First Sunday after Christmas

December 30, 2007

Delivered by Rev. Ray Anderson

John’s gospel says Jesus is grace and truth.  “He lived among us and  we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the 

Father, full of grace and truth.”  I don’t have to talk about truth,  because it’s a funny thing about the truth-when you hear it, you know 

it!  Grace, on the other hand, isn’t quite as clear, somewhat fuzzy.

 

To me grace is God’s power.  Sometimes we experience this power in  our lives but don’t recognize it comes from God.

 

The times we experience God’s grace/power are when we find we can do  what we thought was impossible.  I don’t necessarily mean crisis 

situations where people do astounding things: the mother who lifts a  car off her child’s leg; the person who dives into raging rapids to 

save someone from drowning--although I’m sure God’s grace is involved  there too.  I mean situations when you find yourself being more 

patient than you imagined you could be; or more kind than you ever  have in the past; or more forgiving than you usually are; or more 

loving of people whom you thought to be unlovable.  These are times when, surprisingly, God’s power touches us, making us more human, more in harmony with our true being, the way God hopes us to be.

 

God’s grace/power is a strange thing.  It has nothing to do with what you and I usually see as power.  In our secular world power is things 

like political influence, social status, educational level,  professional standing, having control over another person’s life, a 

large salary, a good legal defense team, celebrity stature, civil  authority, military might, and even in sports: steroid derived 

muscles to break home run records-all real tangible things that lead  to success; a success, of course, that has its costs and its drawbacks.

 

God’s power is not in those things. It’s found instead in the oddest of places.  God’s power is found in places the world despises: places 

of weakness.  A baby in a crib is weak, defenseless, with no power, completely helpless; except for her smile, her giggle, and the 

¹twinkle in her eye that causes such profound love in her mother and father that they can do nothing but give her everything she needs.  

God’s power is found in acts the world deems foolish: a mother in an arid hovel anywhere in the 3rd world who gives her starving child the 

allotment of bread meant for her.  God’s power is found in acts the world says are socially embarrassing: the high school student who 

courageously befriends another student being bullied, teased, or  shunned.  It’s found in acts the world deems self-demeaning and, 

worst of all, non-assertive: the quiet humility that takes pleasure  not in trumpeting one’s own skill; but in the success of others. The 

world says, “Power comes from watching out for yourself. Take care of number 1.”  God’s power/grace is in self-sacrifice that says, “You 

first, me last. You above, me below.”

 

You can bet that if the secular world demeans it, God’s grace/power are there to be found.

 

When we drive home from a day’s work and pull in safely to our driveway most of us simply get out of the car, go inside, and think 

nothing of the miracle that has just happened-we have again survived the traffic on Ct.’s roads.  We may watch the news and say again the 

world is going to hell, kiss the kids goodnight, get ready for bed and doze off, comfortable, not too worried about things, and go to 

work the next morning and so on and so on, completely unaware that  we’re swimming in a pool of God’s grace.

 

Might it be that God’s grace/power is always around us, available to us like the light switch on the wall immediately turning on needed 

light? Could we somehow turn the switch on more often, and keep it on longer ?  Could it be that God’s grace/power is what actually keeps 

this world together, in spite of its cracks and appearance of coming apart at the seams?

 

Should we not when things are going well, pause and thank the One who makes it so.  Can we not see in our everyday, humdrum, supposedly 

normal experiences, that God’s grace is with us, helping us to be better humans, knowing that with all our warts we are God’s greatest 

treasures.

 

Grace is like having God say to you, “Here is your life.  Both beautiful and terrible things will happen.  Don’t be afraid.  I am 

with you.  Nothing can separate us.  You can’t hide from me. I love you.”  Like all the Christmas gifts we opened last week, to receive 

grace we have to reach out, take it, and open it.  We have to reach out and turn the switch ON.

 

Like most packages these days, the gift of grace comes with a warning.  Unlike cigarettes it’s not hazardous to your health, but it 

does have a side effect: it will change your life.

 

There are times when all of us feel weak, incapable, vulnerable,  maybe terrified by a doctor’s diagnosis, perhaps stuck in a pattern 

of self-destructive behavior, a job loss, divorce, loss of a loved  one, or maybe you’re just at your wit’s end and have had it right up 

to here.  These are times when, because of our weakness, we’re susceptible to receiving God’s grace.  It’s around us, available.  

And when you see another person in such a weak plight, be aware: you  may be the unwitting yet planned instrument of God’s grace.

 

God’s grace doesn’t come to the strong, those in control, the  powerful.  It comes to the weak who know they need it.

 

So, where will you find and feel God’s grace/power today?  I suggest you look in the oddest of places.

 

In the name of our God who weakened and humbled himself by being born one of us.

 

AMEN.