“IMPRESSIONS
AND IMPERFECTIONS”
ISAIAH 61:1-4, 8-11
61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. [3]
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
8 For I the Lord love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful
headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
You
better watch out - You better not cry. You better not pout - I'm telling you why.
Santa
Claus is coming to town.
He's
making a list - And checking it twice; Gonna find out - Who's naughty and nice.
Santa
Claus is coming to town.
He
sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake.
He
knows if you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake!
So,
what do you think? Have you been good this year?
Have you been naughty or nice or a little bit of both? When I was growing
up I quickly learned that it was important to be good in the days leading up to Christmas.
After all, you didn’t want to do anything that might prevent you from cashing in on Christmas morning.
I
wasn’t smart enough to come up with the scheme that a little boy used to get what he wanted for Christmas. The little boy wanted a baby sister. Because it was a big
request he decided to bypass Santa and bring his request directly to God. His plan was to write a letter to God and put it
in the collection plate the following Sunday. So the little boy sat down at his
desk one day and wrote, “Dear God, this year I’ve been a very good boy.” The little boy looked at the piece
of paper. “No,” he thought to himself. “God won’t believe
that.” So, he crumpled up the paper and started over. “Dear God, this year I’ve been a good boy most of the time.” “No,” the little boy thought to himself. “God
won’t believe that either.” So, he crumpled up the paper and started
over again. “Dear God, this year I’ve tried my best to be a good
boy.” Even that didn’t sound too convincing. So the little boy decided
to go to Plan B. He got a towel out of the bathroom and brought it into the living
room where he laid it neatly on the floor. He then went over to the nativity
scene on the mantle above the fireplace. He didn’t take the statue of the baby Jesus though. Instead he took the statue
of Mary. He carefully wrapped it up in the towel and then brought it back to
his room. Now, with the statue of Mary safely tucked away in his desk draw the little boy picked up his pencil and wrote,
“Dear God, if you ever want to see your mother again….”
In
many ways Christmas is all about being good and making a good impression. You have to be good for Santa and your parents.
You do that so the presents will pile up under the tree. You have to be good
for your boss. You do that so you get that year end Christmas bonus. You also have to do your best to impress the neighbors
and family and friends. So, you spend endless hours cooking and decorating and shopping for the perfect gift for everyone
on your list.
Look
behind a lot of those pretty packages, those luminescent lights and those tasty holiday treats and that’s what you’ll
find. You’ll find a need to be good and make a good impression. Now I don’t know about you but if that’s what Christmas is all about then I’m in big
trouble. You see, I was reminded of just how far I am from perfect while I was
getting ready for Frosty’s Fair. It all started when I decided to do a good deed.
After working in the kitchen all day I took an armful of dirty towel home to wash them. The next day I threw them in
the dryer and then brought them back to the kitchen where I left them in a pile on the counter. I then went back to scooping the last of the 178 quarts of lobster bisque.
A few minutes later Bill Denhard said, “What’s this?” I
glanced over to where he was standing and said, “Those are the towels that I washed and dried last night.” “I know,” Bill said, “but what do I use this for?” When I looked over again I was horrified to see him standing there with a pair of the pastor’s underwear.
The
pressure to be good and to make a good impression is very real. That’s
because deep down you and I both know that people will think less of you if you don’t measure up. If you’re not sure about that just look at OJ Simpson. This
past week I saw a poll that not only says a lot about him but also a lot about us. The poll asked people if OJ Simpson will
be remembered as a criminal, a football hero or both. 59% of the more than 500,000
people who participated in the poll said he would be remembered as a criminal. Only
38% said he would be remembered as both a criminal and a football hero. The other
3% said he would be remembered as a football hero.
How
do the words to the song go again?
He
knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sakes!
All
of this is the reason why a lot of people get so stressed out in the days leading up to
Christmas. They try so hard to be good and make a good impression. They
end up feeling frazzled and frustrated, anxious and angry. That’s not what the sacred Christmas is all about though.
You can see that by looking at the words that the prophet Isaiah uttered long before the messiah was born. By the way, Jesus felt that Isaiah’s words were so important that he actually quoted them to begin
his ministry. You’ll find them in Luke’s Gospel. After Jesus is baptized
and spends those 40 days in the wilderness he returns to Nazareth and when the Sabbath rolls around he goes into the synagogue
as was his custom. While he’s there he’s invited to read from the
Scriptures and out of all the passages that he could have read he decides to read these words from Isaiah…
“The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty
to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
Lord's favor.”
Jesus
reads those words. Then he sits down and says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus makes it clear that he’s going to be a messiah who embraces people
who aren’t always good and don’t always make a good impression.
That’s
what the sacred Christmas is all about. It’s all about a journey to a dark
and dingy stable where God’s only begotten Son was born to dirt poor parent who didn’t even make a good enough
impression to get a room in the inn. In the straw of that stable you’ll
find the Emmanuel Child, the God with us Child who already knows that there are times when you’re more naughty than
nice, times when you’ve been bad even though you tried to be good; who knows that you’re not perfect and that
you don’t always make a good impression; and because of all and in spite of all of that of that wants to embrace you
with a love that heals, a love that forgives, a love that gives you hope and can make all things new.
There’s
a story that helps me understand and appreciate what happened on that silent and holy night.
Maybe it’s a story that will touch your hearts as well. The story was first told by Bob Weber, a former president
of the International Kiwanis Club. One day, after speaking to a small club out
in the country, Weber found himself sitting a farmer’s front porch. While
he was there a boy rode up on his bicycle to deliver the afternoon newspaper. When the boy got off his bike he notice a sign
with the words “Puppies for sale” on it. The boy asked the farmer,
“How much do you want for the puppies?” “Twenty-five dollars,”
the farmer said. The boy said he didn’t have enough money, but asked if
he could see the puppies anyway. All it took was a whistle from the farmer to
bring the mother and four cute little puppies bounding around the corner of the house. The boy stood there as the puppies
jumped up and down and wagged their tails. A minute or so later, another
puppy came straggling around the house dragging one of its hind legs. “What’s
the matter with that puppy?” the boy asked. “Well, son,” the
farmer explained, “that puppy is crippled. It doesn’t have a hip joint, and that leg will never be right.” As soon as he heard that the boy surprised both Weber and the farmer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out fifty cents. “Please,
mister,” the boy pleaded, “I want to buy that puppy. I’ll pay
you fifty cents every week until the twenty-five dollars is paid. Honest I will.” “But Son,” the farmer reasoned, “you don’t understand. That puppy is never going to be able to run or jump.
It’s going to be crippled for the rest of its life. Why would you want a puppy like that?” The boy paused for a moment, then reached down and pulled up his trousers to reveal an iron brace
and a leg that had been twisted and crippled by polio. “Mister,”
the boy said, “that puppy is going to need someone to help him in life who understands him.” In the same way that’s what the Bethlehem miracle is all about.
So which Christmas do you
want? Do you want the Christmas where you better watch out because he’s
making a list and checking it twice? Or do you want the Christmas where it’s
all about an angel singing, “for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord??”
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
December 14, 2008
