The Greatest Gift

I need your help tonight. So, when I was a kid I had a hard time paying attention on Christmas Eve. Do you know why I could not pay attention? Two Words: Christmas presents!

Well, tonight I need your help with some presents. We are going to play a game. My friend, Nathan Carlson, who lives down in Birmingham, plays a similar game. Except instead of wrapping presents Nathan hides the object underneath his shirt. You will never guess what his game is called, “Guess What’s Underneath My Shirt!” Of course, I prefer “Guess What’s Underneath the Wrapping”!

I bet you might already be pretty good at this. If you look at presents underneath the Christmas tree and guess what’s under the wrapping paper you have been practicing. So, it’s pretty easy to play once I hold up an item and not before then, you guess what the present is. On the first two if you guess correctly, sadly you do not get to keep the prize, but what’s inside the third one you can keep it!

Round:

1.       What do you think is in this oddly shaped package? Is it a hat? Could it be something that belongs to a light? If you guessed a lamp shade you are correct! Hooray! 

2.       This package is round. It could be a Frisbee. Maybe it is a thick dinner plate, but what is that? What do I hear? Ticking! If you guessed it is a clock you are correct!

3.       Now what could possibly be in this third present? What is it? It just looks like a box? Anything could be in here! What do you hope is in here? A Nintendo system? A Tiffany diamond engagement ring? Keys to a new Tesla? If it could be the greatest gift of all what would it be? As we open this package we find that there is nothing in here.

Are there gifts that you cannot see? Have you ever been given a gift that you could not see? Two Christmases ago my mom gave my family and me a trip to Disney World. I could not see that trip until it happened. And, there are gifts even more amazing presents that we cannot see. 

When your mom, dad, grandparents, or sibling is really nice to you sometimes you cannot see it. When they say please or thank you they show you love. Sharing games or toys shows love. When they make sure you are warm and dry on a rainy, cold night they show you love. Love is not something you can always see. Sometimes it is something that you just know in your head, feel in your gut, or experience in your heart.

The shepherds long ago had felt something just like this. Do you know the story of the shepherds? We heard their story tonight in the reading about Jesus’ birth. I like shepherds because I could see myself as a shepherd. I bet any of you could be a shepherd too. Being a shepherd doesn’t take a fancy degree. 

Those shepherds long ago were tending their flocks one night. They were in a field caring for their sheep when something amazing happened. Angels came to tell them good news of great joy. Sure they were afraid because God’s glory startled them, but the Angel told them that the baby Jesus had been born!

God gave to the Shepherds an amazing present. They were given news of a Savior who would bring love to all people. And, they got to go meet the baby Jesus. So, they went to go see him. These lowly guys in a field that is who God choose to tell about this gift from above. Shepherds were the ones who first received the best gift ever given.

Do you know what else? The shepherds are not the only ones who receive that gift! God sent Jesus down to earth not just for the shepherds, but for all of us. At Christmas each year we remember the greatest gift every given, our Savior Jesus! Like those shepherds we are called by the messengers of God to go and see Jesus lying in the manger with his mother Mary and father Joseph. We are to celebrate with great joy like those shepherds that God came down to be with us. And, we, like them, are to go and tell that Good News to other people too!

You will most likely get some wonderful gifts tomorrow or maybe even tonight. But, you have already received the best gift of all: A Savior who came down to love us, to show us God’s love, and to bring us closer to God! We may not be able to see it, but believe that God loves you always and forever! Amen.

Lost and Found

When I was three years old my family took a vacation to London, England. For a couple weeks we traveled through the streets of this historic city, we went to museums, we saw Big Ben, we watched soccer games, and we celebrated Christmas. I loved it… for a while. But at the end I got homesick. Even though I was there with my family, I missed my bed, I missed my home, and mostly I missed what was familiar.

For those weeks in London I had a hard time recognizing anything. People there spoke with a funny accent (said in a funny English accent), they ate food that was not all that tasty to me, and they drove on the other side of the road. By the end of a couple of weeks I felt lost and confused. Finally though it was time to go home.

Since my parents were staying to teach a college course in London, my grandparents accompanied my sister and me home. We flew from London to Atlanta. Then we drove from Atlanta to my grandparents’ house in Birmingham. The journey felt like it took forever, even though I slept a lot of the way.

When I finally got to my grandparents’ house I finally recognized something. As we pulled into their driveway I saw something that did not seem odd or confusing or foreign. My eyes were opened when we got to my grandparents’ house. So what did I do? I started laughing. I could not help myself but keep chuckling. I giggled and snorted and snickered for the better part of an hour. I even went around touching things to make sure I was not dreaming because I finally did not feel lost anymore.

Sometimes though we feel lost. In my case it was because I was in a foreign land. The disciples in today’s gospel story are lost without their teacher, their leader, and their Savior. They are walking along a road that they probably knew on the way out of the troublesome Jerusalem where Jesus had died. We don’t know why they are going this way, but we know that they had all but given up hope in the Resurrection and were walking in the other direction. It is in this foggy state that they meet but do not recognize Jesus as he approaches them on the road.

Jesus though, walks with them, talks with them, and teaches them about the Scripture. Still these disciples do not recognize anything. Finally, they get to where they are going and Jesus acts like he is going to keep on walking. Something in the disciples urges them to invite Jesus to stay with them for evening is near. Jesus stays and they sit down to eat together. It is when Jesus breaks bread with the disciples that they finally recognize him.

We do not know what happened to Jesus, but he disappears. The disciples though identified him and they remembered that their hearts had been burning the entire time they were with Jesus. I wonder if those two disciples had a moment when they laughed and laughed and laughed until they cried. For they had been walking away from Jerusalem, the empty tomb, and the Risen Lord, they had been lost and confused, but now experienced the Resurrected Jesus.

Sometimes in life we can walk around and feel as though we have lost hope. Maybe it’s because we are feeling lost in a far away place, or maybe it’s because we feel lost right here at home. It is almost impossible in those moments to know that Jesus is walking with us, but he is. Jesus will come to us at all times and he will walk with us. Even if we cannot recognize him he will walk with us. Like the disciples we must listen to what Jesus tells us. Like the disciples we can feel our hearts burning within us. Like the disciples we are to invite Jesus to stay a little while longer. Jesus longs to break bread with us, to be with us in fellowship and in life.

This is the joy of our Risen Lord that he will make our hearts to burn and he will break bread with us. Thanks be to God for this!