closer to God and what doesn't, and our hearts gradually lose their spiritual sensitivity. Without waiting for the second coming of Christ, we will stagnate quickly and become tempted to indulge in whatever gives us a moment of pleasure. When Paul asks us to wake from sleep, he says: "Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies or drunkenness, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armor be the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop worrying about how your disordered natural inclinations may be fulfilled" (Romans 13:13-14). When we have the Lord to look forward to, we can already experience him in the waiting.
(Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey [Harper Collins, New York, 1997].)
----------
"He told me that once when he was a little boy, he spent all day Sunday watching at the window, waiting for Jesus to come to Bern. I asked him, 'And in the evening, you were disappointed?" He said, "No, the waiting was wonderful!' I think that attitude remained throughout his life." (Eberhard Busch, speaking of Karl Barth, in an interview reprinted in ReNews, the newsletter of Presbyterians for Renewal, March 2000.)
----------
Near the end of his life, Carl Sandburg, historian, poet and entertainer, was asked by a reporter, "What in your opinion is the ugliest word in the English language?" Mr. Sandburg drew his brow thoughtfully over his face and repeated the phrase, "The ugliest word in the English language." The reporter and television audience waited. Mr. Sandburg gathered his face into a circle of concentration and said slowly, "The ugliest word?" Everyone waited. Mr. Sandburg looked away as if searching the room for a word written somewhere on a wall, pursed his lips and almost mumbled, "Ugliest? The ugliest word?" The reporter and millions continued to lean forward. The pause seemed long, but alive and promising, Mr. Sandburg turned back to the reporter. "The ugliest word," he said, "the ugliest word is [pause] 'exclusive.'" Into a nest of anticipation, built entirely of restraint, he dropped the word and years later, in the memory of many, it lies there yet, still vivid fresh and strong. (Fred Craddock, Preaching [Nashville: Abingdon, 1985], 167-168.)
----------
The lyrics to Carly Simon's "Anticipation" can be found on the Web at www.LyricsXP.com.
----------
More details about the Seeds of Kindness program can be found at www.seedsofkindness.com. The Web site asks individuals, churches, or civic groups to join the "share-the-wealth club" if they wish.
Worship Resources
By Chuck Cammarata
CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: Just ten more days until Christmas!
PEOPLE: WE CAN'T WAIT.
LEADER: Me either! I want to pull off those ribbons and open up those packages
to see what I got.
PEOPLE: YES, WE DO LOVE CHRISTMAS MORNING.
LEADER: Yeah. Digging through my stocking; opening presents; trying on new
clothes; playing new games ...
PEOPLE: IT TRULY IS THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF THE YEAR.
LEADER: But, did you ever wonder what Christmas would be like without
presents?
PEOPLE: ARE YOU KIDDING? IT WOULDN'T BE CHRISTMAS THEN.
LEADER: But if Christmas is really about love, then maybe you don't need presents.
PEOPLE: BUT WE LIKE THE PRESENTS.
LEADER: Me too. But maybe we don't need them. Maybe we just need to tell the
people in our lives how much we love them. Maybe hugs, and kisses, and smiles, and laughter around the table are more important than presents.
PEOPLE: MAYBE THEY'RE THE BEST PRESENTS.
LEADER: Yes. And it all starts with the Love
PEOPLE: THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN TO BETHLEHEM.
LEADER: So let's celebrate the Lover who gave the greatest Love gift ever. Let's
worship God.
PEOPLE: AMEN.
Here is an alternate Call to Worship
CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: People in darkness, lost and confused;
PEOPLE: SICK, DYING, HELPLESS, HOPELESS;
LEADER: Crying out for something, someone, to make it better;
PEOPLE: TO CHASE AWAY THE DARKNESS,
LEADER: Bring healing and hope;
PEOPLE: SOMEONE PLEASE TO SAVE THEM.
LEADER: And into that darkness, on the wings of the God given words of a
strange man named Isaiah comes a ray of light.
PEOPLE: "PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE A HIGHWAY
FOR OUR GOD.
LEADER: Every valley shall be filled in, and every hill and mountain made low.
PEOPLE: THE ROUGH PLACES SHALL BE SMOOTHED, AND THE
GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE SEEN BY ALL PEOPLE.
