Pastor Hendrickson,
Great sermon. With your kind permission, I would like to use it next year.
Rev. Lee C. Wenskay Pastor
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Henrickson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 8:31 AM
Subject: SERM: "The War on Christmas" (John 1:1-18), Christmas Day
The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day
Thursday, December 25, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
“The War on Christmas” (John 1:1-18)
Everybody loves Christmas. Santa Claus, gift-giving, time off from work,
time spent with family, honey-baked ham, and the cheerful holiday spirit.
Yes, everybody loves Christmas.
Or do they? Well, I guess it depends on which Christmas you’re talking
about. Because there’s also that other Christmas, you know, the one that
has to do with Christ. And that one isn’t all that popular with everyone.
In fact, the anti-Christmas sentiment has become so common and so frequent
that it can even be called a movement. And it has even been given a name:
“The War on Christmas.” Let’s cite a few examples.
Item, Olympia, Washington: In the state capitol, right next to a nativity
scene, the Freedom From Religion Foundation placed a sign that reads as
follows: “At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There
are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our
natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds.” Apparently, not everybody loves Christmas.
Item, 520 Costco stores, nationwide: Costco says it will not use the word,
“Christmas,” on its website or in its stores. A customer wrote to Costco
and asked, “Does Costco use the word ‘Christmas’ in your store advertising
or on any signs anywhere in your stores during the Christmas season?” Kory
Rosacrans, staff manager for Costco, replied, “I guess the answer would be
No.” No, Costco doesn’t love Christmas, either, although they do love your
Christmas shopping money.
Item, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: At the Comcast Center, a huge multimedia
show called “The Comcast Holiday Spectacular” features secular holiday
songs, but religious Christmas songs are expressly prohibited. That’s just
fine with Michael Muderick of Havertown, PA, who attended the show. “We don’t
observe Christmas, so I appreciated that there were no religious
references,” said Michael. “They managed to capture the holiday spirit in
a very inclusive and unusual way.”
Item, Springfield, Missouri: At Missouri State University, a new rule
explicitly bans nativity scenes from being displayed in common areas. The
War on Christmas gains a victory right here in Missouri.
Item, Hattiesburg, Mississippi: A public school teacher marked down a poem
written by eleven-year-old Andrew White because he used the word “Jesus” in
it. The assignment, oddly enough, was to write a poem on the theme, “What
Christmas Means to Me.” So, Andrew did the assignment. He wrote about what
Christmas means to him, as follows: “The best Christmas ever is when
everyone is there. It is when everyone is laughing here and there. That is
the Christmas I want to share. Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. About
peace on Earth. This is what Christmas is about. It is when He lay in a
manger. And the three wise men come to see. That’s what it means to me.”
Well, I guess the teacher didn’t really want Andrew to write about what
Christmas means to him, since she doesn’t like the Christmas with Jesus in
it.
These examples of the War on Christmas show that, no, not everybody loves
Christmas. In fact, the world hates Christmas--the real Christmas, that is.
But should that really surprise us? The War on Christmas has been going on
for a very long time. St. John told us the world would not know or
recognize or receive the Son of God when he came into the world: “The true
light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the
world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.”
Let’s ponder that a bit. Here is one called “the true light” coming into
the world, and it says, “the world was made through him.” This is speaking
of the Eternal Word, the Logos, the one who was in the beginning with God,
even the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity. “The world was made
through him,” as is found in Genesis 1: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’”
and so on. “All things were made through him,” it says in John 1. The
Eternal Son of God was active in the act of Creation. And so we confess in
the Creed, concerning the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: “by whom all things
were made,” virtually quoting John 1. The world was made through him.
And he is the true light. He is the source of light and life, the one
through whom light and life came into existence. “In him was life, and the
life was the light of men.”
