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| SERMON 1st Sunday of Christmas December 27, 2009 The Rev. Charles W. Messer |
| 667 Mount Road, Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 |
| Small Parish - Big Heart The little church you've been looking for! All are welcome! |
| Our Mission: To worship the Lord To serve the community To grow the church |
| Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 or Luke 2:41-52 or Matthew 2:1-12 Psalm 84 or 84:1-8 |
We are in, as I like to call it, the Christmas hangover. These days after Christmas
day, while the tree is still up and the lights on the house still burn, it’s difficult to
shake off the side effects of the months of build up. It’s so depressing to go into
places like Target or Wal Mart and see massive clearance sales of Christmas
trees, decorations, and wrapping paper. Our consumer culture, who couldn’t wait
to get us in the Christmas spirit just after Halloween, now can’t get rid of
Christmas fast enough.
However, the Church still lags behind everyone else. In case you were
wondering, we’re still in the Christmas season. While the radio station that played
Christmas music 24 hrs a day has given up the ghost, the Church continues to
sing carols. Let’s not rush away from the manger just yet.
The worship life of the Church calls us to pause for 12 days in order to wrap our
minds around the glorious impossible of God becoming human. As we stand
over the shoulders of Mary and Joseph and gaze at the baby in the manger, we
somehow catch a glimpse of how the universe functions. Through the Nativity,
we see how God works in our world.
As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians, God gave it all away, took the form of a
human being, so that when we meet God it’s in poverty and weakness. God does
it by giving it all away. God gives away in what we might expect of strength,
power, and success. We see that the universe lives by love, a love that refuses to
bully, or force, or intimidate. The great scandal of the Christian faith is that the
universe lives by the love of a helpless baby in a manger and a dying man on a
cross.
This is the mystery of the universe. We, who are so obsessed about being safe
and successful, who worry endlessly about being in control, who can’t believe
that power could show itself in any other way than by the business end of a gun
or the number of zeros in one’s bank account find it difficult to swallow that God
would incarnate frail humanity. Christmas tells us exactly what Easter tells us: out
of love, God gives it all away.
God makes the world alive by giving reality to the world. It’s through the
incarnation, God putting on human flesh that all of life is sanctified. God has
gotten into the guts of human life and sanctified it. All of human existence has
now become holy, sacramental, the outward and visible signs of God’s grace.
Water is no longer water, but the entrance of baptism. Wine and bread are no
longer wine and bread but the body and blood of God. The baby in the manger
makes a gift of himself to us by giving it all away.
The mystery of the universe is this: out of love God created everything. Out of
love God called us to relationship. When we rebelled against God, out of love God
didn’t leave us as we are. Out of love, God came to us to save us by becoming
one of us. Out of such love we see, touch, taste, and hear God. God is reconciling
all things, healing all things, calling all people into fellowship. God does this by
giving it all away.
Our response to such a gift is our obedience. However, Christianity doesn’t rest
on “thou shall’s and thou shall not’s.” The Christian faith exists because God,
through Jesus Christ, has given it all away. Authentic Christian morality is when
we can’t help ourselves, can’t stop ourselves loving others by giving it all away.
Christian discipleship isn’t a matter of achieving a standard; it’s isn’t about
church attendance or choosing the right denomination. Christian discipleship is
about being transformed by God’s love. Our transformation is achieved through
the helpless baby in the manger, the inquisitive boy in the temple, the dying man
on the cross, and the resurrected Savior bursting from the grave. The redemption
of the world is accomplished by God giving it all away.
See if this sounds familiar: Santa brought some pretty good gifts to the Messer
house. Christmas morning came around and they were enthralled by what Santa
had left. Fast forward 48 hours later: “I’m bored.” Instead of playing with those
fabulous toys we found them playing with a box of rocks and broken chop sticks.
Thus begins the long Christmas hangover. I relied on their fascination with
presents to provide me with the true meaning of Christmas. Instead it left me
unsatisfied.
These days after Christmas day provide us with a valuable lesson we’ve heard
time and time again: it isn’t about the stuff we get but what we give away without
any strings attached. The greatest gift we can give to each other is giving it all
away so that others may give. Love so that others may love. Stand for justice so
that others may stand. Live for peace so that others may live.
This is how God works in our world; this is how the universe functions: love is
given so that love would be given. This is what we see in the baby laying in a
manger, the man hanging on the cross and his defeat over death. God is so
stripped of what we associate with divinity that we can only understand exactly
who God is and how God works by watching God give it all away.
So before we take down the tree, put away the decorations, and turn off the lights
let us not rush too quickly away from the manger. It’s here that we glimpse how
the universe works. Everywhere around us, Christmas can’t be swept away any
faster but the Church says not too fast; be still and know God. It maybe
Christmas clearance at Wal Mart and Target, but here it’s still Christmas.
