[00:00:00] Merry Christmas. It is so great to be with you to those who are in the room with me to those of you who are watching or listening online. So glad that you guys are a part of this as well. We are literally days from Christmas time and I love Christmas and I don't know how you get ready for it. I don't know what you do to feel like Christmas is real or it's upon us. [00:00:21] But I think we all have certain traditions, certain things that we do. And when we do those things, then it feels like Christmas. You know, for me, I I'll read a few books. And when I read those books, it starts to feel like Christmas I'll, I'll listen to music, I'll watch certain movies. And all of these traditions helped me feel like it's Christmas. [00:00:43] Now there's one tradition that has become something that is now getting used to, but I have mixed feelings on. And that is the taking and making of the Christmas card. Now, out of curiosity, wherever you are, show of hands, how many of you do the Christmas card thing? Go [00:01:00] ahead. Raise your hands. Okay. You know, there's a lot that goes into this and the rest of you are looking at us like suckers. [00:01:06] I don't know why you guys do that. Right. I get it. So I'm going to show you our Christmas card this year because it takes a lot of work. And so I want to milk it and get as much out of it. So here's a photo of our family. Oh, yeah, right. Oh, look, our, our family looks like we're somewhat put together. I mean, we're doing all right. [00:01:24] You know, and that's what you see, but here's, what's funny is I look at that photo. That's not how I remember that day. You know, talking about people with Christmas cards. Like I remember like getting everyone ready and making sure shoes were on and clothes were buttoned. And all of that, I remember the stress of kids fighting and, and trying to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. [00:01:47] Like these are the memories I have. And then you see this photo and you're like, Oh, look at us. We're like a real family, you know? And, and so here's the deal. I didn't, I wasn't raised. Uh, in the Christmas card tradition, I married into it. So this has been a newer [00:02:00] thing for me. And some of you have, have maybe had that experience as well. [00:02:04] I always find it so funny when I see people's Christmas cards and I see our own, I go, yeah, there's, there's more to the story than that. You know, you always just know like there's more than just that photo and there's one family, that's the Stanley family. They attempted to do Christmas cards. It didn't really work for them. [00:02:21] And so they kept trying and finally they thought. Let's just go with it. Let's just embrace the chaos. And so that became their thing for their Christmas cards. So I'm going to show you, I think it was back in 2014, how they began their Christmas cards and depending on where you're sitting, hopefully you can see that this is obviously a little editing involved, but they just decided to embrace [00:02:43] what it really is like, and I love not only the chaos in the background, but you see there just looks of exhaustion, you know, on their face. Like that feels like a Christmas card to me that that feels like I can relate with that few years later, 2016, they had this one. [00:03:00] Now kids are on the roof. It's escalating. [00:03:03] And I love, you know, the mom and dad are an action poses and you know, things are happening. There's a lot going on there. Perhaps my favorite of theirs was 2019 though. There's a lot. Going on, on this Christmas card and the amount of work that they had to put into it. I don't know. What's my favorite, the kid flying the drone, the kid directing the drone or the kid literally hanging by the drone. [00:03:26] But again, notice the dad full extension in the photo. I just love the amount of work that goes into it. So whatever you're feeling today, whether that feels like your Christmas right now, or maybe you feel a little bit more put together. We're so glad that you're here and that you are spending this time together and in the midst of all of this together with us or in a series called all I want for Christmas. [00:03:53] And today we're going to say, all I want for Christmas is to be at peace. I don't know if you are here today and you're going, [00:04:00] I could use a little bit more peace. I I'm ready for it. I want it. Uh, but all I want for Christmas is. Is a little bit of peace and we're going to look at what that means. So if you've got your Bibles, I want to encourage you to get those out. [00:04:13] We're going to be in Luke chapter one. Now, if you've got a Bible that can turn on or Bible where you open it up to real pages, I would encourage you to get your spot there. We'd love for you to read this for yourself and we'll be in Luke chapter one in just a moment. Now another tradition that we have in our family. [00:04:29] One of the movies that we watch is a Charlie Brown Christmas, uh, any Charlie Brown Christmas fans with me today. Okay. You, my people, I love Charlie Brown Christmas. I love the nostalgia of it I love the feel of it, but I have a favorite character I'll admit, and