God With Us
Don't you think Darren and Rudie looked cute in those candy-cane tights? Did you notice how Rudie was always half a beat behind?
The weary holiday traveler looked in disbelief at a bunch of mistletoe hanging above the luggage check-in center. Turning to the attendant, he said, "Okay, I give up. Why is the mistletoe hanging there above the luggage scale?"
The attendant said, "So you can kiss your luggage good-bye."
Four Stages of Life: 1) You believe in Santa Claus. 2) You don't believe in Santa Claus. 3) You are Santa Claus. 4) You look like Santa Claus.
As Christmas is only one and a half days away, 2 more sleeps as our children would say, you may feel the ache of loneliness for a family member or spouse who will not be present this Christmas. The one you love may have passed away, maybe you are separated by distance, or unresolved conflict between yourself and them or maybe between them and others in the family and this you know will keep them away.
Or as we approach Christmas you may be filled with fear, grief, or remorse and other emotional pain and Christmas is a reminder again for you of what is not as it should be in your own heart and in your relationships.
You have memories you try to forget: angry words, phone calls not returned, special occasions and anniversaries not remembered or respected by someone you love, promises broken, dreams shattered, responsibilities neglected, slamming doors, a child's tears.
And yes, you will put on your game face and celebrate Christmas but for you it is bittersweet, it is tinged with sadness and in the quiet moments the ache of loneliness will be felt, the longing to be understood.
I want you to know this Christmas that things are not only as they seem. There is more to reality, more to the present moment, than we can know with our human intellect and emotion.
You know how kids love to have sleep-overs? When I was a boy I found it very difficult to stay at a friends place for the night. I would be having a blast all day playing some sport or riding bicycle and dirt bike but when the lights went out and we were to settle down for the night I would be overcome with loneliness for mom and dad, and fear that I would not see them again.
In those moments of anxiety, I knew my parents loved me, I knew where they were, I knew when they would come and pick me up the next day but they were not with me that moment in the darkness. I was separated from them by distance. They could not hear and respond to my voice and knowing that they loved me was not enough. I needed them with me.
The story of Jesus, God's son becoming a little baby boy must remind us that in pain, in grief, in loneliness, in loss, in tragedy there is more to reality, more to these moments than we can know with our human intellect and emotion.
The Christmas story is a story of a loving God who is with us. God before us, God beside us, God behind us, God within us. This is the present reality made possible through Jesus.
When I was about 13 years of age my oldest sister was paralyzed. She woke up one morning and could not walk. This began months of rehab at Vancouver's G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Center. My mothers traveled with her and was away for long stretches at a time that winter.
This left my other older sister, younger brother, my father and myself on our own. Dad is here this morning. Dad, our dog ate a lot of porridge before you figured out how to make porridge that was edible. The first few attempts closely resembled contact cement. It was dangerous. Maybe this is why our dog ran away.
During this time I became very insecure. I remember one night I was sleeping with my father in their bed and every 5 minutes I would ask "Dad, are you awake?" "Dad, are you awake?" I needed the assurance that my Dad was fully with me that he would not fall asleep and leave me awake on my own.
In this life filled with uncertainty do we not need the assurance that God is with us?
God through baby Jesus in the manger reassures us as someone has said, "There is never a time when the God who comes to us in Jesus is not present."
Today we lit the fourth advent candle. The fourth candle is the shepherd's candle. The birth of Jesus, this mystery unfolding, the eternal purposes of God hidden from men in ages past now about to be revealed. Angels assembling readying themselves as messengers of Almighty God, sent to shepherds watching their flocks of sheep on the Judean hillside.
Uneducated, unsophisticated, simple, ordinary, average working people, the shepherds. God is with us. The Almighty Creator God of the universe with you and I ordinary, simple, average working people.
George and Ellie Bargen were kind and generous enough to lend us their cabin for a week this past summer. The highlight of the trip to the cabin came as we rounded a corner in the road and before us was a brilliant rainbow with all the colors. The girls love rainbows in-fact all three of them love to draw them.
This past Thursday morning there was a brilliant rainbow over the freeway. The girls ran to the window and their eyes lit up and their mouths hung open as they saw it.
As someone as said "Sometimes God sends the brilliant light of a rainbow to remind us of His presence, lest we forget in our personal darkness His great and gracious promises to never leave us alone."
It is very difficult to admit loneliness because it penetrates so deeply to the core of who we are. All of us are lonely at times longing to be understood and to be have someone make sense of our inner life.
God is with us as one who understands loneliness. We read in the book of Matthew that Jesus in His darkest hour before going to the cross all of His friends and companions abandoned Him and as He hung on the cross our sin separated Him from His Father and He cried out in anguish, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
God is with us and can relate to us in our loneliness. God is the One who understands us completely. God is the One who can help us make sense of our inner life.
God is with us in our depression, in our fatigue, in our disappointment, in our sadness.
There are a number of you who for you this Christmas is your first without a loved one who has recently passed away.
For many of you who have lost loved ones, even years ago, the ache of loneliness for them comes at Christmas when the family gathers.
Be comforted with Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, [a] I will fear no evil, for you are with me;..."
It was in December of 1903, that after many attempts, the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were successful in getting their "flying machine" off the ground and into the air at Kitty Hawk.
Thrilled over the accomplishment, they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas."
Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, "How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas." He totally missed the big news-for the first time in human history, man had flown!
We must not miss the big news of Christmas: Jesus, the little baby boy, for the first time: God with us. We now take flying for granted. It is common and everyday. We must never allow the truth that God is with us to become common and mundane.
How much of God's love you experience, how well you know Him, how closely you walk with Him through life depends on you.
The way to the Father has been provided through Jesus' death on the cross to forgive our sin and restore our relationship with God.
God alone is worthy of our praise and adoration. He alone is worth living for. Being a Christian is not adding God to your life but rather giving up your life that you might have God. A relationship with God. God with us.
Conclusion:
As I draw this to a close I want you to watch this:
Play Video: Breathe of Heaven
Will you be his child?
John 1:12 "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-"
To those who believed in His name. Jesus' name means "Savior" To those who believe that Jesus is the only one who can save you from the penalty of sin which is separation from God.
To believe means to let go of everything, to change our direction in life and cling to Jesus as the only one who can save us from our sin that we may be children of God.
1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!..."
Christmas must forever remind us that things are not only as they seem. There is more to reality, more to the present moment, than we can know with our human intellect and emotion.
The Christmas story is a story of a loving God who is with us. God before us, God beside us, God behind us, God within us. This is the present reality made possible through Jesus.
Closing prayer