It was a few days before Christmas on the Oregon coast. Two men whose families lived next door opted to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. An unexpected storm surprised the weekend sailors. Before long, the sea became angry, and the two had a difficult time keeping the sailboat under control.
While heading toward the harbor, the craft hit a sandbar and grounded. Both men jumped overboard into the icy water and began to push and shove in an attempt to get the sailboat into deeper water. Knee-deep in mud and repeatedly bounced against the hull by unfriendly waves, the one said to the other, “Sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”
When you think of Christmas, what word or phrase do you automatically think of? For some of us it might be “Christmas shopping nightmare.” For others of us, it might be “Let’s go sailing!”
This morning, I think of the word barrenness in conjunction with Christmas. Not because Christmas is a barren time (it is certainly not) but because we experience barrenness within our hearts, minds, and souls in a variety of ways. There are the demands of time and expectations that are a part of this season because we are well aware of the expectation to be here, there, in fact, everywhere!
Another way we experience barrenness and need God’s touch on our lives is due to the barrenness of relationships through death and conflict. At this time of year when family togetherness is a very marketed concept, many people experience anything but family togetherness. Death, conflict, and distance of all kinds, make family togetherness an impossibility.
And, in light of the economic slowdown, many people are experiencing an economic barrenness, as thousand and thousands of jobs have disappeared right before our eyes.
Our Advent series has been entitled The Christmas Touch and we have visited with the innkeeper and shepherds of Bethlehem. As we visited with the innkeeper, we were challenged to reach out to our neighbors like the innkeeper probably did in providing Joseph and Mary with a place to stay. As we visited with the shepherds, we were encouraged to reach out to the overlooked people of our day by making meaningful connections with them. Shepherds, as we heard, were considered unreliable persons and overlooked in the social status of that day. But, God used them to announce Jesus’ arrival!
Today, we move north from Bethlehem to Jerusalem where we visit a Jewish priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. The story is found in Luke 1:5 – 25 and it takes place prior to Gabriel’s announcement to Mary about the coming birth of Jesus.
I can personally relate to Zechariah in a couple of ways. First, like Zechariah, I too, am a priest, if you will, as I serve God as your pastor. I understand the role and the duties that he performed. But, I can also relate to Zechariah in another way.
As we read in Luke 1:7, “They (that is Zechariah and Elizabeth) had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and now they were both very old.”
After 11 years of marriage, Susan and I were trying to have a family. But, nothing was happening. So, I made a trip to the doctor. He sent me to another doctor who looked at me and basically said, “You have an easily fixed condition.” Fixed by surgery, he meant.
So, in August 1994 I underwent surgery to correct an infertility problem. And, as some of us here this morning are aware, it worked! Living proof in the form of my two boys – Jonathon and Daniel.
With Zechariah’s story as a backdrop, I want to share two verses because they show us how God’s touch does work in our lives.
We experience the touch of God on our lives when we acknowledge the barrenness of connection in them.
In Psalm 68:6 we read, “God places the lonely in families; He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.”
God is aware of the barrenness of our relationships during this time of year. He knows all about our pain and loneliness that comes because of death, conflict, and separation of many kinds. But, because of Christmas, because of the coming of a little boy, Jesus, God places us, as we respond to Him in faith and trust, in His family – the church.
Let me put it this way, “If there was no Christmas, there would be no Good Friday, and if there was no Good Friday, there would be no Easter; and if there was no Easter, there would be no Pentecost, and if there was no Pentecost, there would be no Church, and if there was no Church, there would be no touch of God!
In other words, without Christmas – the Birth of Jesus, there would be no Good Friday – the death of Jesus. Without Good Friday there would be no Easter –the Resurrection of Jesus. Without Easter there would be no Pentecost – the coming of God’s Holy Spirit to let people begin to know that they can be delivered from all sorts of stuff and personally experience peace and hope. And without Pentecost, the Church would have not been established and without the Church, what family would God place the lonely in?
This passage is speaking of people who have a barrenness of connection with others. As we read in the opening chapters of Genesis, we were not created to exist alone. We were created to exist in relationships with others. God created us for relationships. He created us to have relationships of various kinds – family, marriage, and friendship.
