THE GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS Luke 2:1-20

December 25, 2011 Lying in the straw of the manger this morning is a gift - a gift that makes all the joy of our lives possible:

Some of us are exhausted because we’ve been up since 4:00 this morning experiencing the excitement of Christmas.

Some of us are in between Christmas moments – opened gifts this morning – others still to go. Some of us are waiting for families to come and the sharing of Christmas to unfold.

All of us are covered in the light of the love streaming forth from the manger, surrounding and filling all of our lives. The words we use to try and capture the meaning of what we have received this morning are the words: HOPE PEACE JOY LOVE No human words can ever fully express the miracle of the Incarnation God coming down the path of light to dwell within us. But with these words we try.

1. Hope is the power that keeps us from despair. It is the source of our determination that no matter how bad things get we will survive and triumph. It is what gives us the courage to sing in the darkness.

In the collective memory of our nation Valley Forge stands out as a crucial moment in the American Revolution. It was a brutal winter and George Washington’s rag tag army was hunkered down in Valley Forge. The soldiers had not been paid for months. Most did not have warm enough clothes and all were hungry. They were on the verge of mutiny – giving up, going home. Then one evening George Washington appeared. He walked up to each tent and conversed with his miserable troops. He gave his coat to one of the men who did not have one. He sat around campfires and talked about his plans, his dreams for a free nation – for the successful completion of the war. The men took heart and responded to their general. They pressed on – they fought on – and the American Revolution won by those rag tag soldiers changed the course of human history. Hope was the gift General Washington appeared to give his men that night. (Will Williman Dec., 2011 Pulpit Resource) Hope is what is given to us when in our darkness God comes to our tent and talks with us by our fires.

2. Peace is the gift that teaches us how to live in the world reconciled and at home, ironically, by giving up our self-defense weapons of anger and hatred and revenge.

It is perhaps the hardest gift to understand – certainly difficult to live. Thomas Long, Craddock Preaching Chair, Emory University, tells this story I will read to you in his words: Many years ago in India, a group of men traveling through desolate country found a seriously wounded man lying beside the road. They carried him to the Christian mission hospital some distance away and asked the missionary physician who met them at the door if a bed was available for the man. The physician looked at the injured man and immediately saw that he was an Afghan, a member of the warring Patau tribe. “Bring him in,” he said. “For him we have a bed.”

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When the physician examined the man, he found that an attacker had seriously injured his eyes and the man’s sight was imperiled. The man was desperate with fear and rage, pleading with the doctor to restore his sight so that he could find his attacker and extract his eye. He screamed “I want to kill him. After that I don’t care whether I am blind the rest of my life!” The doctor told the man that he was in a Christian hospital, that Jesus had come to show us how to love and forgive others, even to love and forgive our enemies. The man listened but was unmoved. He told the doctor that Jesus’ words about forgiveness and love were nice, but meaningless. Revenge was the only goal, vengeance the only reality. The doctor rose from his bedside, saying that he needed to attend to other patients. He promised to return that evening to tell the man a story, a story about a person who took revenge. When he returned that evening, the doctor began his story. Long ago, he recounted, the British government had sent a man to serve as envoy to Afghanistan, but as he traveled to his new post, he was attached on the road by a hostile tribe, accused of espionage, and thrown into a shabby make shift prison. There was only one other prisoner, and the men suffered through their ordeal together. They were poorly clothed, badly fed, and mistreated cruelly by the guards. Their only comfort was a copy of the Book of Common Prayer, which had been given to the envoy as a farewell gift by his sister in England. She had inscribed her name along with a message of good will on the first leaf. This book served the men not only as a source for their prayers but also as a diary, as a place to record their daily experiences. The margins of the prayer book became a journal of their anguish and their faith. Those two prisoners were never heard from again. Their families and friends waited for news that never came; they simply vanished without a word, leaving those who loved them in uncertain grief. Over twenty years later, a man browsing through a second-hand shop found the prayer book. How it got there, no one can say. But, after reading some of the journal entries in the margin, he recognized its value, located the sister whose name was in the front of the book, and sent it to her. With deep heartache she read each entry. When she came to the last one, she noted that it was in a different handwriting. It said simply that the two prisoners had been taken from their cell, publicly flogged and then forced to dig their own graves before being executed. At that moment she knew what she must do. Her brother had died a cruel death at the hand of torturers in a run-down Afghan jail, and this injustice must be requited. She must exact revenge…but Christian revenge. She was not wealthy, the doctor continued, but she marshaled all the money she could and sent it to the mission hospital. Her instructions were that the money was to be used to keep a bed free at all times for a sick or wounded Afghan. This was to be her revenge for her brother’s torture at the hands of Afghans and his death in their country. The wounded man was quiet, silenced by this story of such strange revenge. “My friend,” said the doctor, “you are now lying in that bed. Your care is her revenge.” - Thomas Long, Whispering the Lyrics: Sermons for Lent and Easter, Lima OH: CSS Publishing Co. 1995

His ways are strange to us. But His is the gift of peace.

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3. Joy is the precious gift of a state of the heart that knows no matter what we face we face it with a God who triumphs over all things.

On the Third Sunday in Advent this year I shared with you the image of the beautiful Nativity on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Under the great Christmas tree lies the beautiful 18th Century hand made nativity - Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus. But what sets it off, is that the figures are not in a stable, not in a cave, not even in Bethlehem. They are inside a Roman Ruin – the crumbling stone columns representing the power of the World’s Empires, crumble away under the manger in which the Baby lies. The meaning is clear: Rome will pass away. All the empires of the earth will pass away. Oppression, racism, hunger, will pass away. Anger, violence, revenge, social class divisions will pass away. Cancer, heart attack,, hospitals, nursing homes – they all will pass away. The Child will triumph over all things. That is our JOY.

4. Love? Love is the precious gift that comes to us despite our sin, despite our unworthiness, despite our hard-hearted, self-defensive, arrogant ways. Love is the gift He brings.

A father was playing with his young daughter. They were laughing together and the father swooped her up in his arms and said “Ginny, I love you when you are good.” Ginny answered back with the gift of true love: “Daddy, I love you all the time.” One night on “Larry King Live”, Larry King was interviewing Bono, the U2 Rock Star. In the interview Bono was talking about his Christian faith, his commitment to Christ, how he was trying to live out Christ’s love in his life. Larry King asked him “what makes Christianity special to you? Why is it different from other religions?” Bono answered: “All the other religions, one way or another, teach Karma. Only Jesus offers grace. Only Jesus Christ truly sets us free.” Tony Campolo tells a great story about heaven. Peter is the Keeper of the Keys of heaven and keeps careful account of who enters in. Paul is the census taker in heaven, keeping up with how many people are there. They are troubled though. They have a problem they can’t figure out. According to Paul’s numbers, there are always more people in heaven than there should be according to Peter’s records of how many he has let in. “It’s Jesus. He keeps sneaking people over the wall. I just caught Him!! It’s the gift of love. Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So, there you have them – your gifts this beautiful Christmas morning: HOPE PEACE JOY LOVE. The only question is what to do now with our gifts:

Shall we open them? Shall we accept them and use them? Shall we share them with others?

Blessings to you this Merriest of All Days!! Amen