Advent 2009
A Christmas Carol
Part 5: Christmas Celebration
Welcome to this Christmas Celebration.
This is Christ’s Mass,
The day we especially set aside to celebrate God with Us.
The day we acknowledge that something incredible happened.
God became like us, so that we could become like Him.
We’ve come to celebrate the incarnation.
The “enfleshment” of God.
Today we are going to review the illuminations of our Advent Wreath.
We are going to witness Ebenezer Scrooge’s secular conversion.
I will tell you how you can experience something even greater,
A spiritual conversion by living out the ABC of the faith.
Then we are going to consider how we are to live as disciples of Jesus.
All for the purpose of being able to keep Christmas in our hearts
always.
Our Advent Wreath is in full of light.
The Candle Of Prophecy
A light shining in the darkness to bring hope that there are brighter days
ahead.
The Candle of the Way
A light shinning to help us see the path to a right relationship with God,
A light to help us lead others on the Way.
The Candle of Joy
A light shinning that we may have joy in the knowledge that our lives are
secure in Christ and to make this knowledge available to others.
The Candle of Peace
A light shinning that we may know Shalom, the blessing of being right with
God and others, ourselves and the earth.
Notice the center candle is already lit.
The center candle is The Christ Candle.
The center candle represents God Incarnate who is born into humanity to save His
creation from their sins.
It is a celebration of the fulfillment of prophecy as represented in
Jesus’ birth and hope in the final fulfillment when Christ
comes again.
Isaiah 9:2-7 (MSG)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in a land of deep shadows— light! sunbursts of light! You repopulated the nation, you expanded its joy. Oh, they're so glad in your presence! Festival joy! The joy of a great celebration, sharing rich gifts and warm greetings. The abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants— all their whips and cudgels and curses— Is gone, done away with… For a child has been born—for us! the gift of a son—for us! He'll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings. He'll rule from the historic David throne over that promised kingdom. He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing and keep it going With fair dealing and right living, beginning now and lasting always. The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies will do all this.
Beginning now and lasting always, Jesus altars the destiny of humanity.
That is cause to say Merry Christmas indeed.
Merry Christmas.
Christmas never ends.
We are called to take our part in this great story of God.
Throughout this series I have used Ebenezer Scrooge as an allegory
for a life lived by the dictates of egoism.
A life that has let Christmas pass bye.
Egoism, its called many things: the sin nature, the desire to be our own God,
Self-centered carnality.
In it grosser forms it looks like Scrooge,
But it can also take the form of conceit, pride, vanity,
Perfectionism, pretending, and pleasing.
We glory in ourselves, our accomplishments or our victimization.
The only thing that really matters is how our actions profit ourselves.
I am judge, jury and executioner.
I am the arbitrator of my own morality.
Life is all about me.
When we walk the path of egoism, we are not right.
A right relationship with God, Others, the Earth and our Self is missing,
That’s the crazy missing part, relating rightly.
It’s in relating rightly that
we find joy, shalom and love.
Ebenezer Scrooge has had an epiphany.
He has had dreams, visions, hauntings:
Marley revealed to him the darkness of his soul.
The Ghost of Christmas Past revisited the pain in his past and the joy
he had forgotten, and the regrets for choosing self over love.
The Ghost of Christmas Present gave critical feedback as to how he was living his life and what he is missing because he chosen
profit over compassion.
The Ghost of Christmas Future pointed towards the destination that
the trajectory of his life was moving him towards.
All have worked together to convince Ebenezer of the trap egoism he has fallen
into.
And convinced him that not only does he need to change,
but that the can change.
The literary critiques call this a secular conversion.
Ebenezer is no longer bowing at the altar of self,
now he has opened his heart to others.
The change in his attitude towards life though reminds me of what
God did in my life when he accepted me.
It reminds me of what God is still doing in my life,
Mankind is my business,
That I am part of something that will last forever
I serve as an ambassador of Christ,
A disciple of Jesus,
I spread the glad tidings of Christmas to
others.
As Scrooge becomes alive, so God gave me a new life.
I am no longer the same,
My new destiny is manifesting in my life.
We left Scrooge in the cemetery,
Cold and all shadows,
A place of death and desolation.
He falls on his knees before the Spirit Of Christmas Yet To Come,
and he, pleads, he repents and he vows to change.
Yet his grave opens up before him and he falls in,
But lands in his bed.
As we watch this last section of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,
Please notice Ebenezer’s first attempt to laugh.
It’s amazing what you can loose if you don’t use it.
Notice the light. Notice the joy. Notice the change.
They all depict the actions of a heart made right.
A Christmas Carol (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6pt0ihwkUI&feature=PlayList&p=C7E1BF6A33A150E3&index=8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwXkzgPyF3c&feature=PlayList&p=C7E1BF6A33A150E3&index=9
That first laugh of Ebenezer is priceless.
