Larry Eckart
Well-known member
Guys,
Not duck related but I offer my Christmas Eve message for you to ignore or read if you choose and are disposed toward or curious about the Christian faith. This is my 32 year as a Lutheran pastor. 26 of those years were spent in Michigan and these last 6 down here in South Carolina.
Next week I am going duck hunting in North Carolina for two days and, God willing, will give a report upon my return.
Merry Christmas all!
Larry Eckart, Pastor
Island Lutheran Church
Hilton Head, SC
Christmas Strong!
My dear friends in Christ, God’s blessings to you this Christmas Eve. My text is Luke 2: 16, "They found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger". My subject: Christmas Strong!
At first glance there is nothing strong about the scene discovered by the shepherds. The couple was young; the couple was poor. The town was small, the family’s room unappealing. The baby was just that: a baby. Dependent. Small. Fragile. Weak.
Yet from this scene, from this child would come a strength that is stronger than any strength, a hope that is stronger than any hope, and a peace that is greater than any other peace.
Christmas Strong. We’ve seen this kind of name before. In October we heard of Hilton Head Strong. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy we heard of Jersey Strong. After the Boston Marathon bombing the name was actually born as “Boston Strong.”
That name has an interesting history. Shortly after the two bombs exploded on April 15, 2013 near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two college students from Emerson College (in Boston) were sitting together stunned. “We have to do something,” they said to each other.
Within two hours of the blast they came up with the name “Boston Strong” and the idea to make tee shirts and donate the proceeds to a relief fund. The idea was, “to give people something to hold on to and know they are appreciated.” (Boston magazine, April 17, 2016)
They considered Trademarking the idea but decided against it. They were not interested in making money off the tragedy.
Others were not so noble. Within a few days after the bombing, two men in Boston and one man in Florida heard the phrase, saw $$ rolling up before their eyes and applied separately for Trademarks to use the name “Boston Strong” to market their own products.
Two days. It only took two days for a noble idea to be commercialized and hijacked for human profit. “Boston Strong” is now the name of a beer and two different brands of coffee. How like the human race to take a good thing and turn it into nothing more than money.
This was core idea behind the two naive but well-intentioned college students: “Boston Strong refers to our city’s resilience and spirit that carries us forward in good times and bad.”
Question: Is that all Christmas is for you? Is Christmas merely the human resilience and spirit that carries us forward in good times and bad? What you see and hear tonight is not about human resilience! What you see here tonight, namely, trees, lights, candles, great songs, bright colors, crowded pews and happy faces are not the core of Christmas Strong. All the pageantry reflects Christmas Strong. But all the pageantry at church and decorations in your home are not the core of Christmas Strong.
Let me show you Christmas Strong.
This past week I visited Ray Behrmann, one of our shut-ins, a WWII vet who walked across Europe to help free a continent. Ray calls the other people at Brookdale Care Center, “the old people” even though he is 94. After I gave him communion Monday I asked him if any of his family would be coming down for Christmas. “No,” he said, “I will be spending it by myself.”
Pause. I know where your brain is going. “That’s so sad,” you are thinking. “A widowed man, a veteran is spending Christmas by himself. He will be sad and lonely.”
You would be wrong in that assessment.
I followed up with another question to Ray: “Ray, will you be lonely or comforted by spending Christmas by yourself?”
Said Ray, “O not sad or lonely! Ever since Margaret died, I prefer to spend Christmas alone and think back to all our good memories together.”
Then this surprising wisdom came from a veteran not only of war but a veteran of life and a veteran of the Christian Gospel: “Pastor, people don’t realize that love grows better as you get older. As Margaret’s health declined and I had to take care of her, we grew closer and those were some of the best years of our lives. Love really is in “sickness and in health.”
Think about that you who are young. Think about that you who have young families. Think about that you who are growing old and facing change about you. Think about that you who have sickness in your family. Ray’s wisdom was not about human resilience or about enjoying life while you are young and healthy.
You know what Ray has and Ray knows? He knows Christmas Strong!
