Christmas Greeting Card Sermon Iii: Wonder! Series

CHRISTMAS GREETING CARD SERMON III: WONDER!

Remember the little rhyme we sang as toddlers:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are,

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.”

There is so much in our world to wonder about!

When I saw the Grand Canyon, I stood there in amazement at the wonder of it all. I had seen pictures of it; I had heard about it; I had wished I could go see it with my own eyes. And when I finally went there at the age of 72, I could not believe what I saw. Seeing it in person magnified the wonder of it all!

The aspect of the Christmas Story that delights children and grown-ups alike is the wonder of the Savior’s birth as revealed to sheep herders outside the town of Bethlehem and then as reveled in by them as they gazed upon the baby lying in a manger just as they had been told!

With their own eyes, seeing the baby Jesus – promised by God, foretold by the prophets, revealed to the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night – magnified the wonder of it all!

In his beautiful word picture, Luke tells the story --- Luke 2:8-20 . . .

Do you sense the astonishment of these sheep herders – who were out there in a field minding their own business by tending their sheep – when all of a sudden, they found themselves confronted by an angel of the Lord who made to them the greatest announcement ever made?

Do you sense their amazement as they found themselves surrounded by a heavenly host praising God?

Do you sense the awesomeness of that moment when they realized that not one but all of them had had the same experience of seeing and hearing the angels?

Do you sense their awestruck excitement as these lowly shepherds finally regained their speech and exclaimed to one another, “Let’s go see this thing that has happened!?”

Do you sense their adoration as they saw the wonder of God’s love lying on a bed of hay in a trough used for feeding animals?

Do you sense their wonder magnified as they spread the news of the Savior’s birth?

One of my favorite Christmas cards has on the front of it an artist’s sketch of a baby wrapped in a make-shift blanket bedded down in a manger filled with straw. Above the manger is a bright star with rays of light beaming toward the manger scene. The wording at the top reads: “May the wonder of His love . . .”

The message is continued on the inside of the card: “. . . touch you this Christmas and bring you peace and happiness in the New Year.”

The word “touch” is so appropriate when associated with the manger scene. The account of the birth of Jesus as given by Luke makes it obvious that the very idea of the Son of God being born in a stall and placed in a manger touched every person present – . . . the innkeeper . . . whoever gathered the cloth for making a blanket . . . the guests who had comfortable rooms in the inn . . . the visitors who roamed about town . . . the animals themselves . . . Joseph who stood guard . . . Mary the mother of Jesus who pondered all that was happening in her heart . . . the sheep herders as they arrived after running as fast as they could to get there.

Everyone in Bethlehem that night was touched by the news of a baby being born in a stall and placed in a crib made out of a feeding trough filled with hay that was intended for animals.

Most of us have had the experience of being touched by the manger scene in Christmas plays performed in churches and life-like manger scenes displayed in public places.

There’s something about a babe in a manger that touches our hearts and minds and gives us a feeling of warmth and security. Yet, the greatest aspect of it all is the wonder of God’s love for you and for me.

As touched as they were by the simplicity that surrounded the birth of the Savior, the shepherds did not lose sight of who it was they gazed upon and what the purpose was for His being born into the world.

It was because they realized that the baby born in a manger was none other than the Savior sent from God that they left about as quickly as they had come - so that they could spread the good news to all who would listen and believe. Everyone who heard it was amazed!