December 24, 2013
Fr. Phil Eberhart
It almost seems these days that you have to excavate through the layers of commercialism and busy-ness - the froth of schedules and packages, bows and ribbon, lights and music to get down to the real meaning of Christmas.
This year has been a tough one for me to focus on that as well - we've had a full-blown bathroom remodel going on - and still do - we were just away for our daughter's mid-year graduation from college at Iowa State - lots going on, in addition to the regular duties of work and life.
Anyone else feeling a bit overwhelmed - glad that tonight and tomorrow are finally here?
In all the hubbub we tend to lose the focus that we should place on the main event. That's why its important for us to hear the words again of our gospel lesson - to retell the story again and again. For our world, for the most part, it feels like the season is used to make a buck! The athiests in NY City say we can take the CHRIST out of Christmas and have the same effect! No need to realize the real REASON for the SEASON!
This evening in a few minutes I want to give you another perspective - one you don't hear often - but one that is so incredible and so amazing that I hope you will go away with a WOW, just from the thought!
This morning I got an email from our friends at International Bible Translators in Moscow. Natasha chose a phrase that encapsulates the thoughts I have to share:
FOR OUR SAKE THE ETERNAL GOD IS BORN AS A LITTLE CHILD!
I want to be brief, but perspective is important here! I looked up some facts about one of our attempts to explore the universe...
Voyager 2 is an interplanetary probe that was launched 21 days after Val and I were married, on Aug 20, 1977. NASA reports that they are still receiving data from this unmanned probe, today in space, 36 years, 4 mo and 4 days! And they expect to continue receiving data until the mid 2020's! Traveling roughly the speed of a bullet, the craft has gone past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in our solar system. From launch to Jupiter was nearly two years, to Saturn two more years, to Uranus four more years, and Neptune, still in our own solar system, almost 12 years after launch! It passed into the second phase of its mission, from the interplanetary to the inter stellar portion in Oct, 1989.
If it is not hindered in any way, the Voyager probe will pass by its first star at a distance of over 9 trillion miles in 40,000 years. The next star it encounters, passing by it at 25 Trillion miles, is the star Sirius, which it will reach in 296, THOUSAND years!!
My point here? In an afterthought the writer of Genesis in chapter 1:16 says, "and He also made the stars." By the way.
I want you to grasp the vast magnificence and the enormity of who God is in just a few words!
I've been reminded of God's conversation with Job, of some of the questions God had for Job in Chapter 38 and following:
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the
surveying line?
What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone
as the morning stars sang together and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused
the dawn to rise in the east?
Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
“Where does light come from, and where does darkness go?
“Can you direct the movement of the stars - binding the
cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion?
Can you direct the sequence of the seasons
or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?
This is just a few of 3 chapters of questions God had for Job. And I wonder sometimes if He
Do you know the laws of the universe?
Can you use them to regulate the earth?
Can you use them to regulate the earth?
doesn't have for us! The point here is that this is the God, who Paul tells us, "Was pleased
to dwell in Jesus, the baby of Bethlehem, in all His fullness."
Think for a minute about the story we've heard already this evening:
a young, back water maiden from Nazareth is pregnant. Things are said
about this baby, by no less than Gabriel, the Archangel. Emmanuel, God With Us.
God - the God of the universe - the God who created the stars, by the way;
God who directs their movements; Who set the foundations of the earth -
laid its cornerstone - Who commands its morning to appear and causes the
dawn to rise and whose faithfulness is new every morning.
THAT God! Is WITH us!
That's the meaning of Christmas - WITH us.
The God who created, who sustains, who commands
came in His fullness into a virgin's womb.
The God who directs the laws of the universe and regulates the earth
came as a baby child, was born in a cattle shed and laid in a stall.
The God who makes daylight spread to the ends of the earth
enclosed himself in the darkness of the womb for 9 months.
Paul's hymn in Philippians 2 summarizes the process:
as something to cling to.Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Jesus, the Son was fully God from eternity, yet in the mystery of that relationship and in obedience to the Father, Jesus came to be among us as a man fully, yet he remained fully God. That is the mystery and the wonder we celebrate tonight! The mystery of the incarnation! 100% God AND 100% Man = JESUS CHRIST.
And finally the meaning is that God is with US! You and me. Plain old us.
Think of it. God wants to get mixed up with the likes of us! Amazing isn't it?
You. You are the reason for the season! You are the reason the Jesus came, and lived and died.
You. God loves you that much! Really! All of this is for you.
And you have the ultimate power in the universe.
The power to say, "NO." "NO, LORD!" NO, GOD.
I saw on our trip last week where some farmer in Kansas had painted on his barn:
"No God = No Peace
KNOW GOD = KNOW PEACE!"
You have a power - strong enough to thwart all the love in the universe or
a power to accept that same love by simply saying, 'YES'
- YES, GOD. I believe.
Please pray with me:
If you've never heard this quite this way before and you want to say YES;
If you've said NO for years, but God has touched you tonight;
If you've said YES for years, and God has touched you tonight; pray with me:
Lord Jesus Christ, Babe of Bethlehem, Son of God.
You have loved me from the beginning of time.
And you showed the extent of your love
by coming as a baby, growing, living and dying for me.
I'm sorry for the ways I've messed up life. I need You.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins - for all I've done wrong.
Please forgive me and come live your life in and through me.
I can't do this life with out you Jesus. And because you came, I don't have to.
Thank you for saving my life. I love you.
Amen.
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