Christmas Day in Hospital (Great Expectations)
-
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; [e]blessed are you among women!”
29 But [f]when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I [g]do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
It’s often reported that the Christmas period is a time of greatest stress, work build up, relatives fall out, Kids hyperactive…it may be because of the Gt expectations people have of Christmas. It can promise so much… and then the let down, it wasn’t the season of joy we’d hoped for, the pressie wasn’t the endless barrel of fun we kidded ourselves into believing. The end result is inc stress, inc debt, a greater void within.
[move 1 - prepack a cracker with this note - “No Joke: God chose you.” Then pull the cracker with a volunteer][No Joke: God chose you]
Our Christmas story begins with the promise to Mary, a miracle baby, we can sense that Great expectation. But there is a real sense of the great expectations weighing heavy on Mary’s young teenage shoulders, a feeling of being inadequate, too ordinary. Mary’s just an Ordinary girl, with an Ord. life living in an Ord. town. Couldn’t Jesus have been conceived in the womb, the tummy of a rich mum, or a mother of 10 already who gives birth like fun. Why did the Angel come to this ordinary teenager with her first baby?
The point is this, all God needed to hear from this girl Mary was [v38] “I am the Lord’s servant, may it happen as you have said.”
In other words Mary saying “Yes” to God allowed God Almighty to do an extraordinary thing in that girl. She would carry in her womb Jesus, the one who would save the world.
Likewise as we say “Yes” to God, we will truly get a sense of our own ordinariness, what can I offer him, I feel so unsure about my own abilities, can I deliver the goods. And in that acknowledgement of our weakness before God almighty it allows the Lord to do an extraordinary thing within you. Yes you can bring Christ into the world that you live and move in.
All the Lord needs you to say is ‘Lord, I am your servant, may it happen as you wish. That willing heart allows the Spirit to rise up within you and he will use you as you continue to seek him and grow in him and he in you.
[Move 2 prepack another cracker with this note - “Get Stuffed.”
Our Great expectations of Christmas are usually centred on gifts. There are expectations of happy fun times or getting stuffed with food, drink, family time. They say ‘A balanced diet is a mince pie in each hand!’ It’s not surprising that it all results in anticlimax.
The season of Advent (last four weeks), is a season of looking forward, preparing for the Lord’s coming, and Advent calendars and Advent bible reading notes help us look forward. To look with great expectations in a way that can result in a climax, the birth of the Christ child.
The challenge to us this year is to try and have this ‘holy expectancy’. As Mary, pregnant, looks forward to the baby Jesus, could we set aside the looking forward to food & drink and expect our Lord Jesus to refresh us and renew us both by the nativity and by inviting his promised Holy Sprit to fill to overflowing, stuffed with the Holy Spirit not with turkey.
How do we do that? We can pray, we can read (bible notes) or read bible passages like Isaiah, 40’s, 50’s. We can can do symbolic actions, like light a candle each morning or night, have an Advent calendar. [Sadly most of them don’t do them with the nativity anymore].
The main point is the desire & the asking of the Holy Spirit to fill us this Christmas.
[Move 3 - prepack another cracker with this note - “Gifts for giving.”
Perhaps the problem we have with the Great expectations of Christmas is that we’re asking the wrong questions. There is a sense of ‘what’s in it for me.’ Open another present to reveal another pair of socks.. ‘Just what I’ve always wanted.’ Maybe there’s too much of me in my Great expectations. Like the father on the mobile phone advert…throws a tantrum… “I wanted a ..”
Jesus was born for us, lived his life for others, he gave his life for others. This same Jesus calls us to “follow him.” This Christmas, can we make a difference in the lives of some others who have needs greater than ours. [eg Tear Fund…]
Instead of being receivers this year let us be givers.
Instead of just feasting ourselves, can we serve others eg outreach lunch 25/12.
I dare you to ask God this Christmas to show us how we can make a difference to the lives of others this Christmas.
End with a Tearfund quote, “One person can’t change the world, but one person can change the world of one person.”
“One person can’t change the world, but one person can change the world of one person.”
Tearfund
Footnote: Sermon preached at St Mary’s Hospital I.o.Wight 25 December 2014
