BE IT RESOLVED FOR CHRISTMAS
Micah 5: 2-5(a)
LUKE 1: 47-55
December 23, 2018
We are getting close my friends … 2018 soon will be vanishing in the midst of all of those calendar pages from each of our pasts. We will be writing 2018 when we really intend to insert the new year of 2019. The 2018 days of joy, the days of sadness, the days of success, the days of failures, and yes all those many days of nothingness that end up comprising a year will be nothing more than memories, history, and if we maintain a journal or our online calendars are well documented we will have a history to look back on that we never will do. Yes, for Eagles’ fans 2018 will always be remembered but what other significance will this year hold? For some not much for others special memories.
Oh, and yes Christmas is just hours away … JOY to the WORLD. JOY to the WORLD along with our crèches and our decorations and excitement over the Savior’s birth will soon be boxed along with artificial trees, wreaths, and all the GRISWOLD-Like outdoor lights that may have disturbed the neighbors sleep. And, on Sunday December 30th church attendance across our nation will be at an annual low because most folks will have had enough of that Christ .. that Christmas … worship and faith. OH COME ALL YE FAITHUL joyful and triumphant will very quickly turn into SILENT NIGHT SILENT DAY all is calm.
BE IT RESOLVED! … Friends, should we consider making a resolution to remain connected with Jesus Christ? ‘Emmanuel, EMMANUEL … His Name is called Emmanuel … GOD WITH US … Revealed in us.’ We just sang those words and I would hope that we each felt the special connection of faith … that song intones. We read in Matthew’s Gospel, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him … IMMANUEL, which means God with us.”
That baby … born after the journey to the dusty dirty manger scene… the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph before that day saying “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.”
DO NOT BE AFRAID … GOD with us. Jesus.
BE IT RESOLVED … we are on the edge of the celebration of the birth of the special One. The baby who Joseph was told to name Jesus … those sweet baby cries soon to be heard in Egypt when his parents left their homeland for the safety of a neighboring nation … those cries all too quickly becoming childish laughter but then as a 12 year old a teacher in the synagogue and as an adult our rabbi, our teacher, our Lord bringing directly from God, God’s expectations of those who believe for living their lives. And then He, that child, that baby … after His calendar pages flew by in a flash was taken to the cross completing the journey that the angel of the Lord had shared with his earthly step father … to save God’s people … all people … from our sins. Three days later the tomb was empty; the call went out HE IS RISEN <HE IS RISEN INDEED>! And, my friends the baby whose birth is so caught up in the commercialism of this season … the baby whose mere birth celebration is … for whatever reason limited to just a few days of singing JOY to the WORLD our SAVIOR REIGNS will be carefully boxed up until we again hear Christmas music at our stores and over our radio airwaves. It’s as if we don’t want to let Him reign.
It is as if we missed EMMANUEL … GOD IS WITH US. Let’s skip church the last Sunday of the year; God won’t miss us and who cares … now that we have finished with the Merry Christmas greetings lets forget about the Christ in Christmas? It’s so odd friends … as I get older and older and as I lose friends and see how naïve we all are as history repeats itself again … perhaps its an oddity of this job of mine where I get to contemplate more on issues related to church. And, it’s not about the building … it’s about us. It’s about the future. It’s about the legacy of the baby because we have arrived in a time of world history where it is easier and acceptable for each of us, any of us, and especially for those not in church to reject the concept of Bible Study, to find prayer only in the moments of crisis or when we want to make a political stand about not being allowed to be forced to pray in public, and to consider worshiping an unseen God not a solid time investment; praising a Savior with energy and excitement and love to be embarrassing … well those things are held in abeyance until the Christmas season arrives when its all ok for a few weeks.
So, BE IT RESOLVED good people … Whereas, God who created the universe in God’s love for humanity; each one created in God’s Holy Image not to be rejected nor hated by another human but loved as those individuals love themselves. That this God whose reality includes trinity partners of the Son and Holy Spirit who have been with God since the beginning, that God so loved the world that God sent Jesus, the Son, not to condemn but to save the world. And, that all humanity has to do is truly believe, have faith, and live a life of faith that verifies the connection to God. Be it therefore resolved that each of us in our coming days will strive to worship God with joy-filled energy each day, loving all of our neighbors, and we will go into the world with a primary goal of bringing others to know the real message that Christ is not only in Christmas but Christ is in December 30th, March 2nd, May 15th, August 20th, October 10th, and yes in December 24th.
Don’t you want to join arm in arm, hand in hand with other people of faith to go out into the world telling it on the mountains of the world? To go out in mission to Kentucky’s hills, to Camden’s poverty inflicted streets, or right here at St. Paul’s just to spend a night or two being the loving company of families without homes during our Four Family Promise Weeks? Christmas should be the time of reconnection with God … getting closer to God but the outcome of God’s gift should be the truth that each of us has an opportunity to be a difference maker in the coming days. Yesterday’s are gone into the past but tomorrow’s GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN moments that Jesus Christ is born are yet to come. Tell the rest of the Christmas story through your actions, your words, and your life. Each in our own way with a smile of joy rejoicing always …
And, that brings us to that teenage mother. You know her name, Mary. Mary after being visited by the angel Gabriel hurried to her cousin’s home. Elizabeth was unexpectedly pregnant too. The cousin’s conversation included Elizabeth calling out to Mary “GOD HAS BLESSED YOU … blessed you above all women Mary and God has blessed the child you carry. “
WE can imagine the women’s joy, laughter, and how Mary shared her story with Elizabeth. Smiles in the room … two women strong in their faith in God. But somewhere in the midst of their time together … Mary later remembers as she shares those moments with Luke as he records Mary’s story for all time. Mary remembers what we now call Mary’s Song. A poetic reflection of faith and an example of how faithful people should connect with God.
You see friends … God through the history recorded in the Bible didn’t intend for us to ignore these histories; God didn’t intend for us to put more emphasis on the political meme’s that fill our Facebook pages … God provided us with living fresh reminders that are timeless even though the days of their reality are long since past.
As I continue to mourn the priorities other than worshiping God that all too many families are making for their children or for themselves, I truly find that Mary’s Song is a call for the rehabilitation of our families! I find in this teenage story a story that needs to be shared with young people about the priorities of youth … this is more than a Christmas morning story this story is how God’s angel came to a teenage girl who said yes to God. She proclaims, “With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior!”
When we start to teach our kids that God and Christ are our Savior in life and should be “the depths of who they are” rather than training them to focus their lives on some unknown future college sports scholarship or on activities that satisfy their parent’s pride in photo op’s or achievements that they are led to believe is a valid reason for giving up Sunday School, youth groups, and church then, ONLY THEN, we will begin to repair the damage done .. we will again see the Light of Christ breaking through the clouds. How many of us are part of families in need of fixing? How many of us are desperate for rehabilitation in our walks of faith? How many of us have seen the days of Advent fly by losing a chance to bask in God’s love because we were busy with other stuff?
Hear Mary’s song again, “Holy is His name. God shows mercy to everyone from one generation to the next … who honors him as God.” The generational context needs to include a consideration of honoring and loving God more than the trivial items on our calendars that won’t matter days, weeks, months or years from now. Recovery comes from discovering the Risen Christ … change comes from hearing the living Christ’s words and reconnecting with the Holy One, God, the Creator of all.
Mary shares God “fills the hungry with good things … comes to the aid of those God cares for, which is part of God’s promise to all.”
So, this morning four candles were lit on the Advent wreath … Hope, Joy, Peace, and today love. God’s love for all … Jesus teaching the priorities of the commandments LOVE GOD … LOVE ALL of our neighbors. Tomorrow night we light the CHRIST CANDLE because the celebrations are about Christ in Christmas.
But, are you ready and willing to resolve to include God as a priority in the coming days? To insert God into your calendars … to rehabilitate your future, your children’s future, and to go and tell it out on the mountains of the world that Christ matters every day not just in the days where candy canes are for sale amidst the decorations?
That’s what we are called to do … BE IT RESOLVED GO INTO THE WORLD and MAKE DISCIPLES … everywhere and love God while loving ALL of your neighbors!
AMEN
Watch a video of today’s worship service: