The Miracles of Christmas

Miracle on 34^th Street

The Miracles of Christmas

If nothing else I am expanding my movie repertoire, I hadn’t seen any of these movies prior to starting this series. I had seen bits and pieces but never the entire movie.    Miracle on 34^th Street begins at the Macy Thanksgiving day parade when an Older bearded gentlemen discovers that the man who is supposed to play Santa on the float is drunk, the inebriated Santa  claims that it’s cold and he is simply trying to stay warm.  However the stranger reports him to the parade organizer, Doris Walker who in a panic decides to replace him with the stranger.

Well, the new Santa does such a great job on the float that Doris offers him the position of Santa at Macy’s department store where he dos a wonderful job until management discovers that he calls himself Kris Kringle and actually believes that he is Santa.   

Through the manipulation of the inept company psychologist Kris is declared a danger to himself and others and is locked up in an institution.  And it is up to Fred Gailey a young lawyer who lives next door to Doris and her six year old daughter to prove to the court that Kris isn’t insane but is actually Santa Claus. 

A few interesting tidbits about the Movie, it was released in 1947, not at Christmas time, which would make sense but instead in May because the head of the Studio felt that more people went to the movies in May.  The fact that it was a Christmas movie was kept a secret until the release.  Here is the promotional cover the for the DVD’s today and here is the poster from the original release. 

The opening scene of the movie, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was actually the 1946 parade, which was a challenge because it couldn’t be reshot if there was an error.  And Edmund Gwenn, the actor who played Kris Kringle was the Santa Claus in the Parade that year.

Natalie Wood, who played Doris’s daughter Susan claims that she actually thought Edmund Gwenn was Santa Claus during the production, it wasn’t unit the end of the movie that she discovered he was just an actor. 

The movie won several Academy Awards that year and is included in the list of the top ten inspirational films ever made.

When I mentioned the fact that I was using the movie to one person they said “But it’s not about Christmas it’s about Santa.”  No, what it is about is faith and the ability to believe in the miraculous.  Or as Fred Gailey reminds us in the movie  “Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don’t you see? It’s not just Kris that’s on trial, it’s everything he stands for. It’s kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.”  Which kind of sounds like Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Sometimes I think we take Christmas for granted.  We have celebrated it for so long that we have lost sight of the miraculous.  It wasn’t an everyday event.  But have we we lost sight of all that happened?  Has the Miracle of Christmas simply become the story of Christmas? 

Let’s recap the Christmas Story.

 It all began 2000 years ago when an angel visited a young virgin in Israel.  The Angel tells this young girl named, Mary, that she will become pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Another angel appears to Mary’s fiancé a man named Joseph and assures him that Mary has not been unfaithful despite evidence to the contrary.  That Angel confirms Mary’s story as to who the father will be, God.

Before the Baby is born Mary and Joseph are required by a governmental order to return to the town of Joseph’s ancestors, thereby fulfilling a prophecy that had been made a thousand years before.   Once they arrive in the town of Bethlehem, Joseph and his extremely pregnant wife are unable to find accommodations and so they end up spending the night in a stable full of animals.  During the night Mary goes into labour and has the child in the stable where he is laid in a manger to sleep.

After Mary gives birth to her son even more angels appear to shepherds who are tending their sheep in nearby fields.   These angels tell the shepherds about the events that had happened in town and the shepherds immediately left their flocks to fend for themselves while they go to worship this child who was born in a stable. 

Meanwhile, a number of wise men from a far off land arrive on the scene bearing three gifts for the newborn child.  The wise men tell the family that they have been following a star for months and that it finally came to a rest over the town of Bethlehem.  However on their way to Bethlehem the wise men had encountered the local governor and informed him of their mission, how they were seeking one who would become the king of the Jews.  In a fit of jealousy the Governor ordered all the children in the village under the age of two murdered. Mary and Joseph however were able to escape after being warned of the governor’s plans by yet another angel.

And that’s what we believe.  I don’t know if there was a street name where that stable in Bethlehem was located but a miracle definitely happened there.   I was shopping for a Christmas card for my best friend the other day, and I probably spend more time on Reg’s card than on any other, which isn’t much of a stretch, I only buy three other cards.  But one of the cards I considered for Reg had the three wise men staring in awe at the stable and one of them says, “If this doesn’t make it in the bible I don’t know what will”

 

So why did Jesus have to be born that way?  I mean nothing like that happened with the birth of Mohammed or Buddha.  Even with the basket and Pharaoh’s daughter Moses’ birth was downright boring by comparison so why is the Christmas story so wonderfully strange?  Let’s take a look at what makes it so miraculous.

The Miracle of the Virgin Birth  If there is one element of the Christmas story that people have the most problem with it is the virgin birth.  There are even churches, churches that claim to be Christian churches who say this never happened, it was just made up.  Makes me wonder if they don’t believe the essentials why do they call themselves churches? Hmmm, enquiring minds want to know.

The virgin birth plays an important part in both accounts of the Christmas story, you remember the story Matthew 1:18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Luke tells us the same story in Luke 1:26-27 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.

