As people are coming I want I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas playing with images on the screen and words.
What do you want for Christmas?
That is a question that parents across America are asking children during this season. Santa’s across every mall in America have children standing in line just to sit on Santa’s lap and hear him ask the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” I want an XM radio
I am told Dr. smallwood wants a digital camera.
What do you want?
Imagine if we always got everything we wanted.
Show video from Christmas story. Santa kicking kid down slide as he says You’ll Shoot your eye out.
Our Temptation is to think of God as some Santa in the sky. To some extent maybe it is a misunderstanding of what we have heard from pulpits all of our life. Ask and ye shall receive…but in context that Scripture is Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
All of these things are needs based things not wants. God Supplies all of our NEEDs. Ask and God will Supply your needs. I have seen a lot of poverty in America, but I have never seen REAL starvation in America
So the real question to ask this season is not what do you want, but what do you need? Even better, is there someone around you that has a need?
You hear it every Christmas from the church…Christmas has become too commercialized…Jesus is the reason for the season…Its not about what you get it is what you give…and the list goes on. It seems to me that we Christians are becoming just as guilty as the non-Christians when it comes to missing the meaning of Christmas. While it is true that the first day after thanksgiving is called Black Friday on wall street in reference to it is when many retail stores make it out of the hole…It is true that often “the world” misses the point of Christmas…We are often just as guilty. We get so busy complaining about the world, missing the point we turn it into a time of negativity instead of an opportunity to remind people of the hope of Jesus.
We forget to look around us for the needs of others. We forget that there are those who are facing catastrophic circumstances, and in the process of focusing on our own needs, and having pity parties, in our own myopia we fail to notice the hurting, and the hopeless. There is a song that has become popular in recent years, that describes one such person, and how the world seems to miss this little boy. They seem to miss that he is running out of hope.
http://www.cbs.com/specials/christmas_shoes/band.shtml
He didn’t know he needed a miracle, until one happened.
Robert Layton (Rob Lowe), a successful attorney, is on the brink of losing his marriage. Nathan Andrews (Max Morrow), an eight-year-old boy, is about to lose his young working-class mother (Kimberly Williams), to illness. When Robert crosses paths with Nathan on Christmas Eve, Robert’s life is changed forever. Something as simple as a pair of shoes was going to make all the difference in the young boy’s life. And by helping Nathan, Robert realizes the true importance of family, faith and love.
The story behind this song:
In 1999, the Christmas Shoes story began circulating on the internet. The touching story about a little boy whose mother was dying at Christmas, and his quest to find the perfect pair of shoes for her to wear in heaven, came to the attention of Eddie Carswell of NewSong. Eddie began writing a song inspired by the story.
NewSong, a Christian musical group, sent its record "The Christmas Shoes" to a top DJ in St. Louis in November 2000. When he played it, the station literally shut down: the switchboard was inundated with calls and the computers crashed from the barrage of emails. With virtually no promotion, the record had 3500 spins around the country in just one week, and shot to #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts in a record-setting three weeks.
The news media caught on to the phenomenon, and so did St. Martin’s Press. It commissioned Donna VanLiere to write a novel based on the song. The book was released in October 2001 with a 300,000 first printing. St. Martin’s released eight additional printings, but could not keep up with the demand. The book was entirely sold out two weeks before Christmas in 2001.
In the meanwhile, Jive Records (the label for Britney Spears, *Nsync and The Backstreet Boys) signed NewSong with the intention of bringing the group into the mainstream. The same has been done for Faith Hill, Amy Grant and Creed, all of whom started out as Christian musicians. "The Christmas Shoes" was re-released on a new album by NewSong last holiday season.
And now the hit song and bestselling book have inspired this CBS event movie.
What is it about this story that tugs at your heart strings? Why did the station shut down when the song was played? Hope- My favorite line from that song is “I caught a glimpse of Heavens love.”
In the movie an unselfish act changed an attorney’s life. The fact is the world is partially right. It is about the gifts…well actually it is about THE Gift- Heavens Love. Christmas is about the Love of God. Christmas is about Hope restored to people who have lost all hope. In real life the sacrifice of one man changed the world. There are a lot of hurting people out there. Psychology experts tell us that there is marked increase in suicide during the holidays. If you have ever lost a loved one, you miss them most around the holidays. I think people have begun focusing on the “gifts” because it is a temporary relief from their pain. When someone receives a gift it is a symbol of Love. One does not normally give gifts to and individual he/she hates or even dislikes. When one receives a gift from another there at least the possibility that he or she is loved. It is a glimpse of an unselfish world.
I think the real question is “What do you need for Christmas?” – Need, not want – for there are many things we want but there is one thing we absolutely need. We need God. You and I need God; because God is love – and we need love – we need to know that we are loved unconditionally. You and I need God, because God is life – and we need life – abundant life, life in its fullness. You and I need God; because God is peace – and we need peace – the world so desperately needs peace – the peace that passes all understanding, which only God can give. St. Augustine had it right when he said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.”