LEADER: And good news shall come to the poor,
PEOPLE: AND FREEDOM TO THE IMPRISONED,
LEADER: And sight to all who are blind,
PEOPLE: AND RELEASE TO EVERYONE WHO IS OPPRESSED."
LEADER:Yes! The light shines in the darkness and it shall not be extinguished!
PEOPLE: SO LET US CELEBRATE THE LIGHT.
LEADER: And spread it around!
PEOPLE: AMEN!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: He came to the table and sat to eat;
PEOPLE: HIS HANDS WERE DIRTY, HIS CLOTHES NOT NEAT.
LEADER: Everyone stared, and embarrassed this man,
PEOPLE: WHO HAD NOT EATEN IN QUITE A LONG SPAN.
LEADER: "Surely," one said, "you're not eating like that."
PEOPLE: "OF COURSE NOT," SAID THE MAN, BEFORE GRABBING
HIS HAT.
LEADER: "Leave us and return when you're clean and straight."
PEOPLE: "I'LL DO THAT," SPOKE THE MAN AS HE HEADED FOR
THE GATE.
LEADER: And never again was he seen in that place,
PEOPLE: WHERE THE PEOPLE WERE MORE CONCERNED WITH
GOOD FORM THAN GOOD GRACE.
LEADER: Father, forgive us for putting form ahead of love.
PEOPLE: AND FOR CLEANING THE OUTSIDE OF OUR LIVES,
LEADER: While neglecting to cleanse our hearts.
PEOPLE: FOR WE ASK IT IN THE NAME OF THE ONE WHO DIED
TO SET US FREE FROM SUCH SIN.
LEADER: Jesus Christ Our Lord, AMEN.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
LEADER: The good news has come
PEOPLE: TO THE POOR.
LEADER: And freedom has come
PEOPLE: TO THOSE IN PRISON.
LEADER: And sight has been given
PEOPLE: TO THE BLIND.
LEADER: So the question is,
PEOPLE: "HOW IS THIS GOOD NEWS TO US?"
LEADER: And the answer is that deep inside,
PEOPLE: WE ARE ALL THESE THINGS:
LEADER: Poor, enslaved, blind.
PEOPLE: PRAISE GOD FOR THE GIFT OF SALVATION
LEADER: That comes to all who know their poverty,
PEOPLE: ENSLAVEMENT,
LEADER: And blindness.
PEOPLE: AMEN.
HYMNS
One Small Child
What Child Is This?
Once in Royal David's City
What Can I Give Him?
A couple of songs that are perfect for this week's theme are:
Mary, Did You Know? (Recorded by many different artists over the years)
Manger Throne (a new song on the City On A Hill - Christmas - CD)
(Accompaniment tapes for both can be found at most religious book stores)
A Children's Sermon
By Wesley Runk
Text: Luke 1:46-55
Object: dollar bills, one for each child.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today is a wonderful day, isn't it? We are moving closer and closer to Christmas and our joy becomes greater as we wait for the great moment, the moment when Jesus is born again into our hearts.
How many of you know the name Mary? (Let them answer.) Do you know one special person with the name Mary? (Let them answer.) Right, the mother of Jesus! Did you ever hear the special song she sang before Jesus was born? (Let them answer.) The name we call this special song is the Magnificat. It is written in the first chapter of the book of Luke. When you go home today I would like for you to ask your parents to read to you the words of this song. It is a beautiful song. Mary sang the song because she knew that God had chosen her for a very special purpose. God asked her to be the mother for his son. He also told her that this son was not for keeps but instead she would have to share him with all the people of the world.
Mothers like to think that their children belong to them in a very special way. God told Mary that her son would be special to the whole world. He would bring love and kindness to poor people, people who could not help themselves. Her son, who would be called Jesus, was for all people, but his work would make poor, sick, afraid people special.
There is something happening this Christmas that is a little different than other Christmases. It didn't start this year but it is beginning to grow. Maybe you have heard about it. An unknown person gave a church a lot of money and asked the members to take the money and share it with people who were poor, sick, and afraid. It is the same way God gave his Son Jesus to Mary and told her that her son was coming into the world to be shared with the poor, sick, afraid, imprisoned people on earth.
I want to keep this idea alive in our church. I have brought with me some dollar bills and I am going to give them to you. With your parents' help, I want you to turn these dollar bills into help for poor people. You won't know them. The people you give your gifts to will not be your brother or sister or cousin. It will be someone who really needs love and kindness and has very little of it.
I hope you have a wonderful time sharing this gift with one of God's people. Remember, Mary, the mother of Jesus, shared God's greatest gift with people just like the people you are going to share your dollars with this week.
The Immediate Word, December 15, 2002, issue.
Copyright 2002 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
Despite weapons inspections in Iraq and the stock market roller coaster, the thing on the minds of many people right now is the Christmas season. Here at The Immediate Word, we are not interested in another sermon bemoaning the commercialization of Christmas, but one that appreciates the best of what the season offers, including the opportunities to see the needs of people around us with fresh eyes, is timely.
So for this week's installment, team member Carter Shelley has explored that subject. We included team comments, related illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
Anticipation
or
The Best Christmas Present Ever
By Carter Shelley
Psalm 126
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Luke 1:47-55
We can never know about the days to come
But, we think about them anyway.
Anticipation, anticipation ...
-- Carly Simon, 1971,
I remember lying in bed Christmas night. I am 11 years old and feeling a little sad knowing that it would be an entire 365 days until Christmas would happen again. The day had been good: several surprise presents and several that I'd asked for as well. But as I lay there thinking about the day, I realized that it wasn't the day itself I wanted to repeat; it was the whole season of Christmas -- Presbyterians didn't call it Advent in 1964 in South Carolina -- that I loved so much. It was making Christmas cookies with my mother, and rehearsing songs for the church Christmas pageant as a member of the junior choir. It was looking through the magical Better Homes and Garden magazine Christmas edition trying to decide which of the amazing door designs I would help duplicate for our house that year. And it was coming up with some special present for my mom and dad, and okay, my older brother and younger sister. It was driving past the college and seeing the big Christmas tree (as big as the one at the White House) all lit up, and the Christmas specials on television, and all the special Christmas services at our church.
Now, I know that a lot of what I relished and savored about Christmas had as much to do with commercialism as Christianity, but the part that stayed with me into adulthood has been the anticipation and the celebration that come from singing familiar Christmas carols, watching yet another rendition of A Christmas Carol, the special Christmas Eve service our church had every year. The smells, the sights, the sounds, the warmth of Christmas all remain strong.
Christmas. Even as a child, it was more about anticipation, preparation, and the activities that were involved in getting ready for Christmas than it was about getting presents.
Anticipation can keep people alive in the face of horrible obstacles.
Anticipation of God's intervention and grace gave hope to an ancient cultic community singing psalms of ascent and joy at God's favor. Anticipation of further divine favor and liberation from all they had suffered reassured the former exiles as they readjusted to life in their homeland with encouraging words from the prophet Isaiah (Trito-Isaiah).
Anticipation of the birth not only of a son, but also of her Savior led Mary-the-mother-to-be to burst into song:
God has put down the might from their thrones
And exalted those of low degree
He has filled the hungry with good things
And the rich he has sent empty away
He has helped his servant Israel
Psalm 126 celebrates the joyful anticipation of ancient Israel that God is the source and giver of all that is good in life. The enthusiasm and simplicity of the psalm has a childlike tone, and perhaps it was one of the first psalms that young children learned. In four short verses, it contains all the essential ingredients of God's covenant both Old and New: 1) God initiates a relationship with his chosen people; 2) God forgives his people their transgressions; 3) God restores broken relationships and broken hearts; and God redeems not only Jews but Gentiles as well. Who wouldn't worship and praise such a God? Worshiping: That's how the singers of this psalm actively anticipate and celebrate God's intervention in their lives.
Isaiah 61:1-4 and 8-11 are the words of a prophet who actively prophesies God's message to the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem and Judah after the Babylonian exile. Demoralized, dispirited, humbled and in pain, they remain God's people. Thus, Trito-Isaiah's proclamation to them that divine salvation is coming "not by historical event but by divine, miraculous transformation of a condition, the nation's oppression and its impoverishment" will be turned into "its opposite" almost as though God has repented and changed their course from punishment and shame to salvation and hope.1 The prophet's words not only declare a change, they seem to affect it with words of comfort and solace: to heal wounds, to bring liberty to the captives, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all who mourn; in short, to restore wholeness to a shattered people and a shattered nation. By prophesying the good news of God's return with God's people to their homeland and of God's intention to save them from the hardships they have suffered, Isaiah actively anticipates a better future for Judah.
