Tomorrow Will You Be Connected with Your Gift?
Isaiah 9: 2-7
PSALM 96
LUKE 2: 8-14 KING JAMES VERSE read by Linus
DECEMBER 24th 2024 – CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas Eve … it’s here … it’s today! If you check your calendars, you can discover the significance of this date … a date in your personal histories and mine. It’s the day before Christmas. Of course, I seriously doubt any of you would be in church tonight or watching St. Paul’s FACEBOOK stream on December 24th in the year 2024 if you did not understand that today is CHRISTMAS EVE … and that tomorrow … it’s Christmas.
Of course, tomorrow you won’t be in church or watching the live stream because it won’t be Christmas Eve … although you could choose to watch this service again and again and again because it will be out in cyberspace on our FACEBOOK page. I know I happen to watch ‘A Charlie Brown’s Christmas’ as well as ‘Mr. Magoo’s; A Christmas Carol’ again and again and again every year … Christmas traditions you know. There are some things we just have to do because the calendar tells us to.
So, MERRY CHRISTMAS … <<MERRY CHRISTMAS>> it feels so good doesn’t it to shout those words with joy!! In our Psalm today we heard the instructions of God to people of faith to SING TO THE LORD!! ALL the earth … Bless God’s name! Share the news of God’s saving work … E_V_E_R_Y single day … ok, so most of us skip sharing that declaration every day even though God says we are to do that and perhaps some of you even hesitate … to ever share the celebration of God’s love with the people in your world yet, those in heaven, we are told, celebrate all the time especially when someone new discovers the truth of the Christmas story. When that person starts to believe in Jesus Christ after all those lonely nights without God in their lives believing that yes, God is out there and loving them … and that’s when the heavenly party starts!
We heard the Scripture telling us about people walking in darkness and then discovering a great light! I love to look up at the star in this sanctuary … considering God’s beacon light of love that directed the shepherds towards THE manger … God’s ever-present reality that any of us can find at the shore, in the mountains, in the songs of birds and just about anywhere in nature when we actually pause and then take notice to sense God. And to think on this Christmas Eve that God provided humanity all those years ago with a child who was born to ALL of us, a Son given to ALL of us. Amongst His names are Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and I have always loved this nickname of Jesus Christ … PRINCE of PEACE.
Don’t you just love the Christmas season … don’t you just want to get up on your feet and shout JOY TO THE WORLD because God gave us God’s PRINCE of PEACE … for us and for all of our neighbors to follow and to believe in. Not to turn away from … Jesus always ready for us to reach out to … knowing that God through Jesus will always be right there and will never leave and all we are asked to do is to really and truly believe.
Last night I was sitting in my living room and trying to remember past Christmas moments. My mind first took me back to my childhood … snowflakes and visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. Quiet conversations with my brother contemplating what was going to happen after the clock struck midnight and the day called Christmas arrived. And, then I smiled with yeah a few tears forming in my eyes as I thought about my girls … their beautiful faces lighting up when they came down the stairs to discover … discover gifts that had almost magically appeared under the tree ready for their little hands to rip off the paper and giving our cats and our dogs the gift of wrapping paper to rip and toss into the air … and here we are friends only 6 ½ hours/4 ½ hours from another Christmas Day here in New Jersey and I am truly wondering how many of us will strive to connect with the ultimate Christmas gift of God … Jesus Christ.
How many of us when we hear Linus read from the Gospel of Luke are quietly nodding our heads and acknowledging YES, we know what Christmas is all about. We are changed people because of God’s ultimate Christmas gift. When you think about Christmas are you ready to shout out loud that simple phrase from Luke’s Gospel that Linus declared back in that 1965 television special? GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!!
You know … Joy to the World the Lord has come … are you ready or willing to celebrate that Christmas … is more … than something that online shopping services can deliver at the last minute to your front door? Christmas is about God’s gift unwrapped and real.
And, are you ready … perhaps more than ever before … as we count the hours to this Christmas Day in the year 2024 … are you ready to accept and adopt into your life the calling of the multitude of the heavenly host … and on earth … PEACE and GOOD WILL TOWARD … well toward all of us because the essence of God’s directions and the reality of God’s Christmas gift is love … love wrapped up in that babe in the manger.
That baby we place so much emphasis on in these hours became the ultimate spokesperson for God … challenging those who pretty much worshiped themselves and their own personal power and their stuff to pause and to discover that God actually does matter in the here and now requiring them to change and actually care about others … Jesus whose journey here on earth shone God’s light while brightly demonstrating that loving all of our neighbors is a God truth and showcasing love for those rejected by society. Teaching everyone that caring for the poor and strangers are God’s requirements. He even showed us how to care for the challenged and those with dis-ABILITIES … yes, through Scripture we learn that we should be joyful in our faith … ready to worship with an energy level that defies what non-believers might think of church goers in the 21st century and friends we are told that we need to be activists in our faith not just passively believing almost denying that we truly believe in the Christmas gift of God who we are celebrating in this season of the year.
Jesus … do you value your relationship with Him? Are you thankful for God’s Christmas gift? Have you made the active decision and taken the simple step of believing and following Jesus and changing your approach towards living each day in a manner that transcends pretense and truly is reflective that you want to live your life following Jesus. That the gift of Christmas Day is something special to you… or should I ask whether God’s Christmas gift is someone actually treasured and valued by you.
Are you looking for ways to share the spirit of Christmas as taught by Jesus? In that Mr. Magoo cartoon adaptation of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ I have watched the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge year after year as he at first rejected the Christmas lesson choosing to count his money coin by coin but then there he is at the end of the story providing for Bob Cratchit’s family including that adorable Tiny Tim who sang about his love for RAZZLEBERRY DRESSING.
This past Sunday the Christmas spirit right was here in this church sanctuary. Over the last few weeks, this church has helped care for Todd, Crystal, and Shiloh who live in the woods near here. On Saturday night the temperature dropped to 17 degrees and I reminded the church family that Todd, Crystal and Shiloh had slept in a tent in the woods. I told the church that in the coming days I think we can do more for those who are homeless, and I put these two hats out on the alter. I watched as children brought dollar bills and then adults brought dollar bills and without judging the homeless … without laying blame on these beautiful people for their circumstance this church made this Christmas special for them. They have been in a hotel these last few nights and will return to their tent on Thursday, but we are still working on getting their lives together.
You see it is Christmas … the light of Jesus Christ is shining, and His words remind us to care for those who are hurting … to love our neighbors … to be peacemakers and to put our faith into action. You may not be able to drop a dollar for the homeless in one of these hats tonight … you might not be able to write a check for the offering plate to help this church pay its bills but we each have within ourselves the capability to live a life reflective of what God expects. To find joy in worship … to share our joy … to be people who actually follow Jesus taking His words seriously and accepting God’s Christmas gift.
My friend Paul O’Neill wrote these words in a song about about life and to me they are a Christmas message … “Where’s the lights, turn them on again. When the crowds are gone and I’m all alone playing a final song. Now that the lights are gone. Turn them on again. One more time for me my friend. Turn them on again.” Let the light of Jesus Christ shine again in your life … the light of God’s Christmas gift turn it on again and keep it shining in you! AMEN