Amen
day, while the tree is still up and the lights on the house still burn, it’s difficult to
shake off the side effects of the months of build up. It’s so depressing to go into
places like Target or Wal Mart and see massive clearance sales of Christmas
trees, decorations, and wrapping paper. Our consumer culture, who couldn’t wait
to get us in the Christmas spirit just after Halloween, now can’t get rid of
Christmas fast enough.
However, the Church still lags behind everyone else. In case you were
wondering, we’re still in the Christmas season. While the radio station that played
Christmas music 24 hrs a day has given up the ghost, the Church continues to
sing carols. Let’s not rush away from the manger just yet.
The worship life of the Church calls us to pause for 12 days in order to wrap our
minds around the glorious impossible of God becoming human. As we stand
over the shoulders of Mary and Joseph and gaze at the baby in the manger, we
somehow catch a glimpse of how the universe functions. Through the Nativity,
we see how God works in our world.
As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians, God gave it all away, took the form of a
human being, so that when we meet God it’s in poverty and weakness. God does
it by giving it all away. God gives away in what we might expect of strength,
power, and success. We see that the universe lives by love, a love that refuses to
bully, or force, or intimidate. The great scandal of the Christian faith is that the
universe lives by the love of a helpless baby in a manger and a dying man on a
cross.
This is the mystery of the universe. We, who are so obsessed about being safe
and successful, who worry endlessly about being in control, who can’t believe
that power could show itself in any other way than by the business end of a gun
or the number of zeros in one’s bank account find it difficult to swallow that God
would incarnate frail humanity. Christmas tells us exactly what Easter tells us: out
of love, God gives it all away.
God makes the world alive by giving reality to the world. It’s through the
incarnation, God putting on human flesh that all of life is sanctified. God has
gotten into the guts of human life and sanctified it. All of human existence has
now become holy, sacramental, the outward and visible signs of God’s grace.
Water is no longer water, but the entrance of baptism. Wine and bread are no
longer wine and bread but the body and blood of God. The baby in the manger
makes a gift of himself to us by giving it all away.
The mystery of the universe is this: out of love God created everything. Out of
love God called us to relationship. When we rebelled against God, out of love God
didn’t leave us as we are. Out of love, God came to us to save us by becoming
one of us. Out of such love we see, touch, taste, and hear God. God is reconciling
all things, healing all things, calling all people into fellowship. God does this by
giving it all away.
Our response to such a gift is our obedience. However, Christianity doesn’t rest
on “thou shall’s and thou shall not’s.” The Christian faith exists because God,
through Jesus Christ, has given it all away. Authentic Christian morality is when
we can’t help ourselves, can’t stop ourselves loving others by giving it all away.
Christian discipleship isn’t a matter of achieving a standard; it’s isn’t about
church attendance or choosing the right denomination. Christian discipleship is
about being transformed by God’s love. Our transformation is achieved through
the helpless baby in the manger, the inquisitive boy in the temple, the dying man
on the cross, and the resurrected Savior bursting from the grave. The redemption
of the world is accomplished by God giving it all away.
See if this sounds familiar: Santa brought some pretty good gifts to the Messer
house. Christmas morning came around and they were enthralled by what Santa
had left. Fast forward 48 hours later: “I’m bored.” Instead of playing with those
fabulous toys we found them playing with a box of rocks and broken chop sticks.
Thus begins the long Christmas hangover. I relied on their fascination with
presents to provide me with the true meaning of Christmas. Instead it left me
unsatisfied.
These days after Christmas day provide us with a valuable lesson we’ve heard
time and time again: it isn’t about the stuff we get but what we give away without
any strings attached. The greatest gift we can give to each other is giving it all
away so that others may give. Love so that others may love. Stand for justice so
that others may stand. Live for peace so that others may live.
This is how God works in our world; this is how the universe functions: love is
given so that love would be given. This is what we see in the baby laying in a
manger, the man hanging on the cross and his defeat over death. God is so
stripped of what we associate with divinity that we can only understand exactly
who God is and how God works by watching God give it all away.
So before we take down the tree, put away the decorations, and turn off the lights
let us not rush too quickly away from the manger. It’s here that we glimpse how
the universe works. Everywhere around us, Christmas can’t be swept away any
faster but the Church says not too fast; be still and know God. It maybe
Christmas clearance at Wal Mart and Target, but here it’s still Christmas.
Amen
To contact us: Calvary Episcopal Church 667 Mount Road Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 OFFICE The Rev. Charles Messer, Rector Fr. Chuck: frmesser@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org Website: mail@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org Office: calvaryoffice1@verizon.net |
