Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, & John 1:1-18 on July 21st
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
Amen. Grace and mercy and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
So a boy was at the kitchen table coloring away and his mother asked, what are you drawing? And he said, God. And the mother said, well, you know, that's funny. Nobody's ever seen God. And the boy replied, well, that's because they haven't seen my picture yet.
Who has seen God? Who has a sense of who this God we worship today is? How do we know how that God feels about us? It's all really up to God and God's revelation. And that's why we are here celebrating Christmas in July. But God so loved the world not to leave us guessing, but to come to reveal who God is, how God's heart beats for us, how God thinks through righteousness and peace for all the earth.
We hear it every time we read scripture, we taste it when we gather at that meal when his very body and blood join us. We really do celebrate Christmas every day, don't we? Emanuel, God with us.
How do we see God? You know, I get a mailing every morning, kind of helps with morning devotions, because it tells me what's happening in the world. So this week in July 2024, there are politics. Just in case you didn't know that. And the politics can at times be ugly and devices and sadly violent. And so we take that to God in our prayers and we try to let God speak to us, how do we deal with this over the coming months so that we can honor God's righteousness and peace on earth?
Second thing, cyber outages. For all that we get to benefit from our technology, it is not perfect. Those of you worshiping online know that. If you see us today, it's a miracle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But watch where you put your faith in your trust. We are warned that God alone reigns and not artificial intelligence.
Ukraine. Be it Ukraine or the Middle East or the various places that come under attack, warfare, violence in the cities, all of that which seems to be the very opposite of what God intended when He created the world good.
Olympic security. That's a concern with the Olympics starting, but don't we all worry a little bit about security? When we send our children to schools, when we shop in supermarkets and shopping malls, when we gather for political rallies, are we safe?
Last thing. Climate. Climate. Climate. We wonder with the storms, we wonder with the heat. Again, this creation that God made good, given to us to be stewards, managers of the resources we have in the water, land, air. What are we doing to sustain the gift of creation and pass it on to the generations that follow?
When you have things like that, you begin to think, we need a little Christmas, write this very minute, camels in the windows, carols on the spin it, we need a little laughter, happy ever after, we need a little Christmas now. Please, please.
We need a little Christmas, do we use Christmas as an escape? Christmas in July is not just something being celebrated in churches this month. Christmas in July is becoming a trend. The pelicans are celebrating Christmas in July this week in the ballpark. Shopping is a big deal and those stores that find sales a little slow in the summertime are happy. We used to have sidewalk sales in July when I was a kid. Now it's Christmas in July because Christmas is so much bigger and we escape into those things.
We begin to think that somehow by having all of that fun was prime day fun? All of that fun, all of that spending, all of that energy just as we think romanticize our Christmas gatherings in December with family get-togethers and cards and gifts and decorations and lights. It just takes us away from the world. But that's how it Christmas is. Christmas isn't being taken out of the world. Christmas is coming into the world for God to love the world that He sent His only Son.
As some person put it before me, we have a down to earth God. We have a God willing to come in human flesh and live life as you and I know it. And if we can just take that in for a moment and realize that there really is nothing you and I feel that Jesus has an experience in His own life so that God has experienced it.
And then we think of Jesus who reveals God's heart and mind in His teachings and His healings in the way that He went out of His way to touch and include people that no one else would have included to welcome those that are held at arms length. To be Himself a refugee when Mary and Joseph had escaped with the baby and seek safety in a foreign land, the hospitality of the Egyptians until it was safe to return to their homeland.
So much of what happened in Jesus' life parallels what we see happening today that it's hard for you or for me to think we go through anything grief, betrayal, sadness, joy that Jesus has an experience. Read the gospels that's all there. And then in the teachings like that sermon on the mountain, I have read the sermon on the mountain. It's seemingly impossible to live up to what Jesus expects us to do and be in His holy name.
And yet my favorite Carol of Christmas or at least one of them is away in the manger. And when I look at that now, I see a way in the manger. Jesus provides a way for us, not only teaching, not only modeling, but giving us His Spirit to do things we could not do, to forgive. Not just the people we want to forgive because we've done something they have to forgive us, not just the ones that give us something in return, but the people that have really heard us and failed us. And we have to forgive them not once, not twice, not 70 times seven, but continually. How do we do that without the way of Jesus, the Spirit of Jesus calling us, guiding us, strengthening us? How do we do it when we have our resources and we are glad for the resources we have? But we're humble enough to know we're not God and that we don't use those resources somehow to power over somebody else.
I want to tell you this story. When I was a young mother, we gave our toddlers a Fisher Price Nativity set to go right along with their Fisher Price farm. It was wonderful to sit down with them and teach them the story of Joseph and Mary walking to Bethlehem, and there in the hay Jesus was born and lay, and the angels announced that he was born, and the shepherds came to bring him gifts, and later the wise men came, and I taught my sons the story, and I got them to repeat this line that the angels said, glory to God in the highest and peace to all people on earth. We went over it again and again and again until even a three-year-old could say it. And what did the angels say? Glory to God in the highest and peace to God's people on earth. I was so proud. And so when visitors would come, we'd get out the nativity, and I'd say, tell the story, tell the story, and the angel would say, glory to God in the highest. I said, yes, what else, Kyle? Come on, there's more. What is it? Glory to God in the highest, and I'll puff and I'll blow your house back. True story.
But doesn't it all make us think that when we glorify God in the highest, somehow we think we have God on our side, so that we can use God to huff and puff and blow away everyone else we think is not as godly as ourselves, to humbly receive God as a way and a manger, to humbly see in Jesus one who does not need our direction, to whom we go for direction. That is the Christmas story that we celebrate today.
And these gifts, these gifts that go out to families and youth and our greater community, they will be appreciated. I'm sure they will be used. I'm sure they will carry the love of God. I'm sure. But those receiving them may not know all of that. May not know yet that they are loved by a God no matter where they come from or where they are going. God is the good shepherd walking with them. And how are they to know that, except through us?
So as easy as it is for us to give our gifts to support them, we also have to be willing to support them with our fellowship. We have to allow everyone in God's flock to find home with us. That's what Jesus does. That's what John repeats over and over again in our gospel lesson. That God makes a home with us. God wants to dwell with us. God wants to stay with us. And if you look at the word, the word goes back to tabernacle. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was seen as where the presence of God resided. When Jesus makes a home with us, God resides in us. The presence of God comes through us. And then as we help others to make a home with us, they know God as well.
So how do we see God? At Christmas, we see God in Jesus. And by God's will, I see Jesus in you and in me. We like Mary, are the ones bearing Christ to the world. Friends, have a blessing Christmas this day of July and every day of the year. Amen.