Mary the soon-to-be mother of Jesus, must actively agree to accept the call the angel places before her. "I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to his word," she replies to the astonishing and scary news that she is the one who will bear and care for the promised Messiah. It is a responsibility she takes on without any promises of economic security, social acceptance, or a happy ending. She could have been 13 or 23; we don't know her age, her hair color or anything precisely, except that she said, "Yes," to God, and in so doing, became the first to connect the concept of Son and Savior with the long awaited promises of liberation for God's beleaguered people in Judea.
In Mary's words God's preference for the poor is recognized and claimed. God doesn't want his Son born into the family of a king or nobleman, for how can a rich man understand what it is to be poor? Nor can this promised Messiah defend the poor or defeat the rich if he is himself rich and powerful. Wealth and power are not the things that God most wants from humanity or wants to give to humanity. Thus the Son to be born is to be the champion of the poor and the redeemer of Israel, which means his life will not be an easy one. Powerful men will want to kill him. Rich people will hate him and call him a revolutionary. Poor ones will want to use him up in their own need and greed.
And he won't have time for his mother. Mary will have to stand aside and say, "He isn't my son. He doesn't belong to me. His work is his own. I remain the handmaid of the Lord and I must not interfere." Mary actively agrees to become the mother of Jesus and anticipates the liberating future that his birth and life promise.
The psalm singers anticipate God's coming by worshiping God. Isaiah anticipates God's salvation by prophesying the Good News. Mary anticipates God's entry into the world by agreeing to be the mother of his Son.
And what about us? We are not poor and persecuted nomads living in a hostile world. We are not returning to our homeland after years in exile in an alien land. We are not risking our future by agreeing to become the unwed mother of a revolutionary Messiah. But we do feel poor, displaced, and afraid of taking risks at some time or other in our lives, don't we? We do more to get ready for Christmas than just sit around and wait for it to happen. We send Christmas cards, help out with church activities, attend worship services, buy presents, bake special goodies, invite friends and family over for fellowship; we also share of our bounty by giving to charities and to disadvantaged children's funds and gift drives. We are active in our anticipation and our expectation that Christ is come and will come again December 25.
The question is: Are the many activities that we pursue during Advent activities that are in keeping with the best Christmas present any of us have ever received? Yes, we're engaged in the usual stuff, but what else might we do to express our gratitude and appreciation for the gift God has given us in Jesus Christ?
There are ways that we may say, "Thank you," and give something back to God this year. The clues to how we do it can be found in the three biblical texts.
Like the singers of Psalm 126, we can worship God: [Here list services and opportunities for it with family and with church family and in other settings.]
Like Isaiah, we can actively witness in our own communities with programs such as "Seeds of Kindness." That's a program where more than a dozen churches in Middle Tennessee gave their congregants $100 bills to spread through the community in acts of kindness over this holiday season. All told, $50,000 was distributed to be given -- no strings attached -- to strangers who may be in need or neighbors who are down on their luck. The local effort is funded by an anonymous businessman who gave the money to Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, which is administering the program that involves about 15 churches of various denominations. The idea started last year with the same anonymous donor giving $50,000, but it grew out of a similar effort at a California church. It was inspired by the movie Pay It Forward and by the biblical parable about investing one's talents to do good in the world.
One church member, Larry, who participated last year, said it had felt good to be able to give someone a gift. He didn't give his last name, he said, because he is only the vehicle for spreading someone else's gift of goodwill. Larry gave his gift last year to a mother at a Kroger grocery store. She had three children, and the family appeared to be struggling. Larry decided God had placed her in his path. "I kept my eyes open for a long time, and she was just put in my way," Larry said. "I knew she was the one to give it to."2
Like Isaiah, we can also actively witness to God's goodness in countries not our own. Take Leslie Hawke, for example. She is the mother of Ethan, the movie star and novelist, and had been successful herself as an Internet publisher, textbook editor, and fundraiser. Still, she didn't feel fulfilled. So she contacted the Peace Corps and was told there were openings in Eastern Europe. In 2000, she was sent to Bacau, Romania, a city of 250,000 four hours north of Bucharest by car.
