Christmas Is Not Your Birthday 4. Jesus' Wish List

Christmas Is Not Your Birthday: 4. Jesus’ Wish List

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

December 22, 2013

Matthew 1:18-25

          Isn’t gift giving both fun and frustrating all at the same time.

          One of my most embarrassing moments was when I bought a one pound box of See’s Candy (nuts and chews) and proudly gave it to one of my staff as she presented me with a one pound box of See’s Candy (nuts and chews).

          Every Christmas I go through the challenging routine of selecting the perfect gift for my wife, Linda.  We remind ourselves that it’s Jesus’ Birthday, not ours, and we have agreed not to spend too much money on each other.

          Besides, our children and granddaughters are higher priorities.

          I am just not very good at buying things for Linda. Invariably she has to return what I get or I forget what I got her last year and end up giving her the same thing again.

          So, this year I am asking for your help. I want you to vote in just a minute on what I should get Linda for Christmas three days from now.

          There are three things that I am thinking of. None of them will cost much money. The way I look at it is Linda’s money, too, and I wouldn’t want to waste it on something she doesn’t want.

          The three things I came up with are:

          1. I have some airline miles saved up. I could cash them in, get a couple of plane tickets and surprise her with a getaway trip. It wouldn’t cost much and she loves to travel.

          2. Or, I could write her a nice long loving letter and tell her that I will take a day off from church work and it will be her day. I will do anything with her that day that she wants to do—shopping, clean house, go for a drive, go out to eat, be her slave—ANYTHING!

          3. Or, I could make a donation to Heifer Project— $100.00 or so—enough to buy a pig, or goat for a family in a faraway country. Linda likes animals and she would feel good that she did something for someone else.

          What do you think? I really do need your help? Do you vote for Christmas gift 1, 2, or 3 for Linda?

          Like me, do you struggle to come up with the perfect gifts each Christmas for the special people in your life? It can be tough, but here’s an even more important question: what do you give Jesus on his birthday?

          The question beings us back to the real focus of this series of messages:                       Christmas is not your birthday!

                   It is Jesus’ birthday.

          How can we change the traditional focus of Christmas from materialistic self-indulgence to giving Jesus what he desires on his birthday?

          How can we make it less about us and more about him?

         

          Fortunately, Jesus made his wish list clear.

          Jesus wants us to give of ourselves!

          The Epistle of 1 John says our direct involvement in meeting people’s physical needs is primary evidence of our rebirth in Christ. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another.”

          He goes on,

                   “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for     us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

                   If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need     but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

                   Dear children, let us not love in words or tongue but with actions          and in truth.”

          We serve God when we serve others.

          We give to Jesus when we sacrifice of our time, talents, and resources to meet other’s needs.

          The church is the body of Christ.

          We are the only hands, feet, and wallets that God has!

          Let’s consider giving ourselves to God at Christmas.

          Just as God's very being was given at Christmas, we are to give the heart of who we are to the Christ child.

          Before Jesus' birth, God required from two ordinary people, Mary and Joseph, similar gifts—the same things God asks from us—the gifts of their very beings.

          Mary was chosen to be the mother of this savior-child. It was within her body that human flesh grew together with the divine spark.
          Joseph, too, was asked to give his very being—his identity as a descendant of David. His family name and his fatherly protection were the gifts that Joseph gave the baby Jesus.

          So it is that Jesus continues to ask for this very personal gift, from each of us, as we celebrate his birth. Just as God's very being was given at Christmas, we are asked to give the same—to give ourselves to the Christ Child, to give the heart of who we are to Jesus.

          Jesus doesn't want your promise

                   to attend church more regularly,

                   or your presence on more committees,

                   or your commitment of a certain percentage of your income,

                   or your full confession of all your wrongs,

                   or your money, your time, your obedience, your piety or your praise!

                   Jesus wants YOU!

          I have enjoyed reading the writings of Annie Dillard. In one of her books she has written about how devastatingly hard it can be for us to give that which the divine most wants—our true selves.

          She tells a wonderful story of a Christmas Eve long ago.

          She and her family had just returned home from dinner to a warm living room and their Christmas Eve celebration.
          All of a sudden there was a commotion at the front door:

                   It opened, and cold wind blew around her dress.
          "Look who's here! Look who's here!"
          It was Santa Claus, whom she never - ever - wanted to meet.

          Santa was looming in the doorway and looking around.

          Her mother's voice was thrilled:

                   "Look Annie. Look over here. Look who's here!"

          Annie says she ran upstairs!

          And then she explains:
                    “Like many children, I feared Santa Claus, thinking he was God.

                   I was still thoughtless and reactive.

