Tonight we're at Twin Cities Church singing
beautiful Christmas carols. Highlighting the evenings events was an
inspired sermon by Pastor Ron..."Merry Messy Christmas" is a comparison
of baby Jesus being born in a messy stable, coming into a messy world
that needed help.
"Let's face it: In all our efforts to create
the perfect Christmas, Christmas can get messy. Perhaps you've never
thought of this holiday as the messiest time of the year, but if you
wish to be true to the original story, then you have to face the messy
facts. While Christmas cards portray fairytale scenes of a quaint manger
and a quiet infant, 'no crying He makes,' the real story confronts us
with a messy mystery.
Shaun Dyer says, 'If we sanitize the Christmas
story...eliminating its earthiness, pain and struggle, we miss the truth
of a God who deeply loves us. The birth of Jesus is the moment God came
to dwell in our midst, to join us in our struggle. Therein lies a clue
to the mystery. Had He come as He deserved, in royal clothes, surrounded
by nobility, He would have remained a distant God. But what I know of
Him is that He is a present and involved God.'
Here's the good news of Christmas for messy
people: God embraces our mess. The birth of Jesus into our messy world
shows that He wants to come into our life no matter how messed up it
might be. Jesus doesn't care how messy our life is. It doesn't scare Him
at all. For He started His life in a mess, wrapped in rags and placed in
a manger; and He ended His life in a mess, wrapped in rags and pounded
to a cross."
