A little boy was coming into the world who was going to teach something to everyone about religion and what religion really is. You see, up until this little boy was born, religion was following hundreds of rigid laws, following a set guideline for living. But after He was born, religion was elevated to one word--love. He came to tell humanity about love. The message this week is the same as it was 2,000 years ago--to tell you about how you can love even as he loved and loves.
The birth of Jesus Christ is undoubtedly the most beautiful story ever presented to men and women. Words fail to describe what we feel as visions of the various events surrounding His birth combo for our eyes.
We see the shepherds tending their peaceful flock; the wise men journeying to Bethlehem and as they arrived there, offering their gifts of love. We see the Mother, Mary, sitting beside her Babe who lies peacefully in the manger.
These characters in the Christmas story were filled with a great love. And as we think of this occasion, we begin to experience our hearts swelling with a great love, a great peace and inward hope.
As we think of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, so a birth, or rebirth, takes place within our minds and hearts; a rebirth of God’s love within us.
Christmas must take place, not only on the calendar, but in your hearts as well. If you experience Christmas, you become to your world a professional radiator of love, that everybody who comes into your presence feels your love, and that by being one with the source of love you touch everyone with your love. This is the message of Jesus Christ--not was but is.
The message is only a real message when it comes ALIVE in you. Advent is not just a ceremony of lighting candles. It is to light something inside of you, to illumine your heart and soul and allow the light to be expressed in a profound way.
Life is a song. Have you ever thought about that? If life is a song, what are you singing? What’s your song like? Is it a happy song? Is it a song where you have a smile on your face? Love is the music. It makes your life come alive and makes it dynamic.
This is what we’re all seeking as human beings. It’s what I’m seeking. I’m seeking to have more love in my life and so are you. I’m seeking to have the kind of love that we know at the core of our being that we can have--a steadfast, enduring love that is based on faithfulness.
I want to read Isaiah 54:10 NRSV: "For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you."
In Jeremiah 31:3 NRSV God speaking says, "...I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."
God’s promise to every one of you today is that in spite of the changing conditions in your life, the steadfast, unwavering love of God is available to you at all times and at this Christmas time. Even during times when we’re going through great challenges, when we’re going through great changes, God’s steadfast love is there, and it’s there for you. God has a compassion for you--not a feeling sorry for you, but empathy. God knows what you’re experiencing and it is a love you can sense at any time.
God has promised an everlasting love to you. That’s the good news of Christmas.
A man was looking for a Christmas gift for his wife. He had looked for a long time, and he thought, "My wife would like a bird that she could look at in the cage, a bird that would keep her company and sing to her, a bird that would talk to her. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when my wife came into the room the bird would say ’Good morning. How are you? Polly wants a cracker.’" The man thought, "Yes, this is the gift I need to get for my wife."
So, the man went shopping. He went into a pet shop, asked for the store manager and said, "Sir, I would like a bird that sings and talks." Well, the man bought the bird.
The next day the man returned the bird and said, "I’ve looked at this bird for twenty-four hours. The bird just sits there and looks at me. He doesn’t sing and he doesn’t talk."
"That’s strange," said the manager. "Does he peck on his little bell?" "What bell?" shouted the frustrated man; "He doesn’t have a bell." "Oh no," said the store manager. "Did I forget to sell you the bell? You have to have a bell for your bird, mister. You get up to the sound of a bell each morning, don’t you? Well, so will the bird. He will peck on his little bell, and when he hears its sound he will start his day too." "How much is the bell?" asked the man. "Eight ninety-five, sir," replied the manager. "Give me the bell."
The next day, the man was back in the pet shop, only this time he was a little more irritated. "The bird still doesn’t sing or talk," he said.
"Well," said the manager, "Does he climb his little ladder? He doesn’t have a ladder? Oh, he must have a ladder. Don’t you exercise each morning? Well, birds need exercise too. In fact, that’s really what gets them started. He will begin his day pecking on his little bell, and then he will climb up and down his little ladder. His blood will start circulating and he’ll feel like singing and talking." "How much is the ladder?" asked the man. "Sixteen ninety-five," replied the manager. "I’ll take the ladder."
He pays his $16.95 and leaves the pet shop with a ray of hope. He is really irritated when he returns on the third day with the same complaint.
"Does he look into his mirror each day?" asked the store manager. "What do you mean by that?" shouted the angry man. "Well, you look into a mirror each morning, don’t you? Doesn’t it make you feel good about yourself? Well, the bird will look into the mirror and feel good about himself. In fact, he’ll feel so good about himself that he will want to sing and talk." "Okay, okay," said the man. "How much is the mirror?" "Twenty-one ninety-five for this framed mirror," replied the manager. "Give me the mirror."
