Xmas Eve - He Came an Awfully Long Way

I - (at the begining of the service we are going on a jouney ect.

I remember when Erin and I were going to school in Chicago we were still dating and over breaks she would go home to visit family

Y

G - God came an awfully long way for you, and he thinks you were worth the trip. “The true meaning of Christmas? You matter to God, and so do they.”

Trans:

There is a lot of travel in the Christmas story.

Mary and Joseph Go to Bethelhem of course.

But you also have the angel visiting people all over Judea

the shepherds traveling from their fields to see the promised savior.

The wisemen from afar. Just tons of walking

As we read through the Christmas story together 9 lessons highlighting God’s promise through history, culminating in the sending of his son, one thing stands out to me.

God came an awfully long way.

When human beings turned their backs on God in the Garden. If I were God I think I would have hit the reset button.

But instead as they walked away, God drew near to them.

Go through the lessons one by one - As they walked away God drew near to them.

He walked with us through deserts and wars, the rise and falls of empires and kings, and cultures.

Constantly working, constantly loving, constantly guiding.

Even though over and over again people who seemed to have the best intentions wound up letting him and themselves, and others down.

But still God didnt give up.

Still God kept walking. Kept pursuing kept calling the people he made back to them.

Finally he came the furthest distance possible. He limited his divinity and became a human and not an adult or a king on the earth.

He diddnt come as superman

But instead as a little baby born into poverty and placed in a feeding trough far away from his families home.

Early in his life his family would be forced to take another journey fleeing the violent King Herod to live as refugees in Egypt until his death.

From God to helpless child.

One day he would walk the road to the cross and leave the world as a discraced criminal only to travel another impossible distance from death to LIFE.

God came an AWFULLY long way.

Y

Every good Christmas special ends with someone explaining the “real meaning of Christmas”

Its about love. Its about family. Its about giving gifts. Its about buying your significant other a new car with one of those awesome Giant bows on it!

Sometimes well meaning Christians want to chime in in desperation and lets be honest too often anger and say,

“Its about JESUS”

And it is about Jesus and the God who sent him.

But there is a whole lot more too it than that isn't there. Something that cant be fully captured in a nativity scene, a Christmas decoration or tweet.

You cant capture the whys or the hows in a sentence like that.

It seems to me a part of that Real Meaning, is this.

That God came a really long way and he came a really long way for you. And he thinks it was worth the trip.

So what is the real meaning of Christmas.

“You Matter”

God made you and God loves you enough to travel impossible distances to find you, even though we are so prone to turn or backs on him.

“You Matter”

W

I grew up in the church, and it was a great church but I still so often walked away with this feeling that I just wasn't enough. Wasn't holy enough, wasn’t faithful enough, wasn’t well behave enough, wasn’t outgoing enough.

Wasn't whatever enough.

Constantly beating myself up in that uniquely Christian way, all the while trying to appear that I was enough, that I had it figured out, that I was on the right track.

I found in my life that when I discounted my value I started to discount the value of others.

When I called myself worthless, hopeless, useless, and less than it made me think of others the same way.

I thought it was humility, but I found that often when we value ourselves poorly, we tend to value others EVEN LESS.

That is not the GOOD NEWS. That is not the meaning of CHRISTMAS.

and I had to hear “You matter” a lot of times and said in many different ways before I started to believe it. And some days I still have trouble.

So I dont know where you are tonight as you sing these familiar songs here this story with its sometimes strange words and as you think about that little baby up there.

I dont know if it is hard to be in this building because how the church has made you feel at one time or another.

Hard to sing these songs of Joy and hope because you have experienced true loss and feel forgotten by God.

Hard to light the candles. Oh who am I kidding everyone loves the candles right!

But seriously, I dont know where you are at today and what long road took you to this place but I do know this.

God came an awfully long way to meet you and not just 2000 years ago. He has been right behind you calling your whole life. And he is waiting to tell you, again and again.

“You matter”

Lets pray,