|
“WOW!” Reading: Psalm
80:1-7, Micah
5:2-5a, Luke 1:37-55, Hebrews 10:5-10 Preached at Baldwin
Presbyterian Church, December 20th 2009 When Mary went to visit Elizabeth it was one of those “Wow!” moments.
Ever had those? When everything comes together and seems to make sense and
you really feel that simply being alive is just about the most amazing thing
that can happen to anybody? We read that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, “The babe leaped in her womb;
and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; And she spake out with a loud
voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women”. Wow! It got to Mary as well. She
starts singing out, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Savior!” This didn’t normally happen when they came
together for morning coffee to exchange baby stories. It’s medically impossible for many of us to have a baby leaping in our
stomach but many of us have experienced what we’d call in England ‘having
butterflies in your tummy”. A sense of expectation and excitement. As a kid it always used to get me on Christmas Eve night. I never knew if
Santa Claus would be bringing me what I really, really, wanted. I kind of
thought that he would, but mum said that it all depended on if I’d been a
good boy or not (which of course I knew I hadn’t) and that in any case Santa
wouldn’t come till I went to sleep. Boy, did I have a hard time snoozing with
all those butterflies flying around inside. Wow! How about going for your first interview, or maybe starting your first
job? Looking back, maybe it wasn’t the best of jobs, but suddenly you had
money coming in! Wow! Not pocket money, but real money, that you’d worked for
and it was yours. (Except for the bit the taxman wanted). Did you get excited about your first car? You always have these dreams as
a kid; about what car you’ll have when you’re older. Ferrari. Porsche. Rolls
Royce Silver Shadow. Something red with a big engine. Then the realization
breaks in that working at MacDonald’s doesn’t pay that well and you’ll settle
for just about anything as long as it moves. My first vehicle? A Bedford Van. The water came through the roof when it
rained. The engine cover used to fly off when it hit 50 miles an hour. It was
an unusual shade of 'greens' and had parts held on with duct tape. But –
“Wow!” – it was all mine. No –correction it was all ours – because I was
dating Yvonne by then. How about that for a “Wow!” experience? Falling in love. Now there’s a
mystery for you! If you’re lucky enough, you find that special person and
somewhere along the way, it all gets gooey and warm and the birds sing louder
and the bees buzz better and the world is such a wonderful place, just as
long as you can be together. What about the birth of a child? That’s part of what Christmas is all
about. That’s the excitement that was there in our bible reading. Mary and
Elizabeth looking forward to the birth of their special children. There’s a
sense for all of us, that our children are special. Mostly because - Wow! -
they are ours! Do you ever watch those shows on one of the T.V. channels, "A
makeover story", “A dating Story”, “A Wedding Story”, “A baby Story”?
They attract a lot of viewers. I was trying to imagine them doing a
‘Christmas Special’ on the Nativity story. Mary dating this older guy. The
strange tales of angels and babies. The wedding. The unexpected journey. The
birth in a stable. Now that’d make for an interesting few episodes! I can think of some other, maybe less dramatic, “Wow!” experiences. I
remember the first time I saw one of those 3D pictures. All those shapes and
colors. Took me a while to figure it out. Then you stare and stare and “Wow”
there it is! Well, look at that! A trio of ducks flying over an open field! I remember when I first got my glasses. I didn’t know, until I took
driving lessons, that I was near-sighted. The instructor said, “Read that
sign over there”. I said, “What sign?” When I got my first glasses, I was
amazed. Trees had leaves on then that weren’t just little blurry green
shapes. There were all these things written high up on buildings that I’d
never seen before. “Wow!” But the biggest 'Wow!" experience of my life, (and of all days
today, Christmas Eve, is the time to talk about it), was the discovery that
Jesus Christ was not some historical figure, confined to the pages of dusty
old history books, but one whose living, loving, Holy Spirit could be born
into the midst of our everyday lives. That's why I enjoy Christmas so much! I enjoy the trimmings, the food,
the carols, the gifts, the goodwill, and all the rest of it. But over and
above all of that, for me, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of hope
into a world where love appears to be rationed; a birth of joy into a world
where gloom and misery can be overwhelming. That birthing of Christ into the womb of my every day experience has not
been an overnight happening. I look back over my life, so far, and see a
series of "Wow!" encounters, points of contact between my own
limited life and the eternal life that is God. Moments when the Grace of God,
unmerited and unexpected, just broke in on my experience and a doorway was
opened up and an opportunity was given either to follow or to walk away. I am a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ because I believe it is the
most exciting Good News that will ever come to this world. And so much of my
understanding of this fantastic, almost unbelievable message, focuses on what
happened in Bethlehem. The theologians call it the Incarnation. God, In Christ, redeeming
creation. Jesus, born, to be Savior of the world. "Wow!" Those
theological terms roll off the tongue so easily, the words sound so familiar,
but are we any nearer to grasping their significance? I remember the first time I sang the Christmas carols and their meaning
actually came home to me. I had sung them for years and to me they were just
good tunes with high-sounding words. But one time, whilst I was out carol
singing as a young person, the Spirit of God got on my case. Big Time! I could hardly sing them! Every word suddenly came alive. I had tears
welling up. The beauty and the truths that were being expressed in some of
those carols choked me. "Convicted by the Holy Ghost" - was what
the old Welsh Presbyterian Founding Fathers would call it! The Grace of God
being born into a human heart. Wow! Take a hymn like Phillip Brooks', "O Little town of Bethlehem".
The third verse; "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!” That's so right!
Amidst all the noise, the clamor of Bethlehem then and of our world today,
quietly, God's love catches up with us. But we're so busy, and we don't
always hear it. We're so full of ourselves we don't always see it! And Christmas gifts! How feeble are attempts at gift exchanges compared
to God giving the gift of Jesus Christ. Giving a life. Living a life that we
may know God's love! Dieing that we may taste the salvation of God. Wondrous,
amazing, a "Wow!" of a thing! "So God imparts to human hearts, the blessings of
His heaven". 'Heaven, Lord? ‘Heaven in my heart? You would bless me, here
and now, today, with things, not having the fading glory of this world, but
tingling with the joy of heaven.. eternal.. everlasting... holy.. wonderful..
pure? Lord, you would do such things in my life? "No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of
sin, where meek souls will receive Him, the dear Christ enters in!" You got that right Mr.
Bliss when you wrote this one. A sinful world that isn't even listening, yet
alone hearing the voice of God. But.. Lord.. you still come where your voice
is welcomed. "Wow!" Here we are singing carols, and half the time we're
not expecting, or listening, or prepared to welcome your love.. no not even
at Christmastime... but you’re breaking in.. breaking down even our hard and
cold hearts! It's Christmas. Our bible readings gave us the story of Mary and
Elizabeth, who were pregnant, not just with children, but also with hope. Who
looked to the birth, not just of a couple of beautiful baby boys, but of a
whole new world. And it happened. It happened in Bethlehem. Jesus was born. He
lived. He died. He rose again. Do you have that faith? Can the love of Jesus
be born into the womb of your everyday lives? I believe it to be so! That’s
why I celebrate Christmas! Christ the Savior is born!!!!!! Adrian
Pratt |