IS GOD’s GIFT STILL UNWRAPPED?
Psalm 14
LUKE 2: 1-15
JULY 28, 2024 – CHRISTMAS IN JULY
Merry Christmas … Joy to the World … O Come All Ye Faithful … Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer … We do a really good job celebrating Christmas each year don’t we. We even get really energized here in this church singing the 12 Days of Christmas …. FIVE GOLDEN RINGS … four calling birds … three French hens …etcetera, etcetera and a PARTRIDGE in a PEAR TREE; not related to the Partridge Family of TV fame.
Um, Christmas decorations and outdoor lights start to appear earlier and earlier. Heck, some churches … you won’t believe this … some churches are even doing Christmas in July services or so I have heard. And, some of us even keep reminders of that December day in our homes throughout the year rather than boxed away … gathering dust.
Amongst all the Scripture passages in the Bible … oh and by the way I know that this past week you have been busily sharing your favorite verses on your social media and in conversations with your friends, right? Remember, I sort of challenged you all to do that after church last Sunday. To post your favorite verses online. Let your world of friends and family know what your favorite Bible verse is … perhaps even invite them to church with you and of course invite their kids to VBS. I was busy so I didn’t have a chance to read all of your verses on Facebook and Instagram and I don’t have a InstaCart account so if that’s where you posted your verse I wouldn’t have seen it.
Anyhow back to God’s Word … I am fairly confident, having been around the block a few times and having attended Christmas season worship services in a variety of churches over the years, I am pretty darn sure that the vast majority of folks who have invested a few moments of their time to go to church in the Christmas season have all heard a phrase from a Scripture lesson in Isaiah. Even those occasional church attenders and regulars like yourselves have heard it and perhaps even have it memorized upstairs in your brain. It’s a Christmas prediction or prophecy from the prophet Isaiah, “A child is born to US; a Son given to US!”
Now, I could stop right there because twice in one sentence in God’s Word, the Bible … in the prophecy of Isaiah, which we understand means that God told Isaiah to share this, it references you and you and you and you and you and all the you’s out there in Who Land and me … because we are the US in that reference. Every single human being since Isaiah is included in the US because God’s love extends to and for ALL. Men, women, children … from all races, national backgrounds, whoever they or we are … US
The ultimate and only important gift of the Christmas season, any Christmas season through the years, Isaiah was telling the world would come in the form of a child, a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. God’s Son … given out of love to and for all of humanity. Jesus the Christ … if you want, you are allowed to refer to Jesus as Emmanuel, which means God is with US. ALL THE TIME … GOD!
“FEAR NOT …” the angel that Linus made famous during that 1965 Christmas television special said … “FEAR NOT, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to ALL PEOPLE.” Now there’s that US reference again just using a different English word ALL … A child is born to US; a Son given to US!” ALL PEOPLE!
Linus explains to us or rather to a large annual television audience, which I would argue can be defined as US … Darn there is that US word again … US related to God … ALL people related to Jesus … tied together in a pretty Christmas bow… Linus teaches that this gift of God, Christmas’s meaning, is CHRIST THE LORD, a Savior. A Savior for US. Born for ALL of humanity on a day we have now specified and recorded as the twenty fifth day of December.
Christmas, which we all know is the day after the Christmas Eve services’ candles have been blown out. Christmas Eve, is a calendar date, that allows us to sing songs or rather Christmas carols before midnight arrives and then we quickly pack Jesus away because of the fancy wrapped gifts we excitedly pass back and forth on Christmas Day itself.
After all, we have been around long enough to understand that Christmas Day is about the Jolly Old Elf … new toys to be discarded within weeks perhaps a new shirt for dad or some power tool if dad reflects Tim Taylor in his spare moments and something nice for mom too. NBA basketball games and since this past season or two a full slate of 3 nationally televised NFL football games that have fans in the host cities rushing to their tailgate parties even pushing Santa’s reindeers aside for priorities that really matter … professional football on CHRISTMAS.
