Praise God with all of your Life

First Sunday of Christmas December 29, 2014 Year A Let your life be a praise for God Psalm 148 Matthew 2:13-23 Is Jesus Dead in this time after Christmas? On Christmas Eve, I talked about how the people in Japan celebrate Christmas just as much as we do here in America. There are Christmas trees, and decorations, and Santa, and elves. There is one big difference – most people in Japan are Buddhist. They understand the symbols of Christmas, but they don’t know the meaning of Christmas. In many cases, they don’t know who Jesus is, or why Christmas is significant. A reporter stopped a woman on the street in Japan and asked her if she knew why Christmas is important - she hesitated for a moment, and then asked, isn’t that the day Jesus died. The day Jesus died – that is not Christmas day – that is the Sunday after Christmas – right before New Years. Christmas is this magical time of year, where everyone is giving, every one is happy, every one is in a spirit of unity and caring for one another. As soon as Christmas is over, life goes back to normal. They say that even the crime rate goes down, all of the thieves are at home with their families on Christmas – and as soon as that day is over- people go back to normal. Just like Christmas never happened, and Jesus is indeed dead, even though supposedly he was just born. Even for me this year, I spent all month putting up Christmas decorations, and took half of them down the day after Christmas – it was as if I didn’t need them anymore. I refuse to take down the tree, or to turn off the lights – at least until after New Year’s. I think that there is something about holding onto Christmas for a little bit – letting it linger into the New Year for a little bit that is important. You know as far as the stores are concerned – Jesus is dead, and it is now time to move onto Valentine’s Day. But as far as God is concerned – Christmas has just begun. I have shared this poem by Howard Thurman before at the Christmas Eve service, but not everyone has heard it – but I think that it is important to our faith to think about… it is called the work of Christmas. The work of Christmas Dr. Thurman is an African American theologian who writes a lot about the African American experience – He says when the songs of the angels are stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and the princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins – to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among brothers, to make music in our heart. Whatever else we may have gotten for Christmas this year – we have all received the presence of Christ. Whatever our circumstance, God is with us. that is the true meaning of Christmas – Emmanuel – God with us. A story of God with us Mrs. Maxwell had had a difficult year. Her husband had just passed away. Her social security was reduced because of his death. She had to work hard just to hold onto the house that she and her husband had shared through so many happy years. And even though she lived in a mild area of the country – it still got to be 30’s outside at night – and the temperature was just the same in her house. She got behind a couple of months on her heating bill and eventually the city turned off her heat. Sitting in the cold, she read the paper one day, she read an article about how their were many companies in the city who had not paid their gas bill. They owed the city thousands of dollars – and yet they still had heat. Upset at her own condition, she called the newspaper to ask why her heat had been turned off. Her letter caused such a stir in the city. One day she heard a knock at the door – it was the mayor of the city – he said that he had a message to deliver – the city would be turning her heat back on and putting her on a payment plan to pay her bill. She was excited at the news, but asked why the mayor had bothered to come to see her – why couldn’t he have sent a city worker or even a letter would have been suffice. The mayor smiled and hugged her – and said that he felt that it was important enough to deliver the message himself and he gave her a hug. God has done the same thing for all of us – God had a message to deliver to all of humanity – and he came in the form of a little baby- who grew up into a man – to tell us personally that in the midst of all that life gives us – he is with us. God loves us on December 24th, on December 25th, on December 26th, and December 29th just the same. He loves us in the good times and the bad, when we are up or done, before Christmas and after Christmas. God’s presence in our lives in all that we go through is our special gift. A Letter to God You know that when children (or adults) write letters to Santa addressed to the North Pole – the local post office holds onto those letters, so that people can do the work of santa, and answer those letters. But there are also quite a bit of letters that are written to God – but where do you send a letter for God. Well, many of them end up at the Jerusalem post office. They get an overwhelming amount of letter to God – and they don’t always know what to do with them. Well one day a postal worker – being a good jew – a servant of God opened one of the letters. It was a man who needed to have an operation, and he needed $1500 to pay for it. The worker went to his fellow workers and said – you know we are the hand and feet of God, it is our job to do the work of God. We have to answer this letter and help this man. People were hesitant to give, but he has able to raise $1000 in order for the man’s operation. He wrote a letter to the man from God and put a check for $1000 in the envelope and mailed it off. He was so honored and proud to do the work of God and to help someone else. That was until a month later when this man sent another letter to God. In the letter he thanked God for answering his prayer. He was able to get his operation and was healing very well. But he asked God next time not to use the post office when sending his gifts. He knew that God had sent $1500, but those crooks at the post office kept $500 for themselves – and only gave him $10 – to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among brothers, Doing the work of God means giving to people who are sometimes ungrateful, sometimes unkind, who sometimes don’t understand. And yet God calls us to help them. We help them not necessarily in hopes of receiving from them, but in thankfulness for what God has done for us. if we know that God is with us – the least we can do is to be with others.- so that they know that God is with them. God is not dead – God is not a season. God is the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives for all times. So I would encourage you to go out and to do the work of Christmas. – to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among brothers, The most important part is to make music in our heart. Remember our psalm for today – psalm 148 – praise the Lord. Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven. Ring you bell – praise God with all of your life from this day forward. Let us pray…..