Shortly after arrival, Hawke found herself beguiled by Alex, an 8-year-old Gypsy beggar who worked the same street corner every morning, barefoot. Through him she learned about a problem peculiar to Romania -- impoverished women, chiefly Gypsies, cannot earn a living, in large part because people refuse to hire them. So they send their children into the streets to beg.
Hawke decided to help. Using as a model New York's Doe Fund's Ready, Willing and Able Program, which teaches the homeless trades, then provides jobs and modest salaries, Hawke arranged to bring 10 Bacau officials to New York to see firsthand the Doe operation and some child welfare programs. Then with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Hawke launched a two-pronged program to help both mothers and their children. Working with the city officials of Bacau, she arranged for jobs, mostly cleaning work, for the mothers, with the requirement that their children must be placed in schools, rather than on the street begging.
First, she began recruiting poor, uneducated women for jobs. "Mostly it's cleaning," she says. "The city of Bacau has hired them to clean streets, and we hire them to clean offices and schools." For a mother to be in the program, she must place her children in school-they can't be on the street begging. The program has gone a long way toward solving the problem.3
Like Mary we can take risks in God's name that match the ministry and risks that Jesus has taken in our name.
James Cone, African American theologian, would recognize in Mary's words in the Magnificat the radical nature of the promises God fulfills through the sending of his Son: "Theology is political language. God, Jesus, the church cannot be separated from their social and political status in society ... In Jesus, God is at work telling his story and disclosing the divine plan of salvation which includes a better life on earth as well as life in heaven ... With Jesus the Old Testament role of Servanthood and King are combined. Jesus comes as a king who will work to ease the sufferings of people during his life on earth, but he also comes as the Servant King who suffers on behalf of his people in order to liberate them from suffering ... The pain of the cross was God suffering for and with us so that our humanity can be liberated for freedom in the divine struggle against oppression ... If we are created for God then any other kind of allegiance is a denial of freedom, and we must struggle against those who attempt to enslave us ... With God 'salvation is a historical event of rescue.'"4
Think of the salvation rescues:
* the slaves out of Egypt
* the Spirit of the Lord descending upon various Judges for defense against various other warring peoples
* the return of the exiled Jews from Babylonia to their homeland
* the sending of Jesus the Christ on Christmas
* the opportunities we have as followers of Jesus Christ to aid in the attempts to rescue the world from sin and suffering, pain and heartache, despair and loss, war and fear.
"Keep in mind that the purpose of freedom is to create it for others," writes Bernard Malamud in The Fixer.
Or as fellow Immediate Word team member George Murphy put it recently, "Christ is not only a gift once given to us but a gift we continue to receive, and thus we are continually called to live according to the pattern he gives. We are called to be a part of God's promise of peace on earth, good will to all, by helping make Christmas truly Christmas for others."
Wouldn't it be amazing if our government put as much energy, brainpower, intellect, and creativity into helping the Arabs and Israelis come to a fair and acceptable peace over Palestine? Imagine what might happen if our current president and his advisors and Congress decided that was where their energy and imagination and our prayers should go rather than ferreting out weapons of mass destruction in Iran. Why not disarm Saddam Hussein with peace-making instead of war-mongering?
Wouldn't it be amazing if each of us who is blessed with American citizenship and American comforts -- heat, electricity, sufficient food and clothes, nice homes and apartments, and the ability to celebrate Christmas -- tried to figure out how we might alter our lives this coming year so we could know, understand, and support our neighbors in need more effectively?
According to a National Public Radio interview that aired Dec. 4, 2002, in the U.S., 7-9 percent of children do not have enough to eat. In some Third World countries, 50-60 percent of the population cannot feed their children or themselves enough not to be constantly hungry. We've been told many times that there's enough food for all. We just haven't figured out how to redistribute it so that it doesn't wreck havoc on geopolitics, balances of power and prosperity, and local economies.
The best Christmas gift we ever received was Jesus Christ. Young and old, rich and poor, white, black, yellow, or brown, what gift shall we give to God this year? We've got 10 more days until Christmas. What gift shall you give?
