Why Christmas - Kirk Wulff, Christ Church, KS

7/30/2019 Why Christmas - Kirk Wulff, Christ Church, KS

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Why Christmas Transcript

Kirk Wulff, Christ Church, Overland Park, Kansas

Intro:

The lyrics to one of my favorite carols reads:It's the most wonderful time of the year

With the kids jingle bellingAnd everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, isnt it? I love Christmas.

I love Christmas carols. About 25% of my iPod is Christmas tunes. Jazz seemsto be the universal language and I love the music the guys have been playingtonight.

I love the decorations and decorating the tree

I love it that my son will be back from college and my daughter and her husbandwill be in town for Christmas.

I love Christmas Im a Christmas geek! And I love Christmas movies. Do you have a favorite?

Hollywood are no dummies. They know that were looking for an escape, for nostalgia,

for memories, hope and humor. So were flooded with new releases at this time of year. Ithought it might be fun to look at some of my favorite Christmas/Holiday movies My

friend James put this little montage together for us this evening. Roll it.

BUT, there are things about Christmas that trouble me, like the excesses of Christmas.

I love giving gifts, but the STRESS of trying to give just the right gift. Do youever feel conflicted about that? My wife, Diana, is amazingly patient with my giftgiving. I stink at it. As long as Diana or my kids tell me exactly what they want,

I can pick out the perfect gift. But its stressful, isnt it? Weve got to come up

with just the perfect gift that shows how much thought weve put into it.

So the stress of trying to give the perfect gift. Then there is the over indulging onfood and drink. All the parties, the sweets, the froo-froo drinks. On the day after

Christmas I think most of us wake up either regretting we hadnt eaten all that we

did, OR swearing that well never have another drop of alcohol again. Then in

January we wake up with a financial hangover when the Mastercard bill comes inand we swear that WILL stick to our budget. YES?

A cynic once said about Christmas, All we do at Christmas is buy gifts thatpeople dont want with money that we dont have.

Then there is the stress of our over-demanding children. We want our kids tohave the perfect. We want to build memories by buying the perfect gifts for them

also. And a lot of times the kids end up having meltdowns, which leads to

conflict, and on and on. I heard a story of one little boy, whose father asked himvery early in the year, Son, what would you like for Christmas? The son said,

Daddy, Id really love a baby brother. And what do you know, but that on


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Christmas eve, the mother showed up with a little baby boy. So the next year, his

dad asked him again, Son what would you like for Christmas? And the littleboy replied, Well, dad, if it wouldnt be too uncomfortable for mom, Id really

like a pony.

Along with all that there is the EXPECTATION of the perfect Christmas.How realistic is that? We get all these aunts and uncles and cousins together whosee each other once or twice a year and theres the expectation that all these adults

are going to play nicely together. Its an unrealistic expectation, and it just adds

to the stress of Christmas.

Over and above all the stresses I just mentioned, lets name it, for many people this is a

very painful time of year. It can be a very lonely time of year, particularly for peoplewho are alone in life. While everyone else is gathering together and those who dont

have family or community feel more alone on Christmas day than almost any other time

in their lives.

Or those who have lost a loved one and its their first Christmas without them.I usedto share this with someone I love and now I dont. I still remember how painful it was

the first Christmas after Dianas mother died, partly because her birthday was onChristmas Eve. Although I dont remember us verbalizing it, I think we were actually

dreading Christmas that year.

It IS a most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be very hard for many people. Its

an enigma isnt it?

So, WHY CHRISTMAS? Whats the point? Wheres the hope? Christmas can be such

a happy time. But it all gets confusing with all the gift-giving, over-indulgence, family

gatherings, and traditions. Its so easy to put our hope in a mythical man with a whitebeard and a red velvet suit and all he represents. And yet, we know there has to be moreto Christmas than that.

My hope for this season is in two things: First, my hope is in a Jesus that is radicallydifferent than the Jesus that is seen in pretty Hallmark cards or the Jesus we heard

preached about when we were growing up.

There are so many great stories that give us a glimpse of how Jesus was filled with

compassion and focused his attention on people who lived on the margins of life.

There is a story about a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. A crowd of

angry religious leaders gathered around and were about to stone the woman. Jesus

shifted the attention from the woman who had been caught in a sinful act toward the

leaders who probably just hadnt been caught. He didnt get all stirred up about it. Hesimply said, Let those who are without sin, throw the first stone. One by one the

religious leaders left the scene and its just Jesus and the woman alone. Does Jesus

lecture her? He simply says Where have they all gone? Does no one condemn you?Neither do I condemn you. Leave your life of destructive behavior. Jesus broke ranks

with centuries of Jewish law and tradition, He stood up to the religious leaders and


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challenged them to choose compassion over condemnation, and then he demonstrated

what that would look like. It doesnt get any more radical than that.

That kind of compassion might also give us a glimpse of how Jesus would have engaged

with people who are marginalized. The religious people of his time were scandalized by

Jesus choice of relationships. He intentionally hung out with people who weremarginalized and disenfranchised by the religious establishment. Jesus ran into a tax

collector named Matthew. Tax collectors had a green light to embezzle funds from hard-working, tax paying folks like you and me. They were also known to be hanging around

with some pretty disreputable people. Matthew invited Jesus to a party at his house with

all his friends. Again, the religious leaders attacked Jesus for hanging around with non-religious people. His response was Go figure out what this means, Im after mercy, not

religion. Im here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders. Radical mercy, thats what

Jesus was about.