Later that same day I called on Norm Heard. Norm had a stroke several months ago. Norm’s family could do a better job visiting him but I won’t go into that tonight.
I was reading Norm the story of Jesus’ birth when suddenly he reached out and grabbed me with a guy’s handshake. A guy’s handshake is not the normal handshake but a guy’s handshake is when you grab thumbs tightly.
With great intensity and emotion Norm said in the middle of Luke 2: “Thank you for coming today.”
His intensity startled me. His response to the words of Luke 2 were like a man hearing it for the first time: good news of great joy!
I gave Norm communion and as I was leaving with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes he said, “Pastor, thank you for coming TODAY.”
This is Christmas Strong. It is the effect of joy in a man who cannot walk on his own. The joy did not come from human resilience. The joy came from Jesus Christ.
This is Christmas Strong. It is the story of Jesus touching the lives of real people. It is the power of Jesus in the middle of human suffering. What gives the celebration of Christmas its strength is neither the decorations nor the pageantry nor even our preferred presence of an intact family system gathered around a table.
This is the first year in 24 years of marriage that Kathy and I have other family with us at Christmas. If it is only the presence of an intact family that make Christmas Strong, then what have Kathy and I experienced the last 23 years? Christmas Weak? No my friends! Every year we have experienced Christmas Strong.
Here is the truth about Christmas that is hidden from many people in our culture: Christmas is only strong if it is tied to Jesus’ death and resurrection for our sake. It is his death for our sins and his resurrection from the dead that give Christmas its unique and enduring strength and hope and peace.
Listen to the words of what the shepherds found: they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. That’s it. That’s all they found. No presents, no decorations, no meal, no large family gathering. Only Him. They found Him. And for the shepherds it was indeed Christmas Strong.
One more story. In my last congregation one day a member called up to ask if I would visit a neighbor who was dying of cancer. I said, “sure.” Then he added, “Let me give you some background.”
The neighbor was born in Eastern Europe in a communist country and was from cradle to adulthood an atheist and was still an atheist. The member of my congregation cared deeply for this man and had asked permission if I could come by and talk and perhaps pray with him.
So I did. It was one of those visits where you have no plan. You just listen and feel your way for what is appropriate and what is not while still offering in some way God’s Word and Presence. The man’s wife was with us and listened to our conversation. She also was not a practicing Christian.
Soon after the man died and I was asked to do a short memorial service. The man never came to faith that I know of but I was still happy to do the service to point those living to God’s love and promises in Jesus. I remember vividly burying him on a cold, icy day in the Michigan winter. As I walked away from the burial site wondering what would become of all this, the man’s wife came straight up to me and said, “I will be in church Sunday.”
I had two reactions: surprise and skepticism. People promise pastors many things.
Phyllis showed up on Sunday. I quickly followed up with a visit because I was curious how she went from a view of the world that did not include God to a view of the world that might include God. This paraphrases what she said: “I’m tired of the emptiness.” Indeed!
Phyllis attended worship without missing up until Holy Week. She told me she would miss Easter to fly out to Arizona to spend Easter with her husband’s family. She did so. Upon returning she stopped into my office to report on her trip.
I asked her how the visit went since her husband’s family also were not believers. This is what she said with the same determination that Ray Behrmann and Norm Heard spoke to me this past Monday, She said, “Pastor, I will never miss worship on Easter again!”
Phyliss had discovered what makes Christmas Strong. It is not Christmas that makes Christmas Strong. It is Easter. To this day that sister in Christ serves faithfully her Lord and her congregation.
It is a good thing to have a strong resilient human spirit in the face of the ups and downs of life. But there is something stronger here tonight than Human Strong because Human Strong alone is inherently Human Weak.
Tonight we kneel with the shepherds and Mary and Joseph around the baby Jesus. Nothing else is there. Nothing else is needed. And we find Christmas Strong, Christmas Strong, Christmas Strong.
And we take Christmas Strong and place Him in the center of our worship. We take Christmas Strong and place Him in the center of our family. We take Christmas Strong and place Him in the center of our life.
In the precious and Most Holy Name of Jesus. Amen.
