Christmas 2019
Christmas 2019
St. Mary's Church, Middleton
Isaiah 52 7-10,
Hebrews 1 1-4 and John 1 1-14.
Coke
- the original taste of Christmas shouts an advertisement on large
advertisement boards in the city. Burn burry - what is love? Amazon - Everybody
miss somebody. Ikea – where ornaments in a house start talking, this place
isn’t blessed, it is a mess……
Over 2000 years ago when the world
was a mess, when the world did not know what is love, and there was something
missing, God sent his only son Jesus into the world, which is the original
taste of Christmas. The story of Christmas is so familiar, that most often we
cannot distinguish between the birth of Jesus and the Christmas that the world
celebrates.
Christmas is a celebration of God’s
gift to this world, the birth of Jesus, which is the result of God’s love. If Jesus is God’s gift, we ought to
unwrap that gift. When unwrapping a gift there is excitement and anticipation.
Gifts once opened are meant to be used. When we unwrap the gift of God to this world,
what is it that we find?
First
We find in Jesus, as the prophet Isaiah says, peace and good news of Salvation.
In
Jesus the prince of peace we find, wholeness, rest and safety. There is health
and prosperity. Peace in the midst of crisis, in the midst of uncertainty. In
Jesus there is peace for the whole world, and peace for every individual.
In
Jesus we have a saviour. One who saves us when we are sinking into sin, when we
are struggling with different situations, when the world crumbles around us.
That
is the good news that the angels sang to the Shepherds, Today in the town of
David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. That is the
good news that the messenger brings, foretold by Isaiah now fulfilled and
announced by the angels.
So
Christmas is a joyful celebration where we all burst into songs of joy for what
God has done for us sending us Jesus into the world.
Secondly
in Jesus, we have the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s
very being. Just as the radiance of the sun reaches the earth or the brightness
of a light falls on the face of an individual, through Christ the radiance of
God reaches the earth. It touches the lives or every man and woman, it touches
creation.
This
radiance, the reflection of God through Jesus, falls upon every dark corner of
the earth and human heart and has the power to transform structures and systmes
Through Jesus the radiance of God touches the world.
When we receive such a priceless
gift the response of every person should be like that or Mary, committing their
lives to God for his will to be done in and through them. It should be like the
Shepherds, who heard the news of Jesus’ birth, ran to the manger and came back
glorifying God for the good news.
Unfortunately, the world and
Christians too are living just as in the times of Jesus birth. St John tells
us, He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
When we continue rejecting Jesus, then we will
be like the world looking to taste Jesus in coke and not in the waters of life.
We
will be searching for love in expensive and stylish clothes rather than being
clothed in the love of God.
We
will be searching for a comfortable lifestyle rather than trusting in the
blessings of our relationship with God.
We
will still be empty if we fail to fill our lives with Jesus.
People of God, Christmas does not
end with our celebrations on the 25th or 26th. The birth
of Jesus, is the beginning of a new life in him. A life where we live with the
blessing to become the children of God. a life where we experience his glory in
our lives.
Christmas
is a celebration where we renew our relationships with the Christ child so that
as Immanuel he continues to dwell with us becoming part of our daily life.
Today we are living in uncertain
times. We are living in times when we need more peace. We need to be saved. We
are living in times when we can do with some brightness in our lives.
As
we look back to a similar night over 2000 years ago with a baby peacefully
sleeping in a manger, let us commit ourselves to Immanuel God with us, to walk
with him all the days of our life.
The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us
May
the joy and peace of the first Christmas radiate into our lives this night and
be with all of us every day of our lives, that whole world may see Christ in us
and know the original taste of Christmas.
God
bless us all.
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