Christmas Day 2010
Christmas Day
12/25/10
John 1:1-14
When a baby is born into a new home, it does not take long for the parents to understand the meaning of its cries. They learn to distinguish the cries of "I'm hungry -- feed me NOW!" from the one that means, "Pick me up and hold me; I need to know I'm safe and warm." Parents learn to tell the difference between the cry that means the baby is simply bored and restless and fretful and the cry that means they're in real pain. And of course there is that dreaded, “My diaper is full” cry.
As the baby gets older and the parents have mastered the crying language of the baby, it begins to laugh and before long the parents learn to understand the language of laughter. Both the crying and laughter are language without words, but a language nonetheless! And it does not stop there for those who study language say that up to 75 percent of all communication is non-verbal. We learn what others want or are thinking through the movement of hands, body positions, and none language sounds.
Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son," says the letter to the Hebrews. God speaks to us through his son, a son born into this world like any of us, a son who is entrusted to parents and to the world like any of us born into the world, a son who cries and laughs like any other newborn.
Jesus enters the world like each one of us, dependent upon others for survival. He is vulnerable to hunger and thirst, to cold and stress, to infection and accident and mishap. In fact, if not for the protective love of his parents, Herod's armies would have found him after his birth and killed him.
"The Word became flesh and lived among us," says the Gospel of John. In fact, the divine Word became a child, newborn, fragile, and vulnerable, and as dependent as we all are upon the love of others for survival.
In the birth of Jesus, God reveals Himself and His plan for salvation and it turns out to depend on human beings! This God, who is all-powerful, who could simply destroy the world and start over again, will not. This God, who could demand our obedience, does not. This God loves us so much that He lays aside his Godhood to be one of us. He comes as an infant who is dependent upon Mary and Joseph for his very survival. God sends His Son to be cared for, protected, listened to by us. Mary and Joseph are entrusted with this precious baby's life, and through his laughs and cries, they begin a lifetime relationship with Jesus.
It goes against all our worldly logic to imagine God being dependent upon human beings or anything else, for that matter. Isn't it supposed to be the very definition of God that God is all powerful, needs nobody else, is totally self-sufficient? How could God depend on us? But how else do we explain this child given to the world? The gospels don't claim any special, extraordinary power for the infant Jesus: he gives no blessing from the manger his lying in, performs no miracles, he does not speak words the world can understand. He is a baby like any other baby, who cries and is dependent upon others to be fed and cared for and held and loved dependent upon others for his very life.
Yet, the Gospel continues: "We have beheld his glory..." The glory in the infant Jesus is that he is the Word, the message brought from God to humanity through his birth into our world. The glory in Jesus is God's love for the world He has created, a love so great that God Himself would experience life in the world through His son. The glory is being invited to share in God's hope for us. The glory is sharing the work of creation with God, so that God's hope for us might become a reality in our world, and God's kingdom may come in our lives.
The glory of God Emanuel lives among us; the story of Christmas is told and retold day after day as God invites us to share in the kingdom he has prepared for us through His son. The story of Christmas is the story of how God's Kingdom enters our lives. We tell the story today not only in words, but in the language that is beyond words: by how we live and love.
While for most Christmas today is mainly about decorating the tree, giving gifts, especially to children, and having that wonderful Christmas dinner; Christmas is a story about all of us receiving that which we most want and need; that is love. a deep, strong, unconditional love which gives us a peace that truly does pass all human understanding.
The gift at Christmas isn't just the gift of a baby to Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the Wise Men. It isn't just a story about Joseph and Mary being entrusted by God with the awesome responsibility of caring for God's son. The Christmas story is about how God so loved and continues to love his human creation.
The Word became flesh and lives among us. May we tell that story each day as we love, as Christ loves us. Amen.
Parts of this sermon were taken from a sermon delivered by Rev. David Klutterman
12/25/10
John 1:1-14
When a baby is born into a new home, it does not take long for the parents to understand the meaning of its cries. They learn to distinguish the cries of "I'm hungry -- feed me NOW!" from the one that means, "Pick me up and hold me; I need to know I'm safe and warm." Parents learn to tell the difference between the cry that means the baby is simply bored and restless and fretful and the cry that means they're in real pain. And of course there is that dreaded, “My diaper is full” cry.
As the baby gets older and the parents have mastered the crying language of the baby, it begins to laugh and before long the parents learn to understand the language of laughter. Both the crying and laughter are language without words, but a language nonetheless! And it does not stop there for those who study language say that up to 75 percent of all communication is non-verbal. We learn what others want or are thinking through the movement of hands, body positions, and none language sounds.
Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son," says the letter to the Hebrews. God speaks to us through his son, a son born into this world like any of us, a son who is entrusted to parents and to the world like any of us born into the world, a son who cries and laughs like any other newborn.
Jesus enters the world like each one of us, dependent upon others for survival. He is vulnerable to hunger and thirst, to cold and stress, to infection and accident and mishap. In fact, if not for the protective love of his parents, Herod's armies would have found him after his birth and killed him.
"The Word became flesh and lived among us," says the Gospel of John. In fact, the divine Word became a child, newborn, fragile, and vulnerable, and as dependent as we all are upon the love of others for survival.
In the birth of Jesus, God reveals Himself and His plan for salvation and it turns out to depend on human beings! This God, who is all-powerful, who could simply destroy the world and start over again, will not. This God, who could demand our obedience, does not. This God loves us so much that He lays aside his Godhood to be one of us. He comes as an infant who is dependent upon Mary and Joseph for his very survival. God sends His Son to be cared for, protected, listened to by us. Mary and Joseph are entrusted with this precious baby's life, and through his laughs and cries, they begin a lifetime relationship with Jesus.
It goes against all our worldly logic to imagine God being dependent upon human beings or anything else, for that matter. Isn't it supposed to be the very definition of God that God is all powerful, needs nobody else, is totally self-sufficient? How could God depend on us? But how else do we explain this child given to the world? The gospels don't claim any special, extraordinary power for the infant Jesus: he gives no blessing from the manger his lying in, performs no miracles, he does not speak words the world can understand. He is a baby like any other baby, who cries and is dependent upon others to be fed and cared for and held and loved dependent upon others for his very life.
Yet, the Gospel continues: "We have beheld his glory..." The glory in the infant Jesus is that he is the Word, the message brought from God to humanity through his birth into our world. The glory in Jesus is God's love for the world He has created, a love so great that God Himself would experience life in the world through His son. The glory is being invited to share in God's hope for us. The glory is sharing the work of creation with God, so that God's hope for us might become a reality in our world, and God's kingdom may come in our lives.
The glory of God Emanuel lives among us; the story of Christmas is told and retold day after day as God invites us to share in the kingdom he has prepared for us through His son. The story of Christmas is the story of how God's Kingdom enters our lives. We tell the story today not only in words, but in the language that is beyond words: by how we live and love.
While for most Christmas today is mainly about decorating the tree, giving gifts, especially to children, and having that wonderful Christmas dinner; Christmas is a story about all of us receiving that which we most want and need; that is love. a deep, strong, unconditional love which gives us a peace that truly does pass all human understanding.
The gift at Christmas isn't just the gift of a baby to Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the Wise Men. It isn't just a story about Joseph and Mary being entrusted by God with the awesome responsibility of caring for God's son. The Christmas story is about how God so loved and continues to love his human creation.
The Word became flesh and lives among us. May we tell that story each day as we love, as Christ loves us. Amen.
Parts of this sermon were taken from a sermon delivered by Rev. David Klutterman
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 5:46 AM
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