And if there was one person who should know Mary’s sexual history it was Mary and she seems pretty sure that she won’t qualify when Angel tells her she is going to be a mom.  Listen to what Mary says Luke 1:34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

As a matter of fact hundreds of years before Mary had been born the Prophet Isaiah made this statement Isaiah 7:14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

We are talking God coming to earth.  How should he come?  The same way that you and me and Genghis Khan and Adolph Hitler were conceived and born? The prophet said that God would chose a sign, and he did, he stepped outside the boundary of natural laws that say that in the act of conception a male and a female would each contribute a cell which would become a new person. 

Instead God did what had never happened before and has not happened since and that is he produced a child with only one cell.  You read in the papers about same sex parents, don’t believe it, it can’t happen.  It takes ingredients from a boy and a girl to make a baby.

And so believe it or not a virgin gave birth as strange as that may seem and the child’s name was Jesus.  And it was a miracle. 

Luke 2:1-4 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.

The Miracle of Bethlehem  You understand the significance here right.  There would come a time that Jesus’ bona fides would be questioned.  Was he really the Messiah? Did he really fulfill the prophecies? Was he really who he said he was?  And the teachers of the law would look not only at whether or not he fulfilled those prophecies but how he fulfilled them.   

One of the prophecies that the people of Israel looked to in regards to the coming Messiah is found in Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.

Maybe people would think it was all an elaborate scam thought up by Mary and Joseph.  You know when people are expecting their first child they often dream of what that child will be and do when they grow up.  Maybe they will be a Doctor or Prime Minister or the next Sydney Crosby, or perhaps the next Tiger Woods, without the entire adultery thing.

So maybe Mary and Joseph were hoping that their little boy would grow up to be the Messiah and they knew the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem so while Mary was great with child they made the four day trip.   You say “That would be crazy Denn!”  You watch the news?  I’ve seen people do crazier things with and for their kids.

I’m not saying that is what happened, I’m just saying that eventually there could be potential for people to think that’s what happened.

But what if they didn’t have a choice, what if it could never be said that they were all part of a grand plan to scam the world into believing that their son was the Son of God by choosing to have their child in Bethlehem? 

Not only that but this prophecy thing was important stuff, not to be trifled with.  What if there was the chance that even if Mary and Joseph were given angelic direction to go to Bethlehem they hedged.  You know at the last minute decided they didn’t want to put the extra miles on donkey, or Mary wasn’t feeling well or Joseph had gotten behind in some of his carpentry work, or didn’t feel he could take the time off with a baby on the way.

So while they might choose to disobey a heavenly decree, for whatever reason, and don’t judge them, they would be much more apt to obey the law of the land, especially when it was enforced as strictly as Rome enforced it. 

The question then is was Caesar used as a puppet? Or was the divine plan simply put into place to coincide with the plans of Rome?  Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  Not anytime but the right time.

I don’t know if the Micah prophecy had even entered into Mary and Joseph’s thoughts, if with all that they were going through at that point in their lives if it was even on the radar.  “We need to get the nursery ready, buy a crib, get a donkey baby seat and go to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy made five hundred years ago.”  But it was part of the plan.  And I’m sure when they heard the news that they were going to have to make the trip to Bethlehem they may not have been thrilled.

“Great just what we need, Mary is ginormous, I have a big job going on for the Steinberg’s, our new house isn’t ready yet and now this.”  But it was just what they needed, or at least it was what the Kingdom needed. 

But ultimately it was a matter of obedience.  Obedience to the laws of man and obedience to the direction of God.  Maybe Joseph needed the first in order for the second.  God is good; he provides us with a way and sometimes makes it easier for us.

How often do we need that nudge?  I am sure there have been times in my life when I have done the right things and come out smelling like roses but I didn’t do the right thing enthusiastically, and maybe not completely willingly. 

And sometimes we don’t understand why God allows what he does, and maybe will never understand on this side of eternity so all we can do is believe and claim the promise of Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  Even when we don’t understand it, and may not understand it on this side of eternity and even when we wouldn’t have done it that way.

I mentioned to someone once that I was making a list of questions for when I got to heaven but they reminded me that we would have perfect knowledge when we got to heaven and wouldn’t have to ask those questions because then we would know. 

We will be like: there are a few things I’d like to know.  And then it will be the big eureka moment.  Aha!

Luke 2:8-11 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

The Miracle of the Angels and Shepherds   The next thing that seems a little out there are the angels appearing to the shepherds.

To us there is little significance in the shepherds.  And yet in the time of Christ they were the despised ones.  The religious elite snubbed them and considered them second-class citizens.  You see, no matter how much they loved God the demands of the flock were too much for them to obey all the ceremonial aspects of the law, such as hand washing.  And so to these who found it so difficult to keep the law came the announcement of the one who would save them by grace. 

Perhaps they were special shepherds, we’re told that just outside of Bethlehem there was a very special flock of sheep, a flock of perfect sheep without spot or blemish that were used in the daily sacrifice at the temple. Because these sacrificial lambs were so important to the religious life of the Jews, they were given the very best of everything.  And so maybe it was to those who nurtured the sacrificial lambs that the Angels came bringing the good news of the great sacrifice and that was Jesus.  But really the sheep don’t matter, it was to the shepherds that the Angels came and in vs. 10-11-12 they were told the story of the baby who was born in a manger.

