Covenant
United Methodist Church
Sunday School 9:45 Worship 8:30 & 10:45 am
Advent 4 Mathew 1-18-25 A Purpose Filled Life
Have you heard the story of the rich man who was determined to give his mother a birthday present that would outshine all others. He read of a bird that had a vocabulary of 4000 words, could speak in numerous languages and sing 3 operatic arias. He immediately bought the bird for $50,000 and had it delivered to his mother. The next day he phoned to see if she had received the bird. "What did you think of the bird?" he asked.
She replied, "It was delicious."
The son and the mother saw different purposes for that bird didn’t they!
Or have you heard the story of one of golf's immortal moments. It came when a Scotchman demonstrated the new game to President Ulysses Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President's beard and surrounding vicinity, while the ball placidly waited on the tee. Again the Scotchman swung, and again he missed. Our President waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, "There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball.
From what the Scotsman did it was hard to see what the purpose of the ball was wouldn’t you say?
One of the great questions in life has to do with purpose. Some of us have problems quite grasping what our purpose in life is… This past month I have been approached by half a dozen people grappling with the question of purpose for their life. “What is my life all about?” they ask me…These people have been from various races, from various economic situations, and various ages. They have ranged from corporate executives and gang bangers… but all had a common problem… the problem of direction and purpose.
We are a people who want to believe that there is more to our lives than waking up… going to sleep… living our lives… and eventually dieing. We want to know about our higher purpose in life. What is our life all about… what kind of mark are we going to leave behind us…
At my last pastorate, before I came here, as you know I was out in the boonies. The guy who came after me wanted to visit with his Staff Parish Relations committee chairperson. Well, the pastor to be had no idea how many dirt roads he was going to have to go down to visit the SPR chairperson. He came to the parsonage and I told him I would lead him over to the man’s home… The pastor to be said to me, “I don’t need any help! I have this new GPS device! It will lead me right there! So I let him find the SPR chairperson’s home on his own… 20 minutes later I got a call from the SPR chair… “Where is he?” he literally yelled over the phone. I told him the pastor to be wanted to find it on his own… I got yelled at some more by the SPR chairperson, then he hung up. A few minutes later I got a call from the pastor to be… “Mike I’m lost!” he said. I went out and found him and led him to the SPR chairperson’s home…
My point is this. We all need a little help, when it comes to direction and purpose for our lives. Some times we need help even when we don’t know it…
Then we come to our scripture lesson today. A scripture lesson about the birth of a savior. Have you ever noticed that as soon as people come in contact with the baby the direction for their lives change drastically. Lives with little direction all of a sudden have more direction than you can believe. Mary goes from a little girl betrothed to a man to the mother of the Messiah. Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant and is going to divorce her, the next thing you know he is having dreams and marrying a woman that is having a child not his own. He has dreams and leaves the place the child is born. Shepherds and Wise Men travel long distances simply to follow a star leading them to a child.
When the baby comes into the world, people end up scared, but then find purpose for their lives… and so do we if we decide to follow the child… That is what the Christmas story is all about.
If you want to truly find purpose in your life you follow the child. That means you follow love…. When we abide in God’s love we meet our purpose in life. Do you remember how the book “A Purpose Driven Life” starts… “It’s not about you.” If you want to find true purpose in life then you find it in a relationship with the child. God comes into the world as a child because he loves us, and when he does we find purpose and meaning for our lives…
Have you heard the story about the man who decided to cut back on nonessential obligations like extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, he found himself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas. His son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he’d been memorizing songs for his school’s Winter Pageant. The father didn’t have the heart to tell his son he’d be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, the man spoke with his teacher. She assured the father there’d be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then.”
“Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, the man filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor, and sat down. Around the room, he saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As he waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as ’Christmas’, he didn’t expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.
So, when his son’s class rose to sing, ’Christmas Love’, he was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row - center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing ‘C is for Christmas’, a child would hold up the letter ‘C’. Then, ‘H is for Happy’, and so on, until each child, holding up his portion had presented the complete message, ‘Christmas Love’.”
“The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, the crowd noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter ‘M’ upside down - totally unaware her letter ‘M’ appeared as a ‘W’. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one’s mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her ‘W’.
Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood - the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why, even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
Christ Was Love!”
And the word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. We have beheld his glory as the only son from the father… and all who received him who believed in his name he gave the power to become children of God… We are children of God, who came in the flesh to love the world around us. Let us go into the world and show with new purpose that same love….
