To avoid offending anybody, the school dropped religion altogether and started singing about the weather. At my son’s school, they now hold the winter program in February and sing increasingly nonmemorable songs such as “Winter Wonderland,” “Frosty the Snowman” and—this is a real song—”Suzy Snowflake,” all of which is pretty funny because we live in Miami.
A visitor from another planet would assume that the children belonged to the Church of Meteorology. (Dave Barry in his “Notes on Western Civilization” (Chicago Tribune Magazine, July 28, 1991)
A lady waited until the last minute to send her Christmas cards. She rushed into a store and bought a package of 50 cards without really looking at them. She rushed home, signed and addressed 49 of them without really looking at them.
On Christmas Day when things had quieted down somewhat she found a leftover card and finally read the message she had sent with the 49 other cards to her friends. Much to her dismay, it read: "This card is just to say – A little gift is on the way."
Here is a new product you might want to consider: the “upside down Christmas tree”. The creator says, “this unique 7' pre-lit fir is inverted to ensure a smaller footprint for less-spacious areas, and allowing more room for the accumulation of presents underneath.” Available at Home Depot…
Christmas shopping, though fun, can be difficult. Did you hear about the guy that bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas? A friend of his said, "I thought she wanted one of those sporty 4-Wheel drive vehicles." "She did," he replied. "But where am I gonna find a fake Jeep?"
Advent week 2:
Amid everything that the Christmas season is in the world around us – concerts and cards and trees and gifts, I’d like to bring it back this morning to Jesus. Let’s talk about Jesus, let’s think about Jesus, let’s remember Jesus, let’s celebrate Jesus.
Last week we talked about the glory of God revealed to us in the form of a normal, human infant, and I encouraged us to take the natural opportunities that the Christmas season provides us to enter conversations that are about Jesus. I wonder if any of you had any opportunities and if you would like to share that story as an encouragement to the rest of us?
Luke 2
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Glory in a Field:
This passage contains the word “glory” three times. First, the angel appears and “the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them”. This conjures up images for us of bright, shining lights surrounding this single angel and shining brightly down on the shepherds. We imagine them shielding their eyes, while looking up to the sky trying to see who is speaking. The Christmas cards and paintings all have the angels flying in the sky. But that is not what the Bible says – it says the angel “appeared among them”. Angels in Scripture appear in human form, subject to the same laws of gravity that everyone else is, so I’m pretty sure that even here, even now, God is not up high in the sky and out of reach. Sure, a bright light from the sky would be scary – we would wonder about aliens coming to abduct us – but this description is closer. The angel “appeared among them” – the actual word there means “to stand by” – and the “radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them”.
What strikes me about this is how close it really is. It contrasts with the wise men, who follow a strange star high up in the sky, not really sure where it is leading so they stop for directions. This appearance, to the humble, rough shepherds, is far more personal, tangible, close, surrounding. Here the “radiant glory” is in-your-face. And the first reaction – fear – is quickly dispelled by the angel who tells them he has not come to destroy them (even though perhaps they were immediately mindful of the many things they had done that they knew were wrong); rather he has brought them good news.
There is something here about glory that we need to notice. It is tangible. It is experiential. It is not off in the distance, so we go searching for it and creep up on it at our own pace and in accordance with our own courage and comfort, instead we see the glory of God appear suddenly, overwhelmingly, out of nowhere – and we see it reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid!”
And as if this one angel was not enough for the shepherds, suddenly he is not alone. Vs 13 says a “vast host – the armies of heaven”. These aren’t golden-haired flying ladies with shining smiling faces in clean white gowns. These are warriors. It is an “army”. And again, right among the shepherds, right in the middle of them. Warriors, surely with swords and bows and arrows and shields and armor. And this massive army is praising God.
The specific words used by this angelic army to praise God give us the second occurrence of the word “glory”. They are saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Familiar words to us in the story, but what do they mean? What are the angels actually saying, and what does that tell us about glory? One of the first things is perhaps the most apparent – they are excited by what God has done and so are “giving God glory” as we will see the shepherds do in a moment. They are saying, “This is awesome! Praise God! Glory to God in the highest!!” It is a word to convey great excitement at how amazing God is, how He is full of glory. But notice also that the word “glory” is paralleled by the word “peace” – “glory to God in the highest” is parallel to “peace on earth”. The glory of God translates to peace – not fear.
