Rev. Dustin ParkerThe Christmas Gift
Concordia Lutheran Church
Christmas Day, December 25th
The King of Glory, the Gift Given, Pt 2
Isaiah 9:2-7
† IMMANU-EL †
May you realize the truth of Immanu-El – and fear not to thoroughly entrust your life to His promise!
Why do we still walk around like it dark?
Are we afraid of what the light will reveal
There are weeks where it seems we live in darkness. The darkness Isaiah spoke The deep dark shadows of our lives, from which we should flee become our defensive position, an odd form of security – a place where we can set our expectations low– knowing that then, we might not be disappointed or hurt again.
We find ourselves drawn into a pessimistic acceptance about life. We are satisfied with complaining to ourselves, rather than engaging in actions that might lead to change, and possibly, to satisfaction and contentment.
Isaiah’s phrase about living in deep darkness well describes the world today. This land of shadows, this land we are afraid to look at in the broad daylight, because of fear of the scars that will be revealed, the devastation that will be the landscape of all we see.
Someone told me about a friend this week, who said he “liked the baby Jesus in the manger, but didn’t like the man Jesus.” I think what he was saying, the baby in the manger in the darkness - nice, peaceful, idealistic, not a threat,… safe.
But when morning comes, the manger is seen for what it is – as the animals are noisily looking for food, as the stench of old wet hay, warming up in the sunlight. The start reality of the situation, we’d rather not face Christmas morning!
Never mind the scene 33 years later, where the wood of the crude manger is exchanged for the wood of the cruel cross. Where the sounds of hungry animals are replaced by the blood thirsty sounds of a crowd mocking the same body, now a man… who came for that very purpose. To die…
But are we ready for that light to shine, not the light of a star in the sky, but the light Isaiah prophesied about, the light that Simeon said would gather gentiles?
The light of the world – the light that reveals all – and cleanses and heals souls and lives…. but are we really ready to engage that light? Or do we prefer… the deep darkness where we think we are safe?
This Gift is like no other
But are we afraid to engage it?
One of the problems I see with associating earthly gifts with Christmas is that there is the potential to confuse the attributes of those physical gifts with “the Gift” of Christmas. Gifts that fill our imaginations on Christmas Eve, that look so special as our focus is on them and nothing else while opening them.
Gifts that will need assembly, assembly which tends to rob people of the peace of Christmas quite quickly! The frustration and anxiety grows as we realize there are extra parts and screws. Gifts that, darn it, we can’t use it yet because its “C” batteries and our mom and dad bought “D”, gifts that were our worlds revolved around as we opened them, but were tired of by 5 p.m. on Christmas. Gifts that were broken or torn or stained within a week….
Is there perhaps some fear that the “Gift” of Christmas will fade as well? That the glory of the manger will be revealed in the light of day to be a cruel fate? That somehow are lives won’t work the way it supposed to, or we will run out of power and strength, or people will realize we are broken?
Will our “gift” of the babe in the manger, man on the cross fade, if we admit we struggle in the darkness, and sometimes prefer it, less we get disappointed by an unanswered prayer, or the time when we feel abandoned, and don’t know the peace that is supposed to be ours? How do we rejoice in His presence… when we aren’t always sure it is there, and the darkness beckons like a comfortable friend? As if hiding in its shadows, on guard, defenses up, will somehow protect us and keep us safe?
This gift never ends
The gift of Christmas, the gift known as Immanu-El, is not like those other gifts – it will and it must shatter our darkness, reveal our weakness and it must destroy our self created defenses, reveal our broken conditions.
For the light will reveal that we are defended – not in our stresses, not in the shadows, but by Christ, and therefore we can know real peace and security – a serenity that reveals a strength previously untouched. A light which negates our fears of being broken, and shows us healed, transformed, like not the broken in world in which we live, but to be the work of God, who is transforming and molding us into the image of Christ.
That is what Isaiah reveals to us is His mission, in the words describing who the child gifted to us is…
When Isaiah says on this child (Point to manger_ the governance of all would be laid on His shoulders, that isn’t just empty words. This is His kingdom – and as we’ve talked about – that puts the responsibility not on His subjects, not on the people, but on the master, the Lord. It is His responsibility to care for us, to use everything in His power to assist us, to sustain us…..and it does. Even when we are not as aware… or we doubt..or we are tempted to return to the shadows…
I have said this before, but it bears hearing this day as well. The young people of this day, desperately need to know the wisdom of those who can look over the years and see God’s guiding hand, even though the times that were trying, or challenging, or even defeats and failures. To know that others have undergone times where doubt creeps in, and that God is still with us, to not that in despair we can find comfort and peace and even joy.
