Christmas Concert Meditation(11Dec2011)
Christmas Concert Meditation December 10-11, 2011
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ken Shigematsu. I'm one of the pastors here.
The theme of our concert is journeys. We have been singing about the wise men following the star.
Have you ever wondered why the wise men set out to bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to this new born baby in the first place?
Sure, they saw the star and Ancient Near East court astronomers believe that stars announce the births of great kings.
But why did they set out such a long journey from modern-day Iran to Bethlehem, a distance about the same as Vancouver to Winnipeg – but without the benefit of the TransCanada Highway, a journey which on foot and camel may have take between 6 months and a year?
These were educated, successful, wealthy men—they had it all—probably not kings, but senior advisors to the kings.
Why did they set out on such a long trek?
Longing…
They had all that they could have possibly wanted and still there was an inexpressible, inconsolable longing deep within them. As deep as the stars in the sky… a longing for meaning…a longing for fulfillment…a longing for a blessed life and so they follow the star.
The Wise men, the wise men, as we read in Scripture bring the baby Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the truth is they were looking for a treasure in him. They were looking for the one in the words of the famous Christmas carol in whom: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met.”
We all have longing for a treasure and we seek to follow some kind of star.
When I was a young boy living in London, England, I remember standing in the backyard of our home. I was standing on the patio beside a rusting red wagon fantasizing about finding an old treasure map left by pirates with a big X in the middle (Use prop.) that would lead me to a treasure chest filled with diamonds, rubies, pearls, and lots of gold coins—or maybe I just wanted to live in a world where adventure on the high seas was possible.
We go through life looking for some kind of treasure, seeking some “star to follow.”
For me as a young boy it was a Pirate’s treasure.
For our three-year-old son Joey – he recently unwrapped a Toys "R" Us flyer and began to flip through it in search of some treasure – a fire engine and an adventure of his own.
We may call it by a different name. We may call it happiness, meaning, or significance. Aristotle said, “All people seek happiness. There are no exceptions.” (The word that he used in the Greek was which is often translated “happiness,” but can also be rendered “human flourishing” or translated literally “to be cared for by a benevolent deity.”) So, in Aristotle’s view we all seek happiness; we all seek to live a life of good fortune or blessedness.
Whether we believe in God or not, we seek happiness or significance--perhaps in sport, a special relationship,
As a young boy for me it the hope of finding a treasure left by pirates. As a somewhat older boy in high school treasure was accomplishing something in sport. As a teenager I was a big football fan and my hero was the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Joe Montana. When our son was born, we named him Joe mostly after Joseph in the Bible, but also partly after Joe Montana.
When I had the unexpected opportunity to become starting quarterback on our high school football team – though it was just high school, at the time it was significant.
When I was in my twenties, I wanted to meet someone special and fall in love.
I felt really hard for someone. And here's a follow-up, I couldn't stop thinking about her. So you can iwise menne my happiness when we reconnected 10 years later. She asked, “Oh, Jeffrey right? From Berkeley.” “No, I’m Ken. From Canada.”
We didn't get off on the right foot, but ended up getting married.
We seek happiness or significance perhaps in sport or art, or in a special relationship, success at school and work, maybe a trip to an exotic, tropical place in the middle of the winter, maybe your dream car or even dream house. Perhaps that something brought you happiness initially, but then you got used to it, and you started looking for something else on the horizon to bring you happiness, or meaning, or real fulfillment.
The truth is that there is a part of the human soul that is so deep, so very deep, that nothing on this earth can fully satisfy us. We find ourselves searching.
Research conducted by Harvard psychologist professor Daniel Gilbert demonstrates time and time again we overestimate the amount of happiness we expect to receive from any given situation. We quickly get used to the new thing we thought would bring us happiness and it no longer gives us the same satisfaction.
But, the Christmas story is not a story primarily about the Wise men’s journey for meaning, or even about our search for happiness. The Christmas story is about God’s journey for what he considers to be a treasure of priceless worth.
Jesus of Nazareth told a parable about a person who discovered a priceless pearl and then sold everything that he had to buy the pearl. The living God considers us a priceless pearl. On that very first Christmas he, in effect, sold everything that he had…
The Scriptures tells us that God left the glorious splendor of heaven—shrank himself down, way down to the size of a single fertilized egg, an ovum, entered into the womb of a peasant teenager. God was born into poverty—under the gaze and the steamy breath of the sheep and cattle in that stable and was placed in a pile of hay that had been placed in the cattle feeding trough. When God, who had become a human being, was 33 years old, he voluntarily died on a Roman cross for our sins so that we could be forgiven…so that we could have a new beginning…so that we could enjoy a life with God and become an instrument of God’s peace and justice in the world.
We are on a journey in search of happiness, significance, meaning, treasure, but God’s story—the Christmas story—is a story about his journey to find a treasure…and that treasure is us.
If we find in our heart a restless yearning for something more, we can find rest in the Christmas story because the Christmas story tells us that the only one who can satisfy the deepest part of our soul, the God who became a human being to know us, has come for us in Bethlehem, and he comes to us tonight and if we would like, we can receive this gift.
You are searching for the treasure, but the treasure has come to you.