So you would think the world, the people of this world, would recognize
their own Creator, the one who gives them life and light. But no. “He was
in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know
him.” Darkness, thick darkness, lies over this world like a shroud. It
darkens men’s minds so they cannot see or recognize the truth. It is the
darkness of sin and death. By nature, after the fall, men do not know or
understand God. They reject God, hate him. That is the state of the world
we live in. Men hate God. And therefore they hate Christmas--the true
Christmas, that is--because it is God bringing his light and his truth too
close for comfort.
You see, when the light of God shines, it exposes the darkness of men’s
deeds, the things they would rather keep hidden--so they think--from God’s
sight. Men’s self-centeredness, their greed, their hypocrisy, their lust
for power and control, their lust for other people, treating them as objects
to serve their desires--all the dark recesses of the human heart. Can’t
have those exposed by the light of God’s scrutiny. So therefore, snuff out
the light. Squash it. Kill it. The War on Christmas really is as old as
the darkness of sin in the world.
The true light was coming into the world at Christmas, “yet the world did
not know him.” But it wasn’t just the world. John continues, “He came to
his own, and his own people did not receive him.” Not only did the
sin-darkened world not recognize Christ, even God’s own people did not
receive him. Well, OK, you say, but there we’re talking about the Jewish
people, aren’t we, the Jews of the first century? Well, yes, that was the
case. The people whom God had chosen, Israel, the people who had all the
advantages of the patriarchs and the prophets, God’s revelation and
blessing, the people who should know better--yes, even they rejected and did
not receive the Messiah God sent to them. The people of God were acting
like the world around them.
But that’s us, too, at least to some extent. At times, too many times, we
the church, we the Christians, we the people of God act like the world
around us. In the War on Christmas, sometimes we’re fighting on the wrong
side. Let me cite a couple of examples.
Item, many Christians’ homes, today: Church members are staying home to be
with family, rather than being in the Lord’s house, to be with Jesus. But
keeping the Christ in Christmas also means keeping the Mass in Christmas,
the Christ Mass. Keeping Christmas means being here for the Divine Service
of Word and Sacrament, keeping the Feast on this High Festival Day.
Skipping out on the Christ Mass is to go AWOL while the War on Christmas is
going on.
Item, your home, later today: When you get home from church, will Christmas
go with you, or will this be the end of it? I’m not talking about the big
meal and the presents. I’m talking about the light of Christ, the life of
Christ, going with you throughout the day and into the night. Will we walk
in the light or surrender to the darkness? When we lose the love and the
truth that the Christ Child brings, we are surrendering to the enemy, we’re
fighting for the other side, in the War on Christmas.
What to do? Flee to the manger. Run to that little child, lying there. He
is your only hope. He will receive you still, even when you have deserted
him, time and time again. Christ can handle the attacks on him, the War on
Christmas. Look, he endured the cross, didn’t he, and came out victorious
on the other side. The war of the world on Christ, when even God’s people
turned against him--that took place in climactic fashion when the people
yelled “Crucify!” and Pilate said, “Go ahead.” God was at work there,
though, recreating the world through the Son’s sacrifice. For that is why
the true light came into the world at Christmas, to go to that cross in
utter darkness. The darkness of sin and death, the darkness of the world
not knowing and the people not receiving, the darkness of God’s silence and
God’s no, falling on the Son instead of on you and me. But by taking the
darkness and the death upon himself, the holy Son of God
was recreating the world with light and life. The true light and the true
life. Resurrection life. Light to walk in the way of God and to see the
truth.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right
to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” You see, Christmas is not
only about the birth of Christ, it is also about the birth of you. Your new
birth, your second birth, your birth as a child of God. That is why Christ
came. He came for you.
The War on Christmas is over, really, and Christmas won. You won. For
think of all that Christ won for you: Light and life, grace and truth,
grace upon grace, new birth, children of God. These are God’s Christmas
presents to you today.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The War on Christmas is over, and Christmas won.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[email protected]
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'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
for quoting or use in a congregational setting
_with_or_without_attribution_.
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Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
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