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"God's Lamplighter" Sermon Preached By Rev. Richard E. Stetler - December 24, 2002
Most of us have our own ideas
about God's behavior. In Tibet, for example, there are sacred texts
that are much older than our Scriptures. Thousands of years ago
these ancient people understood God as having similar properties to
that of water. One translation reads:
Water seeks the natural way to flow. It
settles in the lowest of places. Nothing compares to its patience.
Its steady currents in time will erode the strongest granites, the
highest mountains, and smooth away all jagged edges. It nourishes
the roots of all living things whether they ask for it or not. Ice,
liquid and steam are examples of how it will change form to
accommodate differing environments. It dwells in every living
thing. It is abundant and in greater supply than any other aspect
of the physical world. If God uses the small, the
least and the lowliest, how easily we can miss sensing God's
presence that is constantly creating in our midst. Our tendency is
to look for God in the miraculous, the powerful, the grand, the
mighty and the mysterious. Centuries ago, knowing God was a
privilege that belonged only to those in the priesthood. Is there a
way that we can know God? One Christmas, when Robert
Louis Stevenson was a very sick young boy, he watched the old
Scottish lamplighter come down the street in Edinburgh each night at
dusk to light the oil lamps. Reflecting on this experience he
wrote, "This is what I remember about that lamplighter -- each
evening wherever he went he always left a light behind him." Of all the things that God
has given us in Creation, who would have guessed that God's light
could come through a girl who was probably no older than sixteen,
pregnant out of wedlock, with a man that tradition holds was twice
her age, who gave birth to a child in a barnyard in a highly obscure
part of the world? Who would have been looking
for God in such a circumstance? Absolutely no one! God really does
not care who notices. God's will is done just the same. What makes
this particular birth worth celebrating is because it was that of
Jesus, a man who continues to change the world view of millions of
people once they understand the implications of what he taught. A number of years ago an
American tourist was visiting China. While making the rounds of some of
the ancient sites, the guide turned to him and asked, "Tell me, in your
estimation what is the most beautiful sight in the world?" After
thinking for a while the American said, "The Taj Mahal? Perhaps the
great China Wall? A magnificent sunset? I don't know. What do you
think?" The guide said, "Our philosopher Confucius once said, 'The most
beautiful sight in the world is a little child going confidently down
the road after someone has shown him the way.'" It is interesting that Confucius,
Jesus and the Scottish lamplighter all had the same mission in life --
lighting the way for people. Jesus came that we might know the way
through the maze of our inner world, a world no one sees. Tonight, each of us face
different circumstances in life. Some of us are alone. Some of us may
be struggling with our grades at college. We may be experiencing the
ups and downs of a relationship that is still in the process of
formation. We may be confused about where life is leading us. We may
be fearful about our financial future. We may be dealing with the loss
of a loved one. Some of us are being held captive of hurt feelings we
cannot surrender. Perhaps we need to remember that we are like little
children that will walk confidently down the road after being shown the
way. Our world is changing
dramatically. All of us need direction. It is gravity that carves out
the course for a river. It is instinct which tells the salmon where and
when to spawn and when it is time for the birds to migrate. It used to
be the stars that guided sea captains, then it was lighthouses that were
placed up and down the coastline. Today it is sophisticated GPS systems
that help to provide guidance. What of us? We who need to feel
loved and cared for, who fear loneliness, who need to work on the way we
communicate and who feel challenged when we meet people whose values are
different from our own -- who is guiding us? Tonight we are thankful to God
for giving us love in such a small package that it was missed by all the
great historians who were busy cataloging "the more significant events"
unfolding around us. Those of us who follow God's
lamplighter do so because we want more out of life than what our senses
tell us is here. Because we follow the path that has been lighted
for us, we experience hope, joy, peace and love. Such qualities as
these govern our inner world, a world that determines how we feel and
think every moment of our lives. This is the road less traveled by
people and yet it is the only path that can make a significant
difference to the quality of our lives. There are only two paths in life
-- growth or delay. Tonight we celebrate God's gift to us, a gift which
inspires growth. Merry Christmas! THE PASTORAL PRAYER Eternal God, who of us can enter our worship
experience knowing that we are whole and complete? Not many. We come
tonight knowing that each of us sits in a pew that holds others just
like us. Together we are like a sea of people who are often preoccupied
by issues of life that we are convinced no one else has. And while the
title we give to our concerns may change, we realize that everyone of us
knows uncertainty, we know what is like to be afraid, and we also know
what it feels like to be loved. Tonight we are united in the celebration of our faith. There is no other community in the world like a church family that stands on its hope and stares adversity and vulnerability in the face and declares, "There is nothing here that God and we cannot handle."
You, O God, have come into our midst and
declared for all eternity that we are loved and there is nothing
powerful enough, not even our beliefs, our mistakes or our choices, that
will change that. Tonight, bless our sense of community and also bless
us with the profound sense of Your presence. We pray these thoughts
through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we
pray . . .
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