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Homily for Christmas Day
(Dec 25, 2006)
God enters our world. Jesus Christ gets involved with our history
Story: As a boy
Norman
was doing some last minute shopping with his father on Christmas Eve. As
they walked
4th Street
in
Cincinnati
, he could hardly wait for Christmas to come. His reverie about the
tree, the stockings and the Christmas carols, was abruptly interrupted
by a bleary-eyed, unshaven old man, clutching a ragged cap in which were
a few pennies. When the old man reached out the boy recoiled from the
grimy fingers and turned away. As the old man slunk away his father
said:
Norman
,
you shouldn’t treat a man that way.
Aw Dad, he’s nothing but a bum. A bum? His father said. There
is no such thing as a bum. He is a child of God. Maybe he could have
made more of his life, but he is God’s beloved child. Now go give him
this dollar. Now you
have to understand that back in those days a dollar was more than they
had paid for each other’s Christmas presents.
Now
go up to him and speak respectfully to him and tell him you are giving
him this dollar in the name of Jesus Christ.
Norman
was very reluctant, but finally he caught up with the old man: Excuse
me Sir, I give you this dollar in the name of Jesus Christ.
The old man looked at him in absolute surprise and then a curious
change came over him as he stood taller and with a gracious bow
responded: And I thank you, young
Sir in the name of Christ. Norman Vincentn Peale wrote:
Suddenly the packages in my arms were lighter, the air was warmer and
sidewalk beautiful. No Christmas tree stood there, no carols filled the
air but all at once on
4th St
Christmas had begun.
Emmanuel
– God with us. God
does not stay up in Heaven with the angels. Our God gets involved in
human history. God enters
our world as one of us
-- There is always a
danger with our Christmas celebration that we focus too much on Jesus as
a baby in the manger
- Maybe we don’t really
want Jesus to come into our world today
- We
want to keep Jesus a harmless baby in the Christmas crib whom
we put back in the closet or attic until next year.
- Many people get upset when we bring Christ into political
and economic issues. Those who do that prefer to keep Jesus off in
some spiritual world that has nothing to do with their worldly
decisions.
- But Jesus did come into our world and he is here as the Lord of
all history. God did come to our planet, become a human being
and Christ is involved with
our earthly history
Story: Once upon a
time there was a woman – we will call her Emma, -- my grandmother’s
name – maybe it could be a shortened form of Emmanuel. In any case
this Emma – not my grandmother – did not really believe that God
became a baby. That just seemed impossible. Why would the God of the whole universe come down to help people on
planet earth?
Well
how does this story go? Let’s see. It was Christmas eve and her
neighbors were going to church, but not Emma. She didn’t believe in
all that religion stuff, but she did love animals. After she had fed her
cows and chickens she noticed a flock of sparrows – so she threw them
some of the chicken feed. It
was so cold she was afraid that they might freeze that night, so she
tried to get the sparrows into the warmest of the sheds.
They would not go in on their own.
She tried to chase them in, but in fear they scattered. She tried
placing a trail of food, but they just would not go in. Then the thought
came to her that the only way she could save them is if she could just
speak their language. If only she could become one of them and show them
the way to safety.
Her mind
wandered back to Christmas: Could it be that God really did become human
to show us the way to salvation? She
hurried into the house and that night there was a new voice
in church, singing: Joy to the World, the Lord has come. Let
earth receive her King.
Concl: Yes. It may be
shocking, but God is with us – Emmanuel. Not all can believe it , but
in Jesus Christ, God has entered our world and our history as our Savior.
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