There are certain life tasks, which increasingly as one grows up, becomes of crucial importance. All the little insignificant things and people, begin to pale into insignificance as we grow up and we begin to gain some perspective as to what is important and what is not, what is of value and what is not.
In the last twenty years, there have been a number of writers who have spoken to this critical matter through their books and their public speaking appearances. Their works are often found in the self-help section of the major bookstores.
In a recent editorial in the Atlanta Constitution, Roger Rosenblatt, writer for The New Republic and Time magazine writes: "Whatever you think matters, doesn't. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late, or early; if you are here or there; if you said it or you did not say it; if you were clever or if you were stupid; if you're having a bad hair day, or no hair day, It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter for the very good reason that there are things that do. They are few in number and one of them is: "The secure knowledge that you've meant something to someone else, with all the reciprocity that comes with it."
A writer in the late l980's by the name of Leo Buscaglia through a book entitled "Living, Loving and Learning" helped clarify and identify important life tasks for the fulfilled life. Thomas Merton, A Roman Catholic monk and a prominent spiritual writer of this past century speaks to the depths of love of God. And Stephen Covey a popular writer of today further focused on "Putting First Things First". These writers insights and the Word of God lead me to encourage you To Live, To Love and to Leave a Legacy"
I. To Live
Jesus said very clearly "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." The scripture is clear in affirming that "Today is the day of salvation." The gift of eternal life is not something, which comes just at the point of our death. It comes today and is that inner assurance, that witness of the spirit within gives to us, that we are children of God. You don't have to be afraid, you don't have to worry if God will welcome you into Heaven, and you are to live today with the assurance. Do what is right and claim what is healthy for you, and reject what is unhealthy.I see too many people "Just getting by" and their days are soon gone. One of the few lines of the lyrics of Jimmy Buffett that I can quote in the pulpit, comes from a song in which he says: "I want to die while I'm living, not live while I'm dying."
There was a classic line from the play Auntie Mame which affirmed that, and I quote: "Life is a banquet and most fools are starving to death." Jesus offers life. The good life of love of God and love of others. You are invited today to a banquet celebration, Jesus' total life, which includes his birth, death and resurrection. To choose the way of Jesus is to choose life. To choose his way is to choose the way of Non-retaliation. I noticed that in Bethlehem in Israel, that they are not planning to have their big Christmas celebration this year at the Church of the Nativity. Sad isn't it that a people can not celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace because they operate out of the Old Testament principal of retaliation or an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, rather than the New Testament principal of love and forgiveness. To Live is for us to live "in Christ."
II. And to live in Christ is to Love
The Advent candle we light today, we have named "Love", because it reminds us that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, so that anyone who believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life." To love is to master life. In the new book "Reflections and Reading on Death and Grief", I quote from Thomas Merton's statement in "Love and Living": "It is important that the end of life itself should finally set the seal upon the giving and the sacrifice which has marked mature and productive living. Thus man physically and mentally declines, having given everything that he had to life, to others, to his love, to his family and to his world. He is spent or exhausted, not in the sense that he is merely burned out and gutted by the accumulation of money and power, but because he has given himself totally in love."III. To Live is to Love and to Leave a Legacy.
I've been privileged in my short life to have known some wonderful people who have left their mark on this community. Many of them have been members of this church. This last week, one of them passed into eternity. Lucia Tryon died at the age of 97. The legacy she has left is the public library system which I use most every week. In l938, Lucia opened the Pensacola Library with 3,352 volumes, one custodian and two assistants. The library gives wings to our mind. I remember Felton Harrison telling me about the time he and Marian Trinkner moved PJC's library to its present campus in the back of his trunk.A Legacy is a gift of one's personality, a gift of who they are and what they do, that lives on after you are gone. A Legacy is a mark that cannot be erased. A Legacy is a beginning of something great. A Legacy is something you can see today, knowing that your death or your retirement or anything else cannot erase it. A legacy is something you give as you live and love during your lifetime.