Jesus said that what matters in life is who you are, not what you are. We dont have to

have it all together. Rich poor. Strong weak. Highly educated high schooleducated. Jesus says, its not about religion, but about a relationship. And what Jesussays about relationships is totally counter-cultural. He said that way to a deeply fulfilled

life starts with a desire to be in relationship with him, a genuine, authentic relationship;

the kind of relationship in which we can actually be in need of Gods help, desperately inneed of God. The kingdom of God flings open its doors for everyone who simply say

God, I need you and I want to connect with you.

Jesus also said the kingdom of God is available to those who are hurting, grieving, evento those who are mourning. He says those who mourn will be comforted. My son

Matthew had a perpetual goose egg and bruise in the middle of his forehead because

when he was learning to walk, he would fall and do a face plant. The he would get upand RUN to Diana or me and we would hold him and comfort him. And thats what God

does when we run to him. He embraces us and we are told that He pours his love into

our hearts. So a deeply fulfilled life is possible when we are hurt or sad or grievingbecause it drives us into the arms of God. We would think that a relationship with

Jesus would be so much more available to those who have it all together! Its

available to everyone who runs to him, invites him into his life.

Thats what Alpha is all about. Exploring who this radical Jesus is and exploring why we

would want to open our lives to Him. We look at the historical Jesus and so many

different aspects of what it means to follow him.

Second, my hope is in the fact that God is good, which is different than so many cultural

or folk narratives would say about God.

I think so many of us have grown up a narrative about God that says God is an angry,

vindictive, judge. If you do something good, God will bless you. If you sin or dosomething bad, you will be punished. Almost like the Christian version of the Eastern

philosophy of Karma if you do good, good will come to you. If you do bad, bad will

come to you.


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That is absolutely not the narrative of God that we see in Jesus, who Christians believe is

the physical image of God. God is not angry, judgmental and vindictive. He is good, heis FOR us. He loves us. He is not out to get us. He is not out to punish us when we do

something wrong. He is not vindictive, so he doesnt want to get back at us, even when

we do things that are hurtful or hateful or completely wrong.

Just like in the stories I mentioned a few minutes ago, he loves people who commit

adultery just as much as those who are faithful. He loves gay people just as much asstraight people, he loves embezzlers just as much as the most honest accountant, he loves

atheists just as much as deeply devoted followers of Jesus. That doesnt mean that he

wouldnt like each of us to change here and there to begin reflecting the character ofJesus in our own lives.

If there is one thing you can take away from this talk tonight, its that God is good. His

goodness isnt dependent on us. He is going to be good regardless of what we thinkabout him.

In every crowd there is a certain percentage of people who would like a take away one ortwo practical things they can implement in their lives. For those out there tonight, Id

like to offer this suggestion.

Psalm 46 in the Bible says this, Be still, and know that I am God. It doesnt say Be

still and pray real hard, it says Be still and know that I am God. All we have to do to

discover God in our midst and to discover he is good is to be still. The God who is good

can only reach us when we are silent. When there is so much noise, so much activity andcommotion, they all drown out God and his goodness. Here is what I have found to be

helpful.

Find five minutes a day and sit in silence.

Find a comfortable place, take a hot drink and simply sit. I have found it helpful to close my eyes, pay attention to my breathing, and maybe

even bring a slight grin my face.

I have found it to help me to slow down, be present in the moment, and to discover God

in my midst. And I cant think of anything that could be more helpful at this incrediblybusy time of year.

So what do we do with this? What if all this is really true? What if Jesus actually showsus what God is like? What if God really is good, radically accepting and loving and

forgiving, rather than angry or judgmental or vindictive? What if God is actually good all

the time and its not dependent on what we think about God or whether were naughtyor nice? What do we do with that?

Some of you might be thinking, sounds too good to be true. And weve been

conditioned to believe anything that seems too good to be true, IS ALWAYS too goodto be true. If youre skeptical about the Christian faith or about Alpha, I invite you to

just give it one try for one night 2 hours on January 19th

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There may be some here tonight who are saying, Id like that. Id like a safe community

to come and engage in conversation while I try to figure out what I believe about all this.If that is you, I hope YOU will also come check it out on January 19 th at 6 pm.

The people you heard from this evening and that we hear from every time we have one of

these parties would all agree that Alpha was that place for them. It was a safe place, andeven a fun, place to come and ask some of the hard questions of faith and of life.

Like the carol says, Its the most wonderful time of the year.

And it can be. It is a great time of year.

But I believe that not only Christmas, but our lives also, can have so much more

meaning, be so much more fulfilling, when they are centered around a relationship with a

radical Jesus, a counter-cultural Jesus, who loves and accepts you and I perfectly. I do

home you have a very merry Christmas, and during this busy time of year, I also hopethat you can discover that God is present with you and that God is good.

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Why Christmas - Kirk Wulff, Christ Church, KS