And this is true for us, as well. Experiencing the glory of God does not produce fear, it brings peace.
The final use of the word “glory” is seen after the shepherds go to Bethlehem and meet Jesus. “20The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.” So now we see a reaction to the experience of God, which is to give God “glory” and praise.
This also is true for us. When we meet Jesus, when we see the things that God has told us become reality, our genuine and generous and overflowing response to God is one of worship – giving God “glory” and praising Him.
The Closeness of Glory:
The thing that sticks out to me as I look at this again is how close everything is in this story. The angels appear right in the middle of the shepherds. The shepherds go right to Jesus’ crib – undoubtedly they stroked His cheek, tickled His toes, caressed the soft hair on His head. Maybe they held him close for a few minutes. This experience of the glory of God was not hands-off, it was not at a safe distance, it was not part of the normal, day-to-day existence for a shepherd in the time of Jesus. It was extraordinary, yet completely tangible. Completely close. These men experienced the touch of the glory of God, and responded by giving God glory.
And that is the way it is supposed to be. The movement, from the awesome God in the Old Testament whose glory is terrifying to the God in the manger whose glory is touched, is planned. The movement is deliberate. Intentional. Because God wants to be close, God wants to be experienced, God wants for us to experience His glory because God knows we will be every so much better off having experienced it.
The Closeness of Jesus:
The point is quite simply this: God is close. I don’t know if you feel that, if that scares you or excites you or un-nerves you, but it is the truth. God is close. In fact, one of those same angels appears to Joseph in a dream and said of Jesus, “and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Matt 1:23). He is not off in the sky somewhere shining a bright light from heaven, He is not swaddled in a manger half way across the world, and He is not sitting on the top of some high mountain. God is close, God is here, God is Immanuel, which means “God is with us.”
This is the simple message of Christmas, spoken with actions and experienced still today: God is with us.
God is with us when the alarm goes off in the morning and we smack the “snooze” button.
God is with us when we roll out of bed and rub the sleep from our eyes.
God is with us when we hope in the shower and brush our teeth and put on our clothes.
God is with us as we ram some breakfast in our mouths on the way out the door because we are running behind because we hit that snooze button too many times.
God is with us through the morning, in the middle of each decision we make, each bit of work we do, each person we encounter.
God is with us at lunch time, through the afternoon, on the drive home, as we make supper, as we choose how to spend our evening, as we choose what to look at on the TV or computer screen, as we relate to family and friends, and even as we turn out the light and put our head down on our pillow.
Immanuel – God is with us.
And here is a truth you might not like: it doesn’t matter whether or not you feel like God is with you. That emotional response is subject to a whole complicated interacting bunch of miscellaneous pieces of life, and sometimes it is present and is wonderful and other times it is absent and we find that difficult, but in the end it doesn’t really matter whether or not you feel like God is with you, because this is a fact.
God is with us… everywhere… always.
The better question, perhaps, is are we with God? Are we on His side? Are we waking and living and interacting with others and making choices each moment that place us firmly and clearly with God, or are our choices and actions in fact demonstrating that we are mostly with ourselves, pursuing our own ideas and desires and pleasures, living how we please instead of how God pleases?
The message is that God is close, that He is here always, and He offers to us a life that is completely and totally vibrant and alive and exciting and purposeful, one that even in the midst of whatever difficulties arises finds joy and finds peace and finds strength. He offers to us a life that is so much more than what we experience when we pursue our kingdoms instead of THE Kingdom.
But the cost is that we kneel, that we accept the God of Eternity in the form of a human baby boy who would grow to be a man who would then die and rise again. The cost is that we recognize that “glory” is not earthly power or wealth or pleasure, but rather glory is God become human to die for me.
Conclusion:
Jesus – Immanuel, God with us – is here. Inviting, offering, holding out an incredible gift to each of us. The gift is Himself. What are you going to do with it?
Christmas is about Jesus, this season of Advent is about us preparing to meet and welcome and follow Jesus. What are you going to do with Him?
