God’s Dream
12.24.14 Christmas Eve Service; Pastor Douglas Scalise
Opening Prayer:
O God of love, you have brought us together tonight and blessed us with your very self and in so many other ways.
Open our eyes to the light of Christ which glows in the darkness of a world engulfed in violence, anger, misunderstanding, pain and loss; a world separated from you and far from your dream for humanity and all of your creation.
Speak to us now that we may hear the good news of your salvation available to all of us in the birth of your son Jesus.
Tonight we pray that you will bring us into the wonder of your presence.
Fill us with the light, love, and hope of Jesus Christ and inspire us to carry and share that light in our lives. Amen.
Christmas Eve, December 24, 2014
Luke 2:1-20, God’s Dream
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Audio only[powerpress]
Luke 2:8-20 (KJV), And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”
During the last four Sundays we’ve talked in worship about the dreams of different people; dreams of people in the Bible as well as our own. We noted that our lives don’t always turn out the way we dream or hope. When we look at the people in the Bible their dreams were pretty similar to ours. Isaiah dreamed of peace and an end to war. John the Baptist dreamed of people turning their lives around by turning to God for a fresh start before it was too late. Mary dreamed of God making things right in the world and Joseph was obedient to God’s message revealed in a dream, even if it seemed hard to believe.
All these dreams are smaller parts of God’s larger dream for the whole world expressed by the angels to the shepherds. God’s dream is Good news of great joy for all people. A Savior is born who is the anointed one, the chosen one, Christ the Lord. God’s dream does not unfold the way we might expect it to if we were running the world. The savior comes not in overwhelming strength but in the vulnerability of a child. The child comes not to the powerful but to the oppressed. The child is born in poor conditions, not surrounded by wealth, comfort or prestige. God’s message is not good news for people of one nation or race or political affiliation but for all people. God’s dream is peace and not war, love and not hate, compassion rather than condemnation, hope rather than fear. God’s dream is one of love and the message is that God is close to us and loves us and that we are connected to God and to each other.
Most of us associate gifts with Christmas and maybe you can recall a special gift or two that you’ve received at Christmas during your life. I want to tell you a story about one such gift. I’ve told this story on Christmas Eve once before, but I want to share it again this year because my dad is worshiping at BBC for the first time on Christmas Eve. The story begins more than 50 years ago when a couple named Tom and Doris Nelson lived in a section of greater Boston known as Jamaica Plain. Tom was a graduate of MIT and a smart, successful businessman and Doris was his loving and devoted wife. They were members of The Baptist Church in Brookline. They had two sons. Tom Jr. and then another boy Richard was born. Richard brought great joy to his parent’s lives. In the early 1950’s, Richard became ill and his parents took him to a hospital in Boston. Tragically, Richard was misdiagnosed and died when he was three years old, three days before Christmas.
A number of years passed and in 1960 the Baptist Church called a young pastor named Vic Scalise and his wife, Mary to begin their first ministry with them in Brookline. At the welcoming dinner, my mother was seated next to Tom Nelson and they hit it off. Because the Nelson’s were older than my parents, they looked on my mom and dad as parents look on their grown children. Doris had a serene, saintly looking face, Tom had a hardened face.
As the Nelson’s got to know my parents better they shared about the painful death of their young son almost a decade before. Mr. Nelson said to my dad, “A businessman makes a mistake and it costs $25,000, when a doctor makes a mistake it changes your life.”
When I was born, my dad says, I was like the apple of Tom Nelson’s eye. He took a great interest in me. He read to me, loved being with me, in a sense, I was like Richard re-born, the boy that he lost. Mr. Nelson was like another grandfather for my sisters and me. He enjoyed coming to the house and playing with us – especially building with blocks and Legos. On Christmas morning 1968 my sisters and I had looked through our stockings, woken up our parents, and come down stairs where we gathered in the living room. We read the Christmas story from Luke 2, sang a song, and then began to open presents while my dad used his movie camera to film the proceedings. While we were doing this, the doorbell rang. I can remember going to look through the windows next to our front door and seeing the Nelson’s on our stairs, with several wrapped presents in their arms. Mr. Nelson was carrying a particular long, rather large present.
We said, “Merry Christmas!” and welcomed them into our home and they joined us in the living room. As my father started filming again Mr. Nelson placed the large present on the floor and looked at me with moist eyes and said, “This is for you.” I tore the wrapping off and saw the biggest, heaviest, and most amazing fire truck I had ever seen.
What I did not know at the time was that I was not the intended recipient of the fire truck. Mr. Nelson had bought the fire truck and Mrs. Nelson had wrapped it many years before for their son Richard. When Richard died, they had kept this prize Christmas present in the attic still wrapped for 17 years.
I had no way of knowing as a 4-year-old all that was taking place. I just knew I had a wonderful fire truck which I would play with for many years. But for my parents and the Nelson’s it was a very significant event and as I got older my appreciation for the significance of the gift and what it represented grew.
The Nelsons stayed very close to my parents for the rest of their lives. They were always great to my family. Mr. Nelson was instrumental in encouraging the church to help my parents buy their first house. They rented the cottage just down from ours in Maine for seven years when we were growing up. The Nelson’s died in the 1990’s but every time I see the fire truck, I think of them and remember the loss of their child at Christmas, the gift they gave me, and what it represents. The love of parents for a child, the healing that can come from letting go of our hurt and giving to someone else out of our pain. It represents the possibility of new life that come in the midst of darkness.
The image of a fire truck is a very appropriate one for Christmas and not just because it is red. A fire truck is used to rescue, to provide deliverance, for salvation from danger. Firefighters risk their lives going into places when others
are trying to escape.
At Christmas we remember Jesus came to earth to rescue us from our sins and mistakes, he came to deliver us from the power of death, and he is our hope and salvation. He left his heavenly home to come to earth to face trials, tests, and temptations, even to risk and give his life that we might be saved.
Every year the Christmas Story reminds us that God has drawn close to us through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he broke down barriers that separated people from God and each other. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “… in Christ God was reconciling the word to himself…and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” (2 Cor. 5:19).
In the Christmas movie Home Alone there’s a scene about reconciliation that takes place in church. Little Kevin McCallister is scared of Old Man Marley who lives next door because of things his oldest brother told him about his neighbor. Kevin, of course, has been left home alone by his family who didn’t realize he was missing until they were on a plane on the way to France. On Christmas Eve, Kevin walks into church and is surprised and afraid when he sees Old Man Marley who gets up and walks over to him. (Video clip from Home Alone – Scene 15, The Real Old Man Marley).
Thankfully, things work out well both for Kevin and Mr. Marley. Kevin outsmarts the crooks and his family returns to him. The movie ends with a beautiful scene of reconciliation as Old Man Marley welcomes his son, daughter-in-law and his granddaughter with hugs as they arrive at his home. It still gets me every time because it reflects God’s dream for Christmas: love, reconciliation, and hope for us as individuals and for the human race. I pray it would be so for those of us who need it in our families.
100 years ago, Europe was engaged in the first months of what would be known as The Great War or eventually World War One. One hundred years ago, in 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of Christmas celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies. On Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing. At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man’s land between the lines. The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured. During World War I, the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destroy the Christmas spirit.
For the last one hundred years, there have been wars great and small raging in different parts of the world. Humanity has still failed to grasp and pursue God’s dream for us with the same passion as Christmas shoppers looking for bargains. Looking back, 1968, the year I received the gift of the fire truck when I was four-years-old; was a very difficult year. In the Vietnam War the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive which was the beginning of the end for US involvement in that war. On April 4, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. On the night King was assassinated, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy arrived in Indianapolis on a campaign stop. Upon hearing the news, Kennedy informed a crowd of listeners about King’s death. They reacted with gasps and cries. Kennedy urged the crowd against bitterness, hatred or revenge. He called on them to embrace King’s message of love, wisdom and compassion toward one another. Two months later on June 5, he was shot and died in Los Angeles, CA. Many of the events of 1968 reflected the worst of humanity and a small view of life ; we often think in terms of those who are like us and have similar perspectives. We think in terms of colors of skin, differences of language, culture, history, even religion. Thankfully, at the end of 1968, one cool, redeeming thing happened.
On Christmas Eve, three astronauts circled the moon 10 times. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman became the first human beings to travel to the moon. As Apollo 8 emerged from the mysterious dark side of the moon before heading back to Earth, a relieved Lovell announced to the world, “Houston, please be informed there is a Santa Claus.” Launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Apollo 8 was a mission of firsts:
The first time the lunar surface was broadcast on live television
The first time humans had traveled to the far side of the moon
The first photos of Earth taken from deep space by humans. I think God’s perspective on things is a little different and a little larger than our own, a little more like this (showed photo). This photo was taken by the astronauts of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968 and it shows the beautiful blue orb of the earth in the blackness of space.
Almost 50 years after 1968, 2014 was also a very difficult year – the world is still plagued by war, violence, and division as we know all too well. In light of the tragic headlines from the past year, it’s easy to lose hope and, at worst, become fatalistic and cynical. Thankfully once again at Christmas the angels come and sing an alternative song of peace, love, and good will which is for all people. Once again we’re reminded of God’s love for us and the Lord’s desire to be close to us and the beautiful photo of the earth rising reminds us it’s a small, small world and it’s the only one we’ve got so we’ve got to do our best.
On November 27, 1967, Stevie Wonder released a song that turned out to be quite prophetic considering how 1968 turned out. The song was Someday at Christmas and it includes the lyrics:
Someday at Christmas men won’t be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are free
Someday at Christmas there’ll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life’s really worth
There’ll be peace on earth
Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime
Someday at Christmas we’ll see a land
With no hungry children, no empty hand
One happy morning people will share
Our world where people care
Someday at Christmas there’ll be no tears
All men are equal and no men have fears
One shining moment, one prayer away
From our world today
Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime
Someday at Christmas man will not fail
Hate will be gone and love will prevail
Someday a new world that we can start
With hope in every heart
Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime
Someday at Christmastime
Let’s Pray:
A Christmas Prayer for Loved Ones
For those who have an abundance of love, a bounty in heart and home, keep them mindful of the world’s poor, lift their voices often to you in gratitude, loving God.
For those who carry hurts and angers and other heartaches, help them to feel the peace which only you can give and the grace to let go of long burdening memories.
For those who struggle with the lack of this world’s riches, those who know what unemployment and empty pockets feel like, gift them with a counting of blessings which are often hidden and far more valuable than earthly treasure.
For those whose faith has grown dim and whose sense of you seems far away, raise in their hearts a great yearning for you that will not cease and a desire for the truth that cannot be ignored.
For those who are tired, weary, worn from a constant generous giving of their lives in love, be their energy and enthusiasm, be a great and deep spark of light and happiness within them.
For those who grieve the goodbye of a loved one and whose hearts are very lonely this time of year, touch them with dear memories and transform the inner missing and heartache into a vision of what lies far beyond this time and space.
For those whose lives speak of growing old, bless again and again with peace and serenity, let them know what gentle witnesses they are to all of us who still ponder the meaning of life and growth.
And finally, savior God, for those with young eyes, keep their hearts full of wonder, & thank you for slipping some of their delight and simplicity into our own hearts each time we celebrate the joy of Christmas. Amen
Blessing: May the church be a stable
Where Jesus is born into our life together,
Where love overcomes fear,
Where hope overcomes uncertainty,
Where faith in the Presence of God overcomes suffering and loss.
May this Christmas be a new birth of Christ in us and May God bless us all, Every One!