Pastor Dan Mangler's Sunday Sermon

Getting The Message

Luke 3: 1-6

December 10, 2006

Getting The Message

We continue this morning what we began last Sunday - thoughts about what we are "getting" for Christmas. That is the key word for this season, isn't it? Getting? You get the tree, get presents, get ready. But what are you getting spiritually this season? I hope and pray that you are getting the message.

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright kept their hand-built airplane in the air for fifty-nine seconds. They sent a telegram to their sister in Dayton, Ohio: "First sustained flight today fifty-nine-seconds. Hope to be home by Christmas."

Their sister was so excited that she took the telegram with its big news to the newspaper editor. The next morning, to her surprise, the newspaper headline stated in big bold letters, "Popular Local Bicycle Merchants To Be Home For Holidays."

The biggest news of the time passed Dayton by that day, not because the news was not sent, but rather because the significance of the news was missed. The popular bicycle merchants were, indeed, to be home for the holidays, but the news of the flight of the first powered heavier-than-air aircraft was the real important news.

This is the danger we face every year at this time. It isn't that we don’t recognize Advent and Christmas, but much of what we say and do seems to indicate we are not attending to what is most important.

An ancient theologian named Origen tried to simplify the message of Advent and Christmas something like this: Suppose there were a statue so large that the eye of man simply could not take it in with one look. How best to grasp the essential form and substance of this statue? Would it not be wise to make a small copy to an exact scale but much reduced? Then humanity could see what the greater statue was like. Origen went on to say this is what God has done in Jesus Christ. He shows us what He himself is like within the bounds of our human ability to understand. Here, then, is the first message about Advent and Christmas. GOD HAS COME DOWN.

In this season, all eyes are fixed in the past, how God came down as the baby Jesus. But there is a message in Advent that says that God didn't stop coming down then. God continues to come down today. He comes down in his Word, as it is read and as it is preached. God continues to come down, as he does this morning, in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Luther said it this way: "When God speaks to humanity, he always, speaks in baby talk." Baby talk, as the infant Jesus, to be sure. But in a broader sense, any way that might help us to understand. GOD HAS COME DOWN.

There is a humorous story about a church having an outdoor Nativity Pageant. They decided to use live animals in this pageant. It was quite a feat because the church was located in the very heart of downtown in a large metropolitan area. The evening of the pageant everybody was busy making preparations. The donkey that was to be used in the pageant wandered off and trotted down the street. He caused quite a commotion. Finally he entered a nearby bar. Obviously, one of the customers was startled when he saw a donkey come into a bar. The customer pushed his glass aside and decided he had had enough. The bartender, seeing that he was startled, tried to calm him by saying, "Oh, don't let that donkey bother you. He, belongs to the Methodist Church up the street." Upon which the customer shook his head in disbelief and left.

Well, there are some donkeys in the Methodist Church, and some in the Lutheran Church, and the Baptist Church. There are donkeys in all churches, and outside of churches. In fact, all of us act like donkey at one time or another. But when God comes down, all of us donkeys are raised to a new level. When God choses to speak to humankind in the baby Jesus, through Holy Scripture, in the forms of bread and wine He lifts humankind, you and me, above the rest of creation. As the psalmist wrote in Psalm 8: "When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou are mindful of him, and the son of man That thou dost care for him? Yet thou has made him little less than God, and dost crown in with glory and honor." God comes down to lift man up.

The message of this season is that God has come down, Man has been lifted up, and SALVATION HAS DRAWN NEAR. That was the message of John the Baptist in the wilderness. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, he proclaimed, "The voice of One crying in the wilderness "prepare the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight . Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” God has come down. Man has been lifted up. And where they meet is the cross of Jesus Christ. A famous artist painted a picture of the Nativity. In his painting the shadow of the cross falls across the Christmas crib. Salvation is God's eternal plan for humanity. This is why he came down. This is why he comes down. This is why we have been lifted up - to meet at Calvary's cross and rejoice at Easter’s empty tomb.

We, then, are the recipient of a great free gift. That is why it is right for Christmas to be a time of gift-giving. We are the recipients of the greatest gift of all.

Carolyn’s father died from cancer just about this time of year. I remember talking with one of the church members in Algona shortly after Hank’s death and this members had called to express his condolences. After we had visited a little about the suffering Hank had endured from cancer the three years leading up to his death he said something that at first seemed to me curious. He said, "Well, really, what better time of year for this to happen?" That caught me by surprise. But he went on to explain: "What better gift could your father-in-law receive this season than the gift of eternal life?" That promise is also our gift this season, that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. I pray that message not be lost in all the paper, presents and preparation of the season...that God has come down that we might be lifted up to see and receive the salvation of our God. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.