If would like, you can pray these lines from one of our famous Christmas carols:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem descend on us we pray,
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ken Shigematsu. I'm one of the pastors here.
The theme of our concert is journeys. We have been singing about the wise men following the star.
Have you ever wondered why the wise men set out to bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to this new born baby in the first place?
Sure, they saw the star and Ancient Near East court astronomers believe that stars announce the births of great kings.
But why did they set out such a long journey from modern-day Iran to Bethlehem, a distance about the same as Vancouver to Winnipeg – but without the benefit of the TransCanada Highway, a journey which on foot and camel may have take between 6 months and a year?
These were educated, successful, wealthy men—they had it all—probably not kings, but senior advisors to the kings.
Why did they set out on such a long trek?
Longing…
They had all that they could have possibly wanted and still there was an inexpressible, inconsolable longing deep within them. As deep as the stars in the sky… a longing for meaning…a longing for fulfillment…a longing for a blessed life and so they follow the star.
The Wise men, the wise men, as we read in Scripture bring the baby Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the truth is they were looking for a treasure in him. They were looking for the one in the words of the famous Christmas carol in whom: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met.”
We all have longing for a treasure and we seek to follow some kind of star.
When I was a young boy living in London, England, I remember standing in the backyard of our home. I was standing on the patio beside a rusting red wagon fantasizing about finding an old treasure map left by pirates with a big X in the middle (Use prop.) that would lead me to a treasure chest filled with diamonds, rubies, pearls, and lots of gold coins—or maybe I just wanted to live in a world where adventure on the high seas was possible.
We go through life looking for some kind of treasure, seeking some “star to follow.”
For me as a young boy it was a Pirate’s treasure.
For our three-year-old son Joey – he recently unwrapped a Toys "R" Us flyer and began to flip through it in search of some treasure – a fire engine and an adventure of his own.
We may call it by a different name. We may call it happiness, meaning, or significance. Aristotle said, “All people seek happiness. There are no exceptions.” (The word that he used in the Greek was which is often translated “happiness,” but can also be rendered “human flourishing” or translated literally “to be cared for by a benevolent deity.”) So, in Aristotle’s view we all seek happiness; we all seek to live a life of good fortune or blessedness.
Whether we believe in God or not, we seek happiness or significance--perhaps in sport, a special relationship,
As a young boy for me it the hope of finding a treasure left by pirates. As a somewhat older boy in high school treasure was accomplishing something in sport. As a teenager I was a big football fan and my hero was the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Joe Montana. When our son was born, we named him Joe mostly after Joseph in the Bible, but also partly after Joe Montana.
When I had the unexpected opportunity to become starting quarterback on our high school football team – though it was just high school, at the time it was significant.
When I was in my twenties, I wanted to meet someone special and fall in love.
I felt really hard for someone. And here's a follow-up, I couldn't stop thinking about her. So you can iwise menne my happiness when we reconnected 10 years later. She asked, “Oh, Jeffrey right? From Berkeley.” “No, I’m Ken. From Canada.”
We didn't get off on the right foot, but ended up getting married.
We seek happiness or significance perhaps in sport or art, or in a special relationship, success at school and work, maybe a trip to an exotic, tropical place in the middle of the winter, maybe your dream car or even dream house. Perhaps that something brought you happiness initially, but then you got used to it, and you started looking for something else on the horizon to bring you happiness, or meaning, or real fulfillment.
The truth is that there is a part of the human soul that is so deep, so very deep, that nothing on this earth can fully satisfy us. We find ourselves searching.
Research conducted by Harvard psychologist professor Daniel Gilbert demonstrates time and time again we overestimate the amount of happiness we expect to receive from any given situation. We quickly get used to the new thing we thought would bring us happiness and it no longer gives us the same satisfaction.
But, the Christmas story is not a story primarily about the Wise men’s journey for meaning, or even about our search for happiness. The Christmas story is about God’s journey for what he considers to be a treasure of priceless worth.
Jesus of Nazareth told a parable about a person who discovered a priceless pearl and then sold everything that he had to buy the pearl. The living God considers us a priceless pearl. On that very first Christmas he, in effect, sold everything that he had…
The Scriptures tells us that God left the glorious splendor of heaven—shrank himself down, way down to the size of a single fertilized egg, an ovum, entered into the womb of a peasant teenager. God was born into poverty—under the gaze and the steamy breath of the sheep and cattle in that stable and was placed in a pile of hay that had been placed in the cattle feeding trough. When God, who had become a human being, was 33 years old, he voluntarily died on a Roman cross for our sins so that we could be forgiven…so that we could have a new beginning…so that we could enjoy a life with God and become an instrument of God’s peace and justice in the world.
We are on a journey in search of happiness, significance, meaning, treasure, but God’s story—the Christmas story—is a story about his journey to find a treasure…and that treasure is us.
If we find in our heart a restless yearning for something more, we can find rest in the Christmas story because the Christmas story tells us that the only one who can satisfy the deepest part of our soul, the God who became a human being to know us, has come for us in Bethlehem, and he comes to us tonight and if we would like, we can receive this gift.
You are searching for the treasure, but the treasure has come to you.
If would like, you can pray these lines from one of our famous Christmas carols:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem descend on us we pray,
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.
posted by Shigematsu at 2:28 PM
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