That is why these descriptive titles of the babe in the manger who would become the man n the cross are so incredible.
For in the darkness we need to realize this light – this wonderful, this counselor, this hero-of ours-God, this babe – our everlasting Father, the One who oversees all gathered into His peace!
That word Wonderful stands alone, though we often add it to counselor – this is the God who has promised that He will make our life with Him more incredible than anything we have ever seen, or heard, or could imagine. As I have talked to people –even this week – at the end of their physical lives, who trust in Christ, there is a retrospective we could all learn from, and a readiness – to embrace something far beyond them.
He is our Counselor, our adviser based not in some theory, but instead walking with us every step of the way - walking even as He would walk at Mary and Joseph’s side, but in a way even more intimate in a relationship that transcends our limitations, making everything work for all our good, for we are called according to His purpose!
Eternal Father is one I cannot see how we can miss – that babe in the manger is God, the one who has planned this manger – and that cross and what they are for – our good – to restore us as God’s Children, to mold us into His creation and image… that is what this is all about.
Almighty God is an odd phrase, the words constitute our hero – God. For we need to be constantly reminded that salvation is not just a church word, but that we are saved, rescored, delivered from that darkness which would creep in and bury us in despair, He has freed us from the illusions, and given us a reality that is not marred, but in every way complete – for we are His worksmanship.
As we realize we can’t hide from His glory, as we learn to bask in the light rather than run from it, as we realize that His faithfulness not only qualifies Him to be our Master, our Savior, our friend…. But that His will, His plan is that we live with Him, in His care… then the peace that is ours no longer seems able to be bested by the stresses of life, or the threat of death. Sin simply melts away, its divisive ways rendered ineffective by the one who would take its burden from us to the cross….
And what we are left in – is His peace….
And only revivalist type hymn put it this way..
How wonderful, How marvelous, and my song shall ever be…
How Marvelous, How wonderful, is my Savior’s love for me…
THE Gift of love that shown as He became incarnate – a babe laid in a manger
THE Gift of love that shown as He bore our sins, a man laid and nailed to a cross…
THE Gift of love that will come again, to bring us home
THE Gift of love that fills us with peace, on a journey towards that home…
AMEN!
Christmas Day, December 25th
The King of Glory, the Gift Given, Pt 2
Isaiah 9:2-7
† IMMANU-EL †
May you realize the truth of Immanu-El – and fear not to thoroughly entrust your life to His promise!
Why do we still walk around like it dark?
Are we afraid of what the light will reveal
There are weeks where it seems we live in darkness. The darkness Isaiah spoke The deep dark shadows of our lives, from which we should flee become our defensive position, an odd form of security – a place where we can set our expectations low– knowing that then, we might not be disappointed or hurt again.
We find ourselves drawn into a pessimistic acceptance about life. We are satisfied with complaining to ourselves, rather than engaging in actions that might lead to change, and possibly, to satisfaction and contentment.
Isaiah’s phrase about living in deep darkness well describes the world today. This land of shadows, this land we are afraid to look at in the broad daylight, because of fear of the scars that will be revealed, the devastation that will be the landscape of all we see.
Someone told me about a friend this week, who said he “liked the baby Jesus in the manger, but didn’t like the man Jesus.” I think what he was saying, the baby in the manger in the darkness - nice, peaceful, idealistic, not a threat,… safe.
But when morning comes, the manger is seen for what it is – as the animals are noisily looking for food, as the stench of old wet hay, warming up in the sunlight. The start reality of the situation, we’d rather not face Christmas morning!
Never mind the scene 33 years later, where the wood of the crude manger is exchanged for the wood of the cruel cross. Where the sounds of hungry animals are replaced by the blood thirsty sounds of a crowd mocking the same body, now a man… who came for that very purpose. To die…
But are we ready for that light to shine, not the light of a star in the sky, but the light Isaiah prophesied about, the light that Simeon said would gather gentiles?
The light of the world – the light that reveals all – and cleanses and heals souls and lives…. but are we really ready to engage that light? Or do we prefer… the deep darkness where we think we are safe?
This Gift is like no other
But are we afraid to engage it?
One of the problems I see with associating earthly gifts with Christmas is that there is the potential to confuse the attributes of those physical gifts with “the Gift” of Christmas. Gifts that fill our imaginations on Christmas Eve, that look so special as our focus is on them and nothing else while opening them.
