Thursday 22 December 2016

Christmas Day - God with us - us with the world

Christmas Day Sermon
God with us – us with the World

As we gather today on this Christmas Day and over the Christmas period, we have heard the characters in the nativity story again.
Central to the Christmas story is the message of God’s presence with us.
The story begins with a birth that was surrounded by a scandal.
A young unmarried mother – pregnant but not to her betrothed husband.
It is a story that is followed by disappointment – no room at the inn.
It is story that includes disgusting surroundings  – born in an animal shed – in a feeding trough for the animals.
We make it seem sweet and pleasant but if you’ve ever been to the Royal Melbourne Show and into the animal displays you can imagine the smells and uncleanliness.
In hospitals we can’t even go from room to room these days without the need of sterilising our hands – and yet here is a birth in a filthy barn.
It must have been hard for Mary and Joseph at the time because they didn’t know how it was all going to end.
Mary and Joseph are alone on this journey and they don't have the luxury like us of knowing exactly how it is all going to turn out.
Soon they will have to flee for their lives when they hear that Herod wants to kill their son.
They just have to trust God and what he promised before Jesus was born and the words of prophecy from strangers like Simeon and Anna.
You wonder why God would send his one and only son into this sort of beginning which was always going to be risky.
The story of Christmas is a story of God taking a risk because of his love for us.
God took on a great risk entering into the messiness of life.
But God also took on a great risk when he created human beings with a free will who would reject him and also his Son whose birth we celebrate today.
Central to the story of Christmas is a story of gift giving.
It is the gift of risky love of God.
If I was God, I might have sent something quite different to really awaken the world.
Something fantastic.
Something so amazing, so awesome, the whole world would know about it.
Something huge and glittering and memorable.
Something that would make people want to come and worship.
But God sent a baby!
And not even a royal looking baby.
But a baby born to an unmarried peasant girl.
Born in a dirty stable, without even the benefit of clean sheets or water.
But this baby was extra special.
He was a message from God, "The Word made flesh". ‘
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ...In him was life, and the life was the light of human beings. ...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.'
As we read in Hebrews 1 - In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1,2)
The message given by the baby Jesus is a message of God’s love to the world – to every human being.
It was a message that God loves us in the midst of the darkness and depravity of all that happens in the world.
It was a message to give us hope that darkness has not overcome the light of God in his Son Jesus Christ – the Light of the World.
What a gift!
A gift which goes on and on.
A gift that keeps on giving.
The gift of God himself to every individual.
The life Jesus lived was a human life with all its suffering and difficulties.
God born within a baby at Christmas.
God living within a human being throughout his life.
Jesus showed us how God’s love could penetrate the most darkest places.
We all have the opportunity to share that love within our own lives, in our families, in our communities, in our work and social settings.
But sometimes that also takes a risk:
How will people respond?
What if they reject me?
What if they make fun of me?
What if I lose family or friends because of the message?
But imagine if God didn’t take a risk.
God's great gift at Christmas was the gift of himself.
And God continues to give that gift each time we come to worship.
When we hear again the Word made flesh.
When we received the Word through the body and blood of Holy Communion.
These are given to us as reminder s that God is and always will be a God who is “Emmanuel” God with us.
And God sends you to be his presence in the world.
A world that still rejects him but a world that God still loves and always will.
We are called to be God’s “Emmanuel” – God with the world.

Will you take that risk?

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