“God’s Amazing Love” – Luke 2:1-14 – December 24, 2006

For most of you being in the sanctuary this evening is warm and comforting. You are here with family and friends who care about you. Many have traveled great distances. You have come because Christmas wouldn’t be complete without participating in the tradition of singing Silent Night and lighting a candle in memory of the Christ child, God’s son.

Here we are safe and warm. The people around us can be trusted. There will be many handshakes, hugs and verbal exchanges from folks who want the best for you. There’s a warm spirit in the air and this is a time filled with memories, security and love.

On the outside it’s a different story. The world is dark. There are people you don’t trust. The pace is fast and complex. Everyone is out for themselves. It’s all about survival and self gratification. You have to work hard to get anywhere. Systems are unfair. Everyone is trying to get ahead. Life had many obstacles, pitfalls and it is easy to lose your way.

Inside we are safe and secure, in a little world, where love, light and hope abounds. Outside life is risky, there is darkness, fear and we are very vulnerable.

Our image of Jesus and the holy family in the stable is simple, pure, a scene filled with love and warmth. But, for Jesus and his family there was also an outside world. The world was not friendly. The Roman government was oppressive and cruel. Religion had given in to corruption and unethical. Most people were poor, uneducated, and barely able to survive.

All that separated Jesus from the darkness of the outside world was a few bales of hay. Fortunately, he had Joseph and Mary to protect and care for him, along with a few curious shepherds. Thankfully, the family took refuge in a remote location, a few miles from the harshness of urban life. The holy family had found sanctuary in the midst of a hostile and evil world. In the middle of nowhere the birth of the savior took place. God’s love is truly amazing.

God had found a way to bring love into the world. For the moment, God’s son was safe from harm, resting in a manger. A new kingdom was about to be born. It would be one of peace, harmony and love. Compassion and good will would abound. But, for that to happen, Jesus would have to leave the security of the stable and his parents, stepping over the bales of hay, and venturing into the dark, cold world beyond.

The story of the birth of Jesus clearly illustrates that the world needs love. For peace and harmony are impossible without love. It is love that can restore ethical behavior. It is love that can give light to darkness. It is love that can keep us safe and secure as we venture into the world beyond.

The angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds at night. In other words, God’s love was able to break through the darkness and be present. When we find ourselves in darkness, we need light to find our way.

In 1991 Robyn Stevens of Hancock, Maine, pondered over what she should give her father, Arthur Stevens, for Christmas. Her grandmother always talked about the usefulness of flashlights. So, she bought a three-celled, waterproof flashlight from Sears. Her father was delighted and said, "How did you know what I needed?"

The following January, Arthur was twenty-five miles out to sea in the Gulf of Maine. He was on the tugboat Harkness along with his two crew members. They were on their way home from a construction job. Halfway home the crew found themselves in a nightmare. A severe storm was approaching. The temperature dropped drastically and the sky got very dark. The winds were at twenty-five knots and the windchill factor was minus sixty degrees. A little after 6PM Captain Musetti checked the stern of the boat, only to discover they were taking on water. The tug was pitching violently and the decks were sheer ice. He radioed the Coast Guard station in Southwest Harbor and said, "We’re going down."

The Harkness was sinking just off Matinicus Island where a handful of families lived during the winter. Vance Bunker heard the radio conversations between the Harkness and Coast Guard and knew that the three men didn’t stand a chance if they weren’t rescued soon. He and two other lobstermen left their families and set out to sea in the Jan Ellen, a thirty-six foot lobster boat. The sky was so cloudy and their windshield was so iced-up, they couldn’t see a thing. All they could do was forge ahead in the darkness. At 7:01PM Bunker heard what would be the last radio transmission from the Harkness. "The water is up to our chests in the wheelhouse," Captain Musetti reported. "We’re going into the water."

Bunker and his crew heard nothing after that except the roar of the wind and the creaking of their boat as it crashed through the waves. The possibility that three sailors had drowned brought a sickening feeling to Bunker’s stomach. Shortly thereafter, one of the other men on the Jan Ellen saw a thin beam of light, pointing straight up. "Look, over there. Follow that light!" Bunker turned the boat in the direction of the light and there they found three, nearly half-dead men with arms hooked together. Their clothes were frozen to a ladder that had come loose from the Harkness as she went down.

Arthur was closest to death and had lost his ability to hold on. But the freezing cold had done the men an odd turn. Frozen to the back of one of the men’s gloves was a three-celled, waterproof flash-light. It was aiming straight up in the darkness. It had become a beacon for those who had enough faith to follow it. God’s love is truly amazing. (from Chicken Soup for the Soul, Christmas Treasury, Beacon of Faith)

The first to hear the good news were some poor shepherds. God’s love is not limited to the rich and famous. God’s love is inclusive. Anyone can be the bearer of God’s love. Consider the story of a little orphan boy named Misha.

It was nearing the holiday season, time for the orphans to hear, for the first time, the traditional story of Christmas. They were told about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn the couple went to a stable, where the boy Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and staff at the orphanage sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word. Afterwards the children were given three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins. The children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown, were used for the baby's blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt.
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The orphans were busy assembling their mangers and Mark, the man who had come to lead the event, walked among them to see if they needed any help. All went well until he got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about six-years old and had finished his project. As Mark looked at the little boy's manger, he was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. He wondered why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at his completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately - until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger.

Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story. He said, "And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mama and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him.
But I told him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift.
I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, ‘If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?’ Then Jesus told me, 'If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.’ "So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him - for always." As Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears. Putting his hand over his face, his dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed. He had found someone who would never abandon him and be with him always. God’s love is amazing. (from: Jerry Fuller, OMI)

The love of God can come to us in the remote places of our lives. There is no place, no circumstance, or person that God’s love can’t reach. God’s love is like a light that helps us find our way, and no one is excluded from the amazing love of God.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio