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“Has
Christmas Become Generic?” Sermon Delivered
By Rev. Dick Stetler – December 24, 2017 Centenary United
Methodist Church
"Has Christmas Become Generic?"
Meditation Delivered by Rev. Dick Stetler
Centenary United
December 24, 2017
Christmas Eve While we were
in the States, our family was seated in a restaurant waiting for our
food to arrive. During that time, I noticed that one of the waitresses
recognized a group of four women that were seated not far from us. She
went over to them and said enthusiastically, "How are you
guys doing? Long time, no
see." They engaged in lively
conversation. What intrigued
me was how the word "guys" has become generic.
Since then, I have heard other women greeting their female
friends as guys.
Guys has become a generic designation that enjoys a widespread usage
among both sexes. An idea came to
me that perhaps the season of Christmas has also become a generic
adjective to describe every manner of celebration under the sun. I began
looking around at everything from television advertisements to
decorations that are featured in many of our department stores.
There was a
time when we occasionally heard people say that,
Jesus is reason for the season.
Outside of churches, that saying is seldom heard anymore.
Do we remember the days when
everyone said to each other,
Merry Christmas instead of,
Happy Holidays.
Interestingly enough,
Merry Christmas is coming back into vogue but what are those two
words communicating? While watching
Fox Business News last week, there was a scene that featured the entire
staff wearing Christmas sweatshirts.
I deliberately went online to see if I could find that scene.
I was successful.
There stood 21 staff that were on Maria Bartiromo's morning show.
I enlarged each sweatshirt to learn what each was communicating. Listen to
various scenes pictured on those sweatshirts and see if you can connect
the dots to the birth of Jesus. 1)
"Christmas Is Here" featuring a wintry scene, 2) The face of President
Obama with the words, "Miss Me Yet," 3) "When You Miss, You Drink," 4) A
picture of Santa with these words, "Ask Your Mom if I'm real," 5) A
black Santa with the words, "Just believe."
There were
sixteen other sweatshirts with Elves, Reindeer, Snowmen, Christmas
stockings, candy canes, holly, Christmas trees, decorative wreaths, and
various drinking glasses filled with
holiday cheer. The theme
of Jesus' birth was nowhere to be found.
There was not even a hint that Jesus had anything to do with
Christmas. We are living
in a new world. In
pluralistic societies where everyone's feelings are so easily offended
these days, Christmas has
become like the word guys. It
has become generic, and today our
Jesus is the reason for the season has become an occasion for all
kinds of observances and traditions. Should this
state-of-affairs regarding Jesus' birthday bother us? Why should we
allow anything that is believed or sanctioned in society become a source
of our unhappiness? For those of us
who understand what happened in the Biblical narrative and are clear on
its impact on our lives, we are a lot like the farmer who made a
discovery while plowing his field. The story that I am referencing
appears in the multi-volume set of
Arabian Nights. The farmer was
plowing a field when his plow became caught on something.
Knowing that his field had no
underground obstructions, the farmer became curious.
He dug around one of the plow's tines and discovered it was
caught on a large ring. When
he lifted the ring, it was attached to a flat slab of stone.
Lifting it higher, it revealed the hidden entrance to a chamber
that was filled with an enormous treasure of gold, silver and precious
jewels.
Jesus taught that everything that
we need to radiate our creativity is like that farmer's discovery.
It is buried inside of us.
This is where our one-of-a-kind treasures are. No
God of love would ever leave
his creations in a world without supplying a way to live in it so that
we limited human beings could create, love, support, achieve and excel
as we serve others in what we do. The Apostle
Paul once wrote quite plainly about his understanding of Jesus' reason
for coming into our world: Jesus had the same
spirit of God within him, but he never tried to be an equal with God.
Instead of his own free will, he gave up everything that he had enjoyed
and took on the nature of a servant.
He became a human being." (Philippians 2:6f)
It does not matter
that other people celebrate Christmas differently.
When
we are on the path to being enthusiastically alive, we are no strangers
to the four qualities that we celebrated with the lighting of each of
our Advent Candles: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. Most people have been
trained to look for their fortunes and identity in the external world.