Gifts that will need assembly, assembly which tends to rob people of the peace of Christmas quite quickly! The frustration and anxiety grows as we realize there are extra parts and screws. Gifts that, darn it, we can’t use it yet because its “C” batteries and our mom and dad bought “D”, gifts that were our worlds revolved around as we opened them, but were tired of by 5 p.m. on Christmas. Gifts that were broken or torn or stained within a week….
Is there perhaps some fear that the “Gift” of Christmas will fade as well? That the glory of the manger will be revealed in the light of day to be a cruel fate? That somehow are lives won’t work the way it supposed to, or we will run out of power and strength, or people will realize we are broken?
Will our “gift” of the babe in the manger, man on the cross fade, if we admit we struggle in the darkness, and sometimes prefer it, less we get disappointed by an unanswered prayer, or the time when we feel abandoned, and don’t know the peace that is supposed to be ours? How do we rejoice in His presence… when we aren’t always sure it is there, and the darkness beckons like a comfortable friend? As if hiding in its shadows, on guard, defenses up, will somehow protect us and keep us safe?
This gift never ends
The gift of Christmas, the gift known as Immanu-El, is not like those other gifts – it will and it must shatter our darkness, reveal our weakness and it must destroy our self created defenses, reveal our broken conditions.
For the light will reveal that we are defended – not in our stresses, not in the shadows, but by Christ, and therefore we can know real peace and security – a serenity that reveals a strength previously untouched. A light which negates our fears of being broken, and shows us healed, transformed, like not the broken in world in which we live, but to be the work of God, who is transforming and molding us into the image of Christ.
That is what Isaiah reveals to us is His mission, in the words describing who the child gifted to us is…
When Isaiah says on this child (Point to manger_ the governance of all would be laid on His shoulders, that isn’t just empty words. This is His kingdom – and as we’ve talked about – that puts the responsibility not on His subjects, not on the people, but on the master, the Lord. It is His responsibility to care for us, to use everything in His power to assist us, to sustain us…..and it does. Even when we are not as aware… or we doubt..or we are tempted to return to the shadows…
I have said this before, but it bears hearing this day as well. The young people of this day, desperately need to know the wisdom of those who can look over the years and see God’s guiding hand, even though the times that were trying, or challenging, or even defeats and failures. To know that others have undergone times where doubt creeps in, and that God is still with us, to not that in despair we can find comfort and peace and even joy.
That is why these descriptive titles of the babe in the manger who would become the man n the cross are so incredible.
For in the darkness we need to realize this light – this wonderful, this counselor, this hero-of ours-God, this babe – our everlasting Father, the One who oversees all gathered into His peace!
That word Wonderful stands alone, though we often add it to counselor – this is the God who has promised that He will make our life with Him more incredible than anything we have ever seen, or heard, or could imagine. As I have talked to people –even this week – at the end of their physical lives, who trust in Christ, there is a retrospective we could all learn from, and a readiness – to embrace something far beyond them.
He is our Counselor, our adviser based not in some theory, but instead walking with us every step of the way - walking even as He would walk at Mary and Joseph’s side, but in a way even more intimate in a relationship that transcends our limitations, making everything work for all our good, for we are called according to His purpose!
Eternal Father is one I cannot see how we can miss – that babe in the manger is God, the one who has planned this manger – and that cross and what they are for – our good – to restore us as God’s Children, to mold us into His creation and image… that is what this is all about.
Almighty God is an odd phrase, the words constitute our hero – God. For we need to be constantly reminded that salvation is not just a church word, but that we are saved, rescored, delivered from that darkness which would creep in and bury us in despair, He has freed us from the illusions, and given us a reality that is not marred, but in every way complete – for we are His worksmanship.
As we realize we can’t hide from His glory, as we learn to bask in the light rather than run from it, as we realize that His faithfulness not only qualifies Him to be our Master, our Savior, our friend…. But that His will, His plan is that we live with Him, in His care… then the peace that is ours no longer seems able to be bested by the stresses of life, or the threat of death. Sin simply melts away, its divisive ways rendered ineffective by the one who would take its burden from us to the cross….
And what we are left in – is His peace….
And only revivalist type hymn put it this way..
How wonderful, How marvelous, and my song shall ever be…
How Marvelous, How wonderful, is my Savior’s love for me…
THE Gift of love that shown as He became incarnate – a babe laid in a manger
THE Gift of love that shown as He bore our sins, a man laid and nailed to a cross…
THE Gift of love that will come again, to bring us home
THE Gift of love that fills us with peace, on a journey towards that home…
AMEN!
