Preached December 16, 1990, evening service New Winchester Missionary Baptist Church Danville, Indiana
Christmas is getting very near. For some of you it has already been very hectic. The cartoon character CATHY last year about this time expressed the anxiety many of us feel.
She says to her boss: "My left brain is making lists of people I haven't sent cards to yet. My right brain is at the craft store, thinking up creative gifts I could make before (Christmas)...
"My nerves are at the mall, worrying whether I should have gotten the other necktie for my Dad. My stomach is still at last night's party begging for more Christmas cookies.
"My heart is stuck in traffic somewhere between my mother's house, my boyfriend's house and the adorable man I saw at the post office."
Her boss asks: "What is it you want, Cathy?"
Cathy replies: "May what's left of me sneak home early and take a nap?" Some of us may be feeling about that frazzled. Isn't it wonderful to take a few moments to collect ourselves in God's house to center in on the majesty of the Christmas message? Our theme for this third Sunday in Advent is Joy.
Comedian Dom DeLuise tells about one of the best Christmas gifts he ever received. He says that there was a time when nothing made him laugh. "Everything was wrong--life was hopeless and I was feeling useless." When his son asked what he wanted for Christmas, DeLuise replied, "Happiness--and you can't give it to me." On Christmas day his son handed him a piece of cardboard with HAPPINESS written on it. "You see Dad," his son said, "I can give you happiness!" For a moment at least, DeLuise' depression was shattered.
It is amazing how children can bring us happiness. That's what Christmas is really all about. We say that Christmas is for children. Untrue. A child opening with glee his or her new toy from Santa does not feel nearly the happiness Mom and Dad feel at that moment. Children bring us joy--whether they are ours or someone else's. But there is one child that has brought more joy into more people's lives than any other. He is the Christ child of Bethlehem. Isaiah the prophet anticipated what his coming would mean. He wrote, "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord."
We sing, "Joy to the World." But why? What is there about the coming of the Christ child that brings joy into our world?
FIRST OF ALL, CHRIST'S COMING REMINDS US THAT THERE IS A VERTICAL DIMENSION TO LIFE.
Somewhere I saw a cartoon that pictured a middle-class husband lecturing to his wife. He was seated on the sofa with a blackboard. He had written an equation on the blackboard that read like this: "The mortgage is paid; we're fully insured; the kids are okay; we're healthy; and we have each other. It all equals happiness." With a confused look on her face his wife said, "Walter, would you run through that just one more time?"
In FOR BETTER OR WORSE, adolescent Michael looks at the tree with all of its presents around it and thinks, "I wonder what I'm gonna get. I asked for video tapes, a laser tag, track pants, a camera...."
Grandpa comes in with a huge smile. As Michael and he stand together in front of the tree he says, "You know, Mike. We've got it all! We've got our health, our home, a warm fire, good food and family. Only a fool could ask for more!"
We can agree with Grampa, but deep in our hearts we yearn to believe that there is something more. We could all list the things we are thankful for this Christmas--food, family, health, a nice home, all the blessings this world can afford, and they are still not enough. Many people possess these things, but still have a deep emptiness in their hearts. I believe that is why, even though they may ignore the church the rest of the year, they love to hum the carols at Christmas time. Those carols are the best reminder in this world that there is a vertical dimension to life--that though our health deserts us and though we lose our loved ones to death and even if our homes burn down, there is still reason to go on because, from out of the deepest recesses of eternity, God has sent His own son into the world.
Leslie Weatherhead, the great British pastor and preacher illustrates this beautifully.
He told of a postal clerk in his country who handled the mail to Santa Claus.
The clerk was called the "Nixie Clerk" because he handled all the mail that was "nixed" because of an insufficient, inaccurate, or illegible address.
Here is a letter sent to Weatherhead by the "Nixie Clerk." It reads:
"Last Christmas the letters began to pile in, as usual, addressed to Santa Claus. I suppose I get hundreds of letters every year.
"On Christmas Eve I was working late, and was very sad and lonely in my corner. There was a great rush at the windows and the office, and the malls were loaded with Christmas gifts and greetings. A merry crowd rushed through the corridors and laughter sounded all around, but a great shadow of sorrow rested over me and my eyes burned as I bent over my work. Finally the messenger brought me the last few "Nixies" of the day and laid them on my desk. I took up the first one mechanically. Attached to it was a note from Postman Number 34:
"`This was given me by a little girl at 302 Walnut Street.'
