Rev. David Holwick Christmas Eve 1997
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
Christmas Eve, 1997
Luke 2:25-32
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I. Emotions run high at Christmas.
A. Kids are hyper.
1) Josiah, 7, hovering - "What are you and mom talking about?"
"Christmas presents. Now go away."
(Disappears into kitchen.
Ten minutes later he reappears.)
"You guys weren't talking about presents!
You were talking about church stuff!"
B. Parents are pooped.
1) Presents are done, cards are sent.
II. What makes it all worthwhile.
A. Positive feedback makes extra work of Christmas bearable.
1) Meaningful "thanks" is appreciated.
2) Affirmation by close friends in cards.
a) Celeste wrote to some she hasn't seen since high school.
B. We need to know we are loved and appreciated, especially
after all the hard work.
1) No one likes to be taken for granted.
III. Mary experienced affirmation at Christmas.
A. Messages from shepherds, angels, wise men.
1) Wonderful, but confusing. What did it all mean?
2) We have Christmas so nicely packaged we fail to see how
jumbled it would have seemed to Mary.
a) Half wanted to worship her son.
b) Half wanted to kill him.
B. Prophet Simeon's message was especially powerful.
1) Her son would bring their nation back to God.
2) And not just Jews, but all nations.
C. After all the pain and struggle, it must have been gratifying.
IV. God is in the affirming business.
A. God understands the importance of saying, "Good job!"
1) Voice at baptism of Jesus, and transfiguration:
"With you I am well-pleased."
2) When the world turned against him, this was reassuring.
B. All of us want to be affirmed by God.
1) Pleasing the ultimate Parent.
2) But God doesn't announce grand prizes: "The most spiritual
person in Ledgewood this year is..."
3) Instead, he speaks to our hearts.
Mary Ann Bird grew up knowing she was different, and she
hated it.
She was born with a cleft palate.
When she started school, her classmates made it clear to her
how she looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen
lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.
When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" she'd
tell them she'd fallen and cut it on a piece of glass.
Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an
accident than to have been born different.
She was convinced that no one outside my family could love
her.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom
everyone adored -- Mrs. Leonard by name.
She was short, round, happy -- a sparkling lady.
Every year Mrs. Leonard gave a hearing test to everyone in
the class, and finally it was Mary Ann's turn.
She knew from past years that as they stood against the door
and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk
would whisper something.
They were supposed to repeat it back -- things like "The sky
is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?"
Mary Ann waited there for those words that God must have put
into Mrs. Leonard's mouth, those seven words that changed
her life.
Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper,
"I wish you were my little girl."
God says to every person deformed by sin, "I wish you were
my son" or "I wish you were my daughter."
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V. Affirmation is a two-way street.
A. God wants us to appreciate him.
1) "Worship" is the traditional way we do this.
2) Appropriate to thank him for his blessings and guidance.
3) Also thank him for who he is, and that he reaches out to us.
B. He is pleased you took time out of a busy holiday to come to
church to worship him.
C. Does your affirmation of God go any deeper?
1) He doesn't even get credit in yard light displays.
2) God wants our heart, mind, and souls.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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