Messy Christmas

You know there is a story that gets told occasionally at family gatherings of a really messy Christmas my family had.

And it all started with one of my uncles egging on one of the others about something like brothers do

But if you have ever been in a family argument you know that its easy for one thing to lead to another.

And eventually things escalated where from what I am told one of my uncles took out eggs from the fridge and was throwing them at the other.

But it did not stop there because my uncle who was throwing eggs actually had a new car.

And so my other uncle (who was dodging eggs) actually ended up hiding behind the new car so the eggs would possibly hit the others car (its genius)

And I actually have no idea how things ended if they deescalated or what, but I can imagine after that things were not extreamly jolly after it.

I mean it was a messy Christmas.

but can I just take a moment to say that the mess of that Christmas was nothing compared to the mess of the very first Christmas we just read

Because so often we picture this calm story where everything was perfect.

But the Christmas story gets messy.

Because Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem where there is no place for them in the inn

So instead of Mary giving birth indoors she gives birth in basically a barn at that time with animals in the cold

And not just that but they did not have a place to put Jesus so He was laid in a manger which was a feeding trough for animals.

I mean you can imagine the stress that this couple felt, you can imagine how Mary would have felt so insufficient to deliver the savior of the world when she can’t even get a hotel room.

But here is the beautiful thing about this story, while the very first Christmas was a mess, the Savior of the world came out of that mess.

And can I just say if the savior of the world could come out of a mess like that don’t you believe that God can work in the mess you are going through right now?

Because the Christmas story does not look like a hallmark movie, but the Christmas story is about our God who came down into our mess because of His love for us and His love for you.

And what is so cool in this story is that after Jesus is born the first people to hear about it are these Shepard's who are out in the field.

And Shepards in Biblical times where rough people, but angels come to them telling them about this amazing news.

And what is so neat is that the Shepards hear this news and look at each other and say we need to see this for ourselves.

I mean because when you hear about something amazing you want to see it! Right?

I mean Arika and I the other night waited an hour to see a Christmas light display because people were saying it was amazing!

But you know the thing is some of us have heard this amazing message about a God who has come down into our mess to save us,

But for some reason we have not went to experience Him for ourselves

For some reason we have not said okay lets check this out

Because I can guarantee the Shepard's were not disappointed with what they found.

And can I just say when you enter into a relationship with the true God, the one that came down because of His love for you. It will not disappoint.

What would it look like if this evening we heard this message and we said what the Shepard's said: “I want to see it for myself.”

Well look at the very last thing, because Jesus is born,

There are sheperds who have come to praise him, in other accounts of this story there are wise man who have come to give Him gifts

And in the middle of all of this it says that Marry treasured it all up in her heart.

You know what if this Christmas was different then past Christmas’s.

Because it is so easy for us to come to a church service, we do the candle light thing and we feel all warm and fuzzy.

But what if instead of this Christmas being a tradition, what if this Christmas was a time where we treasured up what God is doing in our heart tonight?

Where this Christmas feeling does not just come and go, but we remember what God is doing and allow it to impact our lives.

Because when we are in a relationship with God we want to see our lives changed, where our life is not built around us, but it is built around God.

And if that is something you want let me know! I want to pray for you.

But when this happens we allow His light to shine in a very dark world.

And can I just say we need light this year because it has been dark, but what I love is the Bible tells us that darkness shall never overcome the light.

And today as we close we are going to be doing our candle light portion of the service.

And we recognize that at Christmas it celebrates the light of Christ coming down for us, and when we accept that light in our lives we get to shine it to others

And thats what this recognizes so at this time if you are comfortable I would ask you to get out of the car for these last songs

And we have a couple people who will be coming around to light your candles but I would just invite you to look at that light.

And ask yourselves have I accepted that light?

Will You pray with me?