In those early days historians tell us that it was customary that when a male child was born that local musicians would gather at the home and greet the new son with simple music.  Unless of course you were the son of a poor couple far from home and you were born in a barn.  But in its place His heavenly Father provided a choir of Angels to serenade his son.

Matthew 2:1-2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” And then there was The Miracle of the Wise Men.  

What symbolizes Christmas more than the picture of the Magi kneeling in adoration before the new born messiah?  Across the desert sand they had come, mile after mile following but a promise of a distant start.  I wonder if as they packed their camels in Persia if their family friends and neighbors thought of them as wise men?

“So guys, where’re you going?” 

“That way.”

“Oh and what is your final destination?”

“Don’t know.”

“How will you know when you get there?”

“The star will stop”

“Well, who are you going to see?”

“A baby”

“Uhhhh, and what’s the baby’s name?”

“Wonderful, counselor, prince of peace, Everlasting father.”

“You know Bob I do believe that the boys have been out in the sun way too long.”

And yet the Magi of the East made their pilgrimage across the sea of sand to the little town of Bethlehem to worship at the cradle of Christ.  We know very little about the Magi, but we do know that they were from the country of Persia which is now Iran.  And we know that the Magi were originally from a tribe of Medes who tried to overthrow the King.  When their little coup failed they put their political aspirations behind them and chose safer work as holy men, priest and teachers of Kings.   It was from this occupation that we discover that Magi is the root word of Magic.  Now we don’t know why the sign came to these men, maybe it was there for everyone but only these few choice to follow. 

Regardless of the reason, it was the Magi who followed the star to visit the Christ child, and maybe it was simply to signify that Christianity would ultimately be for the gentile as well as the Jew. Because even though Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah we are told that there was this sense of expectancy over the entire area of the world concerning the coming Messiah of the Jews.  The belief was summed up by the Roman Historian Suetonius when he wrote “There had spread over all the orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world.”

And so it’s fitting is it not that the one that would save the world, that his birth was announced not only to the people of Israel but to the greater world as well.  So perhaps the Wise men’s presence at the first Christmas wasn’t so absurd after all.

And I know that some of you are sitting there thinking “Doesn’t Denn know that the magi weren’t actually at the first Christmas?” 

Give me a break.  I never really thought much about when the magi arrived until a number of years ago I was talking to a friend of mine who attends another evangelical church in the city and she told me how surprised she was to find out that the Wise men weren’t at the first Christmas but arrived much later.  I kind of suspected where she got this nugget of information but asked anyway and she told me that one of her pastors had preached on it the Sunday before.  It comes up from time to time and here’s the rational.  It would have taken the Magi a considerable amount of time to make their way from their home in Persia.   It says in Matthew 2:11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

And lastly Herod ordered the boys two and under executed.  And so the assumption is that the Magi arrived after a considerable length of time perhaps almost two years later.  But we all know what happens when we assume right?  Sometimes we’re wrong.  Sometimes I think preachers stretch a point sometime to show how much smarter they are then other people. 

A few things to consider, if you will?  If God could put a star in the sky to announce the birth of his son, then he could put it there far enough in advance to get the wise men there on time.  Secondly, while the Bible says Jesus was born in a manager, there is nothing to indicate that is where they stayed for their entire stay in Bethlehem, could have moved into a house the next day if room became available.  Why would Joseph a carpenter from Nazareth stay in Bethlehem any longer then he had to for the census?

That was free.

The greatest event in human history has to be when God came to dwell amongst us. And how should that have happened?  Should it have been an everyday event that no one noticed? Or should there have been some element of wonder attached to it?  I know that there are people who deny the events of the first Christmas because they can’t believe that things like that could happen and perhaps that’s why the Bible says 1 Corinthians 1:18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

Perhaps we could change that just a bit to read 1 Corinthians 1:18 The message of Christmas is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

It's a Wonderful Life

It’s a Wonderful Life

(Begin with Clip from “It’s a Wonderful Life” scene where George meets Clarence and wishes he had never been born”

It’s a Wonderful Life has consistently been ranked in the top 100 movies of all times, it has been called the number one inspirational film as well as one of the most popular Christmas movies ever produced, and it’s not even about Christmas.  It is simply a movie that is set at Christmas time. Even if you’ve never seen the movie you are probably familiar with the phrase: Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings. 

It’s a Wonderful life is based on a short story, entitled “The Greatest Gift” that was written by Philip Van Doren Ster.  The author couldn’t interest a publisher and so he eventually self-published in 1943 and used the story for his Christmas cards.  Eventually though the story was seen by director Frank Capra who purchased the rights and the movie was made and released by RKO studios in 1946.  It starred Jimmy Stewart who had just returned from serving as a pilot during WW2 and Donna Reed an up and coming actress.

Interestingly enough the movie was considered to be a box office flop because of its high production costs and the stiff competition that was out at the time.  I wonder what the more successful movies of that year were?

