Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son, who as to His earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for His name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be His holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7)
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How many of you are familiar with the elf on the shelf? (Show of hands.) The Davis household has an elf on the shelf. Our elf is named “Louie.” He appeared in our home I believe three years ago. Apparently every elf has its own little quirks (they're really just like mini-people, after all) and so each elf does things a little differently. Louie makes his appearance in our home generally on the night of the first Sunday in Advent. Then he flies to the North Pole every night until Christmas Eve to report to Santa on who's being naughty and who's being nice. You see, unlike the way some seem to think of him, Santa Claus isn't God. Santa isn't all-knowing. Santa has to be told about things by the elves. The point is that Louie comes back and lands in a different place in the house, so that every morning Hannah is tasked with the responsibility of finding him. She's 9. I suspect that it's all in fun, but she plays along with it. But there are people out there who take this elf on the shelf thing far too seriously and blow it out of all proportion. They don't seem to be able to keep it in perspective. A few days ago I was looking at some posts on a clergy group on Facebook. The elf on the shelf came up. Someone asked if the elf on the shelf was “satanic.” Really. Someone else said that the elf on the shelf would harm their family's faith development. Another comment was that the elf on the shelf would make their family forget the “true” meaning of Christmas. My gosh! An elf on the shelf can do all that? I replied, suggesting that if any of that were the case (if an elf on the shelf could truly harm a family's faith development) then the problems went far deeper than an elf on the shelf! Really. Satanic? Harming faith development? Causing us to forget the true meaning of Christmas? As I suggested in my final post on the thread, “Let's keep this in perspective, people. It's a fake elf, and kids look for it in the morning. It's fun.” But it does occur to me that there do seem to be some Christians who seem to believe that anything that's fun must also be suspect. And they tend to get all the attention, and people base their opinions of Christians on them.
Oh well. My topic today is “perspective.” Especially perspective as it revolves around Christmas. Christmas is another one of those controversial topics with some Christians. I know a fundamentalist Christian who refuses to celebrate Christmas because, as he says, “I don't see anywhere in the New Testament where it says that Jesus was born on December 25.” Well – he's got me there. December 25 is never mentioned. But on the other hand, the New Testament does mention that Jesus was born – so is it really so offensive to God and faith that we choose a particular day to celebrate his birth? I don't think so. To that fundamentalist acquaintance, I say – “perspective, my friend. It's all about perspective.”
Paul had Christmas in perspective. You will from time to time run across those who claim that Paul knew nothing of Jesus' birth; implicitly then suggesting that Jesus' birth wasn't at all important to the early church, since Paul's writings are the earliest Christian writings we have. Of course that's not true. I give you Galatians 4:4: “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman ...” It's not much, but it is a reference to Jesus' birth. How much Paul knew, we can't say for sure, but he knew something. But he kept it all in perspective. He understood what was really important, and he states it pretty explicitly in our passage today from Romans: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son, who as to His earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul fully understood Jesus' earthly background – he was “born of a woman” and he “was a descendant of David” - but he kept it all in perspective. Not that it wasn't important, but Paul understood what was most important: “who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul understood. As a matter of priority, resurrection comes before birth, because of what resurrection proclaims to the world!
The importance of Christmas is the idea of incarnation – that God would willingly choose to become a part of that which God has created. The importance of Christmas is “Emmanuel” - God With Us. The importance of Christmas is the message that it sends that we're able to approach God without fear or hesitation; that God is not frightening or intimidating. A few Christmas Eves ago I shared a story that I thought illustrated this pretty well. It was Christmas Eve night, and a man who had no time for either God or church was sitting at home alone, because his family had gone to a Christmas Eve service. The man had no time for a Christmas Eve service, because the whole idea of God becoming human was foolishness to him. A snowstorm began. The wind howled and the snow became fierce and the temperatures plunged. Suddenly, the man heard a crash against his front window. Alarmed, he ran to the door and looked outside, and he saw a flock of small birds, obviously disoriented by the storm, huddled together, struggling to protect themselves against the snow and winds, and obviously not able to survive much longer. The man had a barn, and he thought that if he could just shoo the birds into the barn, they could ride out the storm and they'd be safe. So he went out and tried his best. But the birds were afraid of him. He was so much bigger than they were, and they were overwhelmed by him. They would scatter when he approached and wouldn't let him shoo them to the barn. He tried several times, with no success. Finally, in despair, he fell to his knees and he cried out, “If only I could be a bird, then I could save them.” And suddenly he understood. God became a man, so he could save us, and so that we wouldn't be afraid. “Do not be afraid” - some of the most common words of Jesus, Who was God born as a man, so that we would have no reason to fear God.
That – to me – explains the meaning of Christmas. But keep it in perspective, is, I think, Paul's message. For Paul, the perspective was always and ultimately the resurrection. Do I plan to preach an Easter sermon on the Sunday before Christmas? No. There will be plenty of time for that come April. But resurrection always keeps things in perspective – even Christmas. Jesus, “through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead ...” Paul doesn't mean that Jesus became “the Son of God” by His resurrection. Jesus was always the Son of God – that's Christmas. But the resurrection declared His power and authority, while the birth revealed God in a weak and vulnerable and completely approachable state. But make no mistake about it – the child born in that weak and vulnerable state is the same one who took everything the mightiest empire in the world at the time could throw at Him and still emerge victorious by defeating even death. And that means that we can be victorious. No matter how weak and vulnerable and frightened we may sometimes feel, we can be victorious – because a baby born in a manger ended up victorious by rising from the dead. That helps us keep Christmas in perspective. Christmas is important - because it's about the coming of God in human flesh. But if Jesus is merely human then He's no more than a good example. If Jesus is also divine then He becomes the very embodiment of love and life itself to us all, and the sign that God understands us in even our darkest moments. And ultimately our hope is found in resurrection - the final sign of who Jesus was. So, even as we wish each other a "Merry Christmas," let's not forget that at heart we are an Easter people, who gather to celebrate the presence not of a baby in a manger, but of the risen and living Christ in our midst and in our lives!
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