Most put on their masks created by their secular training and take
themselves quite seriously with their PhDs, stethoscopes around their
necks, clerical collars, wigs and robes, expensive cars, and six figure
salaries like their brothers and sisters have before them. During his
ministry, Jesus knew that his message would fall on
deaf ears and he said so.
He taught his listeners, "The gate to living creative, loving
lives is narrow and the way that leads to it is difficult and there
are very few people who will ever find it." (Matthew 7:14) This
should give everyone pause to think about their lifestyle.
What are we doing here? Where do
we think we are going when we make the choices that we do?
One of the most difficult
teachings for Christians to grasp is that God never has to judge any of
us. Our pastors and
church leaders have taught us otherwise. Why is this true?
We do a very thorough job of making such judgments all by our
selves. God has no need
to judge us. We are the ones
who are testing our spiritual musculature while here.
If God ever made a judgment that was unloving, God would be
revealing a nature other than the one that Jesus taught.
(Matthew 18:21) God is not and cannot ever be offended any more
than parents are bothered when infants soil their diapers.
Why? They have not
yet learned or matured enough to behave otherwise. The same is true with
our level of spiritual awareness. God loves us no
matter which level of spiritual awareness we find ourselves.
If Jesus were with us tonight and engaged in a conversation of
what has happened to our precious
Christmas celebration, I firmly believe that he would say something
like this: The meaning of Christmas is whatever people want it to be. Everyone has forever to grow in their spiritual maturity. Each of you will mature in spirit when you are able to do so as your understanding grows.
You are not to worry
and become anxious about the state of your spirit as many of your
religious leaders have taught you.
The result of your choices will determine the quality of your
lives. No one else is in charge of your growth and no one is forcing you
to be as you are. If you
wish to change, you have the present moment to do so.
You bring out all the symbols of Christmas like centuries-old Biblical narratives, traditions, rituals, family gatherings and celebrations. Then you put them away for another year. Are you any different from the merchants? What happened thousands of years ago really does not matter. What matters is what my presence and teachings are doing for you today.
I voluntarily came
among you to be a guide, a compass or a road map so that you will
understand what life is like after you leave your physical forms.
There are enough of my authentic teachings in the Gospels for you
to know the attitudes that will work in your world as well as mine.
Each of you is responsible for
the quality of your own lives and no one else's.
There is no need to blame anyone
for your present responses to life.
Remember that your
spirit will always reflect
what you value. The material world that you enjoy is only a
temporary laboratory in which
you may experiment with your creativity. None of what you experience in
that laboratory matters or
exists when you exit your temporary forms.
Learn to develop attitudes that will serve you and others in your
world and you will find that such attitudes will serve you in my world.
Always remember that
I love all of you more than you can possibly know.
You are all safe in my love.
You have nothing of which to be afraid.
Have fun my brothers and sisters. Have a very Merry Christmas
tomorrow as you celebrate my birthday any way you want to.
Christmas is
a lot of fun for everyone but remember that you will have 364 days to
celebrate your gift of life in your New Year.
Allow the loving, generous attitudes within you to show up in
every one of those days. Tell and show the world about what your inner
world is guiding you to become.
Not everyone will care or understand how you are communicating
what you do. That is
perfectly fine. Remember
do not judge. Clearly
all of you are not on the same level of spiritual awareness. Yet, you
expect that everyone shares your values. God does not judge and when you
do you tarnish your halo
announcing that you still have more growth to attain. Do not worry, my
disciples did the same thing and they turned out just fine. Be at peace
and know that your Creator is in charge of your destiny, not you.
PASTORAL PRAYER Eternal God, who of us can enter our
worship experience knowing that we feel and experience being 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 it is like to be afraid.
We know what it is like to make poor judgments.
Yet, we also know what it feels like to be loved by you. Tonight, we are united in the
celebration of our faith. There are few other gatherings 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 together." 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 us with that sense of community as well as 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 . . . |