Christmas Take-Away:
Being Alone
Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 2, John 1:1-14

† In Jesus’ Name †

• Deadbeat Doug

The man was a legend in our time, He travelled the world, never really held a job, just did odd things here and there. He could have done so much with his life—he was an excellent speaker  to youth, a professional volleyball player, a really good musician.

And he was everywhere and nowhere.

He would show up at your apartment and ask to sleep on the floor, or in the tub, or on the couch. He could easily eat you out of house and home, and never helped with the chores. He would always

push you to the breaking point, then he would move on to another friends, or even just sleep in his battered old VW bug, with the surfboard on top, the old battered guitar and the bag of volleyballs.

But the next year he would show up – you would remember the deep, late-night conversations about God, the incredible times where ½ dozen guitars would be pulled out, or and you would welcome him back with a smile and a hug as you carried everything in….

He was always at home wherever he went.

Dead beat Doug was his nickname at points, or hobo Doug, but the man was at home in the world, and in your refrigerator!

And as I think of all thought about the line in the gospel reading, that Jesus, “became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.” I thought of Doug and how he could do that, even though I haven’s seen him since 1988, I halfway expect him to show up for brunch.

That way of being at home, putting his feet up up and staying a while, can make a huge difference. And as we celebrate Christ coming into our lives and making His home with us—there is one difference, Jesus never leaves.

• Being alone

As we’ve looked at what God promised to change when Jesus came, he took away so much, and   today, as we look at Jesus  making His home, with us, feeling free enough to put his fee up on the furniture, Jesus takes away something else, the idea that we are alone.

That is why Isaiah says that beautiful are the feet that brings the news He is coming, that’s why David says that the only ones who have hope  are the ones who kiss or embrace his feet, like the prostitute  who washed those feet with her tears and her hair.

I think this si the easiest day in the calendar, and the most needed ot talk about how God is at home with us, that He removes loneliness from our lives by simply not letting us be alone.

It’s the day when we see Him as a baby, something to cuddle and hold, rather than the omnipotent King of Kings and Lord of Lorrds who is coming to judge the living and the dead, whose Kingdom never ends.

This is the day when being terrified with God is replaced by being afraid we will drop Jesus as we hold him,

Our fear changes to awe, our hesitancy to deal with God is changed to desiring to hold Him, to embrace him,

And then as we read of His life, that awe turns to wondrous joy!!

It is then that beholding His glory change, as we realize we are and will be enveloped by it, not just witness it from afar….

This is Christmas, literally the Christ’s gathering, This is the joyous day, when Christ comes in and makes his home with us…forever! AMEN