When
love came down: Miraculous love
11/30/14
Most
of us are familiar with the old movie, “Miracle on 34th Street.” It
is the story of how Santa Claus was defended in a New York courtroom.
Do
you suppose there will be a miracle on Spruce Street this year? Or West Street?
Or Blackhawk? Or Pine? Or Park? Or whatever street you live on?
Do
you expect a miracle this Christmas?
· Some might say
that it will be miracle if they get through the season without getting too
grumpy.
· Some might say
it will be a miracle if they can pay their credit card bill in January.
· Some might call
it a miracle if the harried clerk at the store actually smiles and says, “Merry
Christmas.”
· Some might say
the real miracle will be if Uncle Joe doesn’t pass out drunk under the
Christmas tree this year.
· Others might say
the real Christmas miracle is that they only gain 5 pounds over the holiday
instead of ten.
Perhaps
each of us has a different idea of what a Christmas miracle would be for us. But
I suspect that most of our so-called miracles are pretty small.
· Is it a
Christmas miracle that I arrive at Wal-mart just in time to get the last of
this season’s most popular toy off the shelf? Probably not.
· Is it a
Christmas miracle that the turkey turns out golden brown and juicy this year? Probably
not.
· Is it a
Christmas miracle that you don’t have to work the holiday this year? Probably
not.
· In spite of all
the hype and hoopla, I think most of us have learned to have pretty low
expectations for the holiday. And frankly most of us have no expectation of any
true miracle.
First,
we have to ask, what is a miracle?
§ Some say that a
miracle is an event that is impossible to explain by natural causes.[1] This
definition relies on our knowledge to define a miracle. Anything we don’t
understand, and therefore can’t explain, is a miracle. It also either excludes
divine action, or assumes that the creator is not active in creation except by
miracles.
§ CS Lewis says, “A miracle is an interference with nature
by supernatural power.[2]”
This definition labels the creator as “interferer.” I don’t want to think of
God as an outside interference in our lives.
§ Some say that a miracle is a direct action of God in the
world. That assumes that God does not routinely act in the world an in our
lives. That is a rather deistic view of miracles.
§ I would rather think of miracles as a divine action that changes the course
of the natural order.
ü The natural order is that, if you have a jar containing water
now, unless you either empty it or add something, it will continue to be a jar
of water, not a jar of wine like in the miracle story in the gospels.
ü The natural order is that a person with leprosy will continue
to get sicker until they die, not that they will be healed and return to a
normal life, as they were when Jesus touched them.
ü The natural order is that storms come and go on their own
schedule, not at the beck and call of someone in a fishing boat like Jesus.
Yet, the wine, the healing and the calming of the storm all
happened at Jesus command … they changed the course of the natural order and
are therefore miracles.
When it comes to the Christmas miracle, the
natural order of things is that God is God and people are people. The natural
order of things is that although God works in our lives, God guides our
footsteps, God loves us more deeply than we can imagine, God judges us and
forgives us; God has never become one of us. In the incarnation, that natural
order was changed when God put on skin and moved into our human neighborhood.
“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling
among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from
the Father, full of grace and truth.[3]”
ü The first Christmas miracle is that the creator became one of
the creatures.
ü The first Christmas miracle is that the divine took on the
shape of the ordinary.
ü The first Christmas
miracle is that the great love of God came in flesh to people who were quite
unlovable.
ü That is the first Christmas miracle.
ü The first Christmas miracle is that “A child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon
his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall
be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and
uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and
forevermore.”[4]
If that was the end of the story, we could all
sing silent night and go home to get ready for New Years. But that is not the
end of the story. There is a second Christmas miracle.
The second
Christmas miracle is that it worked!
The second Christmas miracle is that “The
people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light; those
who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.”[5]
The second
Christmas miracle happens when we live out God’s values and priorities in our
own lives for the sake of those around us.
§ The second Christmas miracle is that a terrified young woman
said to the angel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word.”
§ The second Christmas Miracle is that Joseph didn’t do the
sane thing and divorce Mary as soon as he found out about the baby.
§ The Second Christmas miracle is that the crude and crusty
shepherds were interested enough to get up and go to Jerusalem.
§ The Second Christmas Miracle is that the Wise men went home
by a different route, changed men.
§ The second Christmas miracle is that people like you and me
were changed by the first Christmas miracle. The second Christmas miracle is
that the first Christmas miracle worked.
ü We are no longer a people of darkness.
ü We are no longer a people of selfishness.
ü We are no longer a people of deceitfulness.
ü We are no longer a people of hopelessness.
ü We are no longer a people of brokenness.
ü We are no longer a people who live only for ourselves, this
life, and this world.
ü We are a people of the miracle.
ü We are a people transformed by the miracle of the gracious
incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.
ü We are people transformed by the miraculous power of Christ
in our lives.
And that same miraculous power that transformed
us, calls us to transform the world.
We are a people who can never be the same because
Emmanuel- God is with us.
We are a people changed by the fact that God came
and moved in to our neighborhood as one of us.
ü Our darkness has been turned to light and we are to be the
light to the nations.
ü Our selfishness turns to generosity, and we are called to do
unto the least of these.
ü Our Deceitfulness turned to truth, and we are called to the
truth that sets all people free.
ü Our hopelessness turned to joyous expectation, and we are
called to do everything in our power to see that the kingdom vision of God is
fulfilled.
ü Our brokenness turned to wholeness, so that we too might mend
fences.
ü Our transformed lives are turned outward to transform the
world into the kingdom of God.
Jesus was not the messiah most people were
expecting, or for which they were hoping. He resisted the world’s obsessions
with wealth, pleasure, power, and recognition. He identified with the weak and powerless,
the widow, and the orphan. He did not condemn but defended the sinner. The first Christmas miracle is that Jesus
was the perfect embodiment of God’s values and priorities.
The second
Christmas miracle happens when we live out God’s values and priorities in our
own lives for the sake of those around us.
We have received a miracle in order to be a
miracle. You are the second Christmas miracle.
I
want you to take a moment and write on one side your paper three miracles the
world needs this Christmas. Look at the world around you and think of three miracles
the world desperately needs.
Now,
I want you to flip that sheet over, and write one specific way you can be part
of making one of these Christmas miracles happen this year.
· It might be
giving a special gift to a poor family.
· It might be a
special donation to the food pantry.
· It might be
starting a wave of peace by making peace with someone in your family or
community.
· It might be
praying.
· It might be inviting
someone to Christmas dinner so they don’t have to be alone. Or Christmas eve
worship so they can meet the newborn babe for the first time.
It
might be anything you can dream.
Now,
during the song, “Love came down at Christmas” I want you to take your papers
and place them in the miracle boxes the ushers will pass through the
congregation. We will place the wrapped miracle boxes beneath our Christmas
tree and they will represent our commitment that each of us can be a Christmas
miracle this year.
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