Christmas in Newtown
Luke 2:8-14
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way
In the early hours of Friday morning, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother.
I’m Dreaming of a white Christmas…
During the first period classes at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a gunman enters the school and has a heated exchange with the principal before going on a shooting spree from class to class.
Silent night, holy night, all is calm…
He kills 18 students, most in his mother’s kindergarten class. Finally, he turned the gun on himself.
Christmas is a time of happiness, a time of giving gifts, of lights and favorite songs, of being with family
But not for the people in Newtown, Connecticut.
I had my sermon all ready, with pretty pictures to go along with it. Then I turned on the TV and saw a community, and especially 26 families going through hell.
Their child was dead!! This was hell. Nothing in their life would ever be this bad. There was nothing that could fix this. The child was dead… gone… and it did not matter why. This was HELL.
I want us to stop right now and pray for those families.
((PRAY))
I realized as I thought about my sermon, the one I had prepared, that it was pretty trite in light of Newtown. Would I preach that sermon to the people who live there… who are still trying to come to grips with that horrific event?
NO! I would be ashamed. Not that every word was not true. Not that I don’t believe every word.
But I realize that Christmas is going to fall right in the middle of their worst time ever.
So what does Christmas have to say to them?
Ho Ho Ho and Jingle Bells… Santa Clause is Coming to Town and Deck the Halls
Those have nothing to say… no help… no answers
How can a jolly elf with eight tiny reindeer help them when they are standing at the graveside of their only child?
For that matter, what meaning does Christmas have for anyone who is going through a bad time… through loneliness, through grief… through a divorce… through cancer?
As I thought about those poor families going through the horrible time, I thought how much it is like that night 2000 years ago… for the thousands of people who crowded into Bethlehem that night.
To them it was burdensome, a time of suffering and problems.
To the locals there was the burden of the crowded streets, noise, lack of food, rudeness, etc.
To the travelers there were too few rooms, not enough food, noise, rudeness, etc.
For them… Christmas came at a terrible time.
They went through the most significant and important night of all history and didn't even know it.
In fact, the night was an intruder into their lives.
They were there, within a stone’s throw, they had the opportunity to be part and they missed it.
The next day, they fought the crowds, endured the process of registering and paying their tax, and left town, glad to shake the dust from their feet.
They went back to their homes and never even heard about the baby, the Messiah, the Savior.
For the parents of Newtown, their “Silent Night” will be an empty room, a bed that never needs to be made, and little nic-nacs that have been robbed of their joy.
The tree and the presents will be painful reminders.
The holiday will be a hollow day.
The same is true for many people who live far from Newtown and whole lives are not in shambles
Even those who are jolly and festive
When Christmas is over, the tree will be discarded, decorations packed up, and wrapping paper thrown in the trash…
They will return to their EMPTY, MEANINGLESS RUTS
They had the chance to see the vision, an opportunity to see the angels, a time to present their gifts to the king...
BUT THEY MISSED IT
Christmas should not be that way for the lost and certainly not for the Christians.
We have MORE than Santa Claus, presents, and lights.
The question I want to ask and answer is… What is the meaning of Christmas… is that meaning big enough for Mother’s in Newtown?
I think it is, and I think it is a message they need
(((First another message)))
Many will be quick to charge, “Where was God?” Well, we kicked God out of our schools. We legislated prayer and the Bible off our campuses. We threw out the Christmas play and the 10 Commandments. We even did away with the names Christmas and Easter. We now have winter break and spring break. We said we don’t want God taught or even mentioned in our schools. School was not the only place either… we have kicked God out of every part of society… government and entertainment. And what is the result? More than 30,000 murders per year, guns have taken the place of God at school, families are in disarray, drug traffic is on the rise, hundreds of millions of dollars spent to house criminals… to name a few.
Where was God? Right where we put Him. Out of our schools. Out of our lives!!!
America has been a nation enjoying God’s blessings. “America is living off the interest on the spiritual principle laid up by former generations.” But we have spent the principle, squandered the reserve. We are now spiritually bankrupt and there is a penalty to be paid.
Is that the message I would preach to Newtown today? NO! They are too broken to hear that message, even though it is true and they need to hear it later. Today God has a far more loving and sensitive message for them… and us.
1. CHRISTMAS IS A SIGN THAT GOD IS LOVE
Believe me, that love has been questioned and doubted ten thousand times since Friday morning… if God loves, then WHY… WHY…WHY
What happened Friday was not proof that God does not love…
It was a picture of a life WITHOUT GOD
Angry, evil, hate-filled, pity-less, unmerciful, capable of unbelievable horror.
It was not God who pulled the trigger… it was a godless, lost, evil man in the grips of sin.
God and His love would have made a difference.
Had Adam Lanza been a Christian, had he been obedient to and following the will of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit... it would not have happened.
What happened is proof that without God, man is desperately wicked.
What happened in that manger was proof that God is LOVE…
Had Adam Lanza been trapped in that school and the SWAT team was going in to kill him… not one of those parents outside the school… holding their child… safe… would send their child to stand in front of Adam and take the bullet for him.
When you see that baby in the manger, that is God sending His Child, who was safe, could not be hurt by sin… sending him into the school to stand in front of Adam… and YOU… and ME… and every other person who has ever sinned…
He sent His Son… to take OUR bullet.
Newtown was proof that man is evil… hateful and wicked
Christmas was proof that God is love
2. CHRISTMAS SAYS THAT LIFE HAS MEANING.
Life for Adam Lanza had no meaning, no value
He killed… over and over. Family and strangers
It did not bother him to take a life because it meant nothing.
Life without meaning is intolerable
For Solomon life had ceased to have meaning… God had ceased to be a part.
He asked the question of what meaning life had ... you toil from sunrise to sunset, scrimp and save, invest and build, and what for?
so that someone else, less worthy and with nothing invested can squander it away.
Modern existentialism has taught us that there is no right and wrong, you have to define it and find it for yourself.
Experts have convinced us that we do not need God and we have thrown Him out of every part of our life.
Our courts have told us that life has no value, it can be snuffed out in the womb.
The result is… life has no meaning.
Newtown was saying… life has no meaning.
Christmas is God telling us that life does have meaning
Life has purpose because there is a God who created it for a reason
because there is a God who loves us
because there is a God who says to us all .. I am here and my purpose for you is to let me love you and to love me in return… and to serve me daily. You are not a meaningless speck of sand on the endless beaches of eternity.
3. CHRISTMAS SAYS THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL.
Friday did not contradict that truth
Friday was not God in control… it was man in control and God NOT in control.
Adam Lanza was not listening to the Word of God when he pulled the trigger
He was listening to the gospel of society that preaches there is no right or wrong… no higher power, no God who is over this world… WE ARE GOD.
Look at Christmas and you see God in control
Of a young virgin who was surrendered to His will
Who said, I am your hand-maiden, do with me
what you wish
Of a young man who said YES when God asked him to surrender
and marry a scarlett woman
Who was willing to raise a child not his own
When God is not in control you have Newtown.
When God is in control you have love, peace, joy, happiness
Today God is out of control of so many lives… and we have ... drugs, crime, sickness, disease, corruption, no sanctity of life, poverty, etc.
But Christmas shows what life can be when God is in control.
Conclusion/Invitation
