Christmas Thoughts 2008 Matthew1:18-23 12-14-08

Christmas Thoughts Matthew1:18-23 12-14-08

18this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the Prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a sone, and they will call him Immanuea" - which means "God with us.

These may be the most important words that I say this year.

They will call him...God with us
No God far away from us...not in a stained glass window...Here close by, touching

People need touch, We hold a baby, a pet, a cat, a dog, a person.
Appropriate thought his a holdy gift.

Where is God? Close or far away
We sometimes speak of the dark night of the soul
We pray and say that the heaven's are brass
Is it possible that he is right here with us and we are missing him...

Anthony de Mello, known around the world for his ability to "teach people to pray," warns us that while we are searching wildly for the 'great experience of God" there are a host of rich experiences of God that are passing us by. "One needs to do very little, really, to experience God. All one needs to do is quiet oneself, become still - and become aware of the feeling of your hand. Be aware of the sensations in your hand.

What do you do with your hands? What doyou think about them?
I write, I draw, I throw a ball, I clean, I pray
Bones, muscles and nerves, all working together to accomplish amazing things
A miracle of God, here at our fngertips
The amazing God living and working in you, touching you, intensely near you...

De Mello laughs when he talks about this exersize. Most people think this is a little silly. Feeling their hand and finding God. "They are like the Jews who were straining their eyes toward the future in expectation of a glorious, sendational Messiah, while all along the Messiah was beside them in the form of a man called Jesus of Nazareth...You wish to see God? Look at the face of the man next to you. You want to hear him? Listen to the cry of a baby, the loud laughter at a party, the wind rustling in the trees. You want to feel him? Stretch your hand out and hold someone"

God with us...People touching people...

Senses...What we see, we see. What we hear we hear. What we say, we say, but when we touch someone, we are touched. Something of our souls touches the other person.

Sometime when people are hurting, they don't want answers, they aren't ready for advice. They just want to be held.

Donna Swanson wrote a poem, "Minnie Remembers" Minnie is an elderly woman, in the peon she is saying: "How long has it been since someone touched me/Twenty years?/twenty years I've been a widow./Respected/Smiled at/but never touched/Never held so close that loneliness/was blotted out."

A frustrated woman in a counceling session finally blurted out: "All I want from my husband is not much more than my god wants from him. When my husband comes home, our dog barks and runs to him, waiting for three things to happen: first, a kind look; second, a friendly word; and third, a loving touch."

She summarized: "A look, a word, a touch; that's all I really want in this relationship.

touch...in seminary we were taught that when you go to someone's home for a visit, if the kids and the pets like you, all is well, and if they don't...the people will look for another church.

We have the most obnoxious dog at out house...yet, a few brave souls have learned to reach out and heal him.

Whoever wants life must go softly toward life, softly as one would go toward a deer and a fawn that were nestling under a tree. One gesture of violence, one violent assertion of self-will, and life is gone...But the quietness, with a abandon of self-assertion and a fullness of the deep, true self, one can approach another human being and know the delicate best of life, the touch.

Is our ability to need with God, connected to our neighbor? Matthew25

31When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on this throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.


34"then the King will say to thoses on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and your gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes an dyou clothed me, I ws sick and you looked after ne, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The king will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I was speaking with a freind the other night about our best moments.
Our best moments are not when we are doing something ourselves.
Our best moments are when we are doing for others.
What is more important the $20 you spend on yourself, or the $20 you give to another?
We are most fully alive when we are helping another in the name of Jesus Christ.

The Messiah in disguise
High in the mountains was a monastery that had once been known throughout the world. Its monks were pious, its students were enthusiatic. The chants from the monastery's chapel deeply touched the hearts of people who cam there to pray and meditate.

But, something had changed. Fewer and fewer young men came to study there; fewer and fewer people came for spiritual nourishment. The monks who remained became disheartened and sad.

Deeply worried, the abbot of the monastery went off in search of an answer. What had his monastery fallen on such hard times? The abbot came to a guru, and he asked the master, "Is it because of some sin of ours that the monastery is no longer full of vitality?"

"Yes," replied the master,"it is the sin of ignorance."
"The sin of ignorance?" questioned the abbot. "Of what are we ignorant?"

The guru looked at the abbot for a long time, and then he said, "One of you is the Messiah in disguise. But, you are all ignorant of thie." Then, the guru closed his eyes, and he was silent.

"The messiah?" thought the abbot. "the messiah is one of us? Who could it be? Could it be Brother Cook? Could it be Brother Treasurer? Could it be Brother Bell-Ringer? Could it be Brother Vegetalbe Grower?"

"Which one? Which one? Every one of us has faults, failings, human defects. Isn't the messiah suppose to be perfect? But, then, perhaps these faults and failings are part of his disguise. Which one? Which one?"

When the abbot returned to the monastery, he gathered all the monks together and told them what the guru had said.

"One of us? The messiah? Impossible?" But, the master had spoken, and the master was never wrong.

"One of us? The messiah? Incredible! But, it must be so. which one? Which one? That brother over there? That one? That one?" Whichever one of the monks was the messiah, he was , surely, in disguise.

Not knowing who amongst then was the messiah, all the monks began treating each other with new respect. "You never know" the thought, "he might be theone, so I had better deal with him kindly."

It was not long before the monastry was filled with new found joy. Soon, new students came to learn, and people came from far and wide to be inspired by the chants of the kind, smiling monks.

for once again, the monastery was filled with the spirit of love.

In you eyes, the eyes of Christ,
In your smile, the smile of Christ,
In your heart, the love of Christ,
In your touch, the touch of Christ.

God with us. Here today, right in our midst...

conclusion
At Christmas, heaven touches earth. God touches man and woman.
It all becomes personal, Jesus is with us
There is a baby to hold
A savior to hug
A healing hand that will reach out and make us whole

God is with us.
Peace on earth, good will to men and women.