Be Born In Us Today
Sermon
Don't Forget The Child
Sermons For Advent And Christmas
Object:
A family was gathered together around their Advent wreath in preparation for Christmas. "Who can tell me what the four candles on the Advent wreath mean?" Mother asked. Her seven-year-old son jumped right in, "They stand for Love, Joy, Peace, and ... and ... and ... "
His older sister finished his sentence; "They stand for Love, Joy, and Peace and Quiet!"
Although the little girl was technically wrong -- the missing candle stands for Hope -- she still had a point. In many of our homes, Peace and Quiet can be missing around Christmas. The days of December, meant to be merry, can be the most harried days of our year.
One of those "magazine shows," Dateline NBC, once ran a segment titled "The Nightmare before Christmas" (12/20/95). A camera crew followed a family of six from suburban New Jersey as they waded their way through Advent. Two exhausted, overworked parents (especially Mom, who was doing most of the work); four over-stimulated, demanding kids, shoving and screaming in the mini-van; $2,000 spent on Christmas gifts in overcrowded stores, all were caught on camera. It wasn't a pretty picture. But it was an accurate reminder of what the Christmas season can be like.
I thought it might be interesting to separate the celebration of Christ's birth from December 25. Why not Christmas in July? In point of fact, we don't know the exact birthdate of Jesus. Does that shock you? Pope Julius officially established December 25 as Christmas in 350 A.D.
Under the old Roman calendar (slightly different from ours) December 25 was the winter solstice, the shortest, darkest day of the year. A lot of pagan partying, including excessive eating and drinking, took place on and around December 25 (does that sound familiar?). So the Pope proclaimed the winter solstice the Birthday of Jesus. It was a powerful reminder that Christ is the Light of the World, a Light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness cannot overcome. But the date was made up.
We are free to celebrate the birth of Jesus any day we want, including in July. Some merchants have already caught on to this, by the way. If you rush out to any Hallmark Greeting Card store this afternoon you will catch the tail end of the "unveiling" of Hallmark's Christmas Ornament Collection! We can do our Christmas ornament shopping five months early! Merry Christmas from Hallmark Greeting Cards (who, like God, "cares enough to send the very best!").
As I thought about this service, a verse from "O Little Town of Bethlehem" kept running through my head:
O holy Child of Bethlehem! descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!"
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus could be born in us, in some new way, each and every day? He was born of the Virgin Mary once. But Jesus can also be born in us, again and again. It depends on whether you or I have what Stuart Brisco calls "The Spirit of Christmas" or "The Spirit of Christ" ("Christmas 365 Days a Year," Preaching Today, tape no. 135). What's the difference between these two?
The "Spirit of Christmas" is that warm, fuzzy feeling of "peace on earth and good will to women and men" that we usually get around the holidays. We give the Salvation Army bell ringer not just our leftover change but a whole dollar! We give generously to other charities, too. We smile at strangers, hum Christmas carols, and are generally uplifted. We don't even get angry when someone pushes in front of us in line at the Christmas Tree Shop! (Sometimes.)
The "Spirit of Christmas" is powerful. But it passes. "The Spirit of Christ," on the other hand, "Emmanuel," "God with us" can be a daily event. What can happen to you and me is similar to what happened to Mary. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary. Christ was born in her.
Of course, Mary's experience of the indwelling Christ was unique! She had morning sickness! But, also the thrill when the Child first moved within her. Plus the feeling that many pregnant women report that while they're pregnant, they're never alone. Everything they eat and everything they do is done with and for somebody else.
What Mary felt, the biological bonding with the Christ Child, you and I can never feel. Still, "The Spirit of Christ," the Holy Spirit, can be born in us today, and every day. Some experience the Holy Spirit as overpowering, like the "slain in the Spirit" Pentecostals in Robert Duvall's movie, The Apostle. Others, like Robert Duvall himself, experience the Spirit as "a certain quiet, emotional uplift ... a stillness, more than any kind of noisy exaltation ... a 'still, small voice,' " (Newsweek, April 13, 1998, p. 60). But whether the Spirit comes to us as Wind and Fire or as a "still, small voice," Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit as our Helper (John 14:16). If we don't experience the Spirit, might it be because we haven't invited the Spirit in?
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38 RSV). She turned her life -- and her body -- over to God. I wonder what wonders might begin to happen in your and my life if you and I got up each morning and said, really meaning it, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me today according to your word."
But do we make time to invite "The Spirit of Christ" into our day? Noted author Madeleine L'Engle does. She writes in A Circle Of Quiet (Seabury Press) about her "special place ... a small brook in a green glade ... from which there is no visible sign of human beings. There's a natural stone bridge over the brook," and she sits there, "dangling [her] legs and looking through the foliage at the sky reflected in the water, and things slowly come back into perspective." She continues, "If the insects are biting me -- and they usually are; no place is quite perfect -- I use the pliable branch of a shad-blow tree as a fan."
