Well, Christmas is winding down in the world. We have seen sales starting, and shops trying to sell off the last Christmas puddings. It is all coming to the end, people are getting excited about the New Year whilst knowing that normality is basically around the corner.
I have some statistics about being normal.
21% of people don't make their bed daily. 5% never do.
58.4% of people have called into work sick when they weren't. 53% of women will not leave the house without makeup on.
46.5% of men say they ALWAYS put the seat down after they've used the toilet, yet women claim to ALWAYS find it up.
71.6% of people eavesdrop.
16% of people have forgotten their own wedding anniversary. 28% of people have skinny-dipped. 14% with the opposite sex.
Only 4% asked the parents' approval for their bride's hand. 1 in 5 men proposed on his knees.
6% propose over the phone, [but that includes only those who were accepted over the phone, not those who were hung up on]
45% of people consistently follow the speed limit.
4 out of 5 sing in the car.
If this is normality, I expect you are all thinking to at least half of these if not all I have not done that. There is probably a reason why you might be thinking that. It is because we are not all that normal. Don’t be offended I am going to explain this comment !
Just by being here this evening we are not normal - most people are not spending their Sunday evening in Church, and in the Church normality is always a little different anyway !
In many ways in the Church we have a split personality. This probably sounds a little concerning.I am referring to the fact that we were meant to be sombre during advent amidst preparations for Christmas, and now as we continue to celebrate the birth of Christ in the reading this evening from Paul’s letter to the Phillipians (2:1-11) we are remembering His death ! Now to the average person outside the Church this would seem quite strange to think of someone’s death as soon as they have been born. The Church is not normal!!
And in the reading we have heard some things that maybe don’t seem quite normal. We have been remembering through Christmas the birth of the greatest King who has ever lived and we hear this evening that this greatness is in the fact that Jesus became as nothing for us. That is a King who would be prepared to die for His people and to be completely honest, humiliate Himself.
Now if that is normal, I will get my wig back from Christmas Eve and eat it ! The point is that in this reading, we learn about the ways that Jesus was, the ways we should be and also the ways in which we can then be a community of believers who love both Jesus and each other. Each of these things would be considered as not being the norm.
With Jesus in this reading we hear about the fact that Jesus emptied Himself of all His majesty and became human. As a human He lived amongst us, yes, but He also died for us that we could be saved. Now, I don’t know about you but this seems really strange. A King, God, who would be one of us, die for us and in the process actually die a very humiliating death. There is here the sense of obedience. Jesus in His obedience as God the Son dies and is then glorified and worshipped as King.
The humility and obedience of Jesus is one way in which things do not seem quite normal. The beginning of the reading from Philippians shows the ways in which we as followers of Jesus are not normal. I do not want to offend any of you with that comment ! The point is that in the reading the writer Paul is showing the readers that actually if they worship Jesus, and if they all believe that Jesus has come among us and died and been resurrected then this affects the way that they live.
A list is given of all the things that would make people able to be more like Jesus, to love one another, not to be conceited or selfish, to care for one another above ourselves and then the crunch point to being like Jesus is to be humble.
I have mentioned this before, but I think it is worth hearing again. Winston Churchill was once asked, "Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" "It's quite flattering," replied Sir Winston. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
This is one example of humility. Another comes from the great missionary Hudson Taylor, who was once asked to speak at a large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as "our illustrious guest." Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, "Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master."
That is real humility, I think we can have false humility at times, but this would not make us like Christ. The Christ who would become as nothing for us.
True humility leads to accepting one another and caring for one another, this is a way in which we as a community of believers would be seen to be against the norm. People care for one another outside the Church, but sadly inside the Church at times we have a tendency to not care enough, or worse than that to see ourselves and our opinions as more important than each others views.
Last year was an uncomfortable year for the Anglican Communion as people fought amongst themselves over issues of faith. The problem was that as often as one bishop insulted another, a story about the good things being done for Jesus did not make the papers. As many times as people disagreed over homosexuality and female bishops, that many times people were being turned against the gospel.
As we move towards 2008 we need to put into practice in our lives the points of what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. The points of humiltity, listening to one another and caring for one another. We need to join together in ensuring that in our community of the Church, and in our local community that the name that is glorified is not our own but that of Jesus. That it is Jesus we worship and want to encourage others to worship. This is the truth of this reading.
I hope and pray that this year, and every other year, the Church will not be normal; That we will not be normal, because we will be trying to be more like Jesus, to be truly humble and to be completely honouring His name in all we do and say.
May we know and glorify Jesus, the King who became nothing for us, this day and always. AMEN.
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