Good evening boys and girls –
Excited for Christmas?!
Anybody having a party – getting together with family to
celebrate Christmas?
So let me ask you a question – WHAT is the BIG DEAL about
Christmas? Why the party?
Jesus is born – right.
It’s Jesus’ birthday party –
exactly. So when you get home, make sure
everybody in your family, your moms, dads, brothers and sisters – make
everybody sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Will you do that?
But let me ask you this – why do we celebrate Jesus’
birthday anyways? Who is this Jesus
dude?
The Son of God. The
Savior. He is God. All great answers.
Let me explain it a little bit – has anybody here ever been
lost? Maybe at an amusement park, or
the zoo or at the mall – you got separated from your parents and were lost?
How’d that feel?
Pretty scary, huh?
You see, everybody gets lost at times. Even grown-ups. My wife and I were out hiking up in the
mountains a couple years ago and missed a turn in the trail and got lost after
dark. We couldn’t find our way, and even
our cell phone wasn’t working – let me tell you we were REALLY SCARED. We were hoping the park ranger would come
looking for us, but nobody knew we were out there in the woods.
And sometimes it’s a different kind of lost – we lose our
way, we do things we aren’t supposed to do, we do stuff that we know God
doesn’t want us to. And sometimes we
feel hurt, or lonely, or abandoned.
Now God knows all of this – God is always watching us – not
to catch us doing something wrong but because God loves us and cares for us and
wants to help us. You see, God didn’t
just make you and me and then go tend his garden or go to his computer to play
video games. No, God cares for you every
second of your life, every breath that you take.
So God who is our Father knows when we are lost, and what do
parents do when their kids are lost?
They go looking for them!
And that is what Christmas is all about.
God loves you and me so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to come
looking for us, to find us, to bring us to safety. To walk with us when we feel lonely. To heal us when we feel hurt. Emmanuel means “God with us” – Jesus was born
this night 2000 years ago, a little tiny baby, and He lived and died and rose
again and lives with us even today, right this moment! That’s worth a party, don’t you think – that
God is with us!?!
So there are three things I want you to remember from coming
to Church tonight –
1.
God really
loves us. God loves me, and God loves each
of you and God loves Father English and now turn around and look at everybody
here – God loves every person here. God
loves us so much that He sent His Son to be with us.
2.
Jesus wants to be your friend. He wants you to get to know Him, and to talk
to Him. To tell Him everything that’s
going on in your life – share with Him that you scored a goal in the soccer
game. Or that you’re going to have a new
baby sister or brother – whatever it is that brings you joy.
And share with Him the bad stuff too. Somebody’s picking on you, bullying you – let
Him know that. He will feel the pain you
feel. Maybe your parents are having an
argument and you’re scared – bring that to Jesus. Or your grandma is sick and you’re worried –
let Him know that.
You see, the cool thing about Jesus is that
He is God but He was born a baby just like you and me, and He had to grow up,
He had to eat His vegetables and He got to know just what it was like to be a
kid, and also to be an adult. He knew
what it was like to lose a loved one, He knew what it was like to get picked
on, He even got beat up and crucified.
So He understands you and me. He
wants to be our friend.
3.
And this is the really great thing – He wants to
be your friend FOREVER! Even after you
grow old and you’re 120 years old and it’s time to go to heaven – there He will
be with each of us FOREVER! He wants to
take each of us by the hand and approach His Father and say, “this is my friend
Mary or my friend Joe. I’ve brought them
to live with us forever!” And there you
and I will feel all the joy we feel at Christmas, only like 100X as much! Every day.
For ever!
So – God loves us.
Jesus wants to be your friend.
Jesus wants to be your friend forever!
THAT’S the meaning of Christmas.
That’s why we’re all having a big party!
Now one more thing – if we’re going to be His friend, we
have to spend time with Him. We need to
talk to Him in prayer. We need to let
Him know what’s happening in our lives all the time. And we need to come here to Church because
right here we meet Jesus in a very special way in the Eucharist. We do this every single weekend here, and
this is where we come to listen to His word and feed on Him – this is where we
grow in His friendship. So your homework
is to go home and make sure you bring your parents back with you this
Sunday! Will you do that?
Thanks for listening and have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! For today we receive the greatest gift of all
– Jesus Christ the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment