Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-20
Theme: “All-In for On-Call”
2nd Sunday after the Epiphany
January 15, 2012
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God,[a] and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”
15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”
19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD.
First Presbyterian Church movie-goers, at least the ones I’ve chatted with recently, have given the “two thumbs up” to the motion picture Joyful Noise which stars Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. It’s showing at the Movie Tavern right behind our church building. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m looking forward to it based on our folks’ recommendation. Queen Latifah and Dolly play characters who are involved with a small town choir that makes it to the big time. Based on the movie trailer alone that you can watch on the Fandango website, it has great music; it’s funny, and it has a happy ending – attributes, all, that people seem to resonate with more and more. Again, it’s called Joyful Noise.
Would it be appropriate to call the Word of God a “joyful noise”? Noise, whether it comes from the Word of God either read or proclaimed or from somewhere else, is all but omnipresent. One could argue that we insist on noise – as long as it is not too noisy. Solitude, or quietness, is not something that we’re comfortable with for very long. I know many people, myself included, who have to have some background noise to virtually everything they do short of sleep. Headphones and earbuds are omnipresent. Radios, TVs, and stereos blare. Constant stimulation is all but a must. There’s something about noise which seems to animate life. Removed from noise of some sort or another, we feel closer to the silence of death.
Noise, like the gift of faith in God, comes through our ears. “Faith comes by hearing, and what is heard is the preaching of Christ,” the apostle says. But what kind of noise is it? We can hope that the noise – like genuine faith itself – is joyful.
Little Samuel, in today’s Old Testament reading, hears noise in what seems to be the middle of the night. Someone is calling his name. Samuel, you might recall from Bible reading or Sunday school, is a little boy whose life was dedicated to God from birth. His mother Hannah desperately wanted a child. The Lord blessed her with one, and she, in turn, dedicated the little one’s life to the Lord. Thus, we find little Samuel “serving the Lord” under Eli, the priest. The boy, at this point, did not yet fully know who he was or what he was doing, but he was learning what it meant to serve.
The noise – or, in this case, the voice – came three different times. “Samuel,” said the voice. Running to Eli, Samuel replied: “Here I am; you called me.” “I didn’t call,” says Eli. “Go back and lie down.” The voice comes a second time: “Samuel!” Samuel gets up and goes to Eli again. By this time, Eli is probably wondering why he’s not being granted a good night’s sleep. He says to Samuel: “My son, I did not call; go back and lie down.”
Dutifully, Samuel does as he’s told. At this spot in the narrative, we are given an interesting tidbit of information. We are told that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” Then, the voice comes a third time: “Samuel, Samuel!” A third time, Samuel thinks it is old Eli calling for him. He goes to Eli. This time, not as drowsy as he once was, Eli realizes that it was the voice of the Lord. This is all the more significant given what we were told at the beginning of the story: “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”
Eli changes his instructions to the lad. As before, he is to go back and lie down, but if the voice comes again he is to say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
The Scripture says that the “Lord came and stood there” calling out ‘Samuel! Samuel!’.” Samuel replies: “Speak, Lord. For Your servant is listening.”
Samuel is about to get an earful. Our Lord says to him: “Look, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.”
Stop right there. It’s time to ask the question: have our ears lost their ability to tingle? We hear so much from so many sources. Information passes into our auditory canal so fully and so frequently that it is all but impossible to process. If the noise is joyful, it may grab our attention for awhile. But hearing is so common-place that we can take it for granted. We can rightly ask if our ears have lost their ability to tingle.
I wonder if tingling ears is the same as having itching ears? The Bible does speak of “itching ears.” In the New Testament portion of Scripture, we come across Paul’s second letter to his young protégé, Timothy. He says to him: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Based on a couple of interesting and revealing articles from USA Today in the past few months, it is clear that the ears of America, if you will, are increasingly NOT itching to hear the Word of the Lord. George Barna, a keen observer of religious life in America, is quoted to have said: “We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs – our clothing, our food, our education.” Now, according to these articles, it’s our religion too. In other words, we’ll listen to pastors, preachers, spiritual guides, rabbis, imams, you-name-it, who tell us what our “itching ears want to hear.” It’s not about God; it’s about us. And God is only good insofar as he meets our specifications.
This, of course, is crass idolatry – or, in other words, the worship of self. While the statistics show that the number of people who have “accepted Jesus” has risen, so has the number of people who have not been in church for the last six months. In 1991, 24% of the public was unchurched. Today, it’s 37% and trending even higher. All of it goes to show that a majority of us claim to be religious, but we are very confused and conflicted about it. This is not a surprise; we’ve known it for years. The data also shows that we treat matter of faith something hopscotch. We jump from one thing to the next, from one tradition to another, and we pick and choose the teachings and the emphases that we deem to be important. It’s called hopscotch spirituality – or, if you prefer, smorgasbord spirituality. But now, we have an increasing number of people for whom it makes no difference if they’re believers, atheists, or agnostics. One scholar calls them “Nones.” Hence, when it comes to faith, spirituality, religion, etc., they have none. Another observer, coining a new term, calls this growing demographic “Apatheists.” At the root of that word is apathy. In other words, people just don’t care.
A man named Rusty Steil, from Denver, Colorado, grew up in a Lutheran home and for quite some time retained the “strong moral code” of his parents. But, as he grew older, he could not stick with the “ancient myths of people trying to make sense of the world.” Steil says, “I don’t find much comfort in imagining there’s an all-powerful God who would allow people starving and all the natural and man-made disasters,” he says. He calls himself a “live-and-let live” atheist.
Mark Silk, a professor of religion at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, can uinderstand where Steil is coming from. He writes: “The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal.”
It was just another day at work for Eli. The little boy Samuel was there too. The Word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. God must be busy doing other things. So, dear Lord, do give us a break if we have moments of apathy. What’s more, the word had not yet been revealed to little Samuel. He was blissfully ignorant. Ears that don’t tingle and the ears that don’t itch are the ears that become apathetic.