Welcome to a new way to live your life,
It chokes him a bit before it breaks out in hilarity.
There is a similar mirth when one discovers that God has accepted them.
You see the foolishness of everything you’ve built your life on.
But there is no shame, no guilt, no regrets,
God has given you a new lease on life and nothing that you’ve
done in the past is spiritually held against you.
You’ve been set free.
You’re a new person.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (MSG)
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.
I’ve told you that joy is not happiness and happiness is not joy,
But joy can be the soil of true happiness when times are good.
You too can have a joyful laugh as you realize the old life has gone
and the new has come.
How does one get united with the Messiah, with Christ.
Ebenezer points the way with a simple request.
He asks his niece:
“Can you forgive a stupid old man who doesn’t want to be left
out in the cold anymore?”
The one to whom you can ask to be forgiven is God the Father.
Accept the fact that you are a sinner,
There are wrong relationships in your life.
Relationships with others that are broken.
Every wrong relationship is a sign of sin.
Believe that Jesus Christ, God Incarnate,
has done for you what you could not do for yourself,
through his birth and his death,
making it possible for the God the Father to forgive you.
Commit yourself to being a disciple of Jesus.
God the Holy Spirit will empower you to be one if you ask.
If Scrooge was not too far gone to change his destiny, you’re not either.
Romans 10:11-13 (MSG)
Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it." It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help."
There is joy filled laughter when God accepts your confession and makes you one
of His own.
There is laughter and there is also change and change is always hard.
As a disciple of Jesus you have to take off the old ways, the old lifestyle.
Lived under the rule of egoism and put on a new lifestyle,
One that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
This is not easy, the old is familiar and will attempt to grab you again.
The egoism will tempt you to live the old way,
With Christmas being just an add on to your schedule,
Instead of the main priority of your life.
Ebenezer calls to the red haired boy in the streets.
His voice full of life, then he starts to slip,
It as if he can’t bring himself to part with his old way of life.
“I give you a schilling to go buy the turkey in my name,”
He mumbles, but then he defeats the old way,
“No, I’ll give you two, if you’re back in five minutes.”
2 schillings! He only pays Bob 15 a week.
Incredible changes also happen in the life of a disciple of Jesus.
Your perspective changes, your attitude changes,
The world becomes full of light and color,
As you start doing the things that a disciple does.
Ebenezer stops at the home of his nephew Fred,
A war is going on inside himself.
He has been a proud man, now he will have to humble himself to go
inside and accept his nephews invitation for Christmas dinner.
He almost walks on.
But he wins the war and knocks on the door.
And what a party he enjoys because of it.
Being a disciple of Jesus you will always be faced with choices to go back and live
the old way.
2 Timothy 2:20-22 (MSG)
In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God.
A disciple runs away from the infantile indulgences of self and the dictates of
egoism.
A disciple runs towards mature righteousness, right wise ness,
Towards being rightly related to God, Others, the Earth and Self.
A disciple runs towards love.
What guides a disciple on this marathon of becoming everything that God created
them to be and doing the things God created them to do is their practice of
the spiritual disciplines.
It’s through reading the bible, and prayer, and fellowship, service, worship,
obedience and contemplation that invite encounters with God that mark out
the path the disciple is to travel.
The final scene in the movie is Ebenezer welcoming the Cratchit family into his
home.
To me that’s a power symbol of opening up our lives for others.
We can become so closed to others.
Our circle becomes so close that there is a “no vacancy”
sign flashing on our face.
No room at this inn for you.
We’re busy, we’re full, we’re booked, we’re scheduled,
We’re comfortable, we don’t want you,
Because we don’t need you.
A disciple opens his or her arms and invites others into fellowship with
them.
Look for ways to invite others in.
That’s why I like to invite folks who are visiting HBCC
to come to lunch with me after a service.
Get a bite and talk.
A simple gesture, a small cost, but it welcomes.
Don’t leave people out in the cold.
Open your arms, be a disciple of Jesus, keep Christmas in your heart,
make it your number one priority.
This way God can bless us, everyone.
Today we’ve basked in the light of our fully lit Advent Wreath,
May you know the hope, the way, the joy and the peace that Christ brings.
I’ve told you two ways you can experience these gifts,
Accept, believe and commit to Jesus.
Live a life of discipleship following Him..
Isaiah the prophet foretold that
Jesus’ ruling authority will grow,
and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
Get in on that so that you can live your life to the full.
Luke 2:39-40 (MSG)
When Joseph and Mary finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.
May you to grow wise in spirit,
And may the grace of God be upon you,
So that you can keep Christmas in your heart always.
Merry Christmas.