December 18, 2011
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
What’s the craziest thing you have ever done for love? We all have heard or seen some silly or romantic stories of elaborate marriage proposals captured in the news from time to time. At AT&T Park, you may have seen a marriage proposal flashed across the jumbotron at a baseball game. We hear of couples proposing with throngs of New Year revelries in New York Times Square. One gal was tired of waiting for her turtle-paced boyfriend to pop the question, baked a cake with an engagement ring on top. I took Joy out some 40 years ago to an ice cream parlor named, Bailey’s in Boston to propose with her diamond ring. One of you proposed at the Empire State Building because you liked Sleepless in Seattle. Many of you proposed at the Magic Kingdom because it’s still the happiest place on earth.
Each of these people took a risk; these gestures could have gone dramatically wrong. The answer could have been a no. Instead, these unique ideas had the desired effect—the answer was yes which reminds us, romantics that those who daringly express our love can have wonderfully satisfying results.
It’s not just the dramatic marriage proposals that we see a display of devotion. Love can be seen in our daily routines that show sacrifice and determination. Have you after a long day of out-of-town business meetings, driven all night to make it home to your first grader’s school play? Have you stayed up late at night waiting for your college student to come home for Christmas break? What greater love have we seen than for Cheryl Ng to donate one of her kidneys to her father, Fred Hee after they discovered that they were a good match? This is love.
What would you do for the one you love? What wouldn’t you do for the one you love? There comes a time when it’s not enough to simply declare love; words can seem empty without convincing actions to back them up. Those initial words of fidelity at the engagement still require a life-long commitment of deeds and actions that demonstrate that love is for real.
In the love songs that we sing, it’s a celebration of tangible, visible devotion on display for all to see. Love is the thousand yellow ribbons on the old oak tree. It’s Marvin Gaye vowing that there’s no mountain too high, no river too wide or any valley too low to keep him away from his beloved. It’s like the carol, “Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love divine; Love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign.” This is what love looks like.
On this fourth Sunday of Advent, the psalmist sings God’s love song for the world to hear as God’s unbreakable covenant is proclaimed. God’s steadfast love will be dramatically poured out on God’s beloved. Psalm 89 is filled with action verbs, reflecting God in motion, unstoppable because the power of his love. God will set a crown, anoint with oil, always remain and strengthen. For sure there will be obstacles to love, but God is prepared. God will not allow the enemy to outwit or humble the beloved. Any foes will be crushed and haters will be struck down.
This not a fairy tale or a Hollywood movie or some kind of unrealistic love; this is a relationship that will be tested by daunting obstacles but which will continue because of the faithfulness of God.
In God’s covenant, God promises “my faithfulness and steadfast love.” The beloved will respond to this lasting relationship with the heartfelt cry, “You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation! (v. 26). This is what God would do for love—God enters into this relationship wholeheartedly and without reservation. God declares unending love with no abandonment.
Christmas Love
The kind of love that God offers at Christmas demands courage. As we celebrate Advent and Christmas in December, we’re fully aware of where God’s love is leading us in April. The love that begins in the softly lit starlight manger will eventually lead to the harsh noonday sun reflecting on the Cross. God knows this, of course, but does not shy away from the pain that is coming. God’s extravagant love is demonstrated in God’s willingness to give sacrificially. God gives the most precious gift, God’s Son, knowing that this offering will not be appreciated, honored, or at times, even recognized.
It’s like this story that Dear Abby recorded. A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. It was a custom in their affluent community for parents to give their graduating children a new car, and the boy and his dad had spent weeks visiting one dealership after another. The week before graduation they found the perfect car. The boy was certain it would be in the driveway on graduation night.
On the eve of his graduation, however, his father handed him a small package wrapped in colorful paper. The father said the package contained the most valuable gift the father could think of. It was a Bible! The boy was so angry he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house. He and his father never saw each other again.
Several years later the news of the father’s death finally brought the son home again. Following the funeral, he sat alone one evening, going through his father’s possessions that he was to inherit when he came across the Bible his dad had given him. Overwhelmed by grief, he brushed away the dust and cracked it open for the first time. When he did, a cashier’s check dated the day of his high school graduation fell on his lap—in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together. The gift had been there all along…but he had turned it away.
Would you recognize God’s costly gift of love if he gave it to you?