it's not Charlie Brown. My favorite character is Linus. [00:04:45] I love Linus. And if you're not as familiar with Charlie Brown, Linus is the one that always has the blanket. He carries his trusted security blanket, wherever he goes. And, and that's my guy Linus, and he has a great role in a [00:05:00] Charlie Brown Christmas. There's actually been books written about Linus's blanket. [00:05:05] I mean, like so crucial is this to the character of Linus into the whole Charlie Brown universe, that there have been books written. And I want to show you how one of these books explains Linus's relationship with his blanket. So here's, here's a page from it and it says this, this is Linus. Linus loves his blanket more than anything in the world. [00:05:28] His blanket is soft. It makes him feel happy. He likes the way the fabric feels against his cheek doesn't that bring back childhood just so good. It makes him feel calm. When Linus holds his blanket, he feels like everything will be all right. No matter what happens, his sister Lucy. however, thinks differently. His blanket annoys her. [00:05:56] When are you going to get rid of that silly blanket [00:06:00] she asks. It's not silly Linus replies. It makes me feel happy. Maybe if you had a blanket, you wouldn't be so crabby. Crabby! Who's crabby? Lucy shouts. I guess, from now on I'll keep my suggestions to myself, Linus thinks. I love Linus because I think we can all at some level relate [00:06:22] with Linus, we all have that security blanket. That thing that we go to to find peace. Now, maybe why I particularly resonate with Linus. It was when I was a kid, I literally had a security blanket, very similar to Linus. In fact, I was able to find a photo of me and my security blanket at the ripe old age of five. [00:06:45] Check this out. This is a younger version of myself. Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh, now a couple of things, when I look at this photo, number one, I don't know why I needed a don't give up shirt when I was five. [00:07:00] Evidently my childhood was rough. I don't remember it like that, but I don't know why that was the message. [00:07:05] I don't know why I'm not wearing pants in this photo. And I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to show you this photo of me not wearing pants, but I look at that and I go, Oh, I remember that. A part of why I remember that is because I still own that blanket. This is the blanket from my childhood. Preachers [00:07:24] we save everything. It's always a good illustration. This is the same blanket it's got stains on it from I don't even know what, I hadn't really seen this thing in a long time, but one side is blue. One side has all these designs and I'll tell you what, I got it out for this illustration. And I told my wife, I literally was holding it. [00:07:42] And I'm like, Whoa. There was like a lot coming back to me right now, as I'm holding this, remembering the feel of the fabric, you know, remembering all of this because when I was a kid, this represented security, this made me feel like everything would be [00:08:00] all right now, you might've had an item too. Maybe it was a blanket. [00:08:04] Maybe it was a stuffed animal. Maybe was something that, that when you were a kid, you, you clung to. To feel like everything is all right, but, but as we get older, we move on. Right. We don't, we don't care on blankets as adults. That would be a little bit weird, but we don't really get over it. We just advance onto bigger and better things. [00:08:21] We change what it is that gives us security. I don't know what it is for you, if you say, yeah, that's my security, but what makes you feel like everything's going to be all right. For some of you, the answer is coffee, right? We've seen you without it and you're not all right. Okay. You need it. And then everything's all right to see my coffee for some of you, maybe it's Netflix, you, you gotta, you gotta be able to relax and unwind and binge that show, and then everything's going to be all right. [00:08:54] Maybe for you. It's your job. You know, I just, I just love work. I love diving into it and, and my job makes me feel like [00:09:00] everything's all right. Perhaps it's your family. If I can just be around my family, everything's going to be all right. I just need to, I just need to be around them. Then I feel like everything's all right. [00:09:11] Maybe it's an accomplishment. You have something you're very proud of. That's what makes you feel that? Or maybe it's something you don't yet have, right? Maybe it's something that, Hey, I'm working toward it. I'm I'm gonna get it. I just need that one more thing. Right. And that the message of Christmas. I mean, our series is called all [00:09:30] I want for Christmas, isn't Christmas about wanting more. I mean, when we're kids, we make these lists for Santa, these things that we need. And then as adults, we just keep making lists and we maybe send them to other people and figure out how do I get what I need? And if I just get it, then I'll be all right. [00:09:48] Now, if you know the scripture, this is actually one of the oldest stories we find in the Bible. And in fact, in the story of Adam and Eve and the book of Genesis, the very beginning, you [00:10:00] find this same narrative. Let me read a part of it to you in Genesis three, one, it says this. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals [00:10:12] the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden that God really say you can't have that. Because if you could have that, Oh man, your life would be incredible if you, if you could get that. And why is God keeping you from that? Why does God not want you to have all that you need? [00:10:35] Right. In this, this lie is created that Eve needs more. Satan sets up this image of if you just had it, if you just had this blanket, which is the representative, this fruit, if you just had that thing, everything would be all right. And yet, if you know that story, if you've read Genesis, you know, it did not play out the way that she envisioned. [00:10:57] And so Eve goes after that, that, that [00:11:00] metaphorical blanket to make her feel all right. But it's a false sense of security and maybe, you know, that pain as well. Going yeah, I've chased it. I've tried to find those things, but, but every time I'm left wanting more. Well, let's look at the Christmas story in light of all this and figure out what does the Christmas story have to offer us? [00:11:19] And in terms of peace in the midst of what we're going through now, we're going to read together Luke chapter one beginning in verse 26. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth a town in Galilee to a Virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. [00:11:42] The Virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this [00:12:00] might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive in your birth to a son and you were to call him Jesus. [00:12:12] He will be great and will be called the son of the most high the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. We go oh, I love this story. Yeah, Christmas. That's so good. I'd like to suggest if you're Mary. That's not how this story sounds. [00:12:36] I, we have come to love it from afar, with the perspective of hindsight, if you're Mary and you have a role to play in this story, and you don't quite know how it's going to turn out, this wouldn't have been good news. In fact is probably wondering why is this angel coming to me as a woman going around Joseph? [00:12:55] Because in that culture, it was all based on the guy. Why, why is Mary getting invited in [00:13:00] first? What is going on? And if we see this story from Mary's point of view, we realize this doesn't really sound all that good. You see Jesus was born in the middle of controversy. To an unwed mother who was probably a teenager. [00:13:16] This is not the hallmark movies that you are watching right now. Right? This is not the hallmark story go. It's going to be, it's going to feel so good when this thing ends. You're going, what on earth is happening in this story? You know, so what is Mary's response when this angel is telling her? I bet Mary is thinking, you know what years from now, this will make an amazing Christmas song. [00:13:39] No, she's not thinking that Mary is terrified. How do I know? Because the angel looks at her and says, do not be afraid. Why, why would you say that to someone? Because they probably have fear on their face and Mary's looking at this angel going, God's going to do what? And he says, do not be afraid. [00:14:00] He said, what is the thing that keeps us from peace? [00:14:04] I think it's fear. Now, maybe you don't think of yourself as a fearful person, but we have all kinds of fears and these fears are what ultimately rob us of the peace that God has for us. And Mary is presented with a whole bunch of things to be fearful of. Now, what is it for you? What are you afraid of these days? [00:14:27] What are those uncertainties in your life? Now I think 2020 has taken fears that we already had and like exponentially multiplied them. They're on steroids now. So if you are the kind of person that would be naturally fearful of your finances of wondering, Hey, how am I going to pay for this? And what does the future look like? [00:14:44] How do I afford this, man, this year has made that way worse. You got all kinds, kinds of things to be fearful of now that maybe you just took for granted thought, Oh, that's always going to be fine. And now you're going. I don't even know. I don't even know how to plan ahead [00:15:00] anymore. Or maybe you're the type of person that's fearful of your health or the health of the people around you. [00:15:05] And wow, 2020 has made that fear way worse. And now you've got a whole lot more to be afraid of. Or maybe for you, especially around Christmas time, your fear is being alone is afraid of being lonely and you're going, wow, it's going to be another year of that. Another, another year of feeling lonely. I don't know what those fears are for you. [00:15:27] It could be a fear of, of one of your children. They're they're into something or going down a road. And you're just so fearful of where that will play out. It could be a fear of your future of, of what is next. You're going to look like, maybe your