Notes
1 Westermann 366.
2 From Brad Schrade, "Church members to distribute $100 bills to needy," The Tennessean, November, 25, 2002.
3 Biography magazine, December 2002, 75-78.
4 Cone, God of the Oppressed.
Team Comments
Carlos Wilton responds: Your theme of anticipation is so appropriate for this time of year, and has the added virtue of being slightly different from the familiar (and perhaps over-used) Advent theme of "waiting." "Anticipation" focuses not so much on the time element as on the subjective experience of waiting: the thoughts, hopes, and dreams of the person doing the waiting.
It also describes a particular quality of waiting. It's not so much the waiting that's important, after all - for any person can wait (indeed, in many cases we have no choice about it). It's what we do through and with the season of waiting.
George Murphy responds: While there were general messianic expectations by the Jewish people of the first century, I doubt that they spent a great deal of their daily lives thinking about this. Maybe the fact that the Christmas gift par excellence is largely unanticipated is significant. Perhaps it's a little like C. S. Lewis' essay "The World's Last Night" -- if we knew that this night were to be the world's last, we should be found at our stations, in our callings. And so even if the biblical folks were actively anticipating the Messiah, Joseph was carpentering, the shepherds shepherding, and Mary doing whatever 13-year-old girls of the time were supposed to be doing.
The James Cone quote is at best a partial statement. Christianity is first of all about our relationship with God -- "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart..." -- and then about neighbor -- "and your neighbor as yourself." The priority of the first doesn't at all mean that the second is to be ignored. But ignoring the first (or even assuming "everybody knows that") means that there's no firm basis for the second.
Stan Purdum responds: The Leslie Hawke example seems too removed from the opportunities most of us have, but many of us could give away $100. In the Seed of Kindness program, people are giving away somebody else's money, but we can do the same with our own. What if this Christmas we put some chosen amount of money in our wallets and purposely looked for someone to give it too? That's a great Christmas opportunity.
Related Illustrations
Here's a good way to begin a sermon based on the material in this installment:
If you are 12 or under and sitting in church this morning, are you excited about Christmas? If you are, raise your hand. If you're really, really excited, raise your other hand. Okay, keep your hands in the air. Today is December 15, do you know how many days are left until it's Christmas? If you do, show me by holding up that number of fingers. 1, 2, 3 ... 10! That's right 10 more days, and it will be Christmas. Thank you. You can put your hands down now, because it's your parents and the other adults here today's turn.
Okay, adults, are you excited about Christmas coming? Yes? No? Maybe? Argh!! Are all possible replies, right? So let me ask you this, do you remember what it felt like to be excited about Christmas as a child? (From Carter Shelley)
----------
Inside the elevator in one of our local hospitals, on the panel where the buttons are located, is a small white disk that simply says, "Help is on the way." It's obvious what this is for: if someone's stuck on the elevator and pushes the nearby alarm button, the hospital security department can remotely illuminate the "Help is on the way" button, notifying the trapped riders that a rescue is underway.
The "Help is on the way" button is not like the alarm button or the buttons elevator riders press to choose a particular floor as their destination. Unlike those other buttons, it doesn't really do anything. But when the small electric light behind it is illuminated, a psychologically calming message is communicated to the elevator's occupants. It won't hasten their rescue, but it makes the waiting easier.
The prophetic words of scripture that we frequently read during Advent are like the "Help is on the way" button. All of us are trapped by the claustrophobic reality known as sin. We realize the rescue may take some time. Yet the prophets have alerted us to the truth that, by God's grace and in God's time, a process has begun that will lead to the doors of our prison sliding open, and our breathing deeply of fresh air again. (From Carlos Wilton)
----------
If we do not wait patiently in expectation for God's coming in glory, we start wandering around, going from one little sensation to another. Our lives get stuffed with newspaper items, television stories, and gossip. Then our minds lose the discipline of discerning between what leads us closer to God and what doesn't, and our hearts gradually lose their spiritual sensitivity. Without waiting for the second coming of Christ, we will stagnate quickly and become tempted to indulge in whatever gives us a moment of pleasure. When Paul asks us to wake from sleep, he says: "Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies or drunkenness, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armor be the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop worrying about how your disordered natural inclinations may be fulfilled" (Romans 13:13-14). When we have the Lord to look forward to, we can already experience him in the waiting.
(Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey [Harper Collins, New York, 1997].)
----------
"He told me that once when he was a little boy, he spent all day Sunday watching at the window, waiting for Jesus to come to Bern. I asked him, 'And in the evening, you were disappointed?" He said, "No, the waiting was wonderful!' I think that attitude remained throughout his life." (Eberhard Busch, speaking of Karl Barth, in an interview reprinted in ReNews, the newsletter of Presbyterians for Renewal, March 2000.)
----------
Near the end of his life, Carl Sandburg, historian, poet and entertainer, was asked by a reporter, "What in your opinion is the ugliest word in the English language?" Mr. Sandburg drew his brow thoughtfully over his face and repeated the phrase, "The ugliest word in the English language." The reporter and television audience waited. Mr. Sandburg gathered his face into a circle of concentration and said slowly, "The ugliest word?" Everyone waited. Mr. Sandburg looked away as if searching the room for a word written somewhere on a wall, pursed his lips and almost mumbled, "Ugliest? The ugliest word?" The reporter and millions continued to lean forward. The pause seemed long, but alive and promising, Mr. Sandburg turned back to the reporter. "The ugliest word," he said, "the ugliest word is [pause] 'exclusive.'" Into a nest of anticipation, built entirely of restraint, he dropped the word and years later, in the memory of many, it lies there yet, still vivid fresh and strong. (Fred Craddock, Preaching [Nashville: Abingdon, 1985], 167-168.)
----------
The lyrics to Carly Simon's "Anticipation" can be found on the Web at www.LyricsXP.com.
----------
More details about the Seeds of Kindness program can be found at www.seedsofkindness.com. The Web site asks individuals, churches, or civic groups to join the "share-the-wealth club" if they wish.
Worship Resources
By Chuck Cammarata
CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: Just ten more days until Christmas!
PEOPLE: WE CAN'T WAIT.
LEADER: Me either! I want to pull off those ribbons and open up those packages
to see what I got.
PEOPLE: YES, WE DO LOVE CHRISTMAS MORNING.
LEADER: Yeah. Digging through my stocking; opening presents; trying on new
clothes; playing new games ...
PEOPLE: IT TRULY IS THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF THE YEAR.
LEADER: But, did you ever wonder what Christmas would be like without
presents?
PEOPLE: ARE YOU KIDDING? IT WOULDN'T BE CHRISTMAS THEN.
LEADER: But if Christmas is really about love, then maybe you don't need presents.
PEOPLE: BUT WE LIKE THE PRESENTS.
LEADER: Me too. But maybe we don't need them. Maybe we just need to tell the
people in our lives how much we love them. Maybe hugs, and kisses, and smiles, and laughter around the table are more important than presents.
PEOPLE: MAYBE THEY'RE THE BEST PRESENTS.
LEADER: Yes. And it all starts with the Love
PEOPLE: THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN TO BETHLEHEM.
LEADER: So let's celebrate the Lover who gave the greatest Love gift ever. Let's
worship God.
PEOPLE: AMEN.
Here is an alternate Call to Worship
CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: People in darkness, lost and confused;
PEOPLE: SICK, DYING, HELPLESS, HOPELESS;
LEADER: Crying out for something, someone, to make it better;
PEOPLE: TO CHASE AWAY THE DARKNESS,
LEADER: Bring healing and hope;
PEOPLE: SOMEONE PLEASE TO SAVE THEM.
LEADER: And into that darkness, on the wings of the God given words of a
strange man named Isaiah comes a ray of light.
PEOPLE: "PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE A HIGHWAY
FOR OUR GOD.
LEADER: Every valley shall be filled in, and every hill and mountain made low.
PEOPLE: THE ROUGH PLACES SHALL BE SMOOTHED, AND THE
GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE SEEN BY ALL PEOPLE.
LEADER: And good news shall come to the poor,
PEOPLE: AND FREEDOM TO THE IMPRISONED,
LEADER: And sight to all who are blind,
PEOPLE: AND RELEASE TO EVERYONE WHO IS OPPRESSED."
LEADER:Yes! The light shines in the darkness and it shall not be extinguished!
PEOPLE: SO LET US CELEBRATE THE LIGHT.
LEADER: And spread it around!