It would be easy to assume that everyone here has seen the movie but I actually watched it for the first time last year.  

So for the three people here today who have never seen the movie here is a synopsis.  George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart is a good man who consistently puts the needs of others before his own needs, even to the point of giving up his dreams of travel and becoming an architect in order to run the family building and loan Company following his father’s death.  You still with me?  The turning point in the movie comes when George’s Uncle Billy accidentally loses $8,000.00 of the company’s money just before the bank examiner arrives to audit the books.  Enter the villain, Henry Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore who was best known for playing Scrooge on radio productions of the Christmas Carol.  Potter is an evil banker who determines that he will have George thrown in jail and charged with fraud so he can close down the competition. 

George feels that he has let everyone down and he decides that he is worth more to his family dead than alive and decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge.  However, all over town people are praying for George and God sends down Angel Second Class Clarence Odbody to intervene.  And if Clarence is successful in saving George he will be made a full angel and receive his wings, with the appropriate ringing of a bell of course.  Not great theology but a pretty good story. 

Just before George jumps off the bridge Clarence does, prompting George to once again put aside his plans in order to help someone else.  George jumps in and saves Clarence and that led to the scene that we just watched. 

After Clarence grants George his wish, he goes on to show our hero how different the world would have been without his actions.  The difference in lives that George had touched and saved, even the difference in how the town of Bedford Falls would have ended up. 

George runs back to Clarence and begs him to be allowed to live, his request is granted, all turns out well, a bell rings, an angel gets his wings and George understands that it truly is a Wonderful Life.

A couple of pieces of trivia about the movie, Jimmy Stewart wasn’t the first choice to play George, Cary Grant was.  Donna Reed was about fifth in line to play Mary.  The names of the taxi driver and policeman in the movie are Bert and Ernie, no relation to the Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. 

The FBI felt that the movie It’s a Wonderful Life was subversive.  On May 26, 1947, the FBI issued a memo stating “With regard to the picture “It’s a Wonderful Life”, [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists. [In] addition, [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.”

But that was then and this is now.  The theme of the movie is the difference that one life can make. Today is the second Sunday of Advent and we are moving toward the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.   But have you ever wondered what would the world would be like without the birth of Jesus.  A couple of months ago I heard John Ortberg preach his sermon “Who is this Man?” and he spoke about the impact that Jesus has had on the world.  And I know all of that but again I was amazed and intrigued by the difference that Jesus has made, not just in my life personally but in the world that we live in. 

Years ago I heard a little ditty that said, “Roses are red, violets are bluish if it weren’t for Christmas we’d all be Jewish.  But even if that is true, which it isn’t, that would be the least of the differences in our world.  So if we could un-ring the bell so to speak and speak Christmas and the birth of Christ out of existence, what would the world look like if Jesus had never been born?

Without Jesus Time Would be Viewed Differently 

If you take your bulletin and look at the front on the very top it says December 9, 2012.  We take that for granted.  That is the date.  More correctly it would say AD 2012, but what does the AD mean?  It is short for the Latin phrase Anno Domini  which translated into English is: In the year of our Lord. 

For most of human history time was measured by those who were in power at the time, so you will recall at the beginning of the Christmas story we read in Luke 2:1-2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

And so the birth of Jesus was originally dated by the fact that most of the known world was ruled by Caesar Augustus and today we know that Augustus died in 14.  14 What?  14 the Year of our Lord.  When Jesus was crucified it was under the authority of Caesar Tiberius.  Tiberius died in 37, the year of our Lord.   History has been divided into two sections those things that happened before Jesus was born and those things that happened after Jesus was born. 

And so the greatest men and women in history, for good or for evil are defined by two dates, when they were born and when they died, and those dates are referenced to the birth of a baby in a stable in a little village in a small occupied country over 20 centuries ago.  And so Napoleon Bonaparte lived from 1769-1821 in the year of our Lord.  And Mahatma Gandhi lived from 1869 to 1948 in the year of our Lord.  And if you were to visit the grave of the great Atheist Friedrich Nietzsche  on his tombstone you would see his life summed up by the dates 1844-1900,  in the year of our Lord. 

Muhammad, the founder of Islam lived from 570 to 632 in the year of our Lord.  There have been attempts through the years to secularize this by referring to it as CE or the Common Era, but common in what?  In the birth of Jesus.

But it’s not just a matter of time.

Jesus told his disciples in  Matthew 16:18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Without Christ there would be no Christ Followers, there would be no church.  And for some people that wouldn’t be much of an issue because they haven’t seen the church as a positive influence.  It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said “I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty -- I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind.”   

But then again this was the same Nietzsche who was cared for as an orphan by his Christian Grand Parents, who was educated in a university that was started by the church, who was treated in a hospital founded by the church, who died in 1900 the Year of our Lord and was buried in a Christian graveyard.

Without Christ there would be no Christ Followers because they were the gift that Jesus gave to the world, he told the world Luke 6:47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.

The impact that Jesus made he made though those who followed him.  If there had been no Jesus there would have been no Jesus followers to make a difference in the world.  But what was the difference He made through them?

Without Jesus the Poor Would be Viewed Differently  Tomorrow evening I will be at the mall in Bedford standing next to a  Kettle wearing a Santa hat and collecting money for the less fortunate for Christmas.  Why?  Because in 1865 a Jesus Follower named William Booth thought the words of Jesus were important when he told people to take care of the poor.  And the Salvation Army has continued to do that for almost 150 years.

At Cornerstone we are collecting money this Christmas to partner with World Hope to drill a well in a village in Sierra Leone, why?  Because almost twenty years ago a Wesleyan Pastor by the name of Joanne Lyon took the words of Jesus serious when he said Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.   And when his followers said “When did this happen?”  Jesus told them Matthew 25:40 “. . . I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

 I’m not saying that compassion is limited to Jesus and his followers but when disasters happen it is the World Hopes and World Visions, and Samaritan Purses and the Compassion Internationals that are there firstest with the mostest.  Why?  Because two thousand years ago Jesus was born and told his followers to care for the poor and the unfortunate.

Which is why in 1863 when an international organization was founded in Geneva Switzerland to care for those in need the symbol they chose was a Red Cross.   It’s why the origination that was started to provide a safe refuge for young men from the streets of London in 1844 was called the YMCA.   Young Men’s Christian Association. 

And because Jesus welcomed the little children it was the church that established the first orphanages, and because it was Jesus who had compassion on the lepers that it was the church that ministered to those who were considered unclean and undesirable by the rest of the world.

Which leads us to the next point. 

Without Jesus the Sick Would be Viewed Differently  How many people here were born at the Grace Maternity Hospital here in Halifax.  Do you know why there is a Grace Maternity Hospital?  Because in 1906 some followers of Jesus decided that there should be a hospital in Halifax where “Fallen women” could have their babies safely and with dignity.  Because they remembered how Jesus treated “fallen women”.  And those Jesus followers did the job so well that when the city of Halifax decided to start a dedicated maternity institution they asked the Jesus Followers to start it and the Salvation Army called it the Grace Maternity Hospital. 

In the second and third centuries two plagues hit the known world and historical reports tell us that up to 1/3 of large cities were dying.   That the population was so overwhelmed that the dead were simply thrown into the streets, and eventually not just the dead but the dying where thrown into the street. 

And we have historical footage  (video clip from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, Bring out your dead scene)  That wasn’t actually historical footage, but we do have a historical account.

Dionysius a Bishop of the early church wrote this  “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease.”  Why would they do that?  Because they remembered the stories of Jesus who would touch those who were considered untouchable.

It is why the first hospitals were started by Jesus Followers in Monasteries and even today have names like Saint Judes and St. Joseph’s and St. Elsewhere.  Because for two thousand years those who have taken the name of Christ read the stories in the Gospels where Jesus saw the sick and had compassion on them, saw the lepers and touched them, even when others wouldn’t and they remembered how Jesus healed people. 

When the disciples of John came to Jesus to ask if he was the messiah Jesus told them in Luke 7:22 Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”   And the followers of Jesus still do it today.  When I travel through Africa the majority of hospitals and clinics have been built by Christian churches.  Not all of them but most of them.  And those that were started by other groups were started because of the example set by the Christian Church and it’s always been that way.

Remember how the early Christ followers ministered during the Plagues in Rome?  Here is an excerpt from the book “The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History” “Thus, a century later, the emperor Julian launched a campaign to institute pagan charities in an effort to match the Christians.  Julian complained in a letter to the high priest of Galatia in 362 that the pagans needed to equal the virtues of Christians, for recent Christian growth was caused by their “moral character, even if pretended,” and by their benevolence toward strangers and care for the graves of the dead.”

And because a Jesus Follower by the name of Tommy Douglas remembered how concerned Jesus was with the ill he thought it was important for all Canadians to have access to medical care. 

But it wasn’t just for the poor and the sick that Jesus makes a difference. 

Sometimes the church has been seen as anti-women, but Without Jesus Women Would be Viewed Differently

When Jesus was born historians tell us that for every 100 women there were 140 men.  Why?  Because boy children were worth more than female children and so often when a girl child was born she was set outside and allowed to die.  And that imbalance continues in Countries like China and India today.

One historian records a chilling letter from a pagan husband to his wife: “Know that I am still in Alexandria.... I ask and beg you to take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I received payment I shall send it up to you. If you are delivered (before I come home), if it is a boy keep it, if a girl, discard it.”

Under Roman law fathers were required to raise all healthy male children but were only required to keep their first daughter, any others were disposable.  Women had no rights, they were considered mere property of their husbands.  A man could have his wife killed for committing adultery but the only time a man was punished was when he committed adultery with another man’s wife and the other man demanded punishment.

And yet the longest personal conversation that we have a record of Jesus having is with a woman, in John chapter four.   And he talked to her as an equal, which wasn’t the norm of the day but seemed to be the norm for Jesus because he never hesitated to talk to women and defend women.  And when the early followers of Christ gathered together in groups called churches many of those identified as leaders were women.

And because of how Jesus treated women one of his followers wrote Galatians 3:26-28 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on the character of Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  That was radical. 