"My body tingled when I read it, because that address was my own home! The envelope was a small one addressed to`Santa Clause, North Pole.' I recognized my own little girl's cramped writing...This is what she wrote:
"`Dear Santa Claus,
"We are very sad at home this year, and I don't want you to bring me anything. Little Charlie, my brother, went up to heaven last week, and all I want you to do when you come to my house is to take his toys to him. I will leave them in the corner by the chimney, his hobbyhorse and train and everything. He will be lost up in heaven without them, especially his horse. He always enjoyed riding it so much. So you just take them to him, and you needn't mind leaving me anything.
"`If you could give Daddy something that would make him stop crying all the time, it would be the best thing you could do for me. I heard him tell mummy that only eternity could cure him. Could you give him some of that? Be sure to take the thing to Charlie and I will be your good little girl.
Marion'"
Could you give him a little eternity? We need from time to time a reminder of eternity--that there is more than rocks and trees and houses and clothes and cars and even our physical bodies. Christmas is that reminder. Isaiah said people would rejoice because the glory of the Lord would be revealed. The world hungers to see that glory.
For a moment, at least, in the star shining and the carols being sung and the love being expressed the world catches a glimpse of that glory. Christmas reminds us that there is a vertical dimension to life.
IN THE SECOND PLACE, CHRISTMAS REMINDS US THAT THE JOY OF THE CHRIST CHILD IS JOY FOR ALL PEOPLE--EVEN THOSE WHO DON'T DESERVE IT.
A disappointed first grader trudged up the front path. "I'm to be one of the children at the manger in the Christmas play," she announced glumly. "That's wonderful! Why so sad?" asked her mother. "I wanted to be an angel. They're the ones that sing the song of rejoicing." Then she added, "I can't rejoice unless I'm an angel." That little girl was suffering from a common misconception--that only angels rejoice. If so, it is only because the non-angelic do not know the good news. The coming of the Christ child is for those who know they haven't been all they ought to have been--who have sincere regrets over time misspent, values misplaced, actions misguided. He cares about us, too.
Now, that doesn't mean we can excuse our sinful behavior. In the cartoon MARVIN, the infant Marvin is writing a letter to Santa Claus. "And Santa," he writes, "Although I may not always be perfect, I think you would have to find me innocent of any wrong doing by virtue of the fact that I'm just a little baby.
"Unless, of course," he adds, "you are of the theological persuasion that believes in original sin."
Well, Marvin, most of us believe in original sin. We believe that sin is part and parcel of human nature. But because it is part of our nature does not allow us to evade responsibility for our actions. We do not get off the hook that easily. Still, sometimes we need to be reminded that God is not like Santa. God loves us naughty or nice. He hopes that we will be nice, but he loves us with a love that even sin cannot defeat.
Even more importantly, we understand that God's acceptance is not something we must earn. God sent Christ into the world as a helpless infant, and that is how we also come to God. None of us can measure up to the absolute perfection of a holy God, but we do not have to. He has sent the Christ child into the world as His free gift to any who would receive him. We find joy, first of all, in the truth that there is a vertical dimension to life, and secondly, in the miracle of grace--that God loves us all regardless of what we've done.
BUT, OF COURSE, THE GREATEST JOY COMES WHEN WE OPEN OUR HEARTS AND RECEIVE THE CHRIST CHILD AS THE LORD OF OUR LIFE.
According to an old legend, when the Magi were following the star of Bethlehem, they came to the house of a certain woman. They said to her, "Come with us! We have seen his star in the east and we are going to worship him."
"Oh," she said, "I would love to go. I heard that he would be coming one day and I have been looking forward to it. But I can't come now. I must set my house in order; then I will follow you and find him."
But when her work was done, the wise men were out of sight, the star shone no more in the heavens, and she never saw Jesus. That can happen. We can go through this whole busy Christmas season and miss the essential meaning of it all. It really makes no difference that a "No Vacancy" sign hung over an inn 2,000 years ago, but if a "No Vacancy" sign hangs over our hearts, it makes an enormous difference.
There IS a vertical dimension to life. He has come that all may have life and joy and peace. The gift is ours to receive freely, without condition. But accept it we must. If we do, then within our hearts we will sing, "Joy to the World," for we will understand what Christmas joy is all about.
