FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT -- EXPECT A MIRACLE



Luke 1:26-33
"I'm making a list and checking it twice,
Gonna make sure I'm getting something nice.
Jesus Christ is coming to town."

 That doesn't sound right, does it.  Maybe this year is the year we focus less about what we expect to find under the Christmas tree and more on expecting a miracle.



Christmas is the celebration of the miracle of Christ's birth.  It's Jesus' birthday, but why do we spend money like it's ours?

Driven by materialism and consumerism, we've managed to push Christ out of Christmas and replace it ourselves.  And we're paying the price for it.

Debt, becuase of culture values self-gratification, holds many people, including Christians , captive today.  Becuase of Christmas spending, many of us begin the year with a whopping  credit card bill.  In 2005, for the first time in U.S. history, Americans reached a negative savings rate.  Americans were spending $1.22 for every $1 earned.  As of July, 2014, the personal savings rate in the U.S. was only 5.7%.

The miracle of Christmas announces to the world that Jesus came to break the chains of oppression and bondage -- even the chains of debt.

So, it's time for something different.  It's time to remember whose birthday Christmas is and use the resources God has blessed us with in ways that honor Christ.  Matthew 25:31-46 reminds us of Christ's call to reach out to the least among us:  the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the naked, the stranger, and the prisoner.

Its time to expect a miracle.

 A miracle is a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency; a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.

 Look at the Christmas story, and we see that God works miracles through ordinary people:  Mary and Joseph -- a poor teen-age bride to be and her blue collar, working class fiance,   

Look around, and we soon realize that God is working miracles everyday through people like you and me.  God doesn't use the rich and powerful, the geniuses and the rock stars, but people with willing hearts.  Mike Slaughter says:

Every work of God is conceived in the heart of a disciple, grows in conviction and clarity of vision, and then is delivered through God's intended action; more simply stated, God births miracles through ordinary people.  (A Different Kind of Christmas - Living and Giving Like Jesus).

 I saw such a miracle at one of our recent Saturday night services.  A man interrupted the service, telling us he was sent there.  There had been a medical emergency, and he showed me a list of prescription medications he couldn't fill, because their funds were too low.  The medication was needed now, and he didn't know what else to do.  Our people opened their hearts to this man and his sick loved one and birthed a miracle.  We prayed for him and his loved one and sent him on his way with the money he needed.

 But be prepared, because miracles come with a price.  Grace is free, but it's not cheap.  For Jesus, it was the cross.  For us it is surrendering our will to God, taking risks, giving of ourselves and our resources, putting aside our own agendas and following Christ beyond the borders of our comfort zone.

Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel who said, "Congratulations, you are honored among women, and God has a surprise for you, and it's a boy!"

Mary knew the price she would have to pay to be part of the miracle of the birth of the Messiah, the fulfilment of God's promises to God's people.  Pregnant before marriage, she would become a social outcast.  Her fiance, Joseph, could break off their engagement.  If he denounced her publicly, she could even be stoned for adultery.  Yet she said, "yes" to God and her part in this miracle.

This year, let's celebrate Jesus' birthday in a way that honors Christ and makes a difference in people's lives.  Everyday God is conceiving and birthing miracles through ordinary people like us that can change the world.

What seeds of miracles has God planted in us, and what are we going to do about them?

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