DEC. 24, 2005 PASTOR SCOTT FULLER
IS 9:2-7; MIC 5:2-5a; LK 1:26-35, 38; LK 2:1-16;
Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we believe and in believing we obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
One quick look reveals a true miracle…for those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to believe. Granted, it happens so often and so universally that most of us are blinded by its here-we-go-again-ness, its everyday ordinary-ness, and we miss the miracle in…a baby’s birth.
Yet for those whose spirits are watchful, (and for the rest of us who get it every once in a while), one look at a newborn’s hands is all it takes: tiny and frail – caricatures of the real thing; seemingly disconnected from the child’s will and intent, yet still they are perfect in every respect…
Those of you who were here last week for the Sunday School Christmas program received a real blessing in many ways, but one in particular. The children sang and used their perfect little hands to sign the words to the song, “What Can I Give Him?” After listing the gifts they might have given to the Christ Child, the children signed (and sang), I will give my heart. I noticed that I was not the only one wiping my eyes after that song.
Children have a special gift for working their way into our hearts. A child’s visit to a retirement home is proof of the magic they have. Blank faces and far-away stares are transformed when elderly eyes fall on tiny tots.
Now, I don’t want to idolize kids – believe me, throughout their childhood our son and daughter proved their humanity and ours dozens of times each.
Yet still it’s true that they have an amazing ability to work on even the hardest of hearts. A prisoner had been jailed for a violent crime. A part-time chaplain started visiting him and the two men developed a relationship. One Christmas Eve, the chaplain, his wife and their new baby son paid a visit to this lonely convict. After an awkward introduction, the man asked the young mother, Can I hold your baby? With only a brief hesitation, she placed her baby in the care of this once violent man. The nod from her husband was enough to say, He’s in good hands.
Of course, Hollywood has capitalized on this theme as well. In the movie Con Air Nicholas Cage plays a former Army Ranger who was jailed for hurting some men with his bare hands. Having served his sentence, he jumps out of the frying pan into the fire when the control of his transport plane is seized by the other prisoners.
The plane lands at a little used airfield where everyone is set free, including the “Marietta Mangler” whom even the most violent criminals feared. He who had been shackled, hands and feet, and locked in his own little cage, was now free to wander through the nearby town.
Before long, the camera zooms in on a little girl playing out back, having a tea party with her dolls, stuffed animals, and, sure enough, her new found friend. Yet as the tension mounts and you fear that he’s going to do something terrible, the little girl starts to sing: He’s got the whole world in his hands…(four times). And next we see a close up shot of the Marietta Mangler with a confused but happy look on his face, singing along with the little girl: He’s got the whole world in his hands…
Now I’d like you to imagine another young family on the very first Christmas night: the hard travel; the search for a room; the decision, finally, to stay in a barn…the hands that ready straw for a bed, that clench into fists during the pangs of birth, that cut the cord, that clean the child, that hold the tiny newborn close…he is in good hands.
Next, think of that child’s hands as they made mud pies, threw rocks, washed dishes, helped in the shop and held the scrolls of God’s holy Law. Then picture those same hands: drawing in the dust when the crowd would throw stones; pulling a girl from her death bed back into life; touching the sick; healing the blind and hugging the children… breaking bread and pouring wine to feed the souls of his friends…they are in good hands.
Finally, imagine those hands held to the cross with nails as he cried out to God at the very end, Into your hands I commend my spirit…he is in good hands, the same hands that are good for us.
Professor James Limburg, who taught at Luther seminary, tells about one of their family vacations somewhere in the mountains. He and his soon-to-be-a-teenager son decided one day to explore a well-traveled path that went off into the trees. After a good hike their trail suddenly disappeared into a tunnel that burrowed into the side of a hill… It was dark in there.
Common sense said that it was probably due to a bend in the tunnel and that soon they’d be able to find their way by the light from the other end. Shall we try it out? he asked his son, who gave his O.K. with a nod of his head…and side by side into the tunnel they went.
As the darkness folded in around them, Jim said that he suddenly felt his son’s hand reach out and grasp his…and so they walked, hand in hand, until, sure enough, around a bend, they could see the light from the other end. And as the light overcame the darkness, Jim’s son let go and out they walked into the afternoon sun. He knew that he was in good hands.
From the miracle of any baby’s birth to the miracle of a certain baby’s birth, you and I are constantly reminded that we are in good hands, the good hands of a good God who desires that all people have a good life. Tonight we give thanks for the gifts we’ve been given, the gifts we’re able to give, and the good hands that keep and guide us as we follow the light through the darkness of life. Amen.