One Heck of a Birthday

Isaiah 52:7-10 Rev. Tyler Amundson December 25, 2011

Video - A Very Special Christmas 2

http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/27181/A-Very-Special-Christmas

A long time ago Crystal, my wife, and I began to call Christmas the Birthday of Love. Not to diminish what Christmas means or that Love is the only part of Jesus life, but to highlight that this season we celebrate what we hope will be the Birthday of a new world that represents unconditional love in a way only the mind of God can imagine. A love so intense and yet delivered in the fragile container of a human being, God among us.

Jesus really was a fragile container for a gift so amazing as God’s unconditional love. A human body susceptible to death and harm the same way we are. A way of recognizing the importance of each human life by demonstrating something so powerful could come in such a simple way. Love was born among us.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Love, God, and Jesus.

We do throw one heck of a party to celebrate the possibility, the pronouncement, and the coming of the Christ Child. I mean look at the video for all the crazy ways we get ready to celebrate this Birthday: We decorate trees. We enact huge processes to make the magic seem real to children and loved ones. We get each other presents. We cook meals and feasts together. We share in worship services, theatrical plays, musical concerts, huddle in the fellowship hall to celebrate a great tradition in the Christ Child’s Birthday Party, and other exciting public events together. We decorate our houses in ways we would never think of any other time of the year, bringing trees indoors. We try to create magic any way we can even if it seems quite absurd.

We try to create magic in a way that reveals the possibility that we as a human species can care about one another in ways that most days we seem to not imagine. We provide to charities in ways we don’t the rest of the year. Donations spike in almost every non-profit or charitable organization. We actual do create magic caring for one another this time of year.

We take four weeks to get ready for the party day in the season of Advent. Talking about what Christmas means to us. Singing songs, listening to our choir sing a beautiful Messiah, imagining the world at peace. We tell stories of Peace on Earth, Goodwill to all.

Then on top of all of that we read beautiful poetry and scripture like our Isaiah text today. Let me share that with us now:

Isaiah 52:7-10

The Message (MSG) - Edited

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the messenger bringing good news,

Breaking the news that all's well,

proclaiming peaceful times, announcing salvation,

telling Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts,

shouting in joyful unison.

They see with their own eyes

God coming back to Zion.

Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem:

"God has comforted his people!

God’s redeemed Jerusalem!"

God has rolled up his sleeves.

All the nations can see God’s holy arm.

Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other,

sees him at work, doing God’s grace filled work.

I mean listen to that language. This is one heck of a party we are throwing. This language was written by the Hebrew people that were hoping for a life changing Messiah to come and change their world. They had been oppressed and felt betrayed by God. They were struggling to understand what God would mean to them. All of this is done for a small child born in an insignificant place at a not so significant time. A small insignificant gift that became so important that we throw this party every year and it is over 2000 years later. The promise of God’s love and grace for us was that amazing that we now practice it every year.

That is why the story of Jesus is so elaborate. Angels, wise men, dreams, a divine birth…one heck of a birthday to remind us those small packages can bring enormous change.

Not only that we do it at the time of the year that is the hardest. It is the darkest and coldest time of year. At some point along the way our ancestors adopted this time of year to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child. While it may have been an attempt to co-opt different religious holidays, there is something powerful about placing this celebration of Jesus birth at this time of year. Something that even has meaning to Helena, Montana in 2011. Having Christmas now makes a statement that despite the darkness and bleakness of the world around hope still dwells inside. I know it is not a Christmas song, but the Hymn of Promise strikes me here.

Many seeds lie dormant all winter waiting for the opportunity to grow into amazing plants, flowers, tress and all matter of flora come the springtime. I know many of you know the verse, but just close your eyes and listen to it once again.

“In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;

In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!

In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.” [1]

A simple seed in this dark time of year incubates in preparation of becoming something that changes an entire ecosystem come spring. It provides food, it lives, it provides oxygen, shade, and life to many things around it.

