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24.12.2009_Davide_English
| 28.12.2009, 23:10 | |
Rev. Davide Cantarella December 24, 2009. Jesus, the Gift everyone needs (but hardly anyone looks for...) Every year there comes a time in Moscow when everyone goes crazy. It starts the first week of November and it continues until about the end of December. For almost two months all of the city's shopping centers are full of people; and people come in and out of them with their hands full of bags. Muscovites spend about ten months trying to figure out how to make money, and then about two months trying to figure out how to spend it. And it really seems that, in spite of the crisis, this year Russians will be spending more than in the past. According to Market and Media Research Group COMCON, Muscovites plan on spending on average about 12,000 roubles to buy gifts this year. The reasons? Well, first of all tradition – it's New Year and you are supposed to buy gifts. Secondly, I think, good intentions. We buy gifts because we want to make someone happy – it could be our parents, or our spouse, our our children, or our friends and colleagues. The picture is basically this: millions of people, spending lots of hours and lots of money looking for perfect gifts that will make others happy. However, according to journalist Maria Sarycheva, there is a profound difference between what people think is worth buying for others, and what they think is worth receiving from others. Here follows an excerpt from her article: For instance, ladies more often than not (72% of interviewees) receive household items - vases, cups, figurines, candle sticks, but only 26% of them would like to receive those as a gift. Same thing with "ladies' all-time favourite gift” - chocolate and sweets. 70% of women buy those for others, but only 29% of women would like to receive those as gift. In third place of this unusual ranking of "purchased but not wanted” gifts we find На третьем месте рейтинга несовпадений желаемого и действительного - textiles (towels, bed linens, table cloths, etc.). 48% of women receive those, but only 27% are happy they received them. The situation with men is not much better. More than half of gift-givers (52%) think that the best thing to buy for another man is a bottle of heating drink. But the recipients dismantle this mith – only 28% said they would like to receive such gift. Men like receiving household items even less than ladies (19% ), but 41% of them receives them. The sort of gifts most men would like to receive are electric appliances, consumer electronics, photography equipments and cell-phones. 68% of men hopes to get something like than for New Year, but only 40% of them will find those under the tree. Looking at this, it seems like the majority of Russians prefer buying for their loved ones the sort of gifts that they themselves would not want to receive. But, at the same time, they still end up becoming unhappy new owners of useless gifts. What a paradox! O the inscrutable Russian soul... It is interesting how much time and effort we put into thinking about, looking for, and buying gifts for our loves ones, most of which will eventually end up on dusty shelves, dark closets and drawers that are hardly ever opened. On the other hand, it is interesting how little time and effort we put into thinking about, looking for, and be thankful for the one Gift that we really need; the one Gift that can change our lives and the lives of the people around us. In the midst of our busyness and our human attempts to be happy and make others happy, it appears we don't pay much attention to the fact that God has already made ample provisions for our happiness. He has given us the Perfect Gift – a Gift that makes all the other gifts pale in comparison – Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Now, it could be that some of us tonight may have never thought of Jesus being God's gift to us. They may know the Scriptures that say that "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” but never quite thought of the Father being the Giver and the Son being the Gift. And it could also be that some of us tonight may know that at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but have never quite thought about what's so special about it; why it is important; why such a huge celebration for the birth of a baby. And indeed, we can only understand the greatness of the event if we understand its reasons. And we can only appreciate the Gift only if we understand how much we really need it. So, if you are patient with me, I would like to retell briefly the story we find in the Holy Scriptures, with the hope that for some of us it will make sense, maybe for the first time. Before time and the Universe existed, God was. Because of his desire to fellowship and love, God created everything – the stars, the planets, the earth, the heavens, the sea and everything in it. According to the Scriptures everything He created was good. God created humans in his image to live in fellowship with him, one another, and all of creation. But unfortunately humans disobeyed, and consequently darkness and evil entered the story through human sin and are now a part of the world, of your life and my life. Because of this, our relationships with God, with other people, and even with ourselves has become fractured. Ever wondered why God seems so far and enigmatic? Why nations rise against nation and brother against brother? Why people, even those we know well, can be so strange and incomprehensible? Why we say things, or do things, or feel things that make us hate ourselves? Our relationships with God, with other people, and with ourselves have become distorted and in desperate need of redeeming. Sin lives in us, each one of us, and makes us the people we do not want to be. God did not abandon his creation to sin and chaos; rather he promised to restore it. As part of this purpose, God chose a people, Abraham and his descendants - the people of Israel - to represent him in the world. God promised to bless them as a nation so that through them all nations would be blessed. When they were slaves in Egypt and cried out to God because of their oppression, God heard their cry, and liberated them. He then brought his people into the Promised Land. He said to them, "If you will obey me and be my people, I will bless you and protect you”. But they disobeyed and allowed foreign gods into the land, overlooked the poor, and mistreated the foreigner. Yet, despite their frequent unfaithfulness to him, God refused to give up on his people. He sent them prophets to call them back to obedience. But to no avail. So, at some point, among the prophets there rose the hope that one day God himself would come to give people a new heart, a new beginning, a new hope. God himself would come and change our hearts, so that we may love and obey God, love and understand one another, love and understand ourselves. For more than 700 years prophets longed to see the day when God would come and put things in their rightful place. They realized there is something wrong with our existence here, and only God can fix it. And so, day after day, they hoped and prayed that God would come down from heaven to bring to us a new life lived in harmony, love, justice, and peace. We find this longing in the words of Isaiah. Is: 63:15 LORD, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 17 LORD, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants, the tribes that are your special possession. Is 64:1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! People like Isaiah lived day after day with a longing to see God put things in place; put an end to darkness and distress. People like Isaiah had an undying hope; they knew in the depth of their hearts that the spiritual darkness they saw around them and inside of them would not last forever. Isaiah himself had a vision of the day of the coming Kingdom of God. Isaiah writes: "Nevertheless, the time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness a light will shine. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end.” (Is 9:1a; 2; 6-7a) For over 700 years the people of God hoped, prayed, and waited for that day. Until that day came. God took upon himself human flesh and became one of us. Somewhat unexpectedly, about 2,000 years ago, on a starry night, in a small town in Judea, a baby was born in a manger. And his parents called him Yeshua, which means "God saves”. For millions of people throughout history that child was God incarnate, the answer to centuries of patient and hopeful prayer, the demonstration that God is passionate to fulfill His promises and His desire to put everything in the right place. That child, Yeshua, was God's gift to you, to me, and to all of creation. He was a gift because He was God himself living the same human life that you and I live. He breathed the same air, ate the same bread, experienced the same feelings you and I experience. Many of us would be greatly honored simply to shake the hand of or have a picture taken with President Medvedev or President Obama. What a gift that would be! Friends, the God of the Universe decided to come and be with us for over thirty years. What a gift this is! He was a gift because in Him we see who we can be. God became human so that we could see what human life was created to be. Jesus spent his days loving God, serving God, loving others, serving others. And he did so, so that we could see and understand that we too have been created to love God, serve God, love others and serve others. When we look at his life we see a light that shows us our own darkness. When we look at this life, there rises a desire in us not to live in darkness, but to live like Him. And the truth is, we CAN live like Him. This is why Jesus is the greatest gift. The baby born in Bethlehem became and man and eventually died at the hands of those who did not recognize in Him the light of God. Yet, by dying He made his life available to all who want His light, who want His life. We can ask Jesus to live His life in us. We can ask Jesus to be born in us so that His life dispels our inner darkness; so that His obedience casts away our sin and disobedience; so that His love for God and for people becomes our love for God and for people; so that His desire to bring life to the world becomes our desire to bring life to the world. When Jesus lives in us we no longer are the people we don't want to be. We are the people we were created to be – people in whom there is no darkness but the bright light and divine life of Christ. Jesus is the greatest of gifts because in Him we have a new life, a new beginning and a new hope. The hopes and longing of the prophets of long ago became a person. And this person can live in us. He is the only gift that everyone really needs. But is HE the gift you have been looking for? In the midst of your busyness and your attempts to find happiness for you and for the people around you, have you been looking for the gift of Christ? Probably not. But here is the thing – I know for a fact that Christ has been looking for you. I told you, He is the greatest gift. And his greatness is also seen in that, even when we are not looking for Him, He is always looking for us. We are used to looking for gifts. He is the only Gift that is always looking for us. And He has wonderful and mysterious ways of attracting us to Himself. The fact that you are here tonight is not by chance. Christ is looking for you and calling you to come closer to Him. His desire is to take away your darkness and give you His light. His desire is to be born in you, so that He can live in you, and his life becomes your life. Independently of whether you have been looking for Him, Jesus Christ, the Gift, has been looking for you. I hope you will let Him find you tonight. My hope and my prayer for all of you is that tonight more than ever you have come to understand and appreciated God's great Gift to us. I hope that your hearts are full of gratitude that God did not hand over his creation to sin and hatred. He provided a way for humans to be transformed from the inside. He gave us Jesus. He is the greatest of gifts because in Him we have a new life, a new beginning and a new hope. The hopes and longing of the prophets of long ago became a person. And this person lives in us and has changed everything. He alone is the gift that everyone really needs. | |
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