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Sermon for December 24, 2002:Christmas EveSt.
Luke's, Jamestown
by
The Rev. Eric M.
Williams
Heaven
on Earth
What I principally remember learning in kindergarten is that I didn’t want to be there. My parents tell me that for the first week of school, each morning I would arrive and tell Mrs. Werner, “I’m just visiting today; I probably won’t be back.” I guess my parents had lured me to school by telling me that I just had to try it out for a while. But I was convinced that this was only temporary. I didn’t need to worry about that place or those people because I would be leaving soon. It’s funny, but that’s also the message I learned about heaven and earth. Life here, I was told, was about getting ready for heaven. If you were good, you’d leave this place and go to heaven. I wasn’t really sure, to be honest, where heaven was supposed to be. Out in space somewhere, perhaps. And I had a vague picture of pearly gates and golden streets, and a whole bunch of harpists. But overall it was still a comforting image. Because no matter how badly messed up this world got, when the time came, I could leave it all behind. Ultimately, this world was disposable. Maybe that’s why so many things today are disposable. Disposable diapers, cameras, even contact lenses. Use ‘em up and throw ‘em out. And I have to admit I love the convenience, but deep down, it doesn’t sit well with my soul. Because where does it end? What isn’t disposable? I worry that we begin to treat even people as disposable. I
have a cousin, Henry, who lives in A few years ago, we stayed for a week at his cabin in “cottage country.” One day, I was admiring his coffee table. He told me he had made it himself out of wood from old shipping pallets. As I looked around, I saw that virtually every piece of furniture in the cabin, chairs, bookshelves, table lamps, all beautiful, all functional, he had made from other people’s cast-off junk. He had the vision and the skill to convert the useless into the useful, the ugly into the lovely. He had the power to transform trash into treasure. There is something deeply satisfying about finding a new use for an old object. And this is no coincidence, I think.
In
is called a “ And that seems exactly right. Because this enterprise of recycling and recreating the new out of the old is a kind of redemption. It connects us in a small way with the great work that God himself is engaged in, redeeming, recreating, renewing the earth itself. To God this world is not disposable. God created it from nothing and it is filled with heavenly beauty from the tiniest microorganism to the awesomeness of an entire galaxy. There have been times when God wanted to pull the plug, I am sure. He tried it once in the time of Noah, a divine recall of a defective creation. But nothing fundamentally changed. The same problems of violence, destructiveness and sinfulness remained: The same old garbage. But even after all that God did not despair; He did not give up. When God looked at the world, at us, he did not see garbage. Instead God saw something worthy of redeeming, a treasure in the making. The message of Christmas is that God did not, does not, will not, give up on us. The earth is not disposable in God’s eyes, and neither are we. On Christmas God showed us just how far he was willing to go to recycle, renew, recreate this world. On Christmas God showed us that heaven is not out there somewhere, it is right here lying in a feeding trough. The good news of Christmas is not that one day we will go to heaven. It is that one day long ago heaven came to earth. Heaven came to a stable in the form of a newborn baby. Heaven came to shepherds in the form of an angel choir. Heaven came to mystics from the East in the form of a star. The story is so familiar to us now, but step back for a moment and imagine the scene. What if heaven showed up in your back yard? Or at the plant during third shift? This is something we definitely didn’t learn in kindergarten. Heaven is supposed to be safely up there, where we don’t have to deal with it day to day, not down here. Heaven down here is a little too close for comfort, a little scary even. The shepherds certainly thought so. But after the initial shock wears off, they realize that this is good news, the best news. Emmanuel—God with us, not far away in heaven, but right here. And
not just once upon a time in but in all times and in all places, including right here and now. Since that first Christmas heaven has been right here under our noses.
Jesus said the but maybe we weren’t listening. The problem for us is that the world doesn’t often look like heaven. The news does not sound very heavenly. And it’s a far cry from the heavenly choir to muzak at the mall. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Heaven is visible right now to those with eyes to see. It can be heard by those with ears to hear. Like my cousin Henry we need to look beyond the junk to see the treasure hidden inside. We have to be open to the ongoing work of redemption that God is accomplishing right now. Heaven is present whenever one heart is awakened, whenever one life is changed. Heaven is present when peace prevails over war, when healing is found in the midst of brokenness. Heaven is revealed when people choose generosity over greed and envy, compassion and kindness over anger and discord, forgiveness over bitterness and revenge. Because heaven has come to earth nothing and no one is disposable. Healing, renewal and redemption are always possible. God has not given up on us, and we cannot, must not, give up on ourselves or on each other. No one is too old, too sick, too poor, too cynical, no one is too addicted, too proud, too complacent to be cut off from the new life that God offers in Jesus. For me the challenge of Christmas today is to remember that simple message. It is so tempting to give up on ourselves and others, so easy to give way to cynicism and despair, to lose sight of the heaven that is all around us. On this holy night, amidst candlelight, choir and crèche, may we get a glimpse of heaven on earth. May the renewing, recycling, redeeming power of God
continue to transform our lives and the life of the
world. |
410 North Main Street, Jamestown, New York 14701Phone (716)483-6405 * Fax (716)483-6406 * stluke@madbbs.com |
