Sin Links You to Christmas

2 Samuel 12:1-13

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ”

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.”

I want you to think up your favorite Christmas specials or movies. OK. Let’s see how many we can list off real quick. Now: How many of those specials specifically mention Jesus? Why is that? If Christmas is Jesus’s birthday, why do so many Christmas specials ignore him? Who shows up more often? Santa Claus Why is that?

Membership Perk

“We’re starting a new member perk today,” I told the assembled congregation after worship today. “We usually offer Communion on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, but if you’re a member of the congregation and you desire the Sacrament more often, I’ll be offering that in my office about five minutes after worship. This is a member perk; if you’re interested in getting this perk and you’re not a member, talk to me. I’d be happy to share!”

A few weeks ago I confirmed a young man who desired the Sacrament more often. Rather than simply giving him private Communion on the “off weeks,” I decided to open it up to the congregation. Who knew who might desire the Sacrament more often?

When I got to my office, four people were waiting for me. Perfect! That’s how many little glasses were in my private Communion kit.

The Boy Sings

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In my experience, twelve-year-old boys don’t sing a lot. At least, not in places where their parents might hear them.

My son is pretty cool. He still gets excited about things. He’s not afraid to be silly in public with me. He is getting that whole eye-rolling thing down pretty well, though.

When I drop him off for school in the mornings, I’ll often say, “I love you. Jesus loves you more.”

The other day he answered, “Yeah, that’s true.”

Yesterday was Cookie Day. The furnace is out in the church basement (where the kitchen is), so fourteen of us packed into the kitchen in my home and baked for about five hours. It was wonderful chaos as people ranging in age from fifteen months to about ninety laughed together and mixed dough and went back and forth to the oven.

The dog also helped by eating anything that fell to the floor. She was very considerate.

She may have also snuck a few cookies.

Beyond Redemption

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I should have said something.

I want to share this story with you, because I think it’s as important to share our failures as it is to share our successes. See, I know how important evangelism is. I know how vital it is to share Jesus. It’s something I desire to do so much.

I also just plain suck at it a lot of the time.