The Grace of God

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
December 26, 2004

The Grace of God
Matthew 2:13-23
Isaiah 52:7-10

We’ve heard the story of Jesus’ birth
told in countless ways over the past month:
in carols we have been singing since Thanksgiving,
in movies we’ve been watching on television,
in our children’s Christmas pageant last Sunday,
and of course in our service of Lessons and Carols
on Christmas Eve.
It is a story we can never hear too often.

For all our focus on the birth of our Lord,
it is all the more amazing when we realize that
the story of Jesus’ birth can be found in only two of the gospels:
in Matthew and in Luke.
Neither Mark nor John speak of Jesus’ infancy;
they begin their gospels with Jesus’ ministry.

Matthew and Luke’s renditions are both quite short,
but otherwise quite different:
Matthew focuses more on Joseph, while Luke focuses more on Mary.
Matthew gives us the wise men, but no shepherds,
Luke gives us shepherds but no wise men.

We tend to combine the two gospel accounts to create the Christmas story.
We tend to end the story with the visit of the Wise men,
But Matthew doesn’t stop the story there.
He continues with the flight to Egypt, and the return to Judea,
with the family settling in Nazareth.
Matthew does this because his recounting of the story
assumes that Mary and Joseph begin life living in Bethlehem,
while Luke tells us that they lived in Nazareth but traveled to Bethlehem
to be recorded for the census and to pay their taxes.

In our lesson this morning we heard the awful story
that we tend to leave out of our Christmas tales:
the story of Herod’s decision to kill all the boys in Bethlehem
and the surrounding region, all the boys two years old and under.
Herod had heard the wise men talk about a new king having been born,
and he didn’t like the sound of that at all,
because, after all, he was the king,
and kings don’t like competition.

If the story of the killing of all the baby boys sounded familiar,
as though you might have heard the story somewhere else in the Bible,
then you know your Bible well:
More than a thousand years earlier, down in Egypt,
Pharaoh, the ruler over all Egypt,
grew concerned by the rapid increase in the population of
the Israelites who lived among them as slaves.
He feared that they might grow more numerous
than the Egyptians themselves
and so he ordered that every baby boy be killed.
One mother took her infant son and placed him in a papyrus basket
sealed with pitch, and hid him among the reeds
on the bank of the river Nile to try to save him.
The daughter of Pharaoh found him there
and took him as her own son.
She named the foundling child Moses.

Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous army.
We are not certain how long they remained there;
weeks, perhaps a few months,
and then, as Matthew tells us, the news reached them
that Herod was dead,
and the threat to the baby Jesus was gone.

They then made their way to Nazareth
a town about 75 miles north of Bethlehem,
in the region known as Galilee,
where Jesus grew, and as Luke tells us
“the grace of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40)
Here we find a parallel with John’s gospel where we read,
“the Word became flesh and lived among us,
full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

And that’s where we leave the Christmas story each December,
and start a new year together:
with the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ,
Emmanuel, with us.
We begin each new year with the grace of God.

If I were to ask you, what is the grace of God?
What would you answer?
What do we mean by the word “grace”?
It is a word we use in different ways:
we say grace before we eat a meal.
We say that a ballerina or a figure skater is graceful
But what do we mean when we speak of God’s grace?
Paul’s letters are filled with references to grace
but we are never quite sure exactly what Paul means by the term.
The Gentle Readers Book Club had a lively discussion about the word
at their meeting earlier in the month after they read the book
“Home to Harmony” by Philip Gulley.
Judging by some of the questions I had afterward,
there were as many different thoughts about the term
as there were Gentle Readers gathered that evening.

Gulley, who is a Quaker pastor, has written a new book
with another Quaker pastor, James Mulholland,
in which they focus on the concept of grace.
The book, “If God is Love: rediscovering grace in an ungracious world”
is a wonderful, thoughtful volume that I highly recommend.

Gulley and Mulholland help us to understand that God’s grace
is God’s absolute and unconditional love given us through Jesus Christ.
Grace is a gift given to us; it is our Christmas present;
a gift we get to unwrap and use every day of the year.
It is a gift we get whether we’ve been good or bad;
It is a gift we get, even if we didn’t put it down on our list.
It is a gift that God wants us to use,
and not save for special occasions.
It is a gift that never wears out, never goes out of style,
and is appropriate for men and women, young and old,
right-handed, or left-handed: a gift for everyone.

It is a gift God gives us because of his love for us;
And with a gift like that, an extraordinary Christmas present
given us every day of the year, without any thought about whether
we merit the gift, whether we’ve earned it, whether we deserve it,
Gulley and Mulholland ask the question,
why aren’t we striving to use our gift to live grace-filled lives?
A grace-filled life, according to the authors,
is one that is firmly grounded in Jesus’ two great commandments:
Loving God with all our heart, our strength, and our soul,
and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Most of us do a pretty good job loving God with all our hearts;
where we tend to leave grace behind is when it comes to loving
our neighbors as ourselves.
Even in the church, we can be judgmental, critical,
hostile; we can even be rude, selfish, and spiteful.
Gulley and Mulholland see an unfortunate growth in what they call
toxic theology, especially among the more fundamentalist,
those who believe that they have been saved
but are convinced that those who don’t walk the same path
do not live in a state of grace.

But what does Jesus teach us?
Orthodoxy? Adherence to doctrine?
No, he sees those as problems rather than solutions.
He tells us again and again not to judge. not to condemn,
not to criticize.
He reminds us that every time we point out the speck
in another’s eye, we are overlooking the log in our own eye.
Our Lord teaches us: “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, …for it is out of the abundance of the heart
that the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

In that teaching is the formula for grace:
a good person, having been given grace by God in the person of Jesus Christ,
takes that grace out into the world,
as a loving disciple, taking mercy, and justice,
goodness and kindness
taking the light of life and love we’ve been given
in the birth of our Lord
into an ungracious, dark world.

The authors use the term, “practicing the presence of God.” (p. 103)
to describe how we can live most gracefully and graciously.
I think that is a wonderful term that we should use in all our work
our relationships in the family, our relationships in work,
our relationships here in church, and with strangers.

How can we more effectively practice the presence of God
in our lives?
What can you do to bring the presence of God,
the presence of Christ more completely
into your words, your actions,
everything you do and say?

A good place to begin practicing the presence of God
is for each of us to work to build a more gracious church.
Gulley and Mulholland describe a gracious church as
a welcoming church, an accepting church,
“… a safe place to ask questions, explore new ideas,
admit our struggles, and seek assistance.” p. 174
It is a place where we can come with our doubts, our uncertainties,
our frustrations, it is a place where we can know we can talk
freely and not feel criticized, condemned, or judged.
It is place where we can grow in grace and grow in faith.
In a gracious church, we don’t all necessarily think exactly the same way,
but we can talk and even more important, listen to one another,
as we seek to grow in faith and grace.

We are looking ahead to a new year for this church,
a year in which we can expect to continue to grow,
but we will continue to grow only if we are a gracious church,
filled with disciples living grace-filled lives.
Only if we actively practice the presence of God.

Our calling is to imitate Christ, to follow him.
to remember why he was born, why God sent him to walk among us.
He was born that we might never doubt of God’s love for us.
He was born that we might learn to follow him
and live our lives like him.
As Henry Van Dyke so eloquently put it,
“Dawn broke with the birth of our Lord and Savior.
The light is shining and we have work to do.”
And our work is to live gracious lives at work,
at home, in every place we go.
Our work is to make this as a more gracious church,
a church where people can feel God’s grace
the moment they walk through the door.

Grace is not judgment,
grace is not orthodoxy
grace is not adherence to ritual
grace is not focusing on another’s flaws and shortcomings.
grace is not even worrying about another’s salvation:
that’s God’s business, not ours.


Over the past four weeks of Advent,
we prayed “O Come O Come Emmanuel”:
and our prayers have been answered: God is with us,
for God sent us his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ, grace has come into the world,
and into each of our lives,
a gift given to every one of us.
Grace is something none of us can give,
it is available only from God.
But like any gift we received yesterday, we can use it,
or we let it languish and collect dust.

How will you respond to God’s gift of grace in your life?
What will you do to live a more grace-filled life?
What will you do to make this a more gracious world?
What will you do to make this a more gracious church?

How will you practice the presence of God with greater vigor
and more intent?
Some questions for you to ponder in your minds and hearts
as you relax today, and as you look ahead to the New Year,
a year I pray is filled with grace for each of us,
and for all of us.
Amen

Can It Ever Be Too Early?

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
December 12, 2004

Can It Ever Be Too Early?
Selected Texts

“And it came to pass in those days
that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed.
And all went to be taxed, everyone to his own city.
And Joseph also went down from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth,
into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, who was great with child.
And so it was that while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered,
and she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes
and laid him in a manger, for there was no room for them in the inn.”

Can it ever be too early for us to hear the stirring words
of the Christmas story yet again?
We eagerly await the story that is so familiar,
yet so thrilling each time we hear it.
The story of the baby born in Bethlehem.
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,
born to that faithful young girl in the dark of night.
The story that brought light to a world gone dark.

And yet we hold off on the Christmas story during the weeks of Advent.
We say that Advent is a time of waiting, a time of preparation,
a time for us to remember not only that Christ has come,
but that Christ will come again, come again in glory
and bring a new age with him.

Most worship books and articles I read this time of year tell clergy
to hold off on the Christmas carols,
hold off on the Christmas stories,
avoid doing what I just did, in reading part of the birth narrative.
The concern is that if we get to the story too soon, too early,
we will overlook the promise of Christ’s coming again.
After all, who can resist the story, a baby born in a stable,
asleep in a manger, no crib for a bed.

But I don’t think it is ever too early to think about the Christmas story.
Pat can tell you that I begin to play Christmas carols in early November
and I don’t wait until Thanksgiving before I start
to get out the Christmas decorations.
I’ve been known to shop for Christmas decorations
in the heat and humidity of August.

I don’t think there is a more joyful time of year than Christmas.
Yes, it can be a stressful time, a busy time;
But the emotion we should feel is joy:
Joy that Christ was born,
Joy that God sent us his Son,
Joy that God sent us his Son to give us life,
and that we would have no doubt of his mercy and love.

It is so fitting that the theme of the Third Sunday in Advent is Joy.
For we should set aside stress, worry, anxiety,
any feeling other than joy.
We should take all those other feelings,
especially the negative ones, and pack them in a box
and put them up in the attic, where hopefully
they will be forgotten.
Whatever we might be lacking in this earthly life,
we’ve got the love of God through Jesus Christ,
forgiveness, mercy, and the promise of life everlasting
in God’s kingdom.
There is nothing anyone can put under my Christmas tree that
can equal God’s gift.
Joy to the world, for the Lord is come!

Our house is decorated, like most houses,
with all kinds of Christmas stuff:
we’ve got sleighs and snowman, and caroler, elves, and angels
and yes there are Santas.
But the we also have one decoration in every room of our house,
including the kitchen: Nativities, a crèches,
the scene of the Christ born in the stable.
That is what Christmas is all about.
As we heard Luke write so poetically:
“and the time came for Mary to be delivered,
and she brought forth her firstborn son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
for there was no room for them in the inn.”

This is the story we celebrate, that reminds us to be of good cheer,
to be filled with joy.
Is it any wonder that so many poets and musicians
have tried to capture that special day in words and melodies?
The beautiful Wexford Carol sings out,
“Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind,
What our good God for us has done,
in sending his beloved Son,
With Mary holy we should pray,
to God with love this Christmas Day,
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
there was a blessed Messiah born.”

Close your eyes for a moment and picture it.
Joseph and Mary trekking through the countryside,
heading from Nazareth to the city of Bethlehem,
Mary: a girl really, probably no more than 15 years old,
unmarried, a baby in her womb.
Heading south, a journey that isn’t that far,
it’s only about 75 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem,
but she is 9 months pregnant,
and she is on the back of a donkey.
She was probably filled more with fear than with joy on that journey;
not knowing what lay before her.

Mary, so full of faith, the young girl who was simply going about her own business
on that day 9 months earlier.
Her marriage had been arranged, she knew the life that awaited her.
And then, as he has a tendency to do,
God upended Mary’s plans when he sent his angel Gabriel to her.
“Hail, you who are highly favored,
the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women
Fear not Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a son,
and his name shall be called Jesus.


He will great, and will be called the Son of the Most High
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Now had it been any of us that Gabriel had spoken to,
we would probably have been incredulous, unbelieving.
But not Mary: her response is at first simply quizzical.
And then she says those powerful, faith-filled words:
“Behold the handmaiden of the Lord;
be it unto me according to thy word.”

And so off to Bethlehem she went, Joseph walking, leading the donkey.
She may not have been filled with joy on that journey,
but composer John Rutter is quite sure the donkey carrying her
knew the special journey they were on.
In his delightful Donkey Carol, Rutter writes,
“Donkey skip for joy as you go on your way.
Alleluia, Jesus is born today.
Hark, the bells ring out with their message clear.
Rejoice and sing that Christ our Savior is here.”
We can almost picture the donkey with a twinkle in his eye,
probably not skipping, however
as he tried not to jostle his precious cargo.

And just as they arrive in that strange town in the dead of night,
Mary tells Joseph that that time has come.
And there she gives birth to her child: Jesus, the Son of God.
And our image of that birth is the distillation of nativity scenes
that we have in our homes, or that we have seen at churches
and there in the middle, the center of our attention,
is Jesus, the baby lying in the manger.
A manger, a bin, a box for hay for the animals;
that’s where Mary laid the Son of God, the one born to save the world,
the heir to the throne of the mighty King David,
the one about whom the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“he will be called the Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace:
his authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace.
He will establish and uphold his kingdom with justice
and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.”

But to Mary, he is just her son, her newborn, an infant,
who looks to her for warmth, and food and love.
The baby asleep on the hay.
Some of the most beautiful words to be found outside the Bible
are lyrics written as lullabys, gentle songs of love and comfort
as Mary lulls her newborn son to sleep.
“Mary rocks her son so dear, holds him near,
sweetly sings with voice so clear,
bright angels tend you,
Heav’nly blessings God shall send you,
Sleep now Jesus, do not cry, lullaby, lullaby”

But even as the scene is serene and peaceful in the stable,
Luke tells us that there are veritable fireworks
going off on a hillside not far from there.
For “in the same country there were shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them,
and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, ‘Be not afraid, for behold
I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people,
for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior
who is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you: you will find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’
And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace and goodwill to all men’.”
And the shepherds hurried into the city,
their hearts filled with joy, and they found
Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.
And they marveled, even as they worshiped the little child.

And amazingly, that’s the end of Luke’s story
We have to turn to Matthew to find the story of the wise men.
Luke tells us of shepherds, but no wise men;
Matthew tells us of wise men, but no shepherds.
Matthew says nothing about taxes, censuses, journeys to Bethlehem
inns, or mangers. He simply tells us that Jesus was born
and then he goes right into the story of the wise men:
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of King Herod,
behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.
saying, ‘Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
For we have seen his star in the east,
and are come to worship him.”

And the wise men followed the star as it guided them to Bethlehem
And when the star stopped, and “stood over where the young child was,
they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”
There is no mention of a manger or a stable, or cattle softly lowing.
No, Matthew tells us that the wise men entered a house
and they saw Mary with her young child,
and they immediately fell to their knees
and the worshiped the child and presented him with gifts:
gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And as quickly as they came to the house, they departed
back to their own country, foreign lands off to the east.

Can it ever be too early to hear the story,
Can it ever be too early to sing the songs?
Can it ever be too early to celebrate Christmas?
It is never too early to tell the story of the one who was born for us.
The one who gives us life.
This is a story we should retell every day!

As you focus on the story of the Christ child born in the manger,
you might be surprised by how quickly the commercialism, the crowds,
the cacophony, the confusion all fall by the wayside
You might be surprised by the overwhelming feelings of peace,
contentment, and, yes even joy that fills you.
The poet Christina Rosetti, who wrote the words of the hymn
“In the Bleak Mid-Winter”,
wrote a poem about Christmas that sums up the season.
“Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
star and angels gave a sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, love divine.
Worship we our Jesus,
but wherewith for sacred sign.
Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine.
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea, and gift, and sign.”

When the angel came to the shepherds on the chilly hillside
his words were simple, universal, and timeless:
“I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people,
for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior
who is Christ the Lord.
Tidings of great joy,
for all people
for unto you – unto you and me,
is born this day in the City of David a Savior
who is Christ the Lord.
How can it ever be too early to tell this story.
Glory to God in the highest!
AMEN

Who Invited Him?

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
December 5, 2004

Who Invited Him?
Mark 1:1-8
Isaiah 42:1-9

We are in the room called December,
the room filled with food, and family and fun.
The room filled with presents, and people, and parties.
The room filled with brightness, joy, and laughter.
It is also a room filled with stress, exhaustion,
disappointment and discouragement.
It is a room filled with emotions that run from the high to the low.
It is the room we struggle to enter
as much as we struggle to stay out of it.

But here we are, into it, our Advent calendars counting down the days
as we busy ourselves with lists, lists, and more lists:
lists of presents to buy;
lists of decorations to get and put up inside and out;
lists of food and drinks to go with lists of guests who will visit;
lists of people to send cards to;
lists of people not to send to cards to
because they didn’t send cards to you last year.

With all this, is it any wonder that we pay no attention to the corners of the room,
the corners we talked about last week?
The corner off to the left,
where we find the father, the mother
and that radiant baby,
And the other corner, over to the right, with the ordinary looking young man,
the present Jesus, the Jesus who is part of our life.
even as he waits to come again in glory.
It is his birthday we celebrate;
his very spirit should infuse our every word
and our every deed throughout the Season.
But both these corners sit in the gauzy dimness,
overshadowed by all the other commotion and excitement that fills the room.

If it was hard last week for us to turn our attention
to either of those corners,
it is even more difficult this week.
At least last week we could pretend that the season hadn’t quite arrived.
But now the stores are decorated, the carols are played nonstop,
“The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”
have already been shown on television.

It is so much easier simply to give in to the season,
give in to the lights and the tinsel and the commercialism,
give in and give up and sing Rudolph one more time.
But there is a person in the room who won’t let us.
A person who is not in the corner.
A person who has inserted himself right in the middle of the festivities.
His voice fills the room; it seems to come from every corner.
It isn’t the voice of God,
No, this is a shrill voice, an insistent voice.
This voice is more like fingernails on a chalkboard,
more like heavy metal music blasting from a boombox at 4:00 am.

This voice rails at us, saying
“Don’t think just because you go to church on Sunday,
you’ve got it made.”.
“Brood of vipers” he spits at us.
“Bear fruit worthy of repentance” he shouts,
His voice doesn’t sound like that of a man of God;
his tone is more like that of a football coach
yelling at his players who are behind by two touchdowns
with only three minutes left on the clock,
in a game they were expected to win,

John the Baptizer;
not John the Baptist – that makes him sound denominational;
no, John the Baptizer, as Mark rightly refers to him.
He makes his appearance each year on this Second Sunday of Advent.
The prophet born to be the herald,
to proclaim the coming of the Lord,
to prepare us for our Lord and our Savior.

John’s father, the priest Zechariah, tells his newborn son what awaits him,
what his job will be:
“You will go before the Lord to prepare his ways
and you will give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:76-78)

And that is just what John does.
But John isn’t like the religious leaders of his time.
He doesn’t follow the path of his father.
He doesn’t spend time in the temple learning the laws;
He isn’t called rabbi, he doesn’t wear an elaborate ephod;
he never take his turn standing behind the great altar;
all as his father did.

No, he is sent off into the wilderness and is prepared for his ministry
by God out in the desert.
In the same place that God created his people from the rabble
he freed from bondage in Egypt,
in the same place those people became the nation of Israel,
in the same place that God covenanted with our ancestors in faith,
and said to them,
“I will be your God and you will be my people…:”
John became the herald,
the prophet born to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy,
born to tell the world, “Make way, Make ready”.

And every Advent, he appears in the room called December,
wild-eyed, electric, insistent, unrelenting, demanding.
His very appearance causing anyone with a bit of sense
to wonder,….who invited him?

And the answer is, of course, God.
God invited him in, for God sent him.
Sent him as the herald, to proclaim the coming of the Lord.
Sent him in the same way God sent the herald angels
some thirty years earlier to announce the birth of the Christ child
to the shepherds tending their flocks in the field.

John is saying, “Prepare, prepare for the future,
the future that belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The future that is ours in our lives as disciples of Christ,
faithful disciples.
The future that began with Christ’s birth
the future that will be complete when Christ comes again in glory.

That’s why John is so insistent on our seeking repentance.
He doesn’t want us to miss out on the future.
He knows what we heard Peter say last week in his letter,
that God doesn’t want to lose even a single one of his children.

And so John comes preaching hellfire and brimstone:
“Repent, repent, prepare yourself and repent.”
He doesn’t want us lost like chaff blown away in the wind.
But even with John’s theatrics, what he says isn’t that hard.
In Luke’s version of John’s story, he makes it almost sound easy:
Share what you have; don’t lie,
don’t steal don’t cheat;
Follow God’s laws and commandments.
Seek peace, seek justice for all, especially the poor the sick,
and the outcasts.
Seek righteousness in your own life,
so you will be ready when the Lord comes,
comes to bring justice and mercy and righteousness to all the nations.

Can you hear the voice of the one called by God to prepare us
for the coming of the Lord?
He is there, right there in the middle of the din,
in the middle of each of our rooms called December.
He is there louder than any gathering,
louder than any party,
insistent, unrelenting,
wanting us to be prepared, prepared for the
one who is coming, the one greater than he.
prepared for the coming of our Lord and King.

Amen