Sermon 17th December 2017 Advent 3
Text: John 1:6-8,19-28 – Peeling back the layers
of Christmas.
I was getting my car serviced during the week and
I overheard a couple of the staff chatting at the coffee machine.
One said to the other – “so, are you ready for the
silly-season”.
You’ve probably heard similar references to
Christmas including those such as – I can’t wait for Christmas to be over – or,
I really hate Christmas.
Christmas is supposed to be the happiest time of
the year – in fact it’s supposed to make us happy all through the year.
Christmas can be a time that doesn’t cause
celebration for some.
It might be a time of grief for those who have
lost a loved one.
It might be a time of sadness for those who are
alone and don’t have anyone to celebrate with.
It might be a time of sadness because you don’t
have the money to buy presents for your family.
Perhaps we have made Christmas something that not
everyone can celebrate because of expectations that each year we have to spend
more than we did last year.
Or we get a card from someone unexpectedly and we
feel obligated to add them to our ever growing list of people we have to send
cards to.
When we think of the very first Christmas it was
nothing like that;
In fact it was very meagre with no room at the inn
requiring Jesus to be born in a barn, in a feeding trough for the animals.
Christmas should be a time of rejoicing for
everyone as Paul says in our 2nd reading:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks
in all circumstances;
But has Christmas become something that doesn’t
give people reason to rejoice and give thanks?
You might wonder – what do I have to give thanks
for?
That’s when we need to peel back all the layers we
have put onto Christmas and get back to the basics of the message.
John the Baptist had the same concerns.
He had to strip back all the people’s expectations
and bring Jesus Christ to the front:
The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem
to ask John, “Who are you?” He confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they
asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the
prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have
an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
They had all these layers and John put it in the
simplest form:
He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’”
The world has put all these layers on Christmas –
buying presents, sending cards, Christmas feasts, Christmas holidays.
And please don’t get me wrong – I’m not against
those – in fact I really enjoy them.
But it is often those trimmings, as we call them,
that causes people to stop rejoicing at Christmas time.
Even some of the traditional layers cause much
debate in and outside of the church causing confusion and doubt;
The challenge as to Jesus’ birth and whether it
was really on December 25th which was originally a pagan festival date.
It was in the 4th century when this date was
declared to be the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
The inclusion of the wise men in the nativity.
Santa Claus becoming the symbol of Christmas for
many families including Christian families
And this is on top of the debates of whether we
should be saying happy holidays instead of merry Christmas so we don’t offend.
Christmas has seemingly become something it was
never meant to be.
As we debate these and other things we can
actually lose the true message of Christmas which is found, not in the
traditional Christmas texts but in a text that we don’t often hear at Christmas
or associate with Christmas:
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he
sent his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
receive eternal life.
That’s the Christmas message we should be making a
straight path for.
Sometimes I too feel overwhelmed by everything
that goes with Christmas; the extra sermons; the expectations of the Christmas
Eve service, all the trimmings that you soon hear about if they’re not quite
right or different to what we usually have.
And sometimes I too can’t wait for Boxing Day.
And that’s when I need to remind myself and other
people about John’s message about himself:
He himself was not the light, but he came to
testify to the light.
Are our Christmas ways testifying to the light or
to ourselves.
Sometime we have pointed people to the wrong
light.
Sometimes our Christmas traditions become an end
in themselves and we are not hating Christmas but we are hating what we have
made Christmas to become.
Christmas is the most beautiful time in the church
as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ who is the full expression of God’s
love for us;
For God so loved the world that he sent his one
and only Son.
It is a time to rejoice – it is a time to give
thanks as Paul urges us:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks
in all circumstances;
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