But all of that changed overnight. The Lord stood there and said, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel replied: “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.” From that point on, Samuel was all-in for on-call.
Later, Samuel found his identity in passing along to others the words of the Lord. All of Israel discovered, we are told, that Samuel was trustworthy in what he said.
First Presbyterian Church, we are at are best when we, too, are all-in for on-call. We find and affirm our identity in passing along the words of the Lord that have been revealed to us.
What a word it is! Ours to share is the good new – yes, the joyful noise! -- that God so loved the world that, in Jesus Christ, He was willing to go through the cross and grave. He took upon Himself our sin, our alienation, our rebellion, even our spirituality, our religion, our traditions, our deism, our theism, our atheism, our agnosticism, our apathy, and our self-centered ears itching to hear what we want to hear. In exchange, He gave us the forgiven life – life filled to the brim with grace and gracefulness, with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.
Are you all-in for on-call? If so, then the words of today’s Hymn of Sending will be especially meaningful:
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night…
I will go, Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.
Amen.
THE STRAIGHTFORWARD PULPIT
Monday, January 16, 2012
Water, Water Everywhere!
Text: Galatians 4:4-7
Theme: “Water, Water Everywhere!”
1st Sunday after the Epiphany/The Baptism of the Lord
January 8, 2012
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
Theme: “Water, Water Everywhere!”
1st Sunday after the Epiphany/The Baptism of the Lord
January 8, 2012
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with[e] water, but he will baptize you with[f] the Holy Spirit.”
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Water, water everywhere! It is likely you have already made use of water – H20 – for any one of a number of reasons already this morning! One study suggests that drinking sixteen ounces of it to begin your day is a good thing. (It’s certainly better than coffee, and that, unfortunately, is a lesson I haven’t learned yet!) And that’s not even to speak of its use for bath, shower, or the brushing of one’s pearly whites. Along with your detergent of choice, it does help to clean the dried spaghetti sauce off last night’s dinner plates too. Over two thirds of the earth is covered with the stuff. Only 2.5% is fresh water. At the Rotary club, I learned that Rotarians are sending water purifiers to Guatemala. The Google report on water asserted that, by 2025, we may face a world-wide shortage of fresh water.
Water, water everywhere! It’s splashed all over this Sunday’s readings. The Old Testament selection for today, Genesis 1:1-5, declares: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Only two verses into the Bible itself, and we’re all wet; we read of water. The earliest philosophers, the Pre-Socratics (as they were called) claimed that the basic elements were earth, air, fire, and, last but not least, water. And you thought water was just the stuff of science! The truth is it mixes well with philosophy and, of course, theology.
Then we flip over to the Psalm appointed for this day, Psalm 29:1-11. Lo and behold, water is there. Verse three offers this: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory the Lord, over mighty waters.” And don’t neglect verse 10: “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.” You can’t have a flood if you don’t have any water.
Don’t sell the New Testament reading short either. There is mention of baptism, and you can’t have baptism without water. Baptizo, the Greek term for Baptism, simply means to apply water by sprinkling, pouring, or immersing.
Finally, we arrive at today’s Gospel reading, our text. A month or so ago, we heard the same lesson in the Advent season which includes the account of John the Baptist doing his thing with water out at the Jordan River. What are rivers if not to hold water! Here we are now, two days into the Epiphany season, and we’re back out at the Jordan River again. But this time, the focus is not on the mass of people that showed up but on just one man. “In those days,” says our text, “Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
He came up “out of the water.” You almost have this mental image of a fish playfully flying up and diving back in. Yesterday, on the Golf Channel, they showed a blue whale frolicking up out of the water and then back into it around the Hawaiian islands. Then there’s the view of the Spirit, in the form of a dove, swooping down to Jesus as He comes up and out of the water.
In the early 1800s in Vienna, Austria, Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote a symphony that was to be dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. Already, the composer was known to play fast and loose with the rules of symphonic composition. But only those who know the rules can play fast and loose with them. And, on that count, his Third Symphony in E-flat major is a classic example that does not disappoint. Keen listeners observed that in the course of the piece Beethoven got far away from the original E-flat key. He finally got back to it. He did so, as one biographer described, “after a long, ecstatic suspension that was the musical equivalent of a waterfowl’s speeding weightlessness just before it returns to aqua firma. The ecstasy came from a sense of aerodynamic momentum, unforced by any hurry.”
I like this as a description of the Christian life: “…aerodynamic momentum unforced by any hurry.” It’s like that with the fishes and the birds. Does the fish soar to find the ocean, the eagle plunge to find the air? Water is the element in which the fish lives – and only there. Air is the element in which the bird lives. Without air, it dies. Interestingly, one of the first Christian symbols was that of a fish. You see it every Sunday when you walk out the front door of our church and glance at the church sign. Greek for “fish” is icthus. Icthus is an acrostic: Jesus (Jesus), Christos (Christ), Theos (God’s), Uios (Son), Soter (Savior).
The early church writer Tertullian, in his most famous treatise, De Baptismo, focuses on all of the Lord’s water connections in Holy Scripture. Ultimately he directs our attention to Jesus as sort of a big fish. We, the disciples of Jesus, are like little fish with Jesus being our big fish. We had best stay close to the water! Water, water everywhere! That’s what you saw when you stood out on the balcony of your stateroom on the Carnival Cruise: water, water everywhere! It’s what you observed as you lay on the beach at Galveston looking South by Southeast: water, water everywhere! It’s what you see bottled and packaged at certain aisles at Sam’s Club: water, water everywhere!
Water. It is the element to be found in that piece of liturgical furniture over there. It’s called the baptismal font. Font, from the Latin fontes, means the source.
There’s no better day than today, the Sunday when the church recalls the baptism of the Lord, to get back to the source. I really should be delivering this sermon at the baptismal font.
The Heidelberg Catechism, one of our Presbyterian confessions, asks the right question: “How are you assured by Holy Baptism that the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to you?” Allow me to elaborate a bit. I think many Christians take some comfort from the teaching that God loves the whole world with all the people in it. I know that I do.
While they may not be as effusive as Tim Tebow, they would agree – and fervently believe – that Christ died for all. They think the grace of God is generalized. But the question is: when does it get specific – that is, specific to you and you alone? When does the grace that Christ died and rose to bring come to assure you specifically? When does the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ become advantageous not to Tom, Dick, Harry, Jill, Jane, Sally, or Tim Tebow, but to me?
Here is the answer The Heidelberg Catechism gives: “Christ appointed this external washing with water, adding this promise, that I am as certainly washed by His blood and Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water, by which the filthiness of the body is commonly washed away.” The Great Commission of Jesus is then brought in to support the answer: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Next up is Acts 2:38 where the apostle Peter says: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In Mark 16:16, Christ Himself says: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” The apostle Paul, in Romans 6, puts it as follows: “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” If those who haven’t been baptized really knew what the Sacrament of Baptism means, they’d be lining up for it!
The first epiphany of Jesus came by way of a star in the East. The magi followed it and found who they were looking for. The second epiphany of Jesus came at His baptism when the voice from declared our Lord to be God’s beloved Son.
Your baptism is the epiphany – the manifestation, the disclosure! – of Jesus for you. When everything in your mind, and in your heart, and in your soul, and in the world around you is screaming out that you are a nothing; when you’re young and you can’t find your place; when you’re old and wonder how much time you have left; when the powers that be try to convince you that you are little more than the sum total of your Social Security number and credit rating; when your life itself – with its past, present, and future – is something you can’t be sure of, then exercise the freedom Christ won for you. You can cry out with Martin Luther as he did in his Large Catechism: “Nevertheless, I am baptized.” Let hell itself send its worst at you! You can send it all packing with “Nevertheless, I am baptized.”
Thanks be to God for water, water everywhere! Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ! Thanks be to God for the baptism that brings the two together – for you, for me, for us all. We had best stay close to the water!
Amen.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
As The New Year Unfolds...
Text: Galatians 4:4-7
Theme: “As The New Year Unfolds…”
1st Sunday After Christmas/New Year’s Day
January 1, 2012
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.[b] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,[c] Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Over the last few days I had opportunity to drop by at my former place of employment. I did work for a number of years at Nasr Brothers Jewelers here in Denton, and, every now and again, I like to stop in and see how things are going in the world of high-priced rocks and metals. It’s no surprise that they sell watches there – or “timepieces”, as they’re called in the industry. Most of the timepieces on display have two things in common. First, they have what is called a Swiss movement. In the world of watches, the Swiss are the folks who know what they are doing. Secondly, the watches have a sapphire crystal. That means that it’s almost impossible to scratch the face. These watches run by battery, or, in the case of an automatic watch, they run by movement. If you have a swiss movement/sapphire crystal watch, you’ve got a quality product. What drives the price is the brand name (think Rolex) and also the “bling bling” that is added to the watch. Some have 18kt gold inlays in the band and on the face. Others have diamonds. The least expensive watch at the store runs around three hundred dollars. But then, for the ladies, there’s that diamond crusted Piaget evening watch. If you’ve got eighty thousand dollars lying around, it can be yours.
All but forgotten in the world of expensive watches is what they are built to do – that is, to tell us the time. Time is something that we can lose track of. When we’re going through a difficult period in our lives, time seems to go on forever. If we’re having a great day and things are going supremely well, it seems to be over in a flash. Why is that? Either way, we mark time; we live in time.
Late last week, on the 30th of December to be exact, my morning meditation spoke of marking time. In Psalm 90, Moses prayed to the Lord: “Teach us to number our days rightly, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Numbering our days means keeping track of time. I have a friend at the gym where I work out that will celebrate his 70th birthday in calendar year 2012. He is in incredible physical shape. He has the body of an 18 year old athlete. “Age,” he says, “is just a number.” He doesn’t pay attention to it.
But then again, it is a number. It’s something you count. You count the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, the years, the decades. It all adds up. You keep track of time. We take pictures to capture moments in time. We write journals to remind us what we did, or thought, at certain points in time.
Now our Lord has no need for a watch or a timepiece. We are told, in Scripture, that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Think about that one for awhile. Mary and Joseph, it seems, were keeping track of time. They had their eye on the calendar. It says in today’s Gospel that “When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him (meaning the baby Jesus) to the Lord.” There in the temple in they met a man named Simeon. He held the baby in his arms and exclaimed: “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace – according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Then we heard of a widow, Anna, who was eighty-four years of age, we are told. Eighty four years. As we reckon it, that’s a lot of time. She, filled with God’s praises, went on to spend time telling of Jesus to all who were looking forward to redemption.
We, too, spend time; measure time; keep track of time; quantify time. We have calendars and appointment books and smartphone apps to help with this. We even describe time – as in “quality time” or “wasted time”. Some of us punch a time card, or clock-in, or clock-out. In today’s sermon text, the apostle Paul speaks of the “fullness” of time. Our Lord didn’t just choose a random date out of a hat. Rather, says our reading, “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
In the time that we have had to live, we’ve all felt the pressure of the Law with its standards and its demands. To use the language of the reading, we’ve been enslaved by it. The standard that God demands is full obedience to that Law. 99.9% success won’t cut it. It won’t do to act like a broken watch and to claim, before God, that we at least get it right twice a day. All of us have fallen short of that standard and have disregarded the demands time and time again. The last thing we need is encouragement to try harder. Moral re-armament, no matter how good that might sound in this evil world, is not the solution to our predicament. Neither is the alternative of lying to ourselves and throwing all notions of right and wrong out the window and living only to please ourselves. If you live only to please yourself, you are a polytheist; you worship at the altar of your instincts.
