The three concepts I am trying to help develop:
1. The greatest gift of Christmas is God's gift to us in the Christ Child who was born in Bethlehem.
2. The most important thing for us to realize is the idea that "Love came down at Christmas" and is still with us.
3. The most important idea that came with Christmas is the idea that "The Word Became Flesh". Incarnation is more important than "virgin birth" in terms of the power and effect of the Christmas story on us.
If you would like me to send you a rough draft of the sermon I can do that either by Friday at 4 or early Sunday morning beginning at 6:30. Let me know you want it and I can send it to you.
If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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1 comment:
Thank you for your thought-provoking sermon this morning, Rev. Schuster.
Among the many elements of our current meditations on the Incarnation of Christ, one simple, yet central, fact stands quietly in my awareness now, which is this: Christ incarnated. He did not teleport to earth, He did not arrive in an alien space craft designed especially for Him, He did not just materialize or "walk in", fully adult, from another dimension. He was born, "this day", in the city of Bethlehem.
There is a whole discussion that could, of course, be drawn on the symbolic meaning of "Bethlehem". However, a simple, core fact is that the birth of Jesus was just that, a birth -- an efficient way to accomplish living on earth, using an established, central, proven means to that end -- birth.
God respected the process (the one He created) of conception, gestation and birth enough to utilize that means to give His Son into the World. Incarnation -- a "patented process" dating back to at least Cain and Abel, utilized by each of us (as far as I know!) to bring our own Life to this earth.
If God can be documented to have used birth to deliver Jesus (and let's assume that He can be), then how many other manifest forms and earthly media can also be documented as bonafide Pathways for the Flow of God's Expression, God's Blessings, God's Gifts to Mankind and the other natural kingdoms of earth?
Invariably, these forms and media are attended to, in one way or the other, by fellow human beings -- sustenance brought to us by farmers, shelter brought by archetects and builders, learning brought via teachers, inspiration by mentors and guides, value given and compensation acquired by means of honest commerce. How about the blessings of character-building through life challenges? The blessings received when one gives to others...on and on...
Just like incarnation itself, is not every form (including our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical capacities), every situation, every association -- are these all not a birth canal, at least potentially, for the Spirit of God to come forth into expression on earth?
We/I have the privilege of being a midwife, as it were, for the birth of the Spirit of God into expression, here and now. In this sense, "Heaven and Earth ARE indeed one".
The title of that ol' hymn, "If It's Good Enough for Jesus, It's Good Enough for Me!" takes on new meaning, I believe. If God accepts and works through present forms and people on earth, with Loving Grace, Mercy, and (I opine) amazing, Divine Ingenuity, why would I not do the same -- with deep gratitude and a sense of privilege? Why indeed?
PenDell Pittman
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