And at that time a man could divorce his wife simply by saying “I divorce you”  but Jesus and his church decreed that men could no longer simply divorce their wives for just any reason but only for the ultimate betrayal, adultery. 

And Jesus never commanded that woman should cover themselves from head to toe and hide away from men, instead he told men to respect them and not look on them as objects.

If we go back to the movie some say that town of Bedford Falls was modeled after the town of Seneca Falls in NY, which you may remember was the site of the First Women’s Rights Convention in the US.  Happened in 1848 and was held in the Wesleyan Church, why?  Because Jesus followers remembered that Jesus treated women as equals and the early church said “There is no longer male and female.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And because Jesus followers remembered how Jesus valued women we have organization like the Dean Brody Foundation and World Hope battling the exploitation of girls and women developing countries. 

But it wasn’t only people who were impacted by the birth of Jesus.

Do you remember the last command of Jesus?  Sure you do.  It’s found in Matthew 28:19 where Jesus told his followers to do three things.  1) Make disciples  2) Baptize those disciples, which is why if you are a disciple you need to be baptized and January 6^th would be an awesome opportunity and 3) They were to teach those disciples.  When the first church was described in the book of Acts it is recorded that they devoted themselves to the Apostle’s Teaching and not just men and boys but women and girls.  Without Jesus Education Would be Viewed Differently 

There had always been education, but it had been reserved for wealthy privileged males.  In AD 150 a man who followed Jesus by the name of Justin Martyr opened a school, and there he taught, men and women, free and slaves.  And because of that the Romans had him beheaded. 

And for the past two thousand years the church has been at the forefront of not only teaching knowledge but also in preserving knowledge.  Why?  Because they remembered when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was his reply was not only to love God with all of our hearts but with all of our minds as well. 

And so learning about everything was seen by many in the church as a means of helping believers know more about the God who created everything. 

Which is why Augustine said “A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities and deploring and avoiding those who ‘though they knew God did not glorify him as God...”

There is sometimes a feeling the church is anti-intellectual and yet when Rome collapsed and the barbarians overran the Roman Empire and the scrolls and manuscripts that contained the classics of ancient civilizations were in danger of being lost, it was in Christian communities called monasteries that those documents were painstakingly copied and preserved by hand.  Because a man named Jesus told his followers to love God with all their minds.

And these monasteries became places of learning and eventually formed schools called Universities all over Europe and Asia.   And within six years of the Puritans landing in the New World  they established a school whose motto translated into English was “Truth for Christ and the Church.”  You might recognize the name of the school, it was called Harvard.  As a matter of fact ninety two percent of the first 138 institutions of higher learning in the United States were founded by churches.

Closer to home, of the ten Universities in Nova Scotia four were started by the Catholic Church, one by the Anglicans, one by the Baptist and one by the Methodists.   In New Brunswick of the eight universities one was started by the Catholic Church, one by the Baptist, one by the Anglicans,one was Methodist, one was Wesleyan and one was non-denominational.  Love God with all your mind.  

Most people know about Sunday School, but how many of you know that it was started in 1780 by a Jesus follower as a mean to teach children of common people how to read and write.  In that day and age children worked 6 days a week and his dream was to give them an opportunity on the seventh day to learn regardless of how much or how little they had.  And within 50 years we are told that there were 160,000 Jesus Followers teaching 1.5 million children how to read and write and how to love God with all their minds. 

And it was the church which developed alphabets, and dictionaries and developed written music so songs of worship could be shared around the world.  Love God with all your minds.

As I got into this message I realized that I was into much more than one message could handle, and to quote John 21:25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

But the most important question today isn’t: What difference has Jesus made in the world? but what difference has Jesus made in your life?

The Scrooges of Christmas

Bah, Humbug,  Scrooge is like Bond, everyone has a favorite.  For some there is no Scrooge like Alistair Sim, he was the actor who portrayed Scrooge in the clip we just saw. He also reprised the role in an Oscar winning short film in 1970.  Maybe it is Albert Finney in the 1970 film simply entitled “Scrooge”.  For others it might be George C. Scott from the remake done in 1984 or Henry Winkler in the 1979 “An American Christmas Carol”.  My favorite was Michael Caine from the Muppets Christmas Carol.

And most of us have watched one of the over 20 movie adaptations or television specials of “A Christmas Carol”.  How many have read the book?  I have to admit that I haven’t.

The book, written by Charles Dickens was first released on December 19 1843, the Novella was met with critical success however the author was disappointed with it’s commercial success over the first couple of years it was in print, and yet it has never been out of print since that first edition.  And the first movie was made in 1901 and a new version with Jim Carrey was released just a couple of years ago, and it’s interesting that Jim has had the opportunity to play both Scrooge and the Grinch.  

In his book “A Christmas Carol”  Richard Michael Kelly writes “Dickens’ Carol was one of the greatest influences in rejuvenating the old Christmas traditions of England, but, while it brings to the reader images of light, joy, warmth and life, it also brings strong and unforgettable images of darkness, despair, coldness, sadness and death.”