The price is great, almost beyond measure. The gift of Christmas is that God looks at the cost without blinking. God does indeed care enough to send the very best. The best is the gift of Christ; this bundle of love wrapped in cloths hastily assembled in the lowliest birth places. God’s gift of love is filled with action words: that makes the angels sing, the shepherd run to attention, the magi travel to worship and adore, and it’s the gift that continues to bless us even today.
God’s love is an “always” love. The psalmist assures us that God is steadfast in devotion and faithfulness. God’s love covenant is like that of a marriage vow; the divine promise is to be faithful until parted by death and even beyond. This is not a conditional love. It is not a careful cautious love. There is no prenuptial agreement here. This is a dive-in, take- no-prisoners, head-over-heels, no-holds-barred kind of love. God is willing to give Jesus the beloved on behalf of this unappreciated world. This is what God would do for love—God will offer that which is most precious.
Have you experienced a time when you were talking with a child and she would take everything quite literally? If you promised something and it so happened that circumstances dictated that it should be done another way, she would become confused, often upset, and sometimes angry that things didn’t happen exactly as it was supposed?
Psychologists would call this social development for infants to one year is the stage of trust versus distrust. It is during this stage that the foundation for a way of being in the world is laid. When a child cries and a parent comes to satisfy the child’s discomfort, trust is established. However, if the state of discomfort was prolonged and/or the need was not met, the child learned that those who were his/her caregivers were not always reliable and mistrust often followed.
Today the psalmist praising God with steadfast and enduring love is telling us that God’s love is always reliable and always true. But there will be times when we are troubled and distressed like the psalmist when he said, “How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is—for what vanity you have created all mortals! Who can live and never see death? Who can escape the power of She ol? (89:46-48).
Yet in this Advent season, we believe that what seems to be impossible is possible. We have faith that even in our lowest moments of doubt and despair, God remains the one who is steadfast and true to God’s promises. We can always trust God.
Always Love
I don’t know this personally but I have been told that when a new mother gives birth to a baby, the mother and baby may not have that sense of bonding right away even if the baby has been inside this mother for 9 months. But when all parents across the globe catch that first glimpse of their newborn child, that instant and unbreakable bond is formed. The mother vows, “I will always be there for you.” It is fierceness like that of a tigress or a mother bear—I will fight for you, if necessary. I will defend you with my blood, with my life and with all of my spirit. This is Christmas always love.
Although this love will seek to protect and promises never abandon, it does not and cannot promise an absence of danger, loss or stress. There will be foes, enemies and wicked ones who want to do us harm. But God promises that the love of God will never end; the evil that exists cannot prevail. It’s not a gilded path free of pain or sorrow, but rather the accompaniment of faithfulness along a life’s journey. It’s a promise of a love that is steadfast, strong and true. We can count on this promise, no matter what happens.
As cute and fanciful as the imaginative marriage proposals might be, it is this mature, lasting love that every couple really needs. Even if they’re unaware of it at the blissful beginning, couples will need a love that is tough, enduring and prepared to meet obstacles head on. They need a love that offers the armor and protection that is needed to see them through the ups and downs that await them down the road.
That love arrives in a deceptively simple package, laid in a manger, approachable by all who wish to encounter him. This gift and promise of God is for everyone. One could mistakenly believe that Advent is about a squishy adorable baby who mysteriously appears annually at this time of the year. Yet this child who is born to us, this Son who is given is the Savior of the world. God’s love for us is filled with action verbs. This baby is God’s steadfast love that is an “always” love.
While we may unfortunately experience human love that might fade over time, God’s love does not fade, weaken or diminish. It’s offered to us fresh and new every day. While we might wonder if after so many years of marriage whether that initial love is still there, God’s love is an “always” love that is always there.
What are we asked to do for this love? Simply say, “yes” to God who is always willing to give us more.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, show us this perfect and always love that can only come from you in the birth, life, death, and the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. You have never abandoned us, your creation; yet there have been many times that we have stopped trusting in you. Forgive us when we think that we can make it on our own. When you have shown us that you love us by taking actions in the birth of Jesus, we can only give you praise and thanksgiving and our commitment to show the love that you have blessed us with by showing love to others in this world. We pray that Christmas love will be with us everyday. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.