Now, what we desperately need is what we cannot – in any way, shape, function, or form – do or get for ourselves. We need redemption. That’s the entire Bible in a nutshell, my friends; it’s one great, grand story of redemption! We need to be bought back. We need an end to our slavery in whatever form we name it, in whatever way we experience it. We need, as we mark time in the form of a new year, to know that we are dearly loved children of God.
That’s the starting point for the new year: not as a slave, but as a child. 2012, like all the years of time preceding it, will include, as Charles Dickens once wrote, “the best of times and the worst of times.” There will be highs; there will be lows. There will be deaths; there will be taxes; there will be births. There will be random acts of violence; there will be random acts of kindness. We will pay it backward – and thus serve ourselves. And we will pay it forward – and thus serve others. As we mark the time, as the year unfolds, we will have our moments of boredom. We’ll be challenged at other times. We may become sick; we might recover. We may become poorer; we may become wealthier.
At this precise point in time, the new year is just that: new! The next 365 days are shrouded in mystery. We can predict and prognosticate and speculate all we want. We can give our friends and acquaintances every good wish for the new year. We can set forth new year’s resolutions that we intend to spend time trying to keep. We can endeavor to keep our expectations low and our hopes high. We can do all of these things – and so much more! – in the year sprawled out in front of us.
But here’s the question, dear friends: are we going into this new year as a slave or as a child? As the new year unfolds, are we going to consider ourselves silly putty in the hands of fate, or as children held in the warm, strong, safe arms of a loving God? Are we going to give in to the counsels of arrogance and cynicism that continually try to sink their talons yet deeper into our society, or are we going to believe that good word from God we heard this morning that we have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts crying “Abba! Father!”?
Here is that heaven-sent beginning point – indeed, the foundation! – for our new year. No matter what happens, we are children of God with all the appertaining rights and privileges that come along with it. They can take a lot of things away from you and from me. But this they can’t take away: we are children of God. As a new year unfolds, take comfort in that.
And finally, we add a bonus. If we are children of God (and we are!), we are also heirs. Here on earth, some children can be written out of a parent’s will. But the child of God never can be written out of God’s will. You are an heir, a recipient, an inheritor of all God’s gracious gifts and promises. It’s all yours because God’s Son was born of a woman and born under the law to redeem you and make you not a slave but a child. And what joy it is this morning to receive our inheritance yet again at this table. Here Jesus gives us all of Himself; He gives the “trust fund”, if you will, of His body broken and His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
New Year’s Day, in the church year, is called “The Name Day of Christ.” I close with a bit of verse that mentions this:
The Name Day now of Christ we keep
Who for our sins did often weep
His hands and feet were wounded deep
and His blessed side with a spear.
His head they crowned with thorn
And at Him they did laugh and scorn
Who for our good was born
God send us a happy new year!
Amen.
Theme: “As The New Year Unfolds…”
1st Sunday After Christmas/New Year’s Day
January 1, 2012
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.[b] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,[c] Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Over the last few days I had opportunity to drop by at my former place of employment. I did work for a number of years at Nasr Brothers Jewelers here in Denton, and, every now and again, I like to stop in and see how things are going in the world of high-priced rocks and metals. It’s no surprise that they sell watches there – or “timepieces”, as they’re called in the industry. Most of the timepieces on display have two things in common. First, they have what is called a Swiss movement. In the world of watches, the Swiss are the folks who know what they are doing. Secondly, the watches have a sapphire crystal. That means that it’s almost impossible to scratch the face. These watches run by battery, or, in the case of an automatic watch, they run by movement. If you have a swiss movement/sapphire crystal watch, you’ve got a quality product. What drives the price is the brand name (think Rolex) and also the “bling bling” that is added to the watch. Some have 18kt gold inlays in the band and on the face. Others have diamonds. The least expensive watch at the store runs around three hundred dollars. But then, for the ladies, there’s that diamond crusted Piaget evening watch. If you’ve got eighty thousand dollars lying around, it can be yours.
All but forgotten in the world of expensive watches is what they are built to do – that is, to tell us the time. Time is something that we can lose track of. When we’re going through a difficult period in our lives, time seems to go on forever. If we’re having a great day and things are going supremely well, it seems to be over in a flash. Why is that? Either way, we mark time; we live in time.
Late last week, on the 30th of December to be exact, my morning meditation spoke of marking time. In Psalm 90, Moses prayed to the Lord: “Teach us to number our days rightly, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Numbering our days means keeping track of time. I have a friend at the gym where I work out that will celebrate his 70th birthday in calendar year 2012. He is in incredible physical shape. He has the body of an 18 year old athlete. “Age,” he says, “is just a number.” He doesn’t pay attention to it.
But then again, it is a number. It’s something you count. You count the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, the years, the decades. It all adds up. You keep track of time. We take pictures to capture moments in time. We write journals to remind us what we did, or thought, at certain points in time.
Now our Lord has no need for a watch or a timepiece. We are told, in Scripture, that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Think about that one for awhile. Mary and Joseph, it seems, were keeping track of time. They had their eye on the calendar. It says in today’s Gospel that “When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him (meaning the baby Jesus) to the Lord.” There in the temple in they met a man named Simeon. He held the baby in his arms and exclaimed: “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace – according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Then we heard of a widow, Anna, who was eighty-four years of age, we are told. Eighty four years. As we reckon it, that’s a lot of time. She, filled with God’s praises, went on to spend time telling of Jesus to all who were looking forward to redemption.
We, too, spend time; measure time; keep track of time; quantify time. We have calendars and appointment books and smartphone apps to help with this. We even describe time – as in “quality time” or “wasted time”. Some of us punch a time card, or clock-in, or clock-out. In today’s sermon text, the apostle Paul speaks of the “fullness” of time. Our Lord didn’t just choose a random date out of a hat. Rather, says our reading, “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
In the time that we have had to live, we’ve all felt the pressure of the Law with its standards and its demands. To use the language of the reading, we’ve been enslaved by it. The standard that God demands is full obedience to that Law. 99.9% success won’t cut it. It won’t do to act like a broken watch and to claim, before God, that we at least get it right twice a day. All of us have fallen short of that standard and have disregarded the demands time and time again. The last thing we need is encouragement to try harder. Moral re-armament, no matter how good that might sound in this evil world, is not the solution to our predicament. Neither is the alternative of lying to ourselves and throwing all notions of right and wrong out the window and living only to please ourselves. If you live only to please yourself, you are a polytheist; you worship at the altar of your instincts.
Now, what we desperately need is what we cannot – in any way, shape, function, or form – do or get for ourselves. We need redemption. That’s the entire Bible in a nutshell, my friends; it’s one great, grand story of redemption! We need to be bought back. We need an end to our slavery in whatever form we name it, in whatever way we experience it. We need, as we mark time in the form of a new year, to know that we are dearly loved children of God.
That’s the starting point for the new year: not as a slave, but as a child. 2012, like all the years of time preceding it, will include, as Charles Dickens once wrote, “the best of times and the worst of times.” There will be highs; there will be lows. There will be deaths; there will be taxes; there will be births. There will be random acts of violence; there will be random acts of kindness. We will pay it backward – and thus serve ourselves. And we will pay it forward – and thus serve others. As we mark the time, as the year unfolds, we will have our moments of boredom. We’ll be challenged at other times. We may become sick; we might recover. We may become poorer; we may become wealthier.
At this precise point in time, the new year is just that: new! The next 365 days are shrouded in mystery. We can predict and prognosticate and speculate all we want. We can give our friends and acquaintances every good wish for the new year. We can set forth new year’s resolutions that we intend to spend time trying to keep. We can endeavor to keep our expectations low and our hopes high. We can do all of these things – and so much more! – in the year sprawled out in front of us.
But here’s the question, dear friends: are we going into this new year as a slave or as a child? As the new year unfolds, are we going to consider ourselves silly putty in the hands of fate, or as children held in the warm, strong, safe arms of a loving God? Are we going to give in to the counsels of arrogance and cynicism that continually try to sink their talons yet deeper into our society, or are we going to believe that good word from God we heard this morning that we have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts crying “Abba! Father!”?
Here is that heaven-sent beginning point – indeed, the foundation! – for our new year. No matter what happens, we are children of God with all the appertaining rights and privileges that come along with it. They can take a lot of things away from you and from me. But this they can’t take away: we are children of God. As a new year unfolds, take comfort in that.
And finally, we add a bonus. If we are children of God (and we are!), we are also heirs. Here on earth, some children can be written out of a parent’s will. But the child of God never can be written out of God’s will. You are an heir, a recipient, an inheritor of all God’s gracious gifts and promises. It’s all yours because God’s Son was born of a woman and born under the law to redeem you and make you not a slave but a child. And what joy it is this morning to receive our inheritance yet again at this table. Here Jesus gives us all of Himself; He gives the “trust fund”, if you will, of His body broken and His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
New Year’s Day, in the church year, is called “The Name Day of Christ.” I close with a bit of verse that mentions this:
The Name Day now of Christ we keep
Who for our sins did often weep
His hands and feet were wounded deep
and His blessed side with a spear.
His head they crowned with thorn
And at Him they did laugh and scorn
Who for our good was born
God send us a happy new year!
Amen.
Incarnationally Yours!
Text: St. John 1:1-14
Theme: “Incarnationally Yours!”
The Nativity of Our Lord/Christmas Day
December 25, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Far away from Texas in the State of Vermont – specifically, the University of Vermont, a team of mathematicians have been involved in a fascinating little project over the last couple of years. They are doing scientific analysis of Twitter messages. They didn’t draw broad generalization from examining a few tweets here and there. Rather, they looked at over 4.6 billion of them. They assigned what they called “happiness grades” to more than 10,000 of the most common words used on Twitter. They crunched the numbers and put it all on a nice graph. The project revealed that, based on the sampling data (if you will), happiness is on a “downward slope”or, as they say, “trending” downward.
Another similar study examined yet more tweets. (By the way, tweets are limited to 140 alpha-numeric characters.) The results: Happiness really hit the skids when Michael Jackson died. Tweets weren’t very happy, either, on the day when the U.S. Government agreed to buy up toxic bank assets. Then, consider the various national disasters that gripped the world in 2010 and 2011. The collective tweeting was dismal; the cumulative attitude of countless twitterers was not good. I wonder about the tweets that may or may not have come from Nigeria where, as was reported this morning, two Christian churches were bombed. Still, the overall results did show that, based on this study of Twittering, happiness peaked on Christmas Day. A close second was Christmas Eve.
Obviously, what I bring to you is a message and not a tweet. Maybe some would rather have a Christmas “tweet sermon” particularly on a year when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. “Mom, do we HAVE TO go to church again today?” is likely a question asked in many homes this morning.
It would be hard to pack a belief, or a world-view, into 140 alpha-numeric characters. I won’t even try. I’m only too aware, though, that it can take way less than 140 words to hurt someone’s feelings very deeply, or, alternatively, to lift their spirits. Be that as it may, I do want to bring to your attention a very old but still very current belief system and view of the world on this Christmas morning. While adherents may not even be able to give it a name, they still hold to it. It’s called Gnosticism. The original proponents were called Gnostics. It was a strange yet interesting mix of religious concepts and philolophy. They held that gnosis, or “knowledge”, was like a spark that lay within every human being. This “spark” was the reality of life. God, or a higher power, or whatever you wanted to call it, was like this celestial ball of fire – the ultimate knowledge, if you will. It’s no surprise that in many American institutions of higher education, matters of learning and wisdom are symbolized by light, or the “lamp of learning”, etc. There’s a hint of Gnosticism in that.
Now the problem, as the Gnostics saw it, was that this spark inside of us was trapped. It was enslaved inside our bodies. Only when this spark, or light, or knowledge, or soul became disembodied, or set free, could it finally travel to its origin or destination – that is, back to God (if that’s what you wanted to call it), back to the origin, back to the ball of divine fire. What held humanity back, it was thought, was, ironically, humanity itself – to wit, our own flesh and blood. The problem with us, then, is simply that we’re human, and once we are freed from the prison house of our bodies, reality will finally be what it was – and is! – meant to be. The rationalization for a good deal of bad things in the world fits hand-in-glove with basic, Gnostic thought: “Ah, that’s just human nature.”
While Gnostic thinkers did their Gnostic thinking hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, the basic point was very much prevalent when Jesus was born. The problem with humanity, it was held, is that we are trapped in our own flesh and blood. Ultimate freedom is when we finally shed this mortal coil, and the spark can fly back to the fire.
Now the evangelist and apostle John, the author of today’s Holy Gospel reading, has given us an explanation – some have even referred to it as an interpretive poem – of the Christmas story. Parts of it, particularly beginning, would certainly have caught the attention of the Gnostics. It starts like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
“So far, so good,” our Gnostic friend might say – both then and now. “Sounds pretty good to me; we all have the divine light within us.” But then there comes a statement that the Gnostic would have no truck with. John declares that the “Word” – or, as it is also referred to, the “Light” – became “flesh and dwelt among us.” The implication was clear: it’s not just ONE light or A light. We’re talking about THE light, the ultimate ball of fire! It was coming into the world; and, more than that, becoming flesh.
John introduced the revolutionary thought that the problem is NOT that we’re human. The problem is NOT that we have flesh and blood. The problem is not that we are trapped in a body. Quite to the contrary, at the first Christmas the almighty honored our flesh; God honored what God had created. And God did so to such a degree that God became what God first created: real, live flesh and blood.
The problem with us is not that we’re human. The problem is that we are sinners. But the good news is this – and I’ll let John have the last Word:
To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Celebrate this day, for all its worth, as the child of God that you are!
Amen.
Theme: “Incarnationally Yours!”
The Nativity of Our Lord/Christmas Day
December 25, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Far away from Texas in the State of Vermont – specifically, the University of Vermont, a team of mathematicians have been involved in a fascinating little project over the last couple of years. They are doing scientific analysis of Twitter messages. They didn’t draw broad generalization from examining a few tweets here and there. Rather, they looked at over 4.6 billion of them. They assigned what they called “happiness grades” to more than 10,000 of the most common words used on Twitter. They crunched the numbers and put it all on a nice graph. The project revealed that, based on the sampling data (if you will), happiness is on a “downward slope”or, as they say, “trending” downward.
Another similar study examined yet more tweets. (By the way, tweets are limited to 140 alpha-numeric characters.) The results: Happiness really hit the skids when Michael Jackson died. Tweets weren’t very happy, either, on the day when the U.S. Government agreed to buy up toxic bank assets. Then, consider the various national disasters that gripped the world in 2010 and 2011. The collective tweeting was dismal; the cumulative attitude of countless twitterers was not good. I wonder about the tweets that may or may not have come from Nigeria where, as was reported this morning, two Christian churches were bombed. Still, the overall results did show that, based on this study of Twittering, happiness peaked on Christmas Day. A close second was Christmas Eve.
Obviously, what I bring to you is a message and not a tweet. Maybe some would rather have a Christmas “tweet sermon” particularly on a year when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. “Mom, do we HAVE TO go to church again today?” is likely a question asked in many homes this morning.
It would be hard to pack a belief, or a world-view, into 140 alpha-numeric characters. I won’t even try. I’m only too aware, though, that it can take way less than 140 words to hurt someone’s feelings very deeply, or, alternatively, to lift their spirits. Be that as it may, I do want to bring to your attention a very old but still very current belief system and view of the world on this Christmas morning. While adherents may not even be able to give it a name, they still hold to it. It’s called Gnosticism. The original proponents were called Gnostics. It was a strange yet interesting mix of religious concepts and philolophy. They held that gnosis, or “knowledge”, was like a spark that lay within every human being. This “spark” was the reality of life. God, or a higher power, or whatever you wanted to call it, was like this celestial ball of fire – the ultimate knowledge, if you will. It’s no surprise that in many American institutions of higher education, matters of learning and wisdom are symbolized by light, or the “lamp of learning”, etc. There’s a hint of Gnosticism in that.
Now the problem, as the Gnostics saw it, was that this spark inside of us was trapped. It was enslaved inside our bodies. Only when this spark, or light, or knowledge, or soul became disembodied, or set free, could it finally travel to its origin or destination – that is, back to God (if that’s what you wanted to call it), back to the origin, back to the ball of divine fire. What held humanity back, it was thought, was, ironically, humanity itself – to wit, our own flesh and blood. The problem with us, then, is simply that we’re human, and once we are freed from the prison house of our bodies, reality will finally be what it was – and is! – meant to be. The rationalization for a good deal of bad things in the world fits hand-in-glove with basic, Gnostic thought: “Ah, that’s just human nature.”
While Gnostic thinkers did their Gnostic thinking hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, the basic point was very much prevalent when Jesus was born. The problem with humanity, it was held, is that we are trapped in our own flesh and blood. Ultimate freedom is when we finally shed this mortal coil, and the spark can fly back to the fire.
Now the evangelist and apostle John, the author of today’s Holy Gospel reading, has given us an explanation – some have even referred to it as an interpretive poem – of the Christmas story. Parts of it, particularly beginning, would certainly have caught the attention of the Gnostics. It starts like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
“So far, so good,” our Gnostic friend might say – both then and now. “Sounds pretty good to me; we all have the divine light within us.” But then there comes a statement that the Gnostic would have no truck with. John declares that the “Word” – or, as it is also referred to, the “Light” – became “flesh and dwelt among us.” The implication was clear: it’s not just ONE light or A light. We’re talking about THE light, the ultimate ball of fire! It was coming into the world; and, more than that, becoming flesh.
