Message 12-04-05

Series: Unplugged Christmas
Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-11

Title: ALL I WANT

Intro:
Don’t you just love all the old Christmas movies that come out at this time of year? I saw something in the paper that made me think about that.
I was reading the obituaries this past week. I don’t make a habit of that, but as I was flipping through the paper on Wednesday morning I noticed that George Bailey died. The name was at the top of a column and it caught my eye. George Bailey died. Does that name sound familiar? It’s the name of the main character in that old Christmas movie. This George Bailey, in the paper, lived a remarkable life. He was born in Kentucky, volunteered in the air service before World War II and then served with distinction. He was married and had children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The obituary ends with his personal philosophy… “My life has always been an adventure and not a journey. It's been a wonderful life."

 

George R. Bailey   

BAILEY, George R., 87, retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, passed away Monday, November 28, 2005, in Brandon. He was born in Versailles, Ky., the son of William and Mary (Griffith) Bailey. George was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy Mae, and his son, Darrell Keith. He was a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 680. He is survived by his loving wife, Loretta, and his children, Bobbie Jean Howard and husband, David, of Frankfort, Ky., Georgeann Ross and husband, George, Lt. Col. Ricky Bailey and wife, Marcia, and Staff Sgt. Larry David Bailey and wife, Brenda; nine grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchildren. He also is survived by his sisters, Mary Belle Hartley and husband, James, of Versailles, Ky., and Christine Howard of Frankfort, Ky. He was preceded in death by three sisters, Minnie Flora, Margaret Turner and Nellie Weber. Lt. Col. Bailey entered the service September 19, 1939. He was an original member of the World War II American volunteer group, Flying Tigers, under Gen. Claire Chenault. While in the service, he received the Soldier's Medal for heroic actions in Belgium. During his career, he received a Bronze Star with two oak leaf clusters. He also received a presidential unit citation for his participation in the American volunteer group. He participated in the Berlin airlift. He was a recipient of the American Aviation Award Hall of Fame and American Combat Airmen Hall of Fame. He was selected as a Kentucky Colonel. He was very proud to be the president of Saraland, Ala., Little League baseball for four years. The family will receive friends noon Thursday, December 1, 2005, at Hillsboro Memorial Funeral Home, with funeral services at 2 p.m. Interment will follow at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens. Donations in his memory may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. George's philosophy was, "My life has always been an adventure and not a journey. It's been a wonderful life."


I love that. “It’s a wonderful life.” Can you imagine how often George Bailey heard people talk about “It’s a Wonderful Life”, the old Christmas movie with Jimmy Stewart? I think it’s great that he caught hold of the idea and made it his own. It just brings me into that story again.
All those gushy, dusty, simple, heartwarming stories that flood the TV… they just surround us with the magic of Christmas. Why are we so drawn to these stories? What makes us want to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, Frosty, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, or even How the Grinch Stole Christmas again and again?
I think there’s an ache in our heart that these movies touch on. I think they make sense to something deep within us and they encourage us.
I’ve noticed something though, as I’ve gotten older, I miss those movies. I literally miss those movies when they come on. I have to really pay attention if I’m going to see them. I have to work to carve out the time to sit down and watch them… even one of them. So, I’ve bought some of them and I’ve taped some of them but I realize I have to work still to get the chance to see them. Sometimes I end up watching one late at night, after all the stuff of the day, even when I know I should be sleeping. I’m just trying to grab a bit of Christmas, but I have so much I have to do.

It just seems to me that each year I get less and less time to experience Christmas and more and more of my time is gobbled up with just trying to get everything done. I think I hear the call of those movies because I wish I could get that feeling… the feeling that… what? The feeling that is bigger, more important, maybe even more real than all the stuff I’m dealing with. I feel like I need to get unplugged, so I can find it again, like I have to do something simpler, easier, plainer, so I can touch it.

Unplugging ourselves from the machinery of Christmas and the end of the year may be really hard, but I think it’s worth finding. Let’s look into the word of God and see if it leads us in the right direction.

Study:
This Scripture speaks of a time when destruction is over, when all the attempts to handle things, to make it on our own, to deal with life without dealing with God has led through separation and damage and pain. This is God speaking through the voice of the prophet Isaiah.

1 Comfort, comfort my people,
       says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
       and proclaim to her
       that her hard service has been completed,
       that her sin has been paid for,
       that she has received from the LORD's hand
       double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
       "In the desert prepare
       the way for the LORD;
       make straight in the wilderness
       a highway for our God.
 4 Every valley shall be raised up,
      every mountain and hill made low;
       the rough ground shall become level,
       the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
       and all mankind together will see it.
       For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out."
       And I said, "What shall I cry?"
       "All men are like grass,
       and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
       because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
       Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
       but the word of our God stands forever."
9 You who bring good tidings to Zion,
       go up on a high mountain.
       You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem,
       lift up your voice with a shout,
       lift it up, do not be afraid;
       say to the towns of Judah,
       "Here is your God!"
10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
       and his arm rules for him.
       See, his reward is with him,
       and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
       He gathers the lambs in his arms
       and carries them close to his heart;
       he gently leads those that have young.

This is the voice of Reconciliation. God is speaking to the people the way that a mother speaks to her child after she’s had to discipline them. I’ve had to discipline children in my life. I’ve had to correct my kids when they’ve made poor choices or done hurtful things. I can tell you that one of the most precious times is when we sat down together to reconcile – to let them know that my pain or disappointment over their choices is not what sums up our relationship. There is a more important and deeper truth and that is my love for them, and that I’m standing with them to help them deal with what’s next. 

That’s what’s going on here. Like a mom or dad gathering a child that’s been in trouble up into her or his arms, God is calling comfort to his people. Now, to whom is he giving this command? 

He’s telling his messengers to spread the word of his comfort to his people. [Doesn’t that sound great? “My people” is a very personal and tender expression.] And who are the messengers? Well, it could be his angels and it could be his prophets and it could be all those who have heard and know the message. 

We’re told in 2 Corinthians 5 that we are the messengers of reconciliation. God has given us, the people of Jesus, the message of reconciliation. I believe that is both how we unplug from the Christmas machine and how we begin to find what we need. 

The first thing we need to do is to remind ourselves of the bigger picture. The picture is not the celebration – it is the work of Christmas. We need to retell ourselves each year the story. The first part of the story is that God is coming for us. God is seeking us in order to reconcile with us. But it is not just about us. We who know the story, who know the message of reconciliation, are to turn to reach out to others. We are commanded to bring comfort to others.

One act of preparation for Christmas is reconciliation. We need to look around us and to see who has been separated from us over this year. We need to re-examine who has brought pain into our hearts and who we have hurt and we need to bring reconciliation. This is one of the problems in following Jesus. Jesus says that we tell him that we love him by obeying him. He doesn’t say when we feel like it or not. He tells us that when we’re the ones who have hurt someone then it is our responsibility to go and reconcile with the one we hurt. And he also says that when we’re the ones who have been hurt that we’re the ones responsible to seek reconciliation.

That just doesn’t seem fair.

We used to live in Pennsylvania and next door to us was a wooded lot that went down a hill to a small stream. The whole piece of property was owned by an elderly man across the street. When he died his children sold the property to a developer who felt that he could put three houses on the property. So we were disappointed that we were going to lose all the trees. But then the builder came and told us that he was only going to build one house on our side and wouldn’t put the house right in line with ours, he was going to build it down the street a bit.
Well, everything he told us turned out not to be true. 

He built the house so close to us that one of their windows looked right into our bedroom window. It was so close to us I could have a conversation with the people from inside my house. We tried to create a relationship with his workmen, but they kind of ridiculed our attempts. They broke up the cement curb of our driveway with one of the large trucks that came down our street. They shot a nail, with one of their nail guns into our house. There were a lot of issues that I brought to them. Finally, one day I got home from work and found that they had torn up this ancient dividing line – some heavy metal piece that was half buried in the ground. I have no idea why it was in there, but it was at the fence edge of one of our gardens and his workmen had dug it out and thrown it over onto our spring flowers. The builder happened to be there, alone, clearing up from the day of work. The structure on that side was open and I stopped, looking at the big metal rod lying on the flowers and then up at him. 

And he said, “What?” 

And I said, “Was this really necessary?” 

And he started screaming at me. He was screaming at all he’d put up with and how I’d given him such a hard time and just what a pain I was. I turned and went into my house. I was just fuming. I couldn’t believe he was attacking me. I was so angry I could barely see. 

I’ve shared with you all about how I feel prompted by God, how I start to pray or just feel like God gives me this clear nudge. I knew that if I tried to handle this on my own that I would be puncturing the guy’s tires on his truck. So I prayed and told God how angry I was and how this guy had done all this and I got this real clear prompt. “You’re responsible for reconciliation, Kohler.” And I kept praying and complaining. And I kept getting this clear prompt, “You’re responsible, Kohler.” 

So, I marched out of the house and the whole way I’m thinking to God, just saying, “Yeah, well, I don’t know how to handle this, so you better stick with me here or I’m just going to deck this guy.” I came walking around the end of his pickup just as he walking up and dumping the last of his tools in the back. He said, “Now what…” and I stuck out my hand and I said, “I just want to say, “I’m sorry.” Did you ever have your parent tell you that you had to do something and you know you don’t want to do it, but you’re doing it anyway? That’s just how I felt. I think because it is a natural response he reached out and took my hand and kept talking. I said, swallowing hard, “If there is someway that I have hurt you or made this hard on you I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to do that.” 

He said, “Oh that’s okay, I say bygones or bygones.” And he started to let go of my hand, but I kept my grip on him. That’s when he actually looked me in the eye. I hung onto his hand and said, “No, it’s important to me that you know that I never intended to make things difficult for you or to bother you or to hurt you.” Suddenly I was getting into this. He was looking me right in the eye now and all of a sudden he softened. He shook my hand and said, “No, I’m the one who is sorry. I took advantage of you. You seemed like a nice guy and I took advantage of you. I’m sorry.” 

Well, I couldn’t believe it. He started to tell me that the people that were moving into the houses he was building were his sister and best friends with his family and that he was going to be driving up and down our street forever. He told me that he was beginning to dread it because he knew that he had messed things up but he couldn’t figure out how to deal with it. Most times people just made demands on him. We actually got a relationship out of this thing. 

Reconciliation is not easy. It means dying to yourself if you’re a follower of Jesus. But it is our responsibility. You are responsible to reconcile with the people who have hurt you and who you have hurt. As far as it is possible you are to be at peace with everyone.

This is how we prepare for Christmas, by reconciling. Now to whom do you need to be reconciled? Or, to whom should you bring a message of reconciliation? You may be saying, “Kohler, my relationships are pretty good right now. I’m up there on the top of Santa’s list. I’m good. I’ve been having a good year.”

That’s great, but you may then be one of people through whom God is going to bring his message to the world. Remember our Scripture, “And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.” How do you think that “all humanity is going to see it? We are told to be a voice in the desert place, to clear the road for God, to smooth it out so he can come in easily, so the message of reconciliation can come right to those who need it.

There may be people you need to reach out to… the poor, people of other faith backgrounds, people of other races… there may be communities of people that you don’t normally associate with and God may be prompting you to reach out to them, to bring them word of reconciliation. Who is God talking with you about?

Today is AIDS Awareness Sunday in the Presbyterian Church [USA] and it might be that you have been reading about the devastation of AIDS in our world over this past week. It may be that you know of people in your life or who touch your life that you haven’t spoken to or thought about for a while. We live sometimes in isolated communities of people who are like ourselves and never cross the boundaries that mean nothing to God.

In some of my own reading this week I came upon a doctor who has been at the forefront of working on the AIDS epidemic and some of his words caught my heart. Dr. Art Ammann of Global Strategies for HIV Prevention, says this,

"I do not believe that God calls us to find a cure for AIDS, or for poverty, or for universal pain and suffering.  But I do believe that He wants us to reach out to individuals whom He places in our path with a healing touch and with words of tenderness, love, forgiveness and hope. The AIDS epidemic is a test of how deeply we believe in the tenderness of God and the teachings of Jesus—how strong is our forgiveness, how rich is our compassion, and how far our love reaches out to overcome the stigmatization and discrimination of AIDS to comfort those in pain and suffering."

And so I ask you again, about whom is God speaking to you? Is there a brother you haven’t spoken to for a while? Is there a neighbor who is just “different” from you? Is there someone in your life who represents a community that you don’t normally touch or know? I know God is speaking to your heart because he speaks to all of us.

We who are God’s children are called to bring his tenderness to those who need it, who need to hear it.

And if you’re here and you’re wondering if God really does want you, then please know, hear me and know, that God demonstrated his love for you in the words, teaching, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Not a fairy tale, not a nice Christmas movie that calls us toward a good feeling, but in a flesh and blood man God came seeking after you and each one of us. Believing in Jesus may be a hard step for you. There may be all sorts of things you’ve heard or thought or wonder about that seem to stop you from believing in Jesus. But do you believe in love? Do you want God? The fact that God expressed his desire for you and his love for you through Jesus should not stop you from receiving it. Know it now in your heart. Everything that separates you from God has been cleared away. The road is smooth and the message is clear. God loves you.

If you want to talk that over, I’d be happy to do that in your home, over a cup of coffee some place, in my office some time this week or right now. Before you get to Christmas, unplug and listen to the real story of Christmas. All God wants is you.