It has been 216 days since Christmas Day 2023 … have you unwrapped God’s gift to you from last Christmas? Actually, have you merely unwrapped God’s everlasting gift to you … the gift for US? A child born for us … a SON, named Jesus given to US … EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US … if God is with you FRANKLY that means you pay attention to God and God’s expectations. Accept them as part of your life. Since the Son named Jesus was given to US it sort of means or implies or hints that we need to be paying attention to Him because after all Scripture tells us that “AUTHORITY will be on His shoulders! He will be named WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, ETERNAL FATHER, PRINCE of PEACE.”
Have you experienced or are you living that peace that goes beyond human understanding that Jesus has given to those who actually unwrap God’s amazing Christmas gift to US … you and me and those folks out in the world? That is an important question and today as we celebrate Christmas in July it once again should be personal, and it also should be reflective of who we are in this world.
Over the next few weeks, I am going to spend some time considering our connection with and to God. But first I think we need to consider today’s Psalm as a reflection on whether or not we have left God’s gift to us wrapped up or even worse put away because we have other priorities that we feel we need to focus our days and our lives on.
At the end of today’s Psalm, we hear the positive news … the GOOD NEWS … God’s plan for a future with hope as Jeremiah notes. “Let Israel’s salvation come out of Zion! When the LORD changes His people’s circumstances for the better …”
Ok, I will stop there because that is the essence of God’s Christmas gift in Jesus Christ. When we take on Jesus as if Jesus matters … when we actually start to notice what Jesus taught especially since we know that when Jesus started explaining how the faithful should live our lives it was not some willy-nilly option but rather it was God’s expectation. So, if … if we want to be connected to God through Jesus Christ it does not mean we will become billionaires living in mansions with gold plated toilets but rather that our lives will be better because we are connected with God; we will be on a path to eternal life with God … we will have peace in our hearts and love for God and love for all of our neighbors, which just happen to be the first two commandments on which all the other rules, laws and commandments rest.
The worrisome reflection in this Psalm is in its beginning because what was true when David wrote these words is still true today … “Fools say in their hearts, there is no God. They are corrupt and do evil things. The Lord looks down from heaven on humans to see if anyone is wise to see if anyone seeks God.”
Friends, on this Sunday morning in July it is so very easy to say or even shout ‘Merry Christmas’ even though today is not Christmas Eve nor Christmas Day. But we know in our hearts that today is not Christmas … I am afraid that it is just as easy for folks to say today that they are Christians but to know in their hearts that their lives do not reflect or perhaps even want to reflect what God’s expectations are.
Therein lies the challenge … we need to unwrap God’s gift in Jesus Christ and then put God’s gift to use in changing our lives. In taking a close look at the associations we value and to consider whether our life actions mirror God’s teaching or whether we like fitting in with whatever earthly focused club we want to be part of. To pay attention to Jesus’ lessons in the Gospels … to actually read the Gospels.
When we unwrap Jesus Christ then we will start to rediscover God as a priority in our lives rather than a Sunday hour connection. When we accept God’s gift of Jesus Christ then people around us will notice and that does mean some might folks not want to be around you because their life focus is on rejection of God’s messages through Christ but by taking on Jesus we are accepting the “good tidings of great joy for all people.”
In the poem “[1]Please Call Me by My True Names,” I am always reminded that God is everywhere, but this poem also reminds me of those reflections on who Jesus is. The poem begins:
“Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second
To be a bud on a spring branch,
To be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
Learning to sing in my new nest,
To be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
To be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.”
“He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” and He will be “a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And you will find Him!” Friends, have you found Him … have you discovered God’s love for US in Him … have you changed because of God’s Christmas gift? We need to unwrap God’s Christmas gift today! If you have left Him set aside because of the world it is time to receive the peace and good will of God’s love … rather than living as what David refers to as a fool. Take on the salvation … discover God … share God’s love and be difference makers in this world sharing the Christmas gift of love with and to ALL people! AMEN