One of the things that has become synonymous with Christmas
is… adverts. That’s not profound, it’s a bit sad really… but you know Christmas
is coming when people try and sell you stuff. Adverts on TV, letterboxes so
full of colourful catalogues that they groan under the weight, Christmas
present for all, the right Christmas gifts for that person who is just too hard
to please, on sale, on special, open
late, all under one roof, no hassle, stress free …yeah Right… right. Sometimes
it’s helpful because I struggle to know what to give people… I struggle because
well … the budget is pretty tight. I struggle because I’m not the Grinch, and I
want to express my love and kinship in a way that says how I feel. And as a lot
of blokes sitting here are probably thinking, I wonder what socks and underwear
actually says about what people think about me.
I found this great youtube clip which in a Christmassy
advert kind of way, gives the message that I want to share with you this
morning. So I’ll play it with the cool computer graphics, with the homage to
“hitch hiker Guide to the galaxy” just in case you miss it thats the sperm
whale appearing in mid air. .. and the focus that the greatest present is presence.
God gave us the greatest gift the Gift of God’s self. ‘the word became flesh
and moved into our neighbourhood.
Time for an ad break…
And that is really well put together, but just like in real
life it’s easy for the simple message of Christmas to kind of get lost in the
razzle dazzle, tinsel and all the
trimmings. The simple message of God’s love for us being shown in giving us the
greatest gift of all… that God stepped into our world, to tell us and show us
that God loves us.
AS I shared with the kids a little earlier self is the
greatest gift you can give someone. It
shows you love them, you care, people in need and in poverty and oppression
want both material help but more long for people like you and I to stand in
solidarity with them. That was bought home again recently with the passing of
Nelson Mandela, when John Minto talked
of Mandela’s reaction to the protesters stopping the game at Waikato stadium,
“It was as if the sun came out”.
One of the ways that people talk about our society today is
that we maybe material rich. But we are time poor. It takes two incomes to make ends meet in
Auckland and that eats up time, time to invest in relationships that really
matter, time to nurture, time to care, time to foster the community round us.
And time to contemplate and know the reality of God and God’s love for us. The
greatest gift we have is self, to invest into one another… to love one another.
Self was the gift that God chose to give to us. The passage
we had read out in John this morning paints the Christmas story in the context
of the big picture… it starts the story in eternity and comes to here, it says
that God created all that there is, he gave us the gift of self: Giving us life
as unique individuals.
But more than that as we chose to live in darkness, to again
give us light and life, he stepped into our world, the eternal God came into
the temporal realm of humanity. The Word which was with God , and was God in
eternity took on flesh and moved into our neighbourhood in Jesus Christ. God
gave us the gift of self.
Self-revealing- No one has seen God but the one who comes
from the very heart of God has made God as plain as day. The image behind me comes from the famous
creation alfresco by Michael Angelo, but the Christmas story tells us God got
even closer. Embraced by a mothers care, held as he fled into exile, shoulder
tapping people in their everyday life to come and follow, touching and healing
lepers, comforting grieving friends, over throwing the tables of un just money
lenders, held fast and nailed to a cross, being examined and held by disciples
amazed at the miracle of resurrection.
Self-sacrificing- The journey from nativity scene to the
crucifixion is a short one. AS my friend Malcom Gordon says ““Our Advent hope
is that God will send his beloved one out after his wayward ones. And that no
matter how badly that might seem to go for God and for his beloved one, God will
somehow win the salvation of many through it.” John says This is love not that
we loved God but that God first loved us, and gave his son as an atoning
sacrifice for all we had done wrong. “
Self-giving, and never self-imposing. To all who would receive him he gave the
right to become the sons and daughters of the most high. It’s an invitation to
find life and light, forgiveness and purpose in knowing and being known by God.
To find our truth self in relationship with Christ and in selfless caring for others… and
eternal life with Christ at his fathers house.
The greatest gift. The gift of God’s self. Christ’s presence
with us, our presence with God in
eternity… The greatest gift not wrapped in paper, but in cloth and laid in a
manger, the greatest gift, god’s presence, not wrapped in paper but in
humanity, the word made flesh, the greatest gift of all… life for you and I,
but it does need to be unwrapped unpacked and
received. This Christmas this new year may you receive this greatest
gift and allow it to bring light and
life.
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