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"Living In Jesus’ Endless Kingdom” Meditation Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – December 24, 2011 Centenary United Luke
2:1-10
CHRISTMAS EVE
Every year the Christmas season has a magnetic pull on the
spirits of millions of people that attracts them to respond differently
to life’s routines.
Christmas helps us to pause amidst all the craziness of life to be with
family, to give gifts, to express our generosity and to show a bit more
compassion for those who are getting by in life with much less than most
of us. This evening I
want us to consider that responding to life in this fashion is how God
wired us when God created our
species. This is our native
state. This is our true
nature. Radiating this spirit is what it is like to live in
the Each morning, if we could begin our day by reminding ourselves that God has given us another moment in time to polish our generosity, our compassion, and our sensitivity to others, the world would be at peace and the words of the prophet Micah would come to pass, “They will hammer their swords into plows and their spears into instruments for pruning.” (Micah 4:3) Our well-honed
routines and well-rehearsed responses to life drive us even during
Christmas to focus on tasks, e.g., sending cards, shopping, wrapping
gifts, decorating, cleaning, polishing the silver and glassware, baking,
cooking, etc. We have to do
these things because of time-honored traditions and our need to
celebrate Christ’s birth
successfully. Jesus once warned
his listeners, “The path to authentic living is narrow and difficult to
find. Learning to stay on
the path is likewise difficult and there are very few people who can do
it.” (Matthew 7:14)
Most of us want to be among the few who succeed.
All of us know why Jesus was so correct in his teaching.
The Dean of the
Boston University School of Music watched an unusual event take place in
front of the school's library. It was the Christmas break, the
temperatures were getting cooler and there were snowflakes flying in
air. Classes had just been
dismissed and the students were rushing back to their dorm rooms to
gather their belongings and head for home. In the midst of
the Christmas rush by the students, an old gentleman was sitting on one
of the campus’ benches. From the
looks of him, he probably had no place to go.
He was playing a violin and he had opened his worn-out violin
case that no doubt represented his
beggars’
tin cup. It was empty.
What made the scene worse was that he was
invisible. No one even paused
to look at him or listen to his playing.
Each had so many things on his or her mind. A young woman
came out of the library that the Dean recognized as one of the coeds in
his music department. Being a student of the violin herself, she
paused to listen to his untutored playing.
Like the other students, she was also in a hurry to collect her
packed suitcase and head for home.
Apparently, she
was a student of rare sensitivities and was walking on that narrow path
Jesus described that was difficult to find.
Her heart went out to him.
She interrupted his playing and asked, "May I see your violin for
a moment?" He looked at her and resisted.
He told her that the violin had belonged to his dad and it was
among the few prized possessions he had left. The kind expression on her
face and her words won his heart. She
asked, "Would you mind if I played something for you as my gift
to you this Christmas?" It was this
overheard request that caused the Dean to stop and watch a precious
moment unfold amidst all the rushing people. He reluctantly handed his
instrument to her. She tuned the violin, rubbed some rosin on the
bow which she had in her backpack, put the violin under her chin and
began to play Ave Maria.
She knew the piece by
heart. The Dean observed
that almost immediately, something remarkable happened to the rushing
crowd. Her playing was so crisp and precise, so magnificent that
people slowed their pace and began to gather around the two of them.
Those that gathered intuitively understood what this student was doing
for this dear soul sitting on the bench. They opened their purses
and wallets filling the gentleman’s well-worn violin case with money. The Dean wrote
about this event in the campus newspaper and concluded his article with
these words:
I
was touched by the spirit of one of our students that afternoon in a way
that a thousand sermons on good
will would never have done. An old man, who was too powerless
to help himself, sat on the ground weeping. He appeared more
touched by her willingness to play his dad’s violin just for him than by
the quantity of money that was accumulating in his violin case.
She
reminded me of the priceless gift we give to others when we give of
ourselves. She also reminded me that this is what God did for all
humankind centuries ago when baby Jesus was born in
All
of us need more moments like the one I witnessed to remind us about a
part of our lives that can so easily become misplaced when we lose our
way by rushing from one thing to another. All of us have this quality and quantity of compassion inside of
us. Some times we need to
get it out and dust it off a bit so we can use it more often.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “I was born and came into the
world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth.”
(John 18:37) In order to make that truth of “love thy neighbor”
to become visible to the rest of the world each of us has to live it.
Please remember this every morning before you begin rushing from
one thing to the next.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Amen. Thank you,
God, for giving us insight into our eventual destiny through
the seeds
you planted in the life and teachings of Jesus. Tonight, we
celebrate the birth of the child who grew up to change how many people
in the world think and perceive, helping to make humankind more
compassionate and loving.
As we
celebrate this evening and tomorrow, we recognize that these are times
when our emotions rise to the surface of our lives. We may
remember past experiences in our homes when we were children.
The smells, food and fellowship remind us of members of our family who
may no longer be with us. Coming to church on Christmas Eve,
singing the hymns and hearing once again the story of old helps us to
recall your infinite love of us. Thank you for communicating to us
in so many forms.
We are
vulnerable to self-definitions that are vastly different from those that
you have of us.
You know
everything about the potential of each of us and you never cease
surrounding us with your presence, even when our sensitivities to your
being there are often dulled by the demands of our life-experiences. While we are
here in the beauty of our sanctuary, we ask for blessings upon families
who have been separated by circumstances, upon our police officers and
our medical personnel who remain on duty tonight, upon those who are
hospitalized and in nursing facilities and upon those who can no longer
believe in you -- for many of them Christmas is just another day.
Thank you for the mercies you bestow on each of us.
We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus’ love and
mercy who taught his disciples to say when they prayed . . . |