Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(elca)

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The Word Became Flesh

Pastor: 
Pr. John Gerike
Christmas Day: “The Word Became Flesh”
December 25, 2011
10:00 am
 
 
A couple minutes ago
            we sang:
                        “O Little Town of Bethlehem”.
            But we didn’t sing the last verse.
                        The last verse goes like this:
 
O holy child of Bethlehem,
            descend to us e pray;
 cast out our sin, and enter in,
            be born in us today.
 We hear the Christmas angels
            the great glad tidings tell;
                        (do you remember the last line)
 oh, come to us, abide with us,
            our Lord Immanuel!
 
 
Immanuel.
            God with us.
 
That love did not stay at a distance.
            God—love—
                        --the Word—Jesus—
                                    --became flesh and lived among us.
 
Oh, come to us, abide with us,
            our Lord Immanuel!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The last time
            Christmas was on a Sunday,
                        I told a story
                                    about Grandma Ruby.
 
 
Grandma Ruby was now in her 90’s.
            And she was finding that buying presents
                        for her family and friends
                                    was getting to be a bit much.
            So this year,
                        she decided to write out checks
                                    for all of them
                                                to put in their Christmas cards.
            In each card,
                        she carefully wrote,
                                    “Buy your own present.”
                        And then she sent them off.
 
 
After the Christmas festivities were over,
            she was cleaning off her desk,
                        and there she found—
                                    --you know what?—
                                                --all the checks.
            So everyone on her gift list had received
                        a beautiful card from her
                                    with no check—
            --just a note that said:
                        “Buy your own present.”
 
 
It’s a season of surprises.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Surprises.
            Like the little boy in the church Christmas play.
                        And when it came time for him to say his line,
                                    he went blank.
                                                Couldn’t remember a thing.
 
His mom was in the front row.
            And she tried to prompt him.
                        She said:
                                    “I am the light of the world.”
            He leaned closer to hear.
                        She said again:
                                    “I am the light of the world.”
 
 
So, always trusting his mother,
            he spoke out with confidence,
                        and in a clear, strong voice he said:
            “My mother is the light of the world.”
 
 
Surprises.
 
 
 
But no surprise is so amazing
            as the wonderful news we celebrate today—
                                    --that came live to live with us
                                    --to become flesh and dwell with us
                                    --to be born a baby
                                    --the baby Jesus.
            Immanuel.
                        God with us.
 
 
Oh, come to us,
            abide with us,
                        our Lord Immanuel!
 
 
What an amazing and wonderful gift
            that God would come to us—
                        --come to us as a baby.
            It’s not what you’d expect.
                        It’s a wonderful, amazing,
                                    miraculous surprise.
 
 
When we hear the Christmas story from Luke,
            we hear about the angels and shepherds,
                        and Joseph and Mary,
                                    and no room at the inn,
                                                and a baby in swaddling clothes,
                                                            lying in a manger.
 
 
But the Gospel reading we just heard
            was from John.
 As Biblical scholar Brian Stoffregen says,
                        John’s Christmas story
                                    would be more difficult to do in a children’s program.
            There is no baby lying in a manger.
                        There are no parents traveling to Bethlehem.
                                    There are no angels or shepherds.
                                                There is no star or wise men.
            It’s not that those things didn’t happen.
                        It’s just not John’s focus.
                                    John doesn’t give much of a historical account of Christmas.
 
Instead, he gives a confession of fath.
            About God coming and living among us
 
And what is central to John?
            What is central to John is that,
                        in the mystery of the Word, Jesus,
                                    God has come to live among us.
 
 
In the beginning was the Word,
            and the Word was with God,
                                    and the Word was God.
            And the Word became flesh
                                    and lived among us.
 
 
 
Lived with us.
            And lives with us.
                        Today.
                        Tomorrow.
                        Forever.
 
 
Oh come to us,
            abide with us,
                        our Lord, Immanuel.
 
 
As Paul wrote to the Philippians:
 
Christ Jesus,
            who, though he was in the form of God,
                        did not regard equality with God
                                    as something to be exploited,
            but emptied himself,
                        taking the form of a slave,
                                    being born in human likeness.
            And being found in human form,
                        he humbled himself,
                                    and became obedient to the point of death—
                                                --even death on the cross.
 
 
Why would Jesus do that?
            Why would he came to live among us?
                        And even die for you and for me?
            Is it possible that he loves you and me that much?
 
 
 
 
 
There’s a classic story by Louis Cassels.
            I’m pretty sure I heard my dad use it in a sermon
                        when I was little.
            And I’ve heard others tell it.
                        And I’ve told it through the years.
 
It’s a story about a man
            who was having real doubts about his faith.
 Why would God become human
            and come to live with us?
 He couldn’t understand it.
            He found it too much to believe.
 
And so, this Christmas,
            he stayed home
                        while the rest of the family went to church.
 
Not long after the family drove away,
            snow began to fall.
 He sat down by the fire and began to read.
            Minutes later,
                        he was startled by a thudding sound.
                                    Then another.
                                                And again—another.
            At first he thought someone
                        might be throwing snowballs against his living room window.
 
But when we went to the front door to check it out,
            he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow.
 They’d been caught in the storm and,
                        in a desperate search for shelter,
                                    had tried to fly through his large picture window.
            What could he do to help these birds?
                        He had an idea.
                                    The barn.
                        That would provide a warm shelter for the birds.
                                    If he could just get the birds to fly in.
 
Quickly,
            he put on his coat and boots,
                        tramped out to the barn,
                                    threw the doors wide open
                                                and turned on a light.
            But the birds wouldn’t come in.
 
So he hurried back to the house,
            got some bread crumbs,
                        sprinkled them on the snow,
                                    making a trail to the wide-open door of the barn.
            But the birds ignored the bread crumbs.
 
He tried catching them.
            He tried shooing them.
                        He ran around them, waving his arms.
            Nothing.
                        He couldn’t get them to the safety of the barn.
 
 
He figured they were scared of him.
            If only he could think of a way he could get them to trust him.
                        But how?
                                    How?
 
 
“If only I could be a bird,”
            he thought to himself,
                        “and be among them,
                                    and speak their language.
                         Then I could show them the way.
                                    But I would have to be one of them
                                                so they could see, and hear, and understand.”
 
 
At that moment,
            the church bells began to ring.
 The sound reached his ears
            above the sound of the wind.
                        And he stood there listening to the bells of Christmas.
 
 
And all of sudden,
                        he saw it.
            Christmas.
                        When Jesus came to be one of us.
                                    To become flesh and dwell among us—
                                                --because he loves us.
 
 
And he sank to his knees in the snow.
 
 
Oh come to us.
            Abide with us.
                        Our Lord, Immanuel!
 
 
 
And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
            and we have seen his glory,
                        the glory as of a father’s only son,
                                    full of grace and truth.
 
 
Listen—
            --as our family sings—
                        --“Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”.
 
 
In Jesus’ name,
            Amen