fears with God or with the church. And you're going, I don't know how to work through any of these. [00:15:46] See, fear is real. We're all very aware of it. And yet we process it in different ways. I want to suggest for us that Mary had so much to be afraid of that. If you are, I were [00:16:00] in her shoes. If we were to get this message, we would be overwhelmed with fear, but I want you to see what Mary does in response to this news, Luke chapter one, verse 34. [00:16:11] How will this be? Mary asked the angel since I am a Virgin. The angel answered. The Holy spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the Holy one to be born will be called the son of God, even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age. And she who is said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month for no word from God will ever fail. [00:16:37] And then what I think is the most remarkable verse of this whole story, verse 38, I am the Lord's servant Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. And then the angel left her in the midst of all her fear. That is Mary's response, which answers the age old question. Mary, [00:17:00] did you know. The answer is yes. [00:17:03] She knew. Why do we keep asking that question? Because the song is so catchy. I know I love it too, but we know that Mary knew because Mary hears all this, and then she says, yes, and friends. I want to suggest it is a remarkable response when you're afraid, remarkable response, the author, Sarah Bessey says it like this. [00:17:26] Mary stands not as a symbol for little ladies who need to accept suffering and oppression and unjust systems, but as an empowered woman, a prophet mother leading us directly into accepting the call to our place in God's story of redemption and renewal with all of the implications of that call. I love that idea. [00:17:53] Mary is not the victim of the story. Mary is the prophet mother who is the first one to say [00:18:00] yes to God, God, this story sounds crazy. And I'm in for it. I'm on board. Let's go. Let's see what happens. Now. This is a very different response than Eve. I Eve, she says, I need more, God wired, you keeping it from me. [00:18:17] If I could just have that, then I would be okay. Mary says, may your word to me be fulfilled. God, I see the story and I'm fearful, but I choose to be on board with it. And I would suggest that the, the response of even the response of Mary will take you in two radically different directions. Now. Let's return to my friend Linus. [00:18:40] One of the reasons why I love Linus and why I love the Charlie Brown movie. It is Linus has a key scene in that movie where he gets onstage with his trusted security blanket and he reads the Christmas story. And for many people is the first time maybe you ever heard the Christmas story was from the lips of Linus. [00:18:58] And it was so [00:19:00] great to hear him do that. But one of the things I love about it is when Linus gets to the part where the angel says fear not he does this. You see if you see the still frame of that moment, he has dropped his blanket. The thing that always provides some security that he carries everywhere with them, the moment he gets into the story and he says, fear not, he just lets go with a blanket. [00:19:25] It's like, he doesn't need it anymore. Cause he's realizing what this story means. I don't need a false security blanket. Fear not. See Christmas is God's response to our fear. Christmas is God saying, yeah, I get it. I know, I know you're fearful. I know there's a lot. I know it's overwhelming, but I will be with you. [00:19:51] And if you connect the stories, you, you begin to see that God has been working towards something. And Christmas is the beginning of the completion of this [00:20:00] narrative of, of God fixing what was wrong. If you go back and you connect the story of Eve and go, man, we can relate with the story of Eve. Cause that's, that's some that's broken and missing. [00:20:10] An it feels a lot like my life, but you fast forward and you get to the story of Mary and Mary begins to redeem the story of Eve. The Pastor Rich Villodas says it like this Eve came from Adam, which if you've read Genesis, you understand that. But the new Adam came from the new Eve. Everyone what we talking about? The new Adam is a reference to Jesus. [00:20:34] This is a better example of what it means to be human came from the new Eve, which would be Mary. Right. All of a sudden you have these, these bookends of these two stories and this one, this Christmas story is fixing all that was wrong with the other story. It's a great reversal. It's the great unraveling of all that had gone wrong into this beautiful moment of Christmas. [00:21:00] [00:20:59] Now there's a, uh, an image that I've seen that I think captures his of, of what, if you could see these two stories of story of Eve and the story of Mary, you can put them together or better yet. What if the two, two of them had a chance to meet each other? What would that be like? Well, there's a drawing by sister Grace Remington that captures this scene. [00:21:18] And I love this image and there's so much there. If you can, you can see the