                   I knew right from wrong but only from fear, and not from love.

                   Santa Claus was an old man you never saw, but who, nevertheless,         saw you.... He knew when you'd been bad or good.

                   And I had been bad.”

          Her mother called, pleading.

          Her father encouraged; her sister howled.

          But Annie would not come down....

          Santa actually was a neighbor, Miss White, whom Annie Dillard liked.

          One time, quite by accident, Miss White was showing her how a magnifying glass focuses the rays of the sun and trained the spot on Annie Dillard's hand until it started to burn, and she ran home crying.

          Years later, Annie wrote:

          "Even now, I wonder: If I meet God, will he take and hold my bare hand in his, and focus his eye on my palm, and kindle that spot and let me burn?"

          She concludes with an intriguing paragraph that is good theology:
                    “But no.

                   It is I who misunderstood everything and let everybody down.

                   Miss White, God, Santa Claus, I am sorry I ran from you.

                   I am still running, running from that knowledge, that eye, that love          from which there is no refuge.

                   You meant only love but I felt only fear and pain.

                   Even so once in Israel, love came to us incarnate, stood in the doorway, between two worlds, and we were all afraid.”

          The good news this morning is that we do not need to give of ourselves out of fear any longer.

          We can replace fear with hope, peace, joy and love.

          We do not need to give of ourselves so that God will not punish us.

          We do not need to give so that we are liked by God and others.

          We give ourselves because we love.

          Two very different types of people felt drawn to offer themselves, their very beings, to the baby in a manger.

         

          There were shepherds,

                    and there were wise men.

          In their uniqueness, they represent

                   those whom God finds and those who find God.

          These two different avenues both eventually converge at the simple manger in that dim stable in Bethlehem.

          There are two sets of minds in the Christian life—

                   those who find Christ,

                             and those whom Christ finds.

          Those who find Christ are active;

                   those who are found by Christ are passive.

         

          There are some of us whose experience is that of the wise men of the East;

                   we search for the star and discover it after many days.

          There are others of us like the keepers of the sheep;

                   we are engaged in our own work, and the star comes to us.

          There are both "wise men" and "shepherds" here today. Some are searching for something more in their spiritual lives and others are simply waiting for God to come to them.

          Either way God woes us, searches for us, finds us.

                   We all end up at the manger.

          Whether you must take the exacting route of the wise men or are able to find the shepherds' more direct path to the Savior, start the journey this morning by giving of yourself to the baby of Bethlehem.

          Jesus is waiting to find you under the tree Christmas morning.

          As the song says;

“What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

          I was thinking this morning that it would be a shame for you to leave here without knowing those who are seated around you today.

          I hope you will take time to meet the people who have joined you in worship this morning.

           But, it would be a much greater shame to leave here without knowing God.

          I hope that you will take the time to meet God in a new way.

          During this season of holy expectancy, as we await the birth of the Christ child, may our inner spirit leap with joy. 

          Mary said:

“With all my heart I praise the Lord,

and I am glad because of God my Savior.

He cares for me, his humble servant.

From now on, all people will say God has blessed me.

God All-Powerful has done great things for me,

and his name is holy."

          God wants you—your time, your talent, your treasure and your heart—used in service to others.

          God wants you just as you are—secrets and all.

          We all have secrets.

          I have them the same as everybody else -- things we feel bad about.

                   Long ago things.

          Sometimes we are scared and lonesome,

                   but most of the time we keep it hid.

          It's like every one of us has lost our way so bad we don't even know which way is home.

          And we're ashamed to ask.

          You know what would happen if we gave ourselves to God—secrets and all.    What would happen is we'd find out home is each other.

          We'd find out home is Jesus that loves us—lost or found—or any which way.

                   Christ invites us to belong to him;

                   Christmas means he belongs to us as well.

          What can I give him—give my heart!

Prayer

Lord of Light and Life,
          to you even the darkest nights of our souls are as bright as noonday, for you are able to see where our sin-dimmed sight cannot.

         

          Help us then to trust you to lead us through the times of thick shadows,
                   when vision fails and reason stumbles,
                   when what we thought was certain cannot be found,
                   when that which we thought was forever turns out to be fleeting,
                   when that which we thought of as security turns out to be empty hope.

          Illumine our waking and working with the light of your Presence so that we can see the path to which your purpose calls us.

          As your birthing star once revealed your Presence to the world,

                    work through your church to shine the revealing light of your truth into every dark corner of

          injustice,

          bigotry,

          greed and

          deceit

          until everyone knows that the Son of God has come to reclaim the earth.

          For we pray in the name of Emanuel, God with us, whose prayer we now pray together saying…….