Creekside Church Sermon of December 24, 2000 Christmas Eve "Socks, Underwear, Handkerchiefs, and Jesus" Luke 2: 1-14	Rev. David Bibbee
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It is very difficult for a young boy to feign enthusiasm for such gifts. "Thank you very much for the underwear, Grandma." Receiving something odd or that you wouldn't use in a million years takes theatrical skill. "Oh my... would you look at this," or "This is sooooooo different," or "I never imagined I would get anything like this," or "You shouldn't have," and that's exactly what we mean. Once in Israel the people knew what they wanted. They wanted deliverance from Roman oppression, but God did not give them Norman Schwartzkopf. They wanted their religious leaders to give encouraging, uplifting sermons, and to offer coping skills to adjust to their sad situation, but they didn't get Robert Schuller. What they and we got instead was the incarnate word. God made a tiny flesh and blood ball of himself and dropped in on us unexpectedly. As our choirs beautifully announced, "Unto us a child is born. To us a son is given." Tonight even churches that are stingy with praise can't help but express all out joy over the wondrous gift of Jesus.

But to those who first received the announcement, the response was not overwhelmingly favorable. The angel's announcement did not sound like good news for Mary and Joseph. Unlike today, being unwed and pregnant was a big deal. You can almost hear Mary and Joseph saying, "This is God's idea of a gift?" Paranoid King Herod didn't exactly shout for joy over Jesus' birth. When the shepherds reported what they had seen and heard concerning the child, Luke says, "Everyone wondered at what the shepherds told them."

Tonight it would do us good to remember that the gift we received in Jesus was not what we expected or even wanted. Andrew Blackwood Jr. expressed this poignantly in a poem:

Jesus, what have you done to us? We wanted a pet kitten and you turned into a tiger.
We liked you the way you were, why couldn't you leave us alone?

We wanted you to show up when we wanted you to make us feel good.
We wanted a pretty church for weddings and baptisms and funerals.
We wanted the cute Easter Bunny hopping around the lawn.
We thought religion is good for the kitties.

Now all of a sudden you tell us to love our enemies.
Do you know what will happen if we do?
They will nail our hide to the wall and what will we do then, keep on praying for them?

We liked you when you were a little boy-gentle, meek and mild, Cooing in your cradle-
All those nice shepherds and angels, and we felt just awful about King Herod.

Look at all we did for you. We made a national holiday in your honor.
We built big industries around it-Christmas cards, toy guns for the kiddies, and all those fancy gift wrapped whiskey bottles.

We built pretty churches in your honor-stained glass, organs, the works.

Look at all we've done for you, Jesus.
Why can't you leave us alone?
We've got enough troubles now,
Why do you keep poking us in the conscience?
What do you want, our hearts?

Jesus wasn't what we had in mind. When he grew up and poked holes in our priorities and tried to pry our fingers from all our securities save God; when he called us to be out of step with the world and be different like him, we were positive he wasn't what we had in mind. But he is what our loving God had in mind for us.

We all have had things happen which were unexpected, unbidden, and unwanted... things which at first were burdens, yet in time became blessings instead. An event, a trauma or some sickness turns your world upside down. At that moment if someone said, "What a wonderful gift you have been given!" You probably would slap them. But God's grace is an astonishing thing. From burdens we discover strength we never knew we had. We see what really matters in life. Our capacity to love grows. We become new people.

Many of you have experienced this, and God is trying to get many more of us to see his gift in situations which feel far from gifted. Tomorrow I may unwrap a package and find a pair of socks, underwear or handkerchiefs with an embroidered letter "D" on them. And as I thank the giver, I hope I will be conscious of the Great Giver who unexpectedly responded to our deepest longing with a savior who turned the world upside down.

And may this Christmas be merry because God, out of infinite love, has given us what we did not expect, but surely need. May we all set our hearts on his highest gift, the savior who is Christ the Lord.

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