Not duck related but I offer my Christmas Eve message for you to ignore or read if you choose and are disposed toward or curious about the Christian faith. This is my 32 year as a Lutheran pastor. 26 of those years were spent in Michigan and these last 6 down here in South Carolina.
Next week I am going duck hunting in North Carolina for two days and, God willing, will give a report upon my return.
Merry Christmas all!
Larry Eckart, Pastor
Island Lutheran Church
Hilton Head, SC
Christmas Strong!
My dear friends in Christ, God’s blessings to you this Christmas Eve. My text is Luke 2: 16, "They found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger". My subject: Christmas Strong!
At first glance there is nothing strong about the scene discovered by the shepherds. The couple was young; the couple was poor. The town was small, the family’s room unappealing. The baby was just that: a baby. Dependent. Small. Fragile. Weak.
Yet from this scene, from this child would come a strength that is stronger than any strength, a hope that is stronger than any hope, and a peace that is greater than any other peace.
Christmas Strong. We’ve seen this kind of name before. In October we heard of Hilton Head Strong. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy we heard of Jersey Strong. After the Boston Marathon bombing the name was actually born as “Boston Strong.”
That name has an interesting history. Shortly after the two bombs exploded on April 15, 2013 near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two college students from Emerson College (in Boston) were sitting together stunned. “We have to do something,” they said to each other.
Within two hours of the blast they came up with the name “Boston Strong” and the idea to make tee shirts and donate the proceeds to a relief fund. The idea was, “to give people something to hold on to and know they are appreciated.” (Boston magazine, April 17, 2016)
They considered Trademarking the idea but decided against it. They were not interested in making money off the tragedy.
Others were not so noble. Within a few days after the bombing, two men in Boston and one man in Florida heard the phrase, saw $$ rolling up before their eyes and applied separately for Trademarks to use the name “Boston Strong” to market their own products.
Two days. It only took two days for a noble idea to be commercialized and hijacked for human profit. “Boston Strong” is now the name of a beer and two different brands of coffee. How like the human race to take a good thing and turn it into nothing more than money.
This was core idea behind the two naive but well-intentioned college students: “Boston Strong refers to our city’s resilience and spirit that carries us forward in good times and bad.”
Question: Is that all Christmas is for you? Is Christmas merely the human resilience and spirit that carries us forward in good times and bad? What you see and hear tonight is not about human resilience! What you see here tonight, namely, trees, lights, candles, great songs, bright colors, crowded pews and happy faces are not the core of Christmas Strong. All the pageantry reflects Christmas Strong. But all the pageantry at church and decorations in your home are not the core of Christmas Strong.
Let me show you Christmas Strong.
This past week I visited Ray Behrmann, one of our shut-ins, a WWII vet who walked across Europe to help free a continent. Ray calls the other people at Brookdale Care Center, “the old people” even though he is 94. After I gave him communion Monday I asked him if any of his family would be coming down for Christmas. “No,” he said, “I will be spending it by myself.”
Pause. I know where your brain is going. “That’s so sad,” you are thinking. “A widowed man, a veteran is spending Christmas by himself. He will be sad and lonely.”
You would be wrong in that assessment.
I followed up with another question to Ray: “Ray, will you be lonely or comforted by spending Christmas by yourself?”
Said Ray, “O not sad or lonely! Ever since Margaret died, I prefer to spend Christmas alone and think back to all our good memories together.”
Then this surprising wisdom came from a veteran not only of war but a veteran of life and a veteran of the Christian Gospel: “Pastor, people don’t realize that love grows better as you get older. As Margaret’s health declined and I had to take care of her, we grew closer and those were some of the best years of our lives. Love really is in “sickness and in health.”
Think about that you who are young. Think about that you who have young families. Think about that you who are growing old and facing change about you. Think about that you who have sickness in your family. Ray’s wisdom was not about human resilience or about enjoying life while you are young and healthy.
You know what Ray has and Ray knows? He knows Christmas Strong!
Later that same day I called on Norm Heard. Norm had a stroke several months ago. Norm’s family could do a better job visiting him but I won’t go into that tonight.
I was reading Norm the story of Jesus’ birth when suddenly he reached out and grabbed me with a guy’s handshake. A guy’s handshake is not the normal handshake but a guy’s handshake is when you grab thumbs tightly.
With great intensity and emotion Norm said in the middle of Luke 2: “Thank you for coming today.”
His intensity startled me. His response to the words of Luke 2 were like a man hearing it for the first time: good news of great joy!
I gave Norm communion and as I was leaving with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes he said, “Pastor, thank you for coming TODAY.”
This is Christmas Strong. It is the effect of joy in a man who cannot walk on his own. The joy did not come from human resilience. The joy came from Jesus Christ.
This is Christmas Strong. It is the story of Jesus touching the lives of real people. It is the power of Jesus in the middle of human suffering. What gives the celebration of Christmas its strength is neither the decorations nor the pageantry nor even our preferred presence of an intact family system gathered around a table.
This is the first year in 24 years of marriage that Kathy and I have other family with us at Christmas. If it is only the presence of an intact family that make Christmas Strong, then what have Kathy and I experienced the last 23 years? Christmas Weak? No my friends! Every year we have experienced Christmas Strong.
Here is the truth about Christmas that is hidden from many people in our culture: Christmas is only strong if it is tied to Jesus’ death and resurrection for our sake. It is his death for our sins and his resurrection from the dead that give Christmas its unique and enduring strength and hope and peace.
Listen to the words of what the shepherds found: they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. That’s it. That’s all they found. No presents, no decorations, no meal, no large family gathering. Only Him. They found Him. And for the shepherds it was indeed Christmas Strong.
One more story. In my last congregation one day a member called up to ask if I would visit a neighbor who was dying of cancer. I said, “sure.” Then he added, “Let me give you some background.”
The neighbor was born in Eastern Europe in a communist country and was from cradle to adulthood an atheist and was still an atheist. The member of my congregation cared deeply for this man and had asked permission if I could come by and talk and perhaps pray with him.
So I did. It was one of those visits where you have no plan. You just listen and feel your way for what is appropriate and what is not while still offering in some way God’s Word and Presence. The man’s wife was with us and listened to our conversation. She also was not a practicing Christian.
Soon after the man died and I was asked to do a short memorial service. The man never came to faith that I know of but I was still happy to do the service to point those living to God’s love and promises in Jesus. I remember vividly burying him on a cold, icy day in the Michigan winter. As I walked away from the burial site wondering what would become of all this, the man’s wife came straight up to me and said, “I will be in church Sunday.”
I had two reactions: surprise and skepticism. People promise pastors many things.
Phyllis showed up on Sunday. I quickly followed up with a visit because I was curious how she went from a view of the world that did not include God to a view of the world that might include God. This paraphrases what she said: “I’m tired of the emptiness.” Indeed!
Phyllis attended worship without missing up until Holy Week. She told me she would miss Easter to fly out to Arizona to spend Easter with her husband’s family. She did so. Upon returning she stopped into my office to report on her trip.
I asked her how the visit went since her husband’s family also were not believers. This is what she said with the same determination that Ray Behrmann and Norm Heard spoke to me this past Monday, She said, “Pastor, I will never miss worship on Easter again!”
Phyliss had discovered what makes Christmas Strong. It is not Christmas that makes Christmas Strong. It is Easter. To this day that sister in Christ serves faithfully her Lord and her congregation.
It is a good thing to have a strong resilient human spirit in the face of the ups and downs of life. But there is something stronger here tonight than Human Strong because Human Strong alone is inherently Human Weak.
Tonight we kneel with the shepherds and Mary and Joseph around the baby Jesus. Nothing else is there. Nothing else is needed. And we find Christmas Strong, Christmas Strong, Christmas Strong.
And we take Christmas Strong and place Him in the center of our worship. We take Christmas Strong and place Him in the center of our family. We take Christmas Strong and place Him in the center of our life.
In the precious and Most Holy Name of Jesus. Amen.