It is December 23rd and I am getting ready to go to a Tae Kwon Do Christmas Party. NO that is not an oxymoron! The school I am a part of is a traditional TKD school, but it is run by followers of the way. Don't get me wrong, we are not the fundamentalists type of people who think we have to change everything into a "Christian" thing, but we are all learners of the Master, so we are having a Christmas Party. I am looking forward to it.
But on this day before the day before Christmas, I am working on my sermon for Christmas Eve and Day. I don't expect too many on Christmas Day, but tomorrow I have two services at two different churches and they should be packed. I have been thinking about my homily for a week or so now and still don't know where I am going, or more appropriately, where the Holy Spirit is leading me.
I want to start out with the words for you. That is what all the stores tell us. You need a new car and now is the time to buy. YOU could get those year end tax rebates and YOU could be driving home in a new Chevy. YOU could have this one of a kind Ginsu knife set for only 5 payments of $39.99. It cuts, it chops, it even does the dishes! What a bargain. YOU could be the next contestant on the Price is Right! I know that the Gospel lesson for Christmas Eve says that TO YOU is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, but somehow that sounds too Fundy for me. The Fundamentalists always turn the good news into a personal salvation event and I DO NOT want to sound like one of them. There are already too many of them out there and they have almost cornered the market on what people think about Christians. Furthermore, the good news is for the world. For God so loved the WORLD . . and the like.
But sometimes we forget just who God became flesh for. YES it is for the world. YES it is for the cosmos. YES it is for every living thing that God's love came down, but it is also personal. God's love is big enough for the entire world, and yet God still loves me. God became flesh for me. Little old me? That is truly amazing, and I stand in awe of it.
Even more than that, the for me savior continues to live through me. God's love came down and took on flesh so many years ago so that I could take on flesh for others who need to see God today. The old country song is true, I might be the only Bible someone else gets to read. So through me, the world can either see God or see evil. Today, I choose to let God work through me so the word can become flesh again. Merry Christmas!!
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