On the fourth day, the angry man returned only to be sold a swing.
On the fifth day he walked into the pet shop with a dead bird in his hand. "What happened?" said the store manager. "He’s dead; that’s what happened!" shouted the angry man. The store manager said, "I hate to ask this, but did he ever sing or talk?" "He never did sing," shouted the man, "but he did talk," replied the man in a quiet and solemn voice.
"When I put the swing in his cage, he looked at me rather strangely and then he pecked on his bell, hobbled on his ladder and climbed it real good, he looked into his mirror, and then he hopped onto his swing and began swinging ever so gently. Just before he toppled over and died, he looked at me so sadly and said, ’Didn’t they have any birdseed?’"
So many times we give all the expensive gifts and we forget about the real gift--the one thing people need, want, and desire. The greatest need of ALL humanity is love.
1 Corinthians 12:13 TNIV: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Your days, and the days of Christmas, are changed not by the big things but by the little things that come through you. You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.
Every time you give love, you have given the gift of Christmas time; you are following the example of Jesus Christ and you are becoming that which you are seeking to become. This is what religion is--a lifestyle, a momentary decision.
When you carve the turkey or the ham and serve the pumpkin pie, you also serve a portion of yourself. It is done with love. You broadcast something between your words. It doesn’t matter what you say. It doesn’t matter what I say. What counts is what we’re thinking and feeling and what we radiate to others around us.
In Galatians 5:22 it says, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness...” If we had farmland with any kind of farming, we would use the principle on that land to grow food. We would have to make sure that we watered and nurtured the food in order to have a harvest. That is principle . . . which is quite different from school principal.
I remember when I was in school, I would go along loafing and playing, and then the test time would come. Toward the end, I would cram. I would become a model student, but only in the last few days and I would try to pass that test. Sometimes I would pass the test, but that’s not the principle of life. The principle of life is not to go through the whole year hating and resenting and fighting and then on the holidays, love. It is to love constantly.
The fruit of the Spirit can come to your life. Do you want more love? You have to give more love wherever you are and allow its magic to come alive inside of you. It will.
John 13:35 says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Christianity is not a law where you have to come to church. Christianity is a way, it is a system for you to live your life and have more love in it. It is where you have a mind that is so filled with love that everything outside of you--the Christmas trees, the Advent candles, and all the magic of the holiday season really takes place inside of you because you express the love of God in simple ways.
In today’s society, so many people get so used to giving out that they forget to fill their own cup. Pretty soon they find--in their work environment, in their home environment, in their life environment--that they have nothing else to give. They feel empty; they feel depleted; they feel burned-out. They try to sprinkle out on others and give more, but they have nothing to give. Their cup is empty and dry.
But when that cup is full, they are filled. Have you ever heard about the infilling of the Holy Spirit? It can happen. And what is the Holy Spirit? The Bible says that God is love. The whole spirit of God is what the Holy Spirit is--to be filled with love. How do you become the holy man or woman? By becoming love.
Imagine yourself living everyday of your life not ever feeling any contention, jealousy, or anything against another person, but always looking at them and knowing that they are the creation of God and they have all the potential in the world. How do I do that? By allowing the Spirit of God to fill my life.
Matthew 22:37-39 NLT, Jesus speaking, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
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Imagine yourself living everyday of your life not ever feeling any contention, jealousy, or anything against another person, but always looking at another person and knowing that he or she is made in the image of God.
This is something you can have this morning. It is nothing miraculous. You think you need a miracle, but this is a normal state of where you must be, where you feel good again, where you feel loved, where everything you look at you see with eyes of love and you are happy to be a part of it. This is what Christmas and the spirit of the holiday season is. This is what I pray you feel this morning. I pray you’ll feel Christmas love at the core of your being.
(Organ begins playing softly Away in a Manger)
PRAYER
Please join me in prayer. This morning is a powerful morning. It’s a time of beginning again. It is a time to realize that there is a real power and activity in my life. It’s a time to follow the Great Teacher of love.
God, I am to a point where I am ready to have the filling of your Spirit of love.
I pray that when others come into my sight that they will feel accepted and loved by me. I pray first that I will accept myself; that I can accept my humanness and who I am. I pray I can also accept the change I am becoming. I pray that through this I can accept all others and my world. I pray that to my world, this holiday season and every day of my life, I become a living demonstration of Your love. God. I pray every person experiences this love.
It is my Merry Christmas wish, my Merry Christmas action, my Merry Christmas thought to every person who crosses my path. In the nature of the Babe born in Bethlehem I pray . . . Amen.
God bless you, my friends. I love every one of you.
Will you join me in singing the first verse of Away in a Manger? Remember the babe who was placed in that manger represents the greatest love ever shared—God’s love for you and me.