John introduced the revolutionary thought that the problem is NOT that we’re human. The problem is NOT that we have flesh and blood. The problem is not that we are trapped in a body. Quite to the contrary, at the first Christmas the almighty honored our flesh; God honored what God had created. And God did so to such a degree that God became what God first created: real, live flesh and blood.
The problem with us is not that we’re human. The problem is that we are sinners. But the good news is this – and I’ll let John have the last Word:
To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Celebrate this day, for all its worth, as the child of God that you are!
Amen.
Christmas: The Meaning and The Experience
Text: St. Luke 2:1-20
Theme: “Christmas: The Meaning and The Experience”
The Nativity of Our Lord/Christmas Eve
December 24, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
A blessed and most Merry Christmas to all of you! Whether you’ve traveled hundreds of miles or just driven a few blocks; whether you’ve worshipped in this sanctuary for years, on only a few occasions, or if this is your first time, welcome one and all in the Name of Jesus Christ, our newborn Lord, Savior, Brother, and Friend.
No matter how beautiful the wrapping paper, no matter how lovely the bow, eventually it is time to open the present. That time is now, as we have come to hear the Christmas Gospel and, in minutes, receive, at the Lord’s Table, the gift of Christmas itself – even Jesus Christ the Lord.
The story of Christmas, as we’ve heard it once again in the familiar and best-loved words of Luke chapter two, speaks for itself. There’s something in it for everyone. For children, there’s a newborn baby. For mothers, there is Mary. For fathers, there is Joseph. For folks embroiled in politics and captivated by governmental affairs, there is the mention of Caesar Augustus and Quirinius of Syria. For workers who are now (hopefully!) getting some holiday time off, there are the shepherds. For families, you have the holy family itself: Mary, Joseph, and the baby. For you holiday travelers, the entire story reads like a travelogue. Yes, there is something for everyone.
But the question is: what does this mean? Would it surprise you to know that the Christian faith can be written down on a half-sheet of note paper? That’s what a professor and mentor of mine once suggested long ago, and he’s right. First, there is a God, one God. God created the world. God created human beings in God’s own image. God created us to live in a holy, blessed, joyful, happy fellowship with Hi
But something went dreadfully wrong – and we’ve been paying the price ever since. We’ve even been complicit with what went wrong. Basically, quoting the Bible, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Despite the advancements of the human race, regardless of humankind’s long march from the swamp to the stars, the fact is that the human condition, in view of the holiness of God, is in far worse shape than we could even begin to realize. If we sin – and the Bible makes no bones over the fact that we do (we are “born in sin” and daily sin in thought, word, and deed), we get a paycheck, a wage. The Bible says that “The wages of sin is death.” There is nothing more universal in the world than that. Even though our hearts our beating, our lungs are breathing, and our brain waves are registering, the message of Christianity, to begin with, is this: all of us are “dead in our trespasses and sins.”
But hold on to your pews, Christmas worshippers, because this is where it gets good, really good. There’s one part of the Christmas story we can’t relate to. We’re not the herald angels. They were, in a sense, the alien invaders we never saw coming. But they came not to destroy, not to commence the war of the worlds, but to announce. They announced exactly what sinners need: a Savior. “I bring you good tidings of a great joy that shall be for all the people: Unto you is born, this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord!”
This heaven-sent Savior didn’t just solve our problem by fiat or by executive order. The demands of God’s justice and holiness wouldn’t allow for that. So, as the Gospel goes on to declare, the Son of God lived a holy life in our place. He died the death, the ultimate death that we were destined to die, and, through it, He paid the price for our age-old alienation from God. Then, He rose from the grave and gave the world a triumph, and a hope, and a future that it, heretofore, had never known. The meaning of Christmas is that darkness has given way to light, sin has given way to grace, ultimate death has given way to never-ending life. We have a Savior; we have a new beginning; we have a new life to live and a message to proclaim!
So we’ve heard the story of Christmas. I’ve tried, as best I can, to explain the meaning. But now, what about the Christmas experience? Consider the viewpoint of Susan Less, a divorced mother of three who lives in New York City. To the extent that she’s able to do it, she doesn’t want the Christmas experience at all -- what with the lists, and gifts, and shopping, and partying, and the imposition of holiday expectations impossible to meet. She told a USA Today reporter: “No Christmas for me – no gifts, no turkey, no tree, no kidding.” The Christmas experience is too much for her. It has trumped the story and true meaning of Christmas, and she can’t take it. Many factors, including a bad economy, figured into her conscious decision to not “do” Christmas this year.
Oh, and there are other factors that influence how we experience Christmas. Allow an historical reference. There’s this Christmas song that many famous artists, beginning with Bing Crosby, have given their rendition of. It’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The lyrics are simple enough; they convey the desire and intent to be home for Christmas. But then come the last lines: “Christmas Eve will find me where the love-light gleams.” That sounds good but hold on for this: “I’ll be home for Christmas – if only in my dreams.” It ends on a sad and wistful note. But then we must remember that it was written in 1943, at the height of World War II, when countless Americans were separated from their homes because they were away defending the country.
On a personal note, I remember how powerful my first experiences of Christmas were. We’d go to church on Christmas Eve. While there, Santa would come. After church, we’d drive around looking at lights. Then we’d head home and open presents and eat a late dinner. As a youngster, this was what Christmas experience was all about. I thought that I could always count on it. I thought, mistakenly, that it would never end. But that experience did end, and I still, to this day, carry moments of grief for the Christmas experience that was and is no longer. But now I have new experiences, new traditions. As I grew older (and hopefully a bit more mature), it dawned on me that the “experience” of Christmas always changes.
But there are two things, to be sure, that do not change. First, the Christmas story itself; and second, the true meaning of the Christmas story itself. Look upon my right hand. Let it represent the Christmas story and its true meaning. Now look at my left hand. Let it represent your “experience” of Christmas this year. Whether it be Christmas past, present, or future, this one (left hand) will always change. But this one (right hand) will not.
My hope, for you and for me and for us all, is that tonight this will happen (clasp hands).
Be near us, Lord Jesus.
We ask Thee to stay
Close by us forever
And love us, we pray.
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care,
and take us to heaven to live with Thee there.
Amen.
Theme: “Christmas: The Meaning and The Experience”
The Nativity of Our Lord/Christmas Eve
December 24, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
A blessed and most Merry Christmas to all of you! Whether you’ve traveled hundreds of miles or just driven a few blocks; whether you’ve worshipped in this sanctuary for years, on only a few occasions, or if this is your first time, welcome one and all in the Name of Jesus Christ, our newborn Lord, Savior, Brother, and Friend.
No matter how beautiful the wrapping paper, no matter how lovely the bow, eventually it is time to open the present. That time is now, as we have come to hear the Christmas Gospel and, in minutes, receive, at the Lord’s Table, the gift of Christmas itself – even Jesus Christ the Lord.
The story of Christmas, as we’ve heard it once again in the familiar and best-loved words of Luke chapter two, speaks for itself. There’s something in it for everyone. For children, there’s a newborn baby. For mothers, there is Mary. For fathers, there is Joseph. For folks embroiled in politics and captivated by governmental affairs, there is the mention of Caesar Augustus and Quirinius of Syria. For workers who are now (hopefully!) getting some holiday time off, there are the shepherds. For families, you have the holy family itself: Mary, Joseph, and the baby. For you holiday travelers, the entire story reads like a travelogue. Yes, there is something for everyone.
But the question is: what does this mean? Would it surprise you to know that the Christian faith can be written down on a half-sheet of note paper? That’s what a professor and mentor of mine once suggested long ago, and he’s right. First, there is a God, one God. God created the world. God created human beings in God’s own image. God created us to live in a holy, blessed, joyful, happy fellowship with Hi
But something went dreadfully wrong – and we’ve been paying the price ever since. We’ve even been complicit with what went wrong. Basically, quoting the Bible, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Despite the advancements of the human race, regardless of humankind’s long march from the swamp to the stars, the fact is that the human condition, in view of the holiness of God, is in far worse shape than we could even begin to realize. If we sin – and the Bible makes no bones over the fact that we do (we are “born in sin” and daily sin in thought, word, and deed), we get a paycheck, a wage. The Bible says that “The wages of sin is death.” There is nothing more universal in the world than that. Even though our hearts our beating, our lungs are breathing, and our brain waves are registering, the message of Christianity, to begin with, is this: all of us are “dead in our trespasses and sins.”
But hold on to your pews, Christmas worshippers, because this is where it gets good, really good. There’s one part of the Christmas story we can’t relate to. We’re not the herald angels. They were, in a sense, the alien invaders we never saw coming. But they came not to destroy, not to commence the war of the worlds, but to announce. They announced exactly what sinners need: a Savior. “I bring you good tidings of a great joy that shall be for all the people: Unto you is born, this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord!”
This heaven-sent Savior didn’t just solve our problem by fiat or by executive order. The demands of God’s justice and holiness wouldn’t allow for that. So, as the Gospel goes on to declare, the Son of God lived a holy life in our place. He died the death, the ultimate death that we were destined to die, and, through it, He paid the price for our age-old alienation from God. Then, He rose from the grave and gave the world a triumph, and a hope, and a future that it, heretofore, had never known. The meaning of Christmas is that darkness has given way to light, sin has given way to grace, ultimate death has given way to never-ending life. We have a Savior; we have a new beginning; we have a new life to live and a message to proclaim!
So we’ve heard the story of Christmas. I’ve tried, as best I can, to explain the meaning. But now, what about the Christmas experience? Consider the viewpoint of Susan Less, a divorced mother of three who lives in New York City. To the extent that she’s able to do it, she doesn’t want the Christmas experience at all -- what with the lists, and gifts, and shopping, and partying, and the imposition of holiday expectations impossible to meet. She told a USA Today reporter: “No Christmas for me – no gifts, no turkey, no tree, no kidding.” The Christmas experience is too much for her. It has trumped the story and true meaning of Christmas, and she can’t take it. Many factors, including a bad economy, figured into her conscious decision to not “do” Christmas this year.
Oh, and there are other factors that influence how we experience Christmas. Allow an historical reference. There’s this Christmas song that many famous artists, beginning with Bing Crosby, have given their rendition of. It’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The lyrics are simple enough; they convey the desire and intent to be home for Christmas. But then come the last lines: “Christmas Eve will find me where the love-light gleams.” That sounds good but hold on for this: “I’ll be home for Christmas – if only in my dreams.” It ends on a sad and wistful note. But then we must remember that it was written in 1943, at the height of World War II, when countless Americans were separated from their homes because they were away defending the country.
On a personal note, I remember how powerful my first experiences of Christmas were. We’d go to church on Christmas Eve. While there, Santa would come. After church, we’d drive around looking at lights. Then we’d head home and open presents and eat a late dinner. As a youngster, this was what Christmas experience was all about. I thought that I could always count on it. I thought, mistakenly, that it would never end. But that experience did end, and I still, to this day, carry moments of grief for the Christmas experience that was and is no longer. But now I have new experiences, new traditions. As I grew older (and hopefully a bit more mature), it dawned on me that the “experience” of Christmas always changes.
But there are two things, to be sure, that do not change. First, the Christmas story itself; and second, the true meaning of the Christmas story itself. Look upon my right hand. Let it represent the Christmas story and its true meaning. Now look at my left hand. Let it represent your “experience” of Christmas this year. Whether it be Christmas past, present, or future, this one (left hand) will always change. But this one (right hand) will not.
My hope, for you and for me and for us all, is that tonight this will happen (clasp hands).
Be near us, Lord Jesus.
We ask Thee to stay
Close by us forever
And love us, we pray.
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care,
and take us to heaven to live with Thee there.
Amen.
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