God's Love Had Changed Everything.

Merry Christmas

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve service at Bethlehem and a joyous occasion as my first Christmas service as a pastor. But more about that tomorrow, instead for now I will post the sermon.

The gospel was the Christmas story from Luke (Luke 2:1-20) I also read the Tale of the Three Trees for the Children's Sermon to talk about how when we celebrate Jesus' birth we also celebrate his death and new life. (I could have done a little better connecting the two but oh well it was my first Christmas as a pastor). The sermon starts with a quote from this book.


Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to read the last two pages of that story, The Tale of the Three Trees, again: "But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God’s love had changed everything. It had made the first tree beautiful. It had made the second tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world."

God’s love had changed everything! God’s love is changing everything! God’s love will change everything!

What better Christmas message is there? Isn’t that basically what the angel proclaimed to the shepherds? “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” The angel proclaimed that God’s love incarnate, through this little baby, has changed the world.

God’s love in the form of a baby born in a manger has changed the world. God’s love in the form of Jesus who performed miracles – turning water into wine, calming storms, feeding 5000 with only a few loaves of bread and fish, and healing the sick – has changed the world. God’s love in the form of Jesus who died on the cross for us has changed the world.

God’s love has changed the world! God’s love is changing the world! God’s love will change the world!

God’s love is given to us in the gift of baptism – in the waters that claim us as daughters and sons of God, in those waters where we are baptize – claimed – in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit, when we are marked with the cross of Christ forever – God’s love which we receive in baptism changes us!

God’s love is given to us in communion – in the bread and wine, in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the remembrance of both Jesus’ life but more importantly his death, his death on a cross for our sins – God’s love which we receive in communion changes us!

God’s love has made us beautiful, beautiful in the eyes of God, created in God’s image as we are meant to be, as God has envisioned us to be.

God’s love has made us strong – maybe not physically but strong in spirit. God’s love allows us to face the daily trial and temptations of this world. A world where we all have days when we just want to crawl back into bed, a world where we each face sadness, sin and even death. But God’s love has made us strong. Some of us are mourning this Christmas – either as the first Christmas after the death of a loved one or because we are not able to physically be with family and friends who are far from us. But God’s love makes us strong especially when we mourn, when we feel loss.

God’s love allows us to see God’s love in others. Many of us are celebrating new life this year, whether it is a baby’s first Christmas, the first Christmas with a new spouse or significant other, or the first Christmas with new friends. And it is through these gifts, through this new life that God’s love has changed us. God’s love allows us to love others.

God’s love has come to us, as we celebrate the birth of Christ. God’s love comes to us each and every day through out the entire year for God’s love has changed everything! And that is the true Christmas message: Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

God’s love has changed everything! God’s love is changing everything! God’s love will change everything! Including us through the birth of Christ. Merry Christmas! Amen!