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| SERMON Christmas Eve Deecember 24, 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 |
Merry Christmas! What a happy day we’ve come to celebrate. It’s a day of joy and
happiness. For the last three or more months we’ve been willingly
inconvenienced by long lines, crowded stores, and Christmas music 24hrs a day.
We’ve bought, cooked, decorated, and prepared for this celebration. We’ll feast
on those special dishes that only come around once a year. Happy times!
What makes Christmas work?
The answer to this question is a lot like asking what are hot dogs made out of.
Getting too close, knowing too much you do at your own risk. You really don’t
need to know; maybe you don’t want to know, what you do know is that you
enjoy it.
Tonight, we see how hot dogs are made of. As we stand over the shoulder of
Mary and Joseph and gaze in wonder at the baby lying in a manger, we’re in
some way being invited to see how the universe functions; this is how God
works. This is who God is. God gave himself, emptied himself taking the form of a
slave, so that when we meet the creator of the universe it’s in poverty and
weakness.
No trumpeting splendor, no clouds of glory. God does it by giving it all away. God
gives away strength, power, and success. 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.
We’ve been shown the secret of the universe; and it’s a bit worrisome. We are so
obsessed about being safe and successful. We worry endlessly about losing
control. We 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.
Christmas tells us exactly what Good Friday and Easter tell us: out of love, God
gives it all away. Throughout all eternity, God is poured into the Word made flesh.
The Word made flesh, Jesus, 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 made it holy. This is
why we can say that suffering, death, disease, and violence no longer have the
final say so because God has been intimately involved in it. All of human
existence has now become sacramental, the outward and visible signs of God’s
inward and spiritual grace. The baby we’ve come to celebrate tonight makes a gift
of himself to us by becoming one of us, suffering like us, and dying like us.
This is how hot dogs are made, how the universe works because the
unconditional love of God flows and creates a world that is a reflection of its
creator. It is through the baby Jesus that we can feel, smell, touch, taste, hear,
and see God. It’s through the baby Jesus that God is reconciling all things; it’s
through the man dying on the cross that all people are welcomed to God’s table.
The only response to such a gift is our worship, our obedience.
However, Christianity doesn’t rest on “thou shall’s and thou shall not’s” but on
the self-giving nature of God through the person of Jesus Christ. The Christian
faith exists because God gave 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 and the dying man on the cross.
In II Corinthians, the apostle Paul insists on the need for generosity towards the
poor in the church in Jerusalem. Now, he appeals, not to an abstract moral
principal, but to the fact of God becoming human. ‘You know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sakes he becomes poor,
so that through you his poverty might become rich.’ He doesn’t say that the poor
become rich and the rich now become poor, but rather a time and place where
everyone has a place at the table, everyone has the freedom to become a gift to
others. The greatest gift we can give to each other this Christmas is giving it all
away, giving so that others may give. That’s justice. That’s freedom. That’s a
peace that passes understanding.
Love is given so we may give love. That’s what hot dogs are made of; this is what
makes Christmas work. This is what we see in the baby lying in a manger and the
man hanging on the cross. God, in both, 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 tonight – Christmas Eve, hug your kids a little tighter, make those who are
visiting feel a little more welcome, forgive those who have hurt you; be more
gracious to one another. But tomorrow – when all that’s left of Christmas is the
mound of ripped wrapping paper - live your life in the knowledge that God held
back nothing but has given us the very treasures of heaven so that you may in
turn give it all away.
Merry Christmas! Amen.
happiness. For the last three or more months we’ve been willingly
inconvenienced by long lines, crowded stores, and Christmas music 24hrs a day.
We’ve bought, cooked, decorated, and prepared for this celebration. We’ll feast
on those special dishes that only come around once a year. Happy times!
What makes Christmas work?
The answer to this question is a lot like asking what are hot dogs made out of.
Getting too close, knowing too much you do at your own risk. You really don’t
need to know; maybe you don’t want to know, what you do know is that you
enjoy it.
Tonight, we see how hot dogs are made of. As we stand over the shoulder of
Mary and Joseph and gaze in wonder at the baby lying in a manger, we’re in
some way being invited to see how the universe functions; this is how God
works. This is who God is. God gave himself, emptied himself taking the form of a
slave, so that when we meet the creator of the universe it’s in poverty and
weakness.
No trumpeting splendor, no clouds of glory. God does it by giving it all away. God
gives away strength, power, and success. 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.
We’ve been shown the secret of the universe; and it’s a bit worrisome. We are so
obsessed about being safe and successful. We worry endlessly about losing
control. We 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.
Christmas tells us exactly what Good Friday and Easter tell us: out of love, God
gives it all away. Throughout all eternity, God is poured into the Word made flesh.
The Word made flesh, Jesus, 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 made it holy. This is
why we can say that suffering, death, disease, and violence no longer have the
final say so because God has been intimately involved in it. All of human
existence has now become sacramental, the outward and visible signs of God’s
inward and spiritual grace. The baby we’ve come to celebrate tonight makes a gift
of himself to us by becoming one of us, suffering like us, and dying like us.
This is how hot dogs are made, how the universe works because the
unconditional love of God flows and creates a world that is a reflection of its
creator. It is through the baby Jesus that we can feel, smell, touch, taste, hear,
and see God. It’s through the baby Jesus that God is reconciling all things; it’s
through the man dying on the cross that all people are welcomed to God’s table.
The only response to such a gift is our worship, our obedience.
However, Christianity doesn’t rest on “thou shall’s and thou shall not’s” but on
the self-giving nature of God through the person of Jesus Christ. The Christian
faith exists because God gave 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 and the dying man on the cross.
In II Corinthians, the apostle Paul insists on the need for generosity towards the
poor in the church in Jerusalem. Now, he appeals, not to an abstract moral
principal, but to the fact of God becoming human. ‘You know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sakes he becomes poor,
so that through you his poverty might become rich.’ He doesn’t say that the poor
become rich and the rich now become poor, but rather a time and place where
everyone has a place at the table, everyone has the freedom to become a gift to
others. The greatest gift we can give to each other this Christmas is giving it all
away, giving so that others may give. That’s justice. That’s freedom. That’s a
peace that passes understanding.
Love is given so we may give love. That’s what hot dogs are made of; this is what
makes Christmas work. This is what we see in the baby lying in a manger and the
man hanging on the cross. God, in both, 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 tonight – Christmas Eve, hug your kids a little tighter, make those who are
visiting feel a little more welcome, forgive those who have hurt you; be more
gracious to one another. But tomorrow – when all that’s left of Christmas is the
mound of ripped wrapping paper - live your life in the knowledge that God held
back nothing but has given us the very treasures of heaven so that you may in
turn give it all away.
Merry 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 |