We had an interesting phenomena take place a few years ago when Olive Harper died. She lived in a crowded, run down apartment just behind Sun Bank. I had met her when some years ago I conducted the funeral for her husband here in the Sanctuary. There were only three of us present here on that rainy day. Mrs. Harper, the undertaker, and myself. A lonely, sad experience. A few years later, after her death, the church received notice of an estate gift of 5% of her estate. The gift went into our Claim the Dream Campaign. It amounted to $106,000.00. The total estate was almost 2 million dollars. She could have given and enjoyed seeing the gift while she lived, but she didn't.
If there is something you believe in or someone you believe in, then get involved with their life, now, today. Make tomorrow's dreams come true today. For that is how we live, love and leave a legacy! One of the greatest challenges of our life is to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have it make some difference that we lived at all. This will happen, if and only if, you choose to live life at its best in Christ and give yourself in love! I have great hope for tomorrow, for we, you and I, we are a people who will chose today to live, love and leave a legacy.
Christmas is a season when we celebrate babies-the beginning of life, the unlimited possibilities which life affords. And, my - my have we as a church family had them this year. Twenty-eight, so far and still counting. When you hold a baby in your hand, you feel the pulse beat of the future. A baby is life's longing for itself. It's how the creator is a procreator. He creates us like himself so that we become creators. Our babies are not "our" babies, as they come not from us, but through us.
In this season, we focus on the baby of Mary and Joseph and today, the baby of Elizabeth and Zechariah. His name was John and because when he grew up, he baptized people in the water of the Jordan, he became known as John the Baptizer or John the Baptist. He was the messenger who preceded the coming of Jesus as the Messiah.
There is an Old Testament Book whose title is Malachi in Hebrew, or in English, The Messenger. Messengers in our tradition, were not soft-spoken gentlemen, but individuals who would tell it like it is.
The Old Testament Malachi and the New Testament Baptizer, both stand in the prophetic tradition of a harsh critique of the behaviors and attitudes of the priests and the people. Prophetic Messengers were not the kinds of people you would want to attend your Christmas party. Priests were accused of disrespecting God by offering inferior sacrifices. And the people are accused of robbing God of the tithe and not treating others as God desires. Said Malachi: "God will come like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap". He will refine you like fire burns the impurities and produces the silver. He will wash your mouth out with soap. Said John: "You brood of vipers! Bear fruits that befit repentance. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
I've often wondered if the parents of Zechariah and Elizabeth had any inkling of who their baby would become. We are told that in both the case of Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zechariah, there was a visit by an angel who told them of the potential of their babies to be. In Luke's story about the birth of John, we are told that in the temple, the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah and tells him: "Your prayer has been heard! Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him John." Obviously Zechariah had been praying not only for the people of Israel, but also for himself. When the angel speaks to Zechariah, the old priest makes two mistakes. He opens his mouth and promptly inserts his foot. He questions Gabriel: "How will I know this is so? For I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years." His mistakes were:
1. Never doubt the word of an angel and...
2. Never offer commentary on your wife's age. Consequently, Gabriel tells Zechariah that he will not be able to speak for the nine months until the child is born. Can you image having a husband who couldn't speak for nine months while you are pregnant? It just goes to show you that one persons' curse can be another person's blessing. Anyway, from this encounter, John is born. And the first step of our Salvation history is the birth of the Prophet.
When you hold a baby, you never know what to expect. I only know that when I hold a baby I can feel the pulse beat of potential presidents and kings. The World's greatest leaders were once but small children, caressed by their parents and enjoyed by their grandparents. It is a challenge between dirty diapers and runny noses, to see the future. You have to have either a visit from an angel or a great imagination when you deal with babies.
Christmas is a season, in the church, of great imagination. A time when we see wonderful possibilities even in little babies. We see beyond what is to what might be. That's the essence of Christmas Hope. "Our faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." John was born while Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were older and had almost given up hope of having a child. In Biblical times children were understood to be blessings from God and to not have a child was viewed as a disgrace or even a sign of God's punishment. Thank heavens we have matured from such first century thoughts now, but Zechariah, a Jewish priest from the Judea village of Ein Keren, just outside of Jerusalem, 2000 years ago, had a problem. He must have wondered to himself, centuries before the world heard of Rabbi Harold Kushner, "Why do Bad things happen to good people?" And yet, Zechariah and Elizabeth, we are told, "lived righteous before God, blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord."
Zechariah and Elizabeth like Abraham and Sarah, who also had a baby in their old age, were people of faith, and saw beyond what was to what could be. When a person lives their life in faith and righteous before God in spite of their circumstances, God brings about unbelievable blessings. When you are a person of faith, you expect God to work things out, in time. You can't be pushy, you can't be demanding on your timetable. But when you believe in God, you know that in His time, things will be as they are suppose to be and that you had better get on the side of God.
Malachi and John grew to be harsh prophets who called a spade a spade and said the reason things are not going well for you is that you are not doing right. That the people had forgotten about God and that the reason he did not do good things in their lives was because they neglected him and his ways. When you repent and stop robbing God and repent and change from evil ways, then God will give you blessings in abundance. "Put me to the test, says God. "See if I will not bring showers of blessings into your life." Maybe nothing good ever happens in your life at Christmas, because you never expect God to bless you. Maybe you become overwhelmed because you are doing too much and spending to much time on things that really don't matter. Perhaps you do not experience the love and generous spirit of the season, because you are not loving and you are not generous. You don't expect anything good to happen and sure enough, nothing ever happens good. What goes around, comes around.
One of the reasons I admire Zechariah is because he remained faithful to God when things didn't go his way. Its easy to praise God when your life is a piece of cake, but it takes a person of real integrity to be faithful when life falls apart or maybe just doesn't measure up to your expectations. Faith gives evidence of things not seen, the assurance of things yet to be.
Summary: A young father came to church one day and hung around after most everyone had left. He shuffled his feet, obviously wanting to say something to me. Finally, after superficial conversation, he took a deep breath and said: "I want to join the church. I want to clean my life up. This baby will be learning from me and I have not been living the kind of life that I want my child to see and imitate. I would be very embarrassed if my child grew up to be like me." Now that's the beginning of Christmas Hope. "If my people who are called by my name will repent of their sins, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins." Strange, it all began for this young father with the birth of his son. It could begin this Christmas for you, as you listen to the words of the baby of Elizabeth and Zechariah, "repent, change, expect great things, claim a new life."
The son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, named John, became in time a prophet to Israel. He preached a harsh word calling for change in people's lives, saying the reason things were not going well for Israel was because they were not obeying the Commandments and doing right.
John wore a camel's hair shirt, ate locus and wild honey. He slept outside under the stars. And did his baptisms in the January waters of the Jordan. John, was One tough customer. He called upon the people to repent of their sin and to be baptized in the Jewish tradition of the Micva baths for purification, and to change their ways.
Get Right with God, for God is coming into our world to set things right. The time is at hand. The days of love, hope, and joy are not in some distant event, but are today. The future is now. The end time has begun.
The People responded to his message: "What must we do?" And John's answer was so simple. As simple as Jesus' when he was asked a similar question.
John's answer: "Bear fruit worthy of repentance-live in such a way that God would be pleased--if you have two coats, give one away. No more extortion. No more double dealing. No more taking the Lord's name in vain. Do right."
Jesus was later to say: "Love God and Love others. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick. Go the second mile. Turn the other cheek. Forgive your enemy. Pray for those who use you."
So simple, yet we make everything so complicated. It's like what we do with Christmas. It's Jesus' birthday and from most of our activity, you could never figure out that it was the celebration of Jesus' birth. One year Christmas fell on Sunday, so we had only one large worship service and the children brought toys to "show and tell". One five year old was showing a toy and when asked "Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?" answered: "No, I didn't, but that's okay. It's not my birthday."
So the message of Christmas is quite simple, yet it becomes very complicated because we allow it to get out of hand and consequently overwhelming.
2. Let me suggest a way of simplifying this seasonal problem, by suggesting in the spirit of John the Baptist, some ways to "bear fruit worthy of repentance" which is what he preached in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah:
Bearing Fruit Worthy of Repentance. That means doing something for God or someone else. It means finding ways to put God and others first before yourself.
3. Experience has taught me that "bearing fruit worthy of repentance" is the result of an intentional choice. It doesn't just happen. Practicing good habits rather than bad ones. Come let us reason together.
Is it a good habit or a bad habit to write a personal note of greeting, expressing your love and gratitude for someone at Christmas or anytime.
Is it a good or bad habit to write to someone? Good or bad? Right "good".
Help me here. We are thinking about "bearing fruit worthy of repentance." Is it good or bad when you pray to occasionally say "thank you" to God for blessings received? Good or Bad?
Is it a good or bad habit to say thank you in writing for a gift received from your employer. Good or Bad?
Is it a good or bad habit to mix alcohol with family Christmas gatherings? Good or Bad?
Is it a good or bad habit to have a family prayer before you begin the Christmas meal? Can't hear you. Good or Bad?
Is it a good or bad habit to grab your food and just dig in, when your mother says "Come get it?" Good or Bad?
Is it a good or bad habit to have no idea as to how much you are spending on Christmas gifts. Let me rephrase this: Is it good or bad to use your credit card with no idea as to how much you are spending. Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to give Christmas gifts? Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to receive Christmas gifts? Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to attend a worship moment like a Christmas music concert, or a Christmas Eve Communion service? Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to run down the isle and push your way to the front when a "blue light special" is announced at Kmart.
Is it a good or bad thing at Christmastime to commit your life to Jesus Christ as the way to live life as its best? Good or bad to commit your life to Jesus Christ?
Is it good or bad to blow your horn and or make an obscene gesture when someone wheels in front of you claiming what appears to be the last parking place at the mall. Good or bad?
Is it good or bad to be faithful to God and God's ways when things don't turn out like we want them to turn out? Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to sing the Christmas carols no matter how off key you may think you may sing? Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to share Christmas dinner with family or a friend? Don't get tired on me here. Stay with me.
Is it good or bad to overeat, at Christmas Dinner? Probably bad.
Is it good or bad to clean up your own mess when you have finished with a project? Good or Bad?
Is it good or bad to be a kind and generous person?
Is it good or bad to be ugly and hateful to another person?
Is it a good or bad thing to invite a person to go cruising around in the car, drinking some beers, knocking down stop signs and throwing trash in the street? Is that Good or bad?
Is it a good or bad thing to support a politician who has been elected, but you didn't vote for him? Good or bad. Do we need a recount here? By the way we have a new president. We do have a winner! And a new Superintendent of Education. And a new Senator. And a new-well a lot of new officers.
Is it a good or bad thing to pray for the unity of the nation and to work for peace among all people? Good or Bad?
Well, it appears that you obviously know what "fruits are worthy of Repentance". You just need to go and do it and enjoy the season . Let us pray.
You Count!
Dr. Henry E Roberts
Luke 2:1-20In this year of the National census, we have been reminded that every individual counts and needs to be counted.
In the year that Quirinius was the governor of Syria, the beginning of the modern era. Rome required a national census for taxation purposes. It was the way the government was able to keep track of the people in conquered lands such as the Middle East. It was therefore required that the people of the land would return to their native villages for enrollment or registration. Thus the reason, young Joseph and Mary may their way to Bethlehem of Judea, although Mary was great with child. Rome for taxation purposes said to the people: You count.
In this historic beginning of a new Millennium, which became a rather interesting year of national elections, we have been reminded of the importance of each individual vote that is cast. With all the millions of votes cast all over America, our national President was chosen by a vote differential of fewer people than are in the sanctuary this morning. Never again, at least in our life time will we doubt the importance of our vote. For those of you who voted for the first time in a national election this year, you will tell your great grandchildren one day about the first year you voted and that your vote made a difference. You count in the democratic process of America.
This year we have celebrated the birth of 29 babies in our church family. One was born this past week. Church members gave birth to a son, who will carry his father's name. In the words of his grandfather: "This is the best day of my life." Another church family celebrated this year the birth of their child.
Never doubt the importance of your child. Life will never be the same since your child's birth.
Once Zechariah and Elizabeth held their baby named John. He became known as the Baptizer and was the forerunner of the Messiah.
And Once Joseph and Mary held the baby named Jesus.
Once your mother and father held you as a baby in their arms. They admired and smiled at you and prayed for you. They thought you were the most beautiful baby ever born. And every time you had gas and smiled back at them, they thought you were so cute. They have loved you and as best as they could or can, they have cared for you, prayed for you, hoped the best for you, cried for you, laughed at and with you, prayed for you.
One of the earliest memories lodged in the deep recesses of my memory is that as a child on a cold, dark, wintry night, suffering from a stomach illness of high intensity, my mother held me and rocked me before a crackling, open fireplace. And as scary shadows danced across the walls of what was usually the familiar, friendly wall of our living room I looked up to be surprised by a smile on the face of my mother. I snuggled down in the warm blanket in her arms and then the memory fades into the dim unknown. I lived in those early years and yet today, with a since of security, of confidence, and peace. Which was given to me as a child from a loving caring mother. It is a precious gift which we have received from the Heavenly Father which we are privileged to give to one another.
I am privileged to have lived long enough and still have my mother who this week will celebrate her 90th year of life. She cared for me and my brother and my father and now I only from our original family am left and privileged to care for her. As she communicated to me in varying ways, now I communicate to her that she counts. It is a divine message.
Perhaps the heart of the message of Christmas is that you count! The one and only and most simplest message of this very complicated season is: You are important. You count. Christmas is God census.
The incarnation, or the coming into flesh of the Eternal God, in the birth of Jesus, was as clear a message as God could make it, that human life is important to him as the Creator. This phenomena did not just happen, but it happened under the watchful eye of God.
"God so loved the World, that He created life and that he gave his only son, so that who ever believes in him shall never perish, but shall have eternal life." In the stillness of the season, a voice is heard from the depths of life saying: "You count!"
Christmas Eve -- 11pm
Dr. Henry E Roberts
Luke 1:57-80Family stories come to mind at Christmas. It becomes a season of remembrance: Again and again it comes, this time of recollection The Season of Remembrance. Empty vessels of hope fill up again Forgotten treasures of dreams reclaim their place. Long lost memories come trooping back again. This is a season of remembrance, a time of recollection.
Into the challenge of my anguish, comes the strength of my hope. The darts of my despair are met with the treasures of my dreams. Upon the current of my heart, floats the burdens of the years; As the mindset of death is confronted with this annual psalm of life. Such to us is this time of recollection, this season of remembrance.
One year, my brother and our wives were traveling together and we were on the Island of Majorca in the Mediterranean. One night, My brother and I wanted to drive down the island to hear a singing group called The Platters. It wasn't the original Platters but it was a world renowned group that had claimed their name and style. The original Platters was a singing group in the 50s and 60s who were on the radio when we were growing up. Listening and dancing to the music of the Platters, we probably fell in love a dozen times during those adolescent years--shoot, I'll bet a dozen times every year. We fell in love with girls who thank heavens didn't become our wives, but that The Platters were singing that night, brought back all of those old memories. That probably explains why our wives were not interested in traveling down the island to hear them with us. One additional problem was that they didn't sing until 10:30 in the evening, and that was a couple of hours beyond my desired bedtime. So, the end of the story is that we didn't go. And that was one of the few things we didn't do in our life together, but sometimes I think to myself, "Wish we had gone."
At Christmastime, when we hear the old story, sometimes I wonder if there had not been one of the shepherds that long ago Holy Night, who chose not to go to Bethlehem with the others.
Years later, he would have told his grandchildren about the night he didn't go. He might have said to them: "Later I heard that it was wonderful, but I didn't go and I missed it. My friends gave gifts and there were wise men, and they heard the angels of the night, but I didn't go."
Today there are many people who are like my imagined shepherd. They are not bad people, in fact they are for the most part very nice people, but they just don't go. They don't sing the carols of Christmas. They don't see the Advent Candles glowing in the Sanctuary, the candles of Love, Hope, Joy and Peace and consequently don't feel the reality in their heart of the emotions of these great Christmas words: Hope, Joy, Love, Peace. They are pretty much wrapped up in themselves. They don't give to the Kingdom's work through the church... They don't give to the needy. They don't go the second mile. They don't go out of their way to pray, or to think about God's love, or Jesus as "the way, the truth, and the Life."
Tonight, we have, in the darkest part of this night, made this trip to the Sanctuary, in hopes of not missing out, in hopes of hearing the Angel's sing. Could be they will sing the same message to you tonight that they sung to the shepherds who did go to the manager so long ago. Hear their immortal words: (choir sings)