A couple of highlights for those who have never experienced the movie or the book.  The story opens on a “cold, bleak, biting” Christmas Eve in 1843 exactly seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge’s business partner, Jacob Marley.  Ebenezer Scrooge is described as “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” who has no place in his life for kindness, compassion, charity or benevolence. He hates Christmas, calling it “humbug”.  It is on that night that Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of his dead partner who warns him to change his ways or end in misery as Marley had.  Scrooge is then visited by three ghosts the Ghost of Christmas Past who reminds him of the man he used to be, of lost love and missed opportunity.  The Ghost of Christmas Present then reveals the goodness of people to Scrooge as they celebrate Christmas.  Even those with very little to celebrate, including his clerk Bob Cratchit whose sick son, Tiny Tim is unable to get treatment because of the poor pay that his father receives from Scrooge.  And finally Scrooge is visited by Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  Here Scrooge witnesses the death of Tiny Tim and his own death where local business men say they will attend the funeral only if there is a luncheon. Of course you all know that Scrooge wakes up from his dreams a changed man, embraces Christmas and seeks to make the world a better place. 

Each year as I watch different people’s reactions to the Christmas season it gets me thinking about Scrooges.  And I decided that you didn’t have to look like this to be a Scrooge, (Alastair Sim) or like this (Jim Carey) or even like this (Scrooge McDuck).  And the more I thought about it the more I realized that there are all kinds of Scrooges out there.  As a matter of fact there are Scrooges who don’t even know they are Scrooges.  And if you told them they were a Scrooge they would probably be personally offended. 

So as I begin this message today may I categorically state that I’m not preaching to anyone here specifically, that the Scrooges I’m talking about are represented in society as a whole and in previous churches I have pastored but by no stretch of the imagination should they be seen as representative of anyone presently attending Cornerstone.  So if you feel like perhaps, by some stretch of the imagination that I’m referring to you this morning, I’m not.  You just a little bit sensitive, which of course is a nicer word then paranoid.

Today if you are a person who just doesn’t seem to truly get into the Christmas spirit there is a good chance that you would be called a Grinch, from Dr. Seuss’s book the Grinch who Stole Christmas.  But long before there was a Grinch there was a Scrooge.  So who are some of the Scrooges that we see each Christmas?

1) Classic Scrooge This is the Scrooge that Dickens was writing about.  It wasn’t Christmas itself that the Scrooge was upset with it was anything that made life more enjoyable.  Christmas seemed to be the culmination of all that was happy and joyful in London and it seemed to be personified in Bob Cratchit.  And so The Classic Scrooge isn’t opposed to Christmas per se instead it is all that Christmas represents.

People like this have kept the milk of human kindness bottled up so long that it has indeed curdled. They’ve been seasick on the entire journey of life.  Robert Lynd made this observation “There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas.”

Ebenezer Scrooge was a classic Scrooge, he hated Christmas for the same reason as the Grinch hated Christmas but we’re not too sure what all of those reasons were. 

The book and the movie give us some hints, at one point Scrooge says Christmas is “a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!”

But like the Grinch the most likely reason of all may have been that Scrooge’s heart was two sizes too small.”   As evidenced by this statement of his, “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!”

Scrooge would probably have gotten along well with Samuel Goldwyn who said “You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.”

Now I know and you know that there isn’t anyone here today like that. But if there was I would say “Lighten up!”  Start to enjoy life because you won’t get out of it alive.  Remember what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

There are all kinds of reasons to get uptight and cranky over Christmas and they are all choices.  Don’t let Christmas get you down, enjoy the season.

But not every Scrooge is a general everyday classic Scrooge some are specialized Scrooges  for example there are the 2) Secular Scrooges.  You can recognize this type of Scrooge by their language.  They never say Merry Christmas: it’s always Seasons Greetings or Happy Holidays. They don’t put up a Christmas tree they put up a holiday tree, their idea of a classic Christmas carol is Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Frosty the Snow Man and they cringe at the very sight of a nativity scene.

These folks aren’t opposed to Christmas as a matter of fact they seem to embrace the holiday almost in its entirety. Almost.  It’s not Christmas they have a problem with its how the church has tried to make something religious out Christmas.  They want to go to their Christmas parties and get paid on their Christmas holidays and send out Christmas Cards, which of course don’t actually include the word Christmas anywhere in them. They buy and give and receive Christmas presents, they decorate their homes with Christmas lights but they won’t acknowledge that the first part of Christmas is Christ.

Sometimes we get the feeling that these people are in the majority, but you know there really aren’t a lot of these people out there. Not individually.  What there are though are bureaucrats who work for Government offices and corporations who have decided that it is their job to protect the feelings of those who might not be Christians.  And so schools are told they can’t celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and shops and store don’t put up nativities any more and sales clerks are told to avoid the “C” word and to say things like “Have a nice holiday” instead of “Have a Merry Christmas.” 

There was an interesting interview in 2005 with Ben Stein and in the interview Stein states “Next confession: I am a Jew and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish, and it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautifully lit-up, bejeweled trees “Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are — Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they’re slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we’re all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.”

