Finding The Gift Of God’s Favor (Mary) Series

Finding the Gift of God’s Favor (Mary)

Series: Finding the True Gift of Christmas

Brad Bailey – Dec. 24, 2023

Intro

Tonight... we join millions and millions of lives around this planet... engaging the birth of Christ. [1]

It is my favorite gathering of the year... because it still fills me with the wonder of engaging how the

source of all creation has come among us in the most profound way.

Wherever you find yourself tonight... my hope is that Christmas draws you with wonder... stirs in

you a longing for something beyond what is... a sense of there being more... more than we see.

And as always...it comes with the challenge of sifting through all that has become associated with the

cultural Christmas holiday.

This challenge was captured in the CHARLIE BROWN Christmas special. [2]

As many know... Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang, that includes Snoopy, was created by

Charles Shutz.

A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired in December 1965, becoming only the second animated

Christmas special shown on American television. Its predecessor, just one year before (1964) was

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. In almost every respect, A Charlie Brown Christmas was a sharp

contrast to the Rudolph special. Rudolph was glossy and commercial, with well-known adult actors

voices, brightly colored stop-motion animation, a laugh track, and a comfortably secular story.

In contrast, Shultz’s Charlie Brown Christmas was all about the challenge of finding the real

meaning of Christmas. In the opening lines, a sullen Charlie Brown shares his complicated feelings

about the “most wonderful time of the year”: “I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess. I like

getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I’m still not

happy.” To help him, Charlie Brown is tasked with bringing together a presentation about

Christmas...and along the way they get a tree... Charlie Brown and his friend Linus find the tree

lot...full of bright shiny trees...but Charlie Brown sees one tiny little tree...and chooses it... because

he says...it needs him...and when the others see it...they laugh... and when he realizes that the

whole attempt at the show wasn’t coming together.... He finally shouts out:

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

And just then... Linus says very confidently that he knows what it’s all about... walks to the center

of the stage and recites Luke’s account of Christ’s birth. (And then says: “That’s what Christmas is all

about, Charlie Brown.”)

> And with that... everything changes... something is found that they could never find in all the

cultural and commercial signs and symbols.

And with that... Charles Shultz... the creator of Charlie Brown... spoke a profound truth that can serve

us all.

The challenge of our current celebration of Christmas is to realize that if we look for Christmas in the

secondary symbols and sentiments as an end in themselves... we will never find Christmas.

Charlie Brown reminds us that when our current culture tells us to find the perfect Christmas... defined by

the perfect family... in the perfect home... exchanging the perfect gifts... Christmas will elude us.

> The great news...is that when we engage the actual events at the root of Christmas... what we find are

real lives like ours... discovering that which changes their lives forever... not because of anything

perfect in them or around them.

So we too will listen to the Gospel of Luke... and look at the earthly mother of Jesus... ... to find the

true gift of Christmas.

As we’ve looked at through the recent weeks... when we engage the actual events at the root of

Christmas... what we find is that no one is there because they achieved some great purpose... rather they

found purpose because of the life they came into relationship with. The child at the center.

Luke 1:26-29

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a

man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her

and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly

troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

These words are written by Luke... a doctor who explains that he has sought to give a proper account of all

that took place. He had traveled with the disciples and would have written from the direct accounts of Mary

herself....as well as others. This is the testimony of the Scriptures.

It is not some fairy tale rooted in some other world. The writers describe every ruler...and date...and the

conflict with customs and laws. It’s all there.

He is giving an account of real people in the real world.

Here we are introduced to Mary. [3]