Hear the good news of Christmas (Luke 2:10) God is with us in Jesus Christ – the Babe of Bethlehem, but also Mighty God, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace. And tonight this God invites us to bring him all our problems and pains, all our anxieties and inadequacies, all our frustrations and fears – for this God, who loves us so much, wants to give us himself.
This is the message I want to share during this season of hope. This is the message the world needs to hear. They do not need Christians in their face looking like Rudolf’s nose so bright lecturing them on how they have missed it. Often it is the quietest voice that stands out. Often it is the unassuming that makes the difference. In the gospel of Matthew; Jesus told the crowds from the mount “The meek shall inherit the earth.”
This reminds me of a story I heard about a lady who frantically rushing around the mall was trying to finish last minute Christmas shopping. She along with everyone else was trying to find the “hot Gift of the season. She hurried about in the store dragging her little girls behind her. FINALLY she succeeded in finding the gift. She snatched the last one just before another person reached for it. Feeling victorious she rushed to the elevator; as the car doors opened to the elevator there was the rush of people getting off and the simultaneous rush of people getting on. The lady grabbed her daughter’s hand, shouted for her to come on and she shoved her way in. As the doors closed some one shouted “Whoever got this Christmas thing started needs to be shot! A Quite voice from the back of the elevator said” Don’t worry…they already crucified Him. An awkward silence filled the elevator.
Jesus came quietly in the middle of the desert in an unassuming way. The world at that time was watching the eastern sky for their promised “Messiah” who would come and “rescue” them from the world. They were expecting a King to rise up and conquer their enemies in the name of God. They were expecting the rivers to run red with the blood of their enemies as their savior rose up took charge! They were all busy pointing fingers at each other that Christmas too. Of course it was not called Christmas then. But they were doing much the same thing we are doing today fighting wars, fighting with their brothers, neighbors, and people who believed differently from them.
Then it happened the angels appeared, the star appeared, the wise men came, and Jesus was born. Their messiah had come but they missed it! They had been given a gift from God himself but they were blind to it. They were so busy rushing around doing their own thing they missed the very one they had been waiting for.
The event of Christ birth was so important that literally separated history! Yet, to this day many including Christians still miss the point. God sent Jesus to give us one Gift that begets many Gifts. The Gift was Jesus, who begot grace, which, allows for salvation, which provides for joy and peace. -The joy that is resultant from the knowledge that no matter what comes your way there is always another beside you. The Peace that can only come from the presence of The Holy Spirit in your soul, in your innermost being that comes from knowing that you were such a precious individual, that the creator of the entire universe humbled himself, stepped of the throne and came not as a conqueror, but as a baby in a manger, born to a 13 year old girl and a carpenter. His first bed was an animals feeding trough that we conveniently call a manger. Jesus did not arrive demanding that people worship him. He simply asked them to listen and to trust Him. Eventually He required that they kill him.
Peace is what we want this Christmas, isn’t it? Peace on earth, good will to all people. Peace, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, coming into our war-torn world not with guns and bombs, but with quietness and confidence and the victorious strength of God. Yes, one day God will be triumphant over everything that is evil and oppressive. In the midst of wars and rumors of wars, in the midst of terrorist attacks and suicide bombers, God is with us, even now, to bring about that a peace that passes all understanding. “Peace I leave with you,” Jesus says, “my peace I give to you” (John14: 27).
Do you believe this? Today nothing has changed. The world is still bickering and yet still Jesus asks one thing of us – that we trust him. Trust that our lives are held secure in his hands. Trust that his kingdom will be forever. Trust that his love and justice will prevail. Trust that he wants for us only life and good. Trust that God in his love has sent us a Savior. That’s what Christmas is all about, dear people. Trust. And if we have that trust, or will find it this night, Christmas will also be about joy.
Insert Illustration found in illustrations here.of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
You can find the peace that Longfellow wrote about in the carol – true peace with God. Jesus was our model. He was quiet, unassuming, humble, loving, caring, strong, meek, understanding, patient, kind, unselfish… As you lay your head on your pillow tonight, know that you are God’s child. Know that God has prepared a place for you in heaven. Know that God accepts you – just as you are. Know that God loves you so much that God sent his only Son to be your Savior – to bring you the peace that passes all understanding.
So what do you want for Christmas? We want many things, but there is one thing we absolutely need – God himself. We need God’s love, we need God’s life, and we need God’s peace. Jesus is the message of good news to a world often filled with bad news. More than that, Jesus is the Christmas message that can change your life, and even change the world. We call Jesus the Light of the world. In the bible fire is a symbol of Purity, light, and the Holy Spirit. Tonight I have the light, and I am going to pass it to you. In turn I want you to turn to the person next to you, and pass the light to him or her.
As you pass it quietly say to the person, “I pass you the light of the world- Peace unto you” Pass it on.” May all of us take our light and pass it on; so that the world may experience the same peace, and joy that we have this Christmas. If you do not have that peace tonight, you can. I promise you it is a peace like no other. Ask anyone who has met this infant in a manger. He has a miraculous transforming effect. Just say…Jesus I believe that you were born in manger, died for my sins so that I may have peace in my heart, and that you rose again and live on today. Amen.