But most people understand what Christmas is all about (Clip about Christmas) and even new Canadians who don’t share our Christian heritage know that Christmas is a Christian holiday, regardless of what it’s called.  And that even with the sanitized “Happy Holiday” the question then has to be asked “What holiday?”

Dave Berry wrote “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 non-memorable 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.”

On the other side of the coin are the people I would call the 3) Religious Scrooges.  You know who I’m talking about.  They would go to the other extreme and take everything secular out of Christmas.  For them Christmas is about Christ and nothing else.   If it was up to them they’d have Santa get a real job, fire the elves and put the reindeer in a zoo.

Now I know that Jesus is the reason for the season, ok don’t get me wrong on that.  But hang on to your chairs cause in 2012 he’s not the only reason for the season.  There are social reasons; people use this as an opportunity to connect with family and friends they’ve been out of touch with.  There are religious reasons, don’t confuse this with Jesus being the reason for the season.  Christmas is a time that people are God aware or at least religion aware.  There will be thousands of people attending church in Bedford and Hammonds Plains on Christmas Eve and it will have nothing to do with a relationship they have with God and everything to do with how they perceive their religious obligation. 

There are even economic reasons for the season.  I’m not sure what would happen to the retail sector of our economy without Christmas.  I’m not sure that people would buy the same amount of stuff the rest of the year. The money that is spent not only on gifts but on decorations, travel and food is staggering.    Is that bad?  A stimulated economy is good news for most of us.  And it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “People say that Christmas is too commercialized.  But I have never found it that way.  If you spend money to give people joy, you are not being commercial.  It is only when you feel obliged to do something about Christmas that the spirit is ruined.”

2000 years after the birth of Christ it is virtually impossible to separate the true meaning of Christmas, that is celebrating His birth, from all of the cultural, social and religious traditions that have come together to form what we think of as Christmas. 

And then there are the 4) Pious Scrooges.  These are the people that would do away with Christmas in a heartbeat.  But not for the same reason that Religious Scrooges would do away with Christmas.   They look at some of the pagan roots of Christmas, and a lot of how we celebrate Christmas does have background outside of Christianity. 

They tell us that date of Christmas was originally used in pagan celebrations in Rome to celebrate the passing of the winter solstice. And they are right, the ancients knew that by this time in December that the shortest day and longest night had passed, and with that came the promise of longer days, shorter nights and eventually spring.  Around 270 a.d. Emperor Aurelia capitalized upon the heathen worship of the sun and declared December 25th as the birthday of the Unconquered Sun.   But when Christians celebrate this December 25^th they won’t be doing to recognize the promise of longer days or to remember the birthday of the Unconquered Sun.  

They would tell you that early pagan cultures from the Romans to the Egyptians to the Celts used evergreens in their celebrations to signify eternal life.  But when we put up our trees it will harkens back to a Christmas Eve about the year 1513. When Martin Luther was walking through the woods on the starlit night he thought the stars looked as if they were shining on the branches.  When he arrived home, Martin Luther placed a small fir tree inside his house.  He decorated it with lighted candles.

In 1 Corinthians 8 Paul addressed the issue of meat that had been sacrificed to idols.  Some believers felt that the meat was impure because of its pagan beginnings.  It had been offered up to false gods.  Paul said 1 Corinthians 8:4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God.

 And I guess that’s my thought, we can dwell on what December 25^th used to represent or we can focus on what it’s supposed to represent. Are we celebrating the birth of the unconquered sun or the birth of the unconquered Son?

Well I got through those four and had to ask myself “where do I fit in?” Because the reality is that I’m a little bit of a Scrooge myself.  If I wasn’t married with a family my house would remain dark, nary a card would be sent and on Christmas Day I would eat a pizza. 

Which is probably why I enjoyed Christmas in Australia, very few people decorated their homes and for Christmas dinner we had a BBQ then we went to the beach. Although my favourite Christmas tradition was when we’d all pile into my Volkswagen Convertible put the roof down, stick a Christmas tape in the stereo and go look at the houses that were decorated.

But I’m not the way I am because I don’t like Christmas or don’t approve of Christmas is just, well I’m one of those 5) Apathetic Scrooges.  I just don’t get excited over all the hoop-la that surrounds the Christmas season.  But I think it’s nature’s way of finding balance because my sister starts decorating and getting ready for Christmas shortly after Easter, well maybe she waits until the first of November. 

So what’s the answer?  2000 years ago Jesus Christ was born after Mary and Joseph traveled a great distance to get to the town his family was from. On that first Christmas there was a star and there was singing and gift giving.  The shepherds were told to rejoice and to celebrate.  And you know and I know Jesus probably wasn’t born on December 25^th, and we know that there have been abuses of Christmas both past and present.  But I don’t think it’s wrong to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  He came to offer us the greatest gift we could ever receive, the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.  And it all started in a manger in Bethlehem and that’s worth celebrating.

And to finish we have another quote from Ben Stein about Christmas “This is a revolutionary, stupendous freeing of the human spirit. This is why Christmas is such a joyous time for people, whether Jews or Christians, or anyone else, who want to believe that we humans can be forgiven and go on to lead lives of triumph no matter what has happened in our past.”