Christmas is that time during this dark cold, seemingly insignificant and dead time of year we get to peak inside the seed and see what God sees. God sees that love and care is possible for all creation. That we have the potential to change the world by living simple and generous lives. I think we get so excited about this we celebrate a great big party. We journey out into the cold and dark with this knowledge of what the world can be. Despite the struggles created in a world clambering for more we go out and say, “There is hope, joy and peace for all creation.”

Although I catch myself forgetting soon after the holiday season the knowledge I learned by peaking inside the seed. We forget all too quickly how small simple changes can alter the world in amazing ways. We forget the birth of a child, a seed being brought to life changed the world.

Why do we forget this? For those of us who have spent time with children or have been parents we should know better. Babies change peoples’ lives everyday. They are messy, icky, gross beings when they come out, but they melt your heart. They grow quickly providing you with new challenges each minute, day, and year. Teaching you that you didn’t know anything until you faced this new challenge. These small packages…change lives. Don’t forget that ever.

As I was preparing this sermon an email from Liz Moore got forwarded to me. The email was speaking of seven simple gifts you can give that can change a person’s life. It comes from an author of an online newsletter, Denise Bissonnette. [2] Let me quickly share these seven gifts with you. They are gifts you can share year round, little gifts that can change the world.

1. Visibility – By simply recognizing someone who you may not normally see, you may make them visible in a way they have not felt. Those people outcast by society in big and small ways sometimes just need to know from someone else’s response that they still exist. By taking time to ask someone “How is your day?” and listening to their response you give them voice and a chance to be recognized. For many people this reveals to them they are not alone and they are a part of the world around them. Simply saying “Hi” and giving time for response can change how any one person sees the world.

2. A heartfelt compliment – Taking time to clearly say to another human being I value what you do and who you are. This is one of the most direct ways to share love. It overwhelming changes peoples outlooks because a cascade effect of recognizing gifts happens.

3. Thanks – Being thankful allows us to see what we are thankful for and then more and more things are clearly seen to be thankful for.

4. A sincere apology – We are really good at saying sorry in our culture. “Sorry I bumped into you.” “Sorry I forgot that.” However, really taking time to apologize for a transgression heals relationships in a powerful way. It allows for them to begin growing anew. Apologies are fertilizer for new life, it is taking the old waste and making the ground ready to grow again.

5. Forgiveness – Same as apology, but from the other side. This is us saying I let go of the things I hold against you. Let’s use that waste to grow something new.

6. The benefit of the doubt – Suspicion is the thing we are taught today. Don’t trust them until you know them. However, this is good to a point. We must also imagine that individuals can be good and most people want to help others. By giving the benefit of the doubt to individuals we create space for people to do good things. By not doing this we block out those same possibilities.

7. Kindness – Pay it forward. Kindness is generating new energy of love to help continue patterns of caring for one another. When we do gestures of kindness we are living out Christ message to “Love one another.”

This is one list, and I know of many. The idea is that this Birthday we celebrate today and carry through the year is about simple gifts.

“How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the messenger bringing good news. [3]

Our tradition of Christmas reminds us each year of a birth that changed the world and our relationship with God. A hope that was first spoken in this text from Isaiah as we prepared the excitement for the messengers that would tell us of the great change to come. Angels singing from on high announcing a new age.

We celebrate one heck of a birthday to remind us that little steps begin the process to monumental change. The Christian Tradition reveals this to us each year in the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child. This small gift had a monumental impact on the world. It invites us back each year to remember this gift of love that was so immense we know a God that loves us and cares for us more than we can possibly fathom.

As you move through this New Year remember to plant simple seeds, offer simple gifts: Visibility, Heartfelt Compliments, Thanks, a Sincere Apology, Forgiveness, the Benefit of the Doubt, or Kindness. Offer these gifts to all the people you meet, be gentle and firm in your gift giving. For as we celebrate Santa’s…….I mean Jesus Birthday….may we celebrate the possibility of Love overflowing all of creation.

Amen…and Peace Be with You

[1] Hymn of Promise, United Methodist Hymnal #707

[2] Bissonnette, D. (2011, November). True livelihood newsletter. Retrieved from http://www.diversityworld.com/Denise_Bissonnette/TLN11/TLN1112.htm

[3] Isaiah 52:7 MSG