One thing that is hard for us to sometimes understand is when people, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, who are loyal and faithful to God and all that is good, have difficulties. Now, this issue is a sermon series in and of itself, but it is reasonable to think that when people experience moments of barrenness, be they physical or relational or otherwise, it cannot but wear and tear on their heart and souls.
Who knows what Zechariah and Elizabeth went through during those years of barrenness? Who knows how much they cried out to God for a child, both privately and with one another? Who knows how much they yearned for the blessing of a child?
I think that we can safely imagine that not having children was very difficult for Zechariah and Elizabeth. Now, there is at least one other couple in the Bible in which physical barrenness created heartache. That couple was Abraham and Sarah. Perhaps Zechariah and Elizabeth found strength and hope in their story because having a lot of children was considered very important in that society. Children were considered a blessing from God.
But, God, as we read the rest of Luke 1, did not forget Zechariah and Elizabeth. A son was born to them and their joy knew no bounds!
God understands these needs. He knows that we thrive and grow with the right kinds of relationships. He does not want us to be lonely. He can, and He does, provide for our needs through His touch of grace and help in this very important area of our lives.
However, we do not just experience isolation from other; we also experience isolation from God. This brings us to our second verse of scripture.
Another way we experience the touch of God at its deepest and most profound level is when we confess the truth about ourselves.
In James 5: 16 we read, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.”
Confession is nothing more than telling the truth about ourselves, about what is really going on inside of us – our attitudes, our hopes, our dreams, goals, sins, etc.
One commentator has written of this passage, “Christ has made it possible for us to go directly to God for forgiveness. But confessing our sins to each other still has an important place in the life of the church. (1) If we have sinned against an individual, we must ask him or her to forgive us. (2) If our sin has affected the church, we must confess it publicly. (3) If we need loving support as we struggle with a sin, we should confess that sin to those who are able to provide that support. (4) If we doubt God’s forgiveness, after confessing a sin to him, we may wish to confess that sin to a fellow believer for assurance of God’s pardon.”
This is the primary reason for personally experiencing God’s touch – forgiveness, new life, a new relationship with God! And Zechariah had a role to play in this because as we read the rest of his story in Luke 1, we find that he becomes the father of John the Baptist who prepares the way for Jesus by preaching repentance of sins.
As I said earlier, with out Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost would probably have not occurred. And the result would be that you and I would not be here and our lives would be dramatically different.
In 1994 two Americans answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on Biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments, and a large orphanage.
It was nearing the holiday season for the orphans to hear for the first time the traditional Christmas story. They told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem and finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where Jesus was born and placed in the manger.
Throughout the story, the children, according to one of the Americans, “sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.”
As a follow-up activity to the story, each child was given three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manager. Each child was also given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins which the children tore into strips the paper and carefully laid them in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel from a thrown away nightgown were used for the baby’s blanket. From pieces of tan felt a doll-like baby was made.
As they made their way around the room to observe the children this is what one of the Americans noted, “All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project.
As I looked at the little boy’s manger, I was startled to see, not one but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger.”
The observer goes on to note that Misha very accurately recalled the story that had been told until he came to the part where Mary put Jesus in the manger. “Then Misha,” it is noted, “started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, “And when Maria 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 momma 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?” And 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 little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon or abuse him, someone who would stay with him – FOR ALWAYS!”
I think that Misha got it! He understood what Christmas is really about! It is about the being personally touched by God and having your life changed deeply and dramatically.
We experience the Christmas touch of God as we personally give the gift of ourselves to God and experience both belonging and forgiveness.
What about you? Are you in need of a touch from God this morning? Do you need a renewal of hope? Do you need a touch of affirmation? Do you need to be liberated from a past that still haunts you?
God want to make a difference in your life, today! He wants, through confession and commitment, to place you in His family and begin to help you experience belonging like never before.
What does it take? Simply this, “God, I need you. I ask for your forgiveness for what I have done wrong. I ask for your help to do what is right. I acknowledge my need for your help in my life – my work, my relationships, my family, - in every area. I turn my life and will over to you. Guide me and help me to live for you and with you from this day forward.”
The greatest gift of Christmas is realized in Easter when Jesus came out of the tomb and made it possible for us to be touched, to be transformed, to be changed into an incredible person. It is yours, if you choose to accept and open it as you allow God into your life. I hope that you do. Amen.