She continues, "The brook wanders through a tunnel of foliage, and the birds sing more sweetly there than anywhere else ... and I move slowly into a kind of peace that is marvelous, annihilating all that's made to a green thought in a green shade" (p. 4). Young Mary took all things and "pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). The Baby Jesus was born in her. Middle-age (when she wrote that) Madeleine L'Engle escaped to a green glade. Helpful, spiritual books were born in her. Have we established a place of daily "peace and quiet" where we can meet the "Spirit of Christ?" Who knows what the Spirit might do in us and through us, if we gave it half a chance.
What that means is putting up in our lives one of those signs you sometimes see in stores: UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT. We're under new management if we invite the Spirit of Christ into our lives. Our circumstances may not change. The shepherds went back to tending their sheep -- good thing for the sheep! In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria tired of being king and applied to become a contemplative at a local monastery. The prior met the king at the door and asked, "Your Majesty, do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been king."
"I understand," said King Henry, "for the rest of my life, I will be obedient ... as Christ leads you."
"Then," said the prior, "go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you." When he died, it was written of King Henry, "[He] learned to rule by being obedient."
King Henry's circumstances did not change. But his attitude did. From then on, he was under new management. His life belonged to Christ. And we don't have to be people of power to be useful. God made excellent use of an obedient peasant girl named Mary, and of a faithful carpenter named Joseph.
The late Mother Teresa wrote, "It is Christmas every time you smile at your brother (or sister) and offer [them] your hand. It is Christmas every time you remain silent and listen to another. It is Christmas every time you turn your back on the principles that oppress the poor. It is Christmas every time you hope with the 'prisoners.' It is Christmas every time you recognize in humility your limitations. It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you." (Life in the Spirit, Harper and Row, p. 73.)
Howard Thurman, a great African-American preacher from another generation, puts it another way:
When the song of the angel is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks;
The work of Christmas begins;
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music with the heart ...
O holy Child of Bethlehem! descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in: be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
Christmas is not just about December 25, and parties and presents. Christmas is about a Living Presence, "The Spirit Of Christ," "Emmanuel," "God with us," every day. Today you and I can make a place for the Christ Child. He doesn't have to stay "Away In A Manger" in a "Little Town Of Bethlehem." He can be born in us, and live in us, and work God's will through us, every day. If we establish a place of peace and quiet, if we put ourselves under new management, if we say daily "Behold, we are the servants of the Lord. Let it be to us according to your word."
His older sister finished his sentence; "They stand for Love, Joy, and Peace and Quiet!"
Although the little girl was technically wrong -- the missing candle stands for Hope -- she still had a point. In many of our homes, Peace and Quiet can be missing around Christmas. The days of December, meant to be merry, can be the most harried days of our year.
One of those "magazine shows," Dateline NBC, once ran a segment titled "The Nightmare before Christmas" (12/20/95). A camera crew followed a family of six from suburban New Jersey as they waded their way through Advent. Two exhausted, overworked parents (especially Mom, who was doing most of the work); four over-stimulated, demanding kids, shoving and screaming in the mini-van; $2,000 spent on Christmas gifts in overcrowded stores, all were caught on camera. It wasn't a pretty picture. But it was an accurate reminder of what the Christmas season can be like.
I thought it might be interesting to separate the celebration of Christ's birth from December 25. Why not Christmas in July? In point of fact, we don't know the exact birthdate of Jesus. Does that shock you? Pope Julius officially established December 25 as Christmas in 350 A.D.
Under the old Roman calendar (slightly different from ours) December 25 was the winter solstice, the shortest, darkest day of the year. A lot of pagan partying, including excessive eating and drinking, took place on and around December 25 (does that sound familiar?). So the Pope proclaimed the winter solstice the Birthday of Jesus. It was a powerful reminder that Christ is the Light of the World, a Light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness cannot overcome. But the date was made up.
We are free to celebrate the birth of Jesus any day we want, including in July. Some merchants have already caught on to this, by the way. If you rush out to any Hallmark Greeting Card store this afternoon you will catch the tail end of the "unveiling" of Hallmark's Christmas Ornament Collection! We can do our Christmas ornament shopping five months early! Merry Christmas from Hallmark Greeting Cards (who, like God, "cares enough to send the very best!").
As I thought about this service, a verse from "O Little Town of Bethlehem" kept running through my head:
O holy Child of Bethlehem! descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!"
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus could be born in us, in some new way, each and every day? He was born of the Virgin Mary once. But Jesus can also be born in us, again and again. It depends on whether you or I have what Stuart Brisco calls "The Spirit of Christmas" or "The Spirit of Christ" ("Christmas 365 Days a Year," Preaching Today, tape no. 135). What's the difference between these two?
