John 1:6-8, 19-28
Being home for Christmas is a deep and powerful instinct. Norman Rockwell captures it so beautifully in many of his paintings. The family that is gathered around a table with faces reflecting the special joy of the occasion. The basket-ball players or when boy meets girl! And of course the beautiful song that is so popular at this time of year that captures it all:
I”ll be home for Christmas —- You can count on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe — and presents under the tree.
I”ll be home for Christmas —- Where the love light beams.
I”ll be home for Christmas —- If only in my dreams.
THE FIRST INSIGHT I SHARE IS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN HIS ALL — TO INVITE THE WORLD BACK TO HIM.
Have you given your all? The Christmas message was for all of us, that God hasn’t given up the search for us. Into the world of darkness, the Great Light came to lead us back home. We do not need to stay the way we are. God has provided a way out of our separation from the truth He has given to us.
THERE IS MORE GRACE IN GOD, THAN the SIN IN US.
That is what God is saying at the manger. What He was saying on the cross! Come on home, all is forgiven. I will provide a new direction for your life.
SECOND, WE CANNOT GO HOME AGAIN UNTIL WE REALIZE OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN.
I wonder how many folks on Christmas Day, have ripped off all the ribbon and tore wrapping paper from holiday gifts, and still find an emptiness in their soul and spirit that no material gift can ever fill to the brim. When the last Christmas card fades away, how many will discover that while the business of the Christmas season disguises their loneliness for a moment, it is not for long. All the Christmas gifts and presents cannot make up for the lack of God’s presence in your journey of life.
If the heart is to turn toward home at Christmas, it must turn first to God. The power of sin shackles us from turning home to God by making us feel guilty, dirty and alienated, or just plain not good-enough. God gives us the gift of His Son, Jesus, to liberate us from those feelings in order that He may lead us in the direction of home again.
“Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.” Until we accept the gift of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, all other gifts will be a poor substitute for the gift we need for life. Until we accept that gift, we will always be shackled by the power of sin and death in the prisons of life.
CHRISTMAS TEACHES US THAT GOING HOME IS REALLY UNDERSTANDING THAT HOME IS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND A REALIZATION OF HIS PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES.
One of the reasons we continue to celebrate Christmas anew each year is that we know we can have “home” in this world because “the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” Each year persons can find “home” when Christ is received, —- believed, — and lived. While this home will never be permanent here, it does prepare us for the great and glorious homecoming promised by Christ.
Yes, come -on- home to Christmas, come home to the God who is searching for us–and who is the only One who can give us a home. Come home to God who can set us “free” again. You don’t have to come home to Christmas only in your dreams. You can come home by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior today.
Will you come on Home?
Amen!
Rev. David R. Heise, is a retired United Methodist pastor appointed in the Albany District of the Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. Rev. Heise is appointed to serve in urban ministry in Schenectady for the Capital District.
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