Happy Christmas morning to all.
The Schmitz family is doing wonderful on this fine morning where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Robby, our slowest, most methodical eater, is still finishing his breakfast. Caleb is playing with the legos that he received in his stocking. Mom's talking to G'pa on the telephone, and I'm typing a blog post.
I may have started a new Christmas morning tradition. You see, while we were in China, we ate breakfast EVERY morning at a buffet. It was a great thing overall, but like any good thing where you get too much of it, it removes a little of the shine. So, I started making "mash-ups". I would take ham, sausage, bacon, over-easy eggs, taters, and some sauteed veggies and pile them all up, cutting up the eggs last so that the yolk would spread around all of the mashed food stuffs while you stirred it up.
Robby and Daddy were huge fans, Caleb was indifferent and mom didn't do that since they had girlie foods like fresh fruits and crepes...
So this past week I had the idea to make a mash-up on Christmas morning. It was a big hit for all of us as we are all now done and ready for opening of actual wrapped presents now.
Enough of that... on to the reason for celebrating Christmas at all.
So moving along, for those who may not be familiar with it, here is the Christmas story from the Bible:
Luke 1
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 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. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Luke 2
The Birth of Jesus
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and
she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and
placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for
them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When
the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to
one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
And so it was. Throughout the Old Testament, God promises us over and over that he will send a Savior. It's also quite obvious thru the Old Testament that we were completely incapable of saving ourselves.
So God has a plan. He'll come to Earth as a baby, as one of us, and live the perfect life and die in our place.
On top of that, after his death and resurrection, he appears to the disciples and promises them the Holy Spirit:
Luke 24
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
So as we open gifts this morning/throughout the day, let us not forget the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ.
Here's kind of a cool story and then I'll wrap it up (I know I'm long-winded!) but this story ties in with that last bit from Luke 24.
I just read a book that we've owned for some time. It's called Heaven Is For Real. It's about the Burpo family from Nebraska whose little boy, Coltan, became sick, spent some seriously trying time in the hospital, and was eventually healed. Over the next couple of years, he kept revealing to his mom and dad (a pastor), little bits and pieces of his trip to Heaven and sitting on Jesus' lap. I won't tell you many more details than that, but I cannot stress enough that you read the book for yourselves.
You can order it here and probably 100 other places around the web. I hope they do not mind me re-telling a snippet of their story here but I was crying, praying and celebrating along with them throughout the book as it brought back many memories of Robby's entrance into the world.
The few details that I will put in here is from this excerpt in Chapter 23. Momma Burpo, Sonja, was telling Coltan a bedtime story and afterwards said, "You know how Daddy preaches every week? I think we should pray for him that he would get a lot of good study time in this week so that he can give a good message in church on Sunday morning.".
Coltan looked at her and said the strangest thing: "I've seen power shot down to Daddy.".
Sonja later told me that she took a moment to turn these words over in her mind. Power shot down?
"What do you mean, Coltan?"
"Jesus shoots down power for Daddy when he's talking.".
Sonja shifted on the bed so that she could look directly into Colton's eyes. "Okay... when? Like when Daddy talks at church?"
Coltan nodded, "Yeah, at church. When he's telling Bible stories to people."
Fast forward to breakfast the next morning and daddy, Todd Burpo, wants to know more about the conversation at bedside last night:
Hey buddy," I said pouring milk into Coltan's usual bowl of cereal. "Mommy said you were talking last night during Bible story time. Can you tell me what you were telling Mommy about.... about Jesus shooting down power? What's this power like?"
It's the Holy Spirit," Coltan said simply. "I watched him. He showed me."
"The Holy Spirit?"
"Yeah, he shoots down power for you when you're talking in church."
If there were comic strip thought-bubbles over peoples heads, mine would have been filled with question marks and exclamation points right then. Every Sunday morning before I give the Sermon, I pray a similar prayer: "God, if you don't help me this morning, this message is going to fail." In light of Coltan's words, I realized I had been praying without really knowing what I was praying for. And to imagine God answering it by "shooting down power"... well, it was just incredible.
(end of the excerpt from Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent)
So the next morning, Caleb had come into our bedroom and was laying in bed with Mom and myself snuggling. Mom got up eventually and went and made coffee and whatever else, Caleb stayed in bed with me and was doing an electronic puzzle on the Kindle.
I was staring at the profile of his beautiful little head and face, watching him intently as he did his puzzle and thanking God that we were matched with him!
Caleb likes his cheeks rubbed and I know this because I accidentally discovered this in China while trying to calm him down at one point.
I reached up in bed that morning, the morning after reading Chapter 23 in Heaven Is For Real, and I was rubbing his cheek. In my head, I prayed, "Jesus shoot down the power of the Holy Spirit so Caleb can feel your love."
At the very moment I got to the end of that prayer, Calebs head pressed hard on to the backs of my fingers that were on his cheeks, his eyes nearly closed and a small noise of pure pleasure came from underneath his closed lips.
I smiled and cried a little.
Jesus promised us that he would send a helper, the Holy Spirit, after he left and it is my belief that he is active and moving in the world today.
That is good, because I need him!
Praise the Lord, and Merry Christmas to you all!!
