What If?

I don’t know about you --- but by this time every year I am pretty much done with Christmas!

We have been hit with Christmas music since Halloween --- and as much as I love Bruce Springsteen singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town --- I am over it!

Even Target is done with Christmas already --- I saw Valentines displays already up.

It is as if we feel like we must rush from one season to the next and not really paying attention to the season we are celebrating.

A few years back there was a fascinating article in the Chicago Tribune about a Chinese immigrant named Su Zhu Yuan.

Su Zhu Yuan thought Americans celebrated Christmas as part of our patriotic duty.

Relatives gave gifts.

Neighbors prepared feasts.

Storefronts in Chinatown advertised sales.

She had been in the United States for eight years, but no one told her the real story behind Christmas – the Biblical one that we gather to remember tonight.

The sad truth is --- for most of us --- Christmas has less to do with celebrating the incarnation of Jesus than it does with:

·         Santa

·         Black Friday

·         Cyber Monday

·         And the annual silly and pointless debate about “Happy Holidays” vs. Merry Christmas

So “the Church” created a period for us to slow down so that we can prepare ourselves for the Incarnation

During Lent we set aside six weeks of preparing for Easter

Before Christmas we set aside four weeks to prepare for the incarnation.

And the question that seems to come to mind is

·         What exactly are we preparing for?

·         Why did God become incarnate in the world in the first place?

Not questions that most of us really want to ponder

We would rather crank up the Christmas music and dance along with Feliz Navidad and avoid the hard and deep questions about WHY Jesus came.

Do you remember the movie Talladega Nights?

Ricky Bobby has gathered with his friends and family at the dinner table and he begins to pray saying "Lord, baby Jesus" and "tiny, infant Jesus" and "8 pound- 6 ounce- newborn infant Jesus."

He can't hasn’t even finished his prayer before his wife chimes in— "Hey, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up."

Ricky responds, "I like the Christmas Jesus best and I'm saying grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown up Jesus or teen-age Jesus or to bearded Jesus or whoever you want."

That’s the challenge of Christmas right there.

Most of us want to keep baby Jesus in the manger and just have a birthday party celebration.

What if Jesus had remained a baby?

Let me go back even a little further --- what if Mary had said “NO” to the angel?

What if the shepherd’s ignored the angel choir?

What if the Magi had decided to stay home?

What if Herod had succeeded and managed to kill baby Jesus?

What if --- when we leave here tonight --- we walk out unchanged --- unmoved by this baby --- unwilling and unable to share his light because we leave it behind?

We don’t want to have to wrestle with the darkness of our world

          We don’t want to sing advent hymns that are in a minor key and feel maudlin

We want the little baby Jesus – who is cute and the amazing animals who surround him who don’t seem to have any stinky smell

But we have to go through the darkness --- we must tell the story again and again --- so that we can experience the Joy that the Lord has come!

Remember Su Zhu Yuan who thought Christmas was a patriotic holiday?

          She though it was about giving gifts

          And huge feasts

          And sales galore

But she didn’t know about Jesus and why we celebrate his birth.

When Su Zhu Yuan finally heard Jesus story she celebrated his birth by immersing herself in the baptismal waters at Chinese Christian Union Church.

She emerged a newborn Christian. “I have peace in my heart and joy,” the 41-year-old seamstress said through a translator. “I’m giving the heavy burdens to Jesus.”

Su Zhu Yuan donned a white gown and with bare feet ascended a narrow staircase to the church's baptismal pool. Gripping the pastor's arm with both hands, she let him plunge her into the water. As she resurfaced, she wiped the water from her face and smiled.

She said, “Today is like a holiday. It's like having two Christmases.”

In a few moments --- we are going to turn out the lights --- and we are going to be surrounded by darkness

As the room becomes dark --- take a moment and think of the dark places in our world today --- in our city today --- in our homes and lives today.

I want you to allow the darkness to become REAL

<< SILENCE >>

Much like today, 2000 years ago the world seemed to be a very dark place

          Violence

          Corruption

          Greed

          Division

Were all a part of the reality of Judea long ago

God saw the darkness and decided to do something about it

God sent a small light into the world

          God sent --- not an army

                             Not a NGO or even a government

                                      God sent a BABY

A baby who was dependent upon others to keep that child alive