The "Spirit of Christmas" is that warm, fuzzy feeling of "peace on earth and good will to women and men" that we usually get around the holidays. We give the Salvation Army bell ringer not just our leftover change but a whole dollar! We give generously to other charities, too. We smile at strangers, hum Christmas carols, and are generally uplifted. We don't even get angry when someone pushes in front of us in line at the Christmas Tree Shop! (Sometimes.)
The "Spirit of Christmas" is powerful. But it passes. "The Spirit of Christ," on the other hand, "Emmanuel," "God with us" can be a daily event. What can happen to you and me is similar to what happened to Mary. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary. Christ was born in her.
Of course, Mary's experience of the indwelling Christ was unique! She had morning sickness! But, also the thrill when the Child first moved within her. Plus the feeling that many pregnant women report that while they're pregnant, they're never alone. Everything they eat and everything they do is done with and for somebody else.
What Mary felt, the biological bonding with the Christ Child, you and I can never feel. Still, "The Spirit of Christ," the Holy Spirit, can be born in us today, and every day. Some experience the Holy Spirit as overpowering, like the "slain in the Spirit" Pentecostals in Robert Duvall's movie, The Apostle. Others, like Robert Duvall himself, experience the Spirit as "a certain quiet, emotional uplift ... a stillness, more than any kind of noisy exaltation ... a 'still, small voice,' " (Newsweek, April 13, 1998, p. 60). But whether the Spirit comes to us as Wind and Fire or as a "still, small voice," Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit as our Helper (John 14:16). If we don't experience the Spirit, might it be because we haven't invited the Spirit in?
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38 RSV). She turned her life -- and her body -- over to God. I wonder what wonders might begin to happen in your and my life if you and I got up each morning and said, really meaning it, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me today according to your word."
But do we make time to invite "The Spirit of Christ" into our day? Noted author Madeleine L'Engle does. She writes in A Circle Of Quiet (Seabury Press) about her "special place ... a small brook in a green glade ... from which there is no visible sign of human beings. There's a natural stone bridge over the brook," and she sits there, "dangling [her] legs and looking through the foliage at the sky reflected in the water, and things slowly come back into perspective." She continues, "If the insects are biting me -- and they usually are; no place is quite perfect -- I use the pliable branch of a shad-blow tree as a fan."
She continues, "The brook wanders through a tunnel of foliage, and the birds sing more sweetly there than anywhere else ... and I move slowly into a kind of peace that is marvelous, annihilating all that's made to a green thought in a green shade" (p. 4). Young Mary took all things and "pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). The Baby Jesus was born in her. Middle-age (when she wrote that) Madeleine L'Engle escaped to a green glade. Helpful, spiritual books were born in her. Have we established a place of daily "peace and quiet" where we can meet the "Spirit of Christ?" Who knows what the Spirit might do in us and through us, if we gave it half a chance.
What that means is putting up in our lives one of those signs you sometimes see in stores: UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT. We're under new management if we invite the Spirit of Christ into our lives. Our circumstances may not change. The shepherds went back to tending their sheep -- good thing for the sheep! In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria tired of being king and applied to become a contemplative at a local monastery. The prior met the king at the door and asked, "Your Majesty, do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been king."
"I understand," said King Henry, "for the rest of my life, I will be obedient ... as Christ leads you."
"Then," said the prior, "go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you." When he died, it was written of King Henry, "[He] learned to rule by being obedient."
King Henry's circumstances did not change. But his attitude did. From then on, he was under new management. His life belonged to Christ. And we don't have to be people of power to be useful. God made excellent use of an obedient peasant girl named Mary, and of a faithful carpenter named Joseph.
The late Mother Teresa wrote, "It is Christmas every time you smile at your brother (or sister) and offer [them] your hand. It is Christmas every time you remain silent and listen to another. It is Christmas every time you turn your back on the principles that oppress the poor. It is Christmas every time you hope with the 'prisoners.' It is Christmas every time you recognize in humility your limitations. It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you." (Life in the Spirit, Harper and Row, p. 73.)
Howard Thurman, a great African-American preacher from another generation, puts it another way:
When the song of the angel is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks;
The work of Christmas begins;
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music with the heart ...
O holy Child of Bethlehem! descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in: be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
Christmas is not just about December 25, and parties and presents. Christmas is about a Living Presence, "The Spirit Of Christ," "Emmanuel," "God with us," every day. Today you and I can make a place for the Christ Child. He doesn't have to stay "Away In A Manger" in a "Little Town Of Bethlehem." He can be born in us, and live in us, and work God's will through us, every day. If we establish a place of peace and quiet, if we put ourselves under new management, if we say daily "Behold, we are the servants of the Lord. Let it be to us according to your word."
