Isaiah 9:3-7; Psalm
96; Titus
2:11-14; Luke
2:1-20
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity Church,
Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Tuesday, December 24, 2013.
“WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN”
Why am I a
Christian?
The main
reason is that I am a selfish and self-centered person.
Because I am a selfish and self-centered
person, I tend to look out for my own welfare, to be sure to take care of the
things that will make my life fuller and better.
So because
I am a selfish and self-centered person, I like the fact that God reached out
to me personally by sending His Son, Jesus, to seek me out, and to care for my
well-being and welfare. Jesus came for
me, personally and individually.
I like
that, a lot!
I also like
the fact that Jesus, God’s great gift to me, came as a baby. I like the fact that He didn’t come as a
conquering hero, riding in on a white horse to tell me what to do, and how to
do it. He didn’t come and demand that I
cower in fear of Him. He didn’t come and
do things that would make me want to hide from Him.
Instead,
God’s gift, Jesus, came to serve me, to love me, and to invite me into a close
relationship with God, a relationship that has changed my life completely, a
relationship that will last as long as I do, and then will endure beyond the
end of my life on this earth into all eternity.
I like all
these things, and especially the fact that I matter so much to God that God
came for me personally and especially.
He came to find me, and find me, He did!
For, you
see, part of me is selfish and self-centered.
That part of me that is selfish and self-centered needs to be
appreciated, to be loved, to be admired.
Now what
I’ve just said about myself, that business about being selfish and self-centered,
could also be said about every one of us here tonight….we are all selfish and
self-centered, at least to some degree.
(Alright, I’ll admit that most of you aren’t as selfish and
self-centered as I am.) That part of us
that needs to be admired, to be loved, and to be appreciated, longs to feed us
with the important knowledge that we matter to someone, that someone loves us
beyond ourselves.
That
someone is God.
God is the
One who send His only-begotten Son, Jesus, to seek us out, to find us, to invite
us into a deep, loving and abiding embrace, a close relationship that tells us
“I am important to God.”
So what
should our response be?
Since each
of us is selfish and self-centered, to some extent at least, should we simply
soak up all of God’s attention, love and care, and wallow in all that good,
Godly stuff?
Or should
we respond to God’s overture of love by loving Him back?
Ah yes,
that is the answer: God loved us so much
that He gave His only-begotten Son (John 3:16), that God wants us to respond
in love to His love, by entering into a deep, abiding and loving embrace with
God through Jesus Christ.
When we do,
then everything in life will change, and not only in this life, but in the life
of the world to come, as well.
Thank you,
God, for loving each one of us so much, telling us that we are important, that
we matter to You, by sending us the gift of your Son to show us the way to your
heart. By your grace, open our hearts to
receive your loving gift, Jesus, so that we may respond in love to your
overture of love.
AMEN.
