St. Paul's United Methodist Church
“The Wonder of Christmas”
Rev. Richard W. Gray
December 24, 2005
You know Christmas is almost here when:
Christmas is almost here. We celebrate the birth of Jesus and place the baby Jesus in the manger scene. But there must come a time when we allow Jesus out of the cradle. We must stop thinking of Him as a baby and understand that He is God who wrapped Himself in human flesh.
There is more to Jesus than a baby in the hay. In that manger is the hope of the ages. In that manger is the salvation of the world.
When Jesus was born, there was no room for Him in a crowded inn. Today, in some communities, Jesus is not even allowed in the manger. There are some people who want to take Christ out of Christmas. They want gifts, but not the gift of God.
A Christmas celebration without Christ at its center
center is a counterfeit Christmas. If Christians are not vigilant and active, someday political correctness will have won and people will be saying, “It doesn't seem like Christmas.”
When the angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, the shepherds were struck with awe, with wonder.
We are now living in an age lacking awe. Not much “wows” us anymore, putting us in wonder and awe. We live in an age of medical breakthroughs, space travel, the internet, the cell phone, global position satellites, tracking devices on our products, so many advances. But instead of being filled with wonder, we are filled with cynicism, suspicion, doubt, and mistrust. I cannot remember a time in my life that has been as full of cynicism as today.
We have lost our sense of wonder, even at Christmas. The first Christmas was filled with wonder. A miraculous conception. The birth announcement to the shepherds by the angels. The Magi, the official king-makers of the world, coming to worship Jesus. But the greatest wonder of Christmas is the wonder of God's love that sent Jesus to this earth with the purpose to seek and to save the lost.
James Lane has written, “Jesus took off His scarlet robe and He hung it up in the wardrobe of eternity. He bought a ticket at the depot of time. He rode the train down forty-two generations and disembarked at Bethlehem. He cried like a baby, healed like a doctor, fed people like a supermarket, spoke like an orator, and died like a mighty God. He was God in the flesh.” The name Emmanuel is a Hebrew name, which means “God with us.”
In the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind a group of people received a message from extraterrestrial beings that there would be a visit to earth. The plot of the movie was the people's effort to get to the place where the extraterrestrials
extraterrestrials were going to land.
The coming of Jesus to this earth was a far more significant event than aliens coming here from some place in space. Even if a real spaceship were to land on earth and an alien were to step out, it would not be as significant as the coming of God in human flesh.
Most of us love Christmas. We love the lights and decorations, we love gift-giving, feasting, and gathering with family and friends. It is also a time to remember what Christmas really is all about and to recognize what God has done and who Christ is. It is a time to regain our sense of wonder that leads to the worship of God.
I recently picked up a book, Rumors of Another World, by one of America's popular authors, Philip Yancey. Yancey tells in this book about his living in Colorado and of his love for mountain climbing. Colorado has fifty-four mountains rising above 14,000 feet. Every summer Yancey climbs one of them.
He said he sees casual climbers who have no idea what they are doing. They start up a trail at mid-morning in sandals, shorts, and T-shirts, and carrying a single bottle of water. They have no compass, no map, and no rain gear. They also do not know about afternoon lightning storms that pop up on many summer days.
His neighbor volunteers for Alpine Rescue and has told Yancey of hair-raising stories of tourists needing to be rescued from certain death after wandering off the trail, falling, or being exposed to a sudden hailstorm or a thirty-degree drop in temperature. Alpine Rescue always responds to a call for help. Not once have they lectured the tourists about their ignoring the most basic rules of the wilderness.
Their mission is rescue. Therefore, they go out after every needy hiker, no matter how undeserving.
The core message of the Bible is one of rescue. None of us deserves God's love and mercy and none of us can save ourselves. All we can do is call for help. And God lovingly responds.
Yancey asked his neighbor if perhaps the efforts of Alpine Rescue is indulging the bad habits of irresponsible hikers. Shouldn't they spend their time handing out rewards to hikers who follow the rules?
His neighbor replied, “Our business is rescue. Do you expect us to leave any hiker stranded in the wilderness? I don't care who they are-they need help.”
In the same way, Jesus came to this earth on a rescue mission. He will not leave anyone of us stranded, no matter who we are, no matter what we have done.
In Ernest Gordon's Miracle on the River Kwai, Scottish soldiers were forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad. The work was hard and the captors were cruel. The men had degenerated to barbarous behavior among themselves.
One afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced. When no one in the lines of prisoners moved, the officer threatened to kill them all on the spot. It was obvious the officer meant what he said.
Finally one man stepped out. The officer picked up a shovel and beat the Scotsman to death.
Later the missing shovel was discovered in the tool shed, right where it had been all the time. Someone had miscounted the shovels.
Word spread rapidly through the camp that an innocent man had been willing to die to save the others.
Jesus came to this earth and stepped forward to
to offer Himself to be crucified in order for each one of us to be forgiven of our sins and be made right with God. No one else was qualified to do that. He alone can take away our sins. Jesus came on a rescue mission.
This is what Christmas is all about. We do not have to doubt God's love for us. We do not have to wonder. Instead, we are to be moved with wonder at such a great love for us.
This Christmas let us go beyond the Christmas trimmings and get back to the Christmas truth and let the Christ of Christmas into our hearts. Let us worship Him in wonder.
335 Smyth Road
Manchester, NH 03104
Sunday School: 9:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.
603-647-7322