Let us pray– come into our hearts Lord Jesus, come in today, come in to stay. Fill us with the wonder of your love. Amen.
When my son was about 6 years old he asked me if God hides from us. Then, without missing a beat he told me God must be like The Flash, a superhero from comic books who can zip from one place to another before you can see he’s gone.
Understanding who God is or what God is like can be very hard. Children know that and so does anyone else who has tried to explain God to a child. Children learn that God can hear their prayers and the prayers of all other people at the same time. Children learn that God is with us all the time and with everyone else too. Understanding God can be hard.
It can seem like God is hiding from us even when we grow up. But, because of Jesus we don’t’ not have to guess about God any more– God came out of hiding, so to speak. We see who God is when we see Christ. All we need to know about God is in Jesus. That is something even a child can understand.
When my daughter was about 6 years old she was sitting at the kitchen table coloring in an Advent/Christmas coloring book—because that’s what preacher’s kids do—sometimes. She started to tell me about the picture. She pointed to the manger and said, “That’s Jesus lying there.” She pointed to the woman kneeling by the mange rand said, “That’s his mother Mary.” Then she pointed to the man standing next to Mary and said, “That’s God.”
I corrected her, “No, that’s Joseph.”
“But I thought God was Jesus’ father… If that’s not God then who is God?”
“Well, God isn’t a man like Joseph,” I said. “God isn’t a person at all.” I thought to myself, so much for all my training. How do you explain God to a 6 year old. I said something like, “God created everything and can’t be seen like Joseph could. God is power and truth.” I could see her puzzling over what I said. I think I tried to explain saying something like, “The bible says that the Spirit of God is like the wind that blows where it wills…”
She interrupted me with a roll of her eyes and something like, “Well, that doesn’t make any sense at all!”
So I started over, once again. “The bible also says that God shows us all we need to know about God in Jesus.”
Relief and understanding came back into the conversation. “Yeah,” she said, “God sent Jesus to show us what God is like. That’s right.”
All we need to know about God can be found in Jesus. Paul said it this way, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. He is the image of the invisible God.” In Hebrews 1, v. 3 we find a similar verse—“He is the reflection of God’s glory and is the exact imprint of Gods very being.” Those are some of my favorite bible verses. They direct me, like a child, back to Christ as all I really need to know about God.
There is a wonder to this season that draws out the child in each of us and answers the longings and questions of us all. Something about little babies captivates us all– from the toughest and oldest to the youngest and sweetest. Toddlers who are just learning to talk learn “baby” as one of their first words. New parents can watch their newborns for long stretches of time. Respectable, dignified, reasonable adults become gibbering fools when their grandchildren are born. Maybe it is the helpless dependence of children that captivates us. Maybe it is the miracle of birth and life itself. Add to all of that natural appreciation of babies the fact that in Jesus we have God the child and we have the childlike wonder of Christmas.
Today’s gospel presents us with Jesus at the age of twelve. But, you’ll pardon me if, on the day after Christmas, I stick with the baby Jesus and the child in all of us for today.
I recall my childhood memories of Christmas. It seemed almost a magical time– a time when anything could happen. I remember shopping with my mom and sister and wanting to linger in front of a particular store window in Fargo that had a display each year of moving dolls. I remember thinking that they were real, and that they only lived at Christmas time. There were special decorations brought out of wrapping and handled with care. There were candles. Christmas, too, was a season of secrets and surprises.
Certainly, the traditions are not the main point of Christmas. They are like the accompaniment to a melody. The traditions can become like the squiggles of a doodle. Everyone knows how to doodle, during a long boring class or meeting you start by making a shape, say a circle or a star, then you add other shapes around the original one, expanding and spreading all over the paper. Before you know it you can’t see where you started, the simple beginning is swallowed up in adornment.
Christmas too, started simply. And because it is special, we have adorned our celebrations with countless wonderful decorations and traditions– shopping, presents, parties, trees, twinkling lights, stockings, carols, concerts, foods, candlelight and so on. We have to be careful not to lose sight of the simple truth from which it all began.
You have not come here today for the beauty of the sanctuary as it is decorated for Christmas. You come here week after week, and year after year, to hear again the story of God come close to us in Jesus. There is a hunger in our souls, a hunger we are often not even aware of, that draws us to hear the story of the Child born so that we may be free, united with God, and so that we may learn to love one another.
Christmas is a time for all of us, no matter what our situation. Within each of us is someone who needs love and comfort and security. There is a child in each of us, no matter how old, who wants loving arms to rush into when we are hurt or sad or lonely. Who doesn’t want a gift? Not everyone has happy memories of Christmases. Some come from non-beleiving homes, or from homes that were scarred by a host of problems. Some people carry with them memories of significant losses that happened near Christmas time. If we did not get the love we needed as children, or if we’re nogetting the love we need now it can be even more important to hear the message of Christmas. No matter who else has let us down, no matter what hurts we carry, the message of Christmas is that God has come out of hiding and will never fail us.
I heard Dr. Jim Nestingen, from Luther Seminary, tell a story once about a pastor he knew and respected named Edmund Smits. Visitation to a psychiatric hospital was a regular part of Pastor Smit’s ministry. One of the people he visited there was a woman in a catatonic state. She did not have a physical reason to be paralyzed but she did not move and did not respond to any contact or communication. This pastor went in to see her regularly, even though the staff did not think it would do any good. He spoke to her and read to her and prayed with her. Before he left her, he would repeat these words, “No matter who else let you down, Jesus never will.” He did this for 70 days straight. Finally she responded. The Christmas gospel can reach through even the toughest barriers. God has come out of hiding. In Jesus and his love we are shown just what God is like.
The gospel is as simple as Christmas–simple enough for a child, for the child in each of us. For God so loved the world that a savior was born to an unknown couple in a faraway place. Jesus was born, like all the rest of us. God took on our lives and transforms them.
The Christ child comes to us, asking us to receive him as a child with wonder and awe and trust and to welcome others with grace and love, as we should welcome children. This little child grew up to tell the people
Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Let us pray. Your little ones dear Lord are we, and come your lowly bed to see, enlighten every soul and mind, that we the way to you may find. Oh draw us wholly to you Lord, and to us all your grace accord, true faith and love to us impart, that we may hold you in our heart. Amen.