PEOPLE: AMEN!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: He came to the table and sat to eat;
PEOPLE: HIS HANDS WERE DIRTY, HIS CLOTHES NOT NEAT.
LEADER: Everyone stared, and embarrassed this man,
PEOPLE: WHO HAD NOT EATEN IN QUITE A LONG SPAN.
LEADER: "Surely," one said, "you're not eating like that."
PEOPLE: "OF COURSE NOT," SAID THE MAN, BEFORE GRABBING
HIS HAT.
LEADER: "Leave us and return when you're clean and straight."
PEOPLE: "I'LL DO THAT," SPOKE THE MAN AS HE HEADED FOR
THE GATE.
LEADER: And never again was he seen in that place,
PEOPLE: WHERE THE PEOPLE WERE MORE CONCERNED WITH
GOOD FORM THAN GOOD GRACE.
LEADER: Father, forgive us for putting form ahead of love.
PEOPLE: AND FOR CLEANING THE OUTSIDE OF OUR LIVES,
LEADER: While neglecting to cleanse our hearts.
PEOPLE: FOR WE ASK IT IN THE NAME OF THE ONE WHO DIED
TO SET US FREE FROM SUCH SIN.
LEADER: Jesus Christ Our Lord, AMEN.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
LEADER: The good news has come
PEOPLE: TO THE POOR.
LEADER: And freedom has come
PEOPLE: TO THOSE IN PRISON.
LEADER: And sight has been given
PEOPLE: TO THE BLIND.
LEADER: So the question is,
PEOPLE: "HOW IS THIS GOOD NEWS TO US?"
LEADER: And the answer is that deep inside,
PEOPLE: WE ARE ALL THESE THINGS:
LEADER: Poor, enslaved, blind.
PEOPLE: PRAISE GOD FOR THE GIFT OF SALVATION
LEADER: That comes to all who know their poverty,
PEOPLE: ENSLAVEMENT,
LEADER: And blindness.
PEOPLE: AMEN.
HYMNS
One Small Child
What Child Is This?
Once in Royal David's City
What Can I Give Him?
A couple of songs that are perfect for this week's theme are:
Mary, Did You Know? (Recorded by many different artists over the years)
Manger Throne (a new song on the City On A Hill - Christmas - CD)
(Accompaniment tapes for both can be found at most religious book stores)
A Children's Sermon
By Wesley Runk
Text: Luke 1:46-55
Object: dollar bills, one for each child.
Good morning, boys and girls. Today is a wonderful day, isn't it? We are moving closer and closer to Christmas and our joy becomes greater as we wait for the great moment, the moment when Jesus is born again into our hearts.
How many of you know the name Mary? (Let them answer.) Do you know one special person with the name Mary? (Let them answer.) Right, the mother of Jesus! Did you ever hear the special song she sang before Jesus was born? (Let them answer.) The name we call this special song is the Magnificat. It is written in the first chapter of the book of Luke. When you go home today I would like for you to ask your parents to read to you the words of this song. It is a beautiful song. Mary sang the song because she knew that God had chosen her for a very special purpose. God asked her to be the mother for his son. He also told her that this son was not for keeps but instead she would have to share him with all the people of the world.
Mothers like to think that their children belong to them in a very special way. God told Mary that her son would be special to the whole world. He would bring love and kindness to poor people, people who could not help themselves. Her son, who would be called Jesus, was for all people, but his work would make poor, sick, afraid people special.
There is something happening this Christmas that is a little different than other Christmases. It didn't start this year but it is beginning to grow. Maybe you have heard about it. An unknown person gave a church a lot of money and asked the members to take the money and share it with people who were poor, sick, and afraid. It is the same way God gave his Son Jesus to Mary and told her that her son was coming into the world to be shared with the poor, sick, afraid, imprisoned people on earth.
I want to keep this idea alive in our church. I have brought with me some dollar bills and I am going to give them to you. With your parents' help, I want you to turn these dollar bills into help for poor people. You won't know them. The people you give your gifts to will not be your brother or sister or cousin. It will be someone who really needs love and kindness and has very little of it.
I hope you have a wonderful time sharing this gift with one of God's people. Remember, Mary, the mother of Jesus, shared God's greatest gift with people just like the people you are going to share your dollars with this week.
The Immediate Word, December 15, 2002, issue.
Copyright 2002 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