detail of it, but on the left you have even on the right, you have Mary, and this is called Mary comforts Eve because you can see that Mary has got something to offer to Eve. And I love that. Eve has her hand on Mary's stomach. [00:21:36] She's sensing God is with us. God is doing something incredible, but notice her other hand. It's still holding onto the fruit because isn't that what we do? Yeah. I want Jesus. I'm ready for it, bro. I'm still gonna hold on to that thing. That makes me feel good. That that makes me feel all right. And so she's not fully embraced facing this, but she's realizing, Hey, this, this is going to offer me something. [00:22:00] [00:22:00] What I find most intriguing is there's a snake wrapped around Eve's legs and she's still entangled by this story. And yet notice that under Mary's foot is the head of the snake. As she stomps on it, as she finally brings redemption to this story of we have been plagued by this, but now God is with us in the story is turning. [00:22:24] See Mary has every reason to be afraid, but she does not choose fear. One of the incredible lessons we learn from Mary, and I encourage you to write this down is that peace comes from a focus on Jesus, not the absence of fear. See at Christmas time, maybe you think, God, if you would just resolve this, take this away, give me this. [00:22:48] If this thing could change, then I would have the peace that you have for me. And that's not the Christmas or the Christmas story is that God is with us. That God shows up in the midst of your [00:23:00] story. He doesn't resolve it all for you and take it all away. Doesn't suddenly give you everything you want. [00:23:04] He's with you. God is not far away. God is here. When you embrace this gift, you realize, wow, peace is available right now to every single one of us. We have this gift, but we each respond to the gift in different ways. And so I want to ask you just today, as you reflect on this, what is your response to the gift of Christmas? [00:23:31] Is it like Eve? I need more. Jesus is great. I love Christmas, but I need, I need more. I need you to resolve this. I need you to take this away. I need this new thing that I've been working for. I've been asking for, I've been longing for it. Just give that to me and then I'll have it. That's the response of Eve or is yours like Mary? [00:23:51] May your word to me be fulfilled. God, I get it. I know that these things are not the way they should be. I know that I have [00:24:00] reason to be afraid, but I also know that you're here. So may your word be fulfilled, maybe what you want to do in my life, come to fruition. And I say yes to that. And that is the only response that will bring you the peace. [00:24:14] I think we so badly crave. And so I want to ask, what is your response as you enter Christmas week? What is your response? That's incredible message. Are you looking around going, I've got some things that are making me feel okay. That are making me feel like it's all right. Can you get to the point where you realize that's a false security and maybe go, yeah, I'm kind of seeing that that's not quite delivering all that I want it to. [00:24:43] And so maybe like Eve you're reaching out one hand for Jesus and the other is still gonna hold that thing. Okay. I got this and Jesus let's, let's just, you know, maximize this. That's not the way you fully experience what Jesus has for. You see like little Linus, you have to [00:25:00] go, you know what? I don't want fear. [00:25:02] I don't want this. I want to experience what God has for me. And you have to drop that blanket. You have to drop that thing that you've been craving. You've been holding. You've been thinking this will help me with my fear. And then you open your hands. Okay, Jesus. What do you want to bring for me? What do you want to do in the midst of this story? [00:25:21] I'm open to it. I'm open to it, not working out the way that I thought I'm open to still being fearful, but also acknowledging you're here. And when you do that in the midst of what, what ever it is, you're going through, you can experience peace, real peace like Mary did. So I want to close something. Uh, my friend, Danielle Strickland said, she said, invite love [00:25:44] into the place you are afraid to free you from its grip. This is the best news that love has come and is with us now. No need to let fear [00:26:00] lead anymore. Let's pray together. Jesus. We thank you that you are with us now. We thank you. That love has indeed come. God, you, you don't take everything away. You don't resolve everything that is making us fearful perhaps as we would like. [00:26:22] But the, the news of Christmas, this incredible gift is that you're here with us. You're in the midst of it with us. And if we will focus on you, we will get to experience the peace that we so badly crave. And so may we, as a church, may we choose what Mary chose. To say yes to you in the face of our fear, in the face of our anxiety to say yes to the story that you are inviting each of us to play. [00:26:50] And may we get to experience the adventure of a life with you. We pray in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen.