Tuesday, December 22, 2015

JOY TO THE WORLD

Starting on my other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS on Nov 1...a 3 day series on HOW TO LESSEN ANXIETY.

Click on link below to go to One A Day blog

 
A different sermon is begun on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. 

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       The sermons found on this blog are selected sermons preached by Rev. Wyrick during a ministry of over 50 years.  This syndicated columnist/minister thanks you for visiting.

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Luke 2:8-11

And there were shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord.

 

       There were times during past hurricanes here in South Florida when our homes became darkened caves.  And before generators could be started or there was no generator to start, we all lived with only the light of flashlights or some other battery powered source. 

       They were a feeble kind of light as compared with what normally flooded through our windows in daytime or, supplied by the electric company, lighting up our nights.

        After all since it seemed one hurricane might well follow another a lot of us left up our plywood or aluminum shutters. 

       And all this got me to thinking that so it is when we block out the light of Christ or let it shine into our lives. 

       There is no other light quite so bright, quite so warming and comforting and illuminating.  There just isn’t.

       Therefore, if you have found that light of Christ, know what that light means, may I suggest that on your mantle at home, or wherever is appropriate to your line of work, that you place a sign that reads “Christmas is spoken here.”  

       It shouldn’t be something you put up just before Christmas and then right after Christmas take down.  

       It is a sign you can and perhaps should leave up all year round, for you to see and others to see…and all of you to be reminded to practice the art of speaking Christmas.  For…

       Once there was a shining Christmas tree

       Standing out where all could see.

       Lights so bright that all would say

       “I do not want to walk away.”

       It was then one bulb was heard to say,

       “I’m tired of burning night and day.

       Besides I am so very, very small,

       I won’t be missed, no, not at all.”

       Then a little child reached up and touched the light,

       And smiled and shouted “Oh, that’s bright.

       Of all the lights upon the tree,

       This one looks the very best to me.”

       “Oh my goodness,” thought the little light,

       I almost dimmed myself right out of sight.

       I really thought no one would care,

       If I failed to shine and failed to share.”

       Then all at once a great brilliance came,

       For every light had felt the same.

       Ah, our Gospel, like this Christmas tree,

       Is lit by the likes of you and me.

       We each have space that each must fill

       With love and kindness and God’s good will.

       So let us keep alive with light

       With testimonies burning bright.

       For our Gospel is a living tree

       That lights the way to eternity.

(Anonymous, considerable rewrite)

       This Christmas time I give to each of you a few gifts that are really only pin pricks of light as against the greater light of Christ, and I offer them just to let you know that I care about you. 

       I promise to laugh at your jokes and not require you to laugh at mine.

       I offer you a listening ear.

       I offer the gift of trying to get inside your head when I disagree with you.

       I promise to seek to see the best in you and share these findings with others as often as I can.

I give you the gift of not asking you to be perfect in everything you say to me or fail to say to me, or what you do or leave undone.

I promise to pray for you by name and I promise to do it often.

And just perhaps, you might want to consider giving these gifts to others.

The snow has been falling for a long time, and now reaching a depth of 64 feet, it has become a glacier.  

Slowly moving across the land, it is impacting on everything before its path. 

So it is with your faith.  Like soft falling snow, each prayer you pray, each Biblical phrase you read and remember, each noble thought you translate into a deed…like the building of a glacier, you are moving toward that moment when you become a might. 

A mighty might that makes an impact by what you have become and where you are headed.

The scientist Robert Oppenheimer put it so very well when he said, “The best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person.” 

Did you know that the word “echo” comes from the story of a nymph named Echo.  In this Greek mythology it is her curse that she can only repeat the last word she has heard?  Well, as always, I got to thinking and decided to reverse the curse a bit…just to make a point.  Suppose that for the rest of your life - we’ll leave eternity out of this for now - suppose that for the rest of your life you had to repeat the last sentence you spoke this morning.  No editing.

 Just over and over and over again the same sentence. 

The last statement you made that at that moment defined who you were. 

Suppose you had known just before you spoke it that you would have to keep repeating it over and over again. 

Would you have edited it some, or eliminated it and gone back several sentences? 

It is Christmas day and I ask you to consider giving the world…giving yourself…the gift of more and more sentences that could bear repeating…over and over and over again.

In our backyard, just north of our fence are two tall palm trees with a great big red ribbon tied around the both of them, still in their nursery containers waiting to be planted. 

They will fill in a space left empty by the hurricanes that destroyed the illusion that I live in a forest. 

I love trees and we have a lot of them. And I definitely love these new additions, but the reason I bring it up and share with you now is not just because they are a gift given to me by three of my children, but because as trees they are growing thing. 

And as I hope and pray my trees will grow tall and full and in the right direction, so do I hope and pray that we all will do the same.  We are growing things; we of body, mind and soul, and as growing things if we healthily grow in the right direction there is more of heaven in us, and if not, there is more of hell.

Christmas ...The celebration of a timeless event measured in hours and minutes and seconds, and how much love has already been spread around. 

Look around you and take in the faces of family and friends and visitors and right now say a brief prayer for them. 

Give them the gift of lifting them up before the throne of grace. 

Think of it, you and I, all of us right now, all together praying for each other.  Rekindling each others spirits. 

Can you think of a better Christmas gift? 

She was such a sweet little girl but she was lost. 

Somewhere out in those fields and forest, acre after acre around her, she was lost and all day long they searched for her, but never found her. 

And the second day came, and it was very cold and hope was receding and by the end of that harrowing day they still had not found her.

 On the third day, someone suggested they all hold hands and walk as one body, loving, caring, united body and on the third day they found her.      She was dead, as by now you may well have imagined, for the temperature had dropped below zero. 

And when they found her the mother could only repeat over and over again, “Why didn’t we join hands sooner.”

Reach out to the person next to you, or in front of you or behind, and hold hands.  A moment of unity as against so many times a pushing away.

This is our gift each to the other - a very brief time of unity.

       And as we are holding hands, we are also heart to heart.  I give this to you; my love, my prayers, my concern.  Give the same back to me. 

And may we do it more often even when we are miles apart.

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       Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS


       Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

       Spring (May 2012)

       Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

       Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

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OTHER BOOKS BY REV. WYRICK

Poor Richard's Almanack for the 20th Century

Sixty Plus and Not Holding

Boundaries Unlimited

I Am

The ABC"s of Parenting and Grandparenting

Letters to America


     

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