INTRODUCTION:

A little boy in a church Christmas program, only had one line to remember. He was the Angel of the Lord and his line was: "Behold, I bring you good tidings."

After the rehearsal, he asked his mother what "tidings" meant. She told him that it meant "news".

When the program was put on, the boy got a case of stage fright and couldn't remember his line. then all of a sudden the idea came back and he blurted out. "Hey! Boy, have I got news for you!"

Let me read you a portion of that "Good News," a portion of the story that seems so old it can't have any more mystery about it. But when we hear these words, the Word comes alive once again, is laid in the manger of our heart, where it dwells and grows into faith.

Matthew 1:18-25 (NRSV)

[18] Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

[19] Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

[20] But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

[21] She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

[22] All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

[23] "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

[24] When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

[25] but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

The Hopes and Dreams of God can be summed up in one word, a name really, Jesus. Immanuel, "God with us." And we experienced Jesus through The Cradle, The Cross and The Crown.

I. THE CRADLE:

A. From the beginning of humankind, God's Hopes and Dreams have been wrapped up in a cradle. When God first invested Himself in the human experiment and picked up that handful of dust, rolled it into a ball and shaped it into Adam, (which literally means "dirt ball," and then God breathed God's own breath into Adam's lungs. Since that moment, since that act, God has Hoped His best Hopes and Dreams. At least that's what Scripture implies for the Psalmist asks, Psalm 8:4-5 (NRSV) "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor."

Scripture also tells us that God loves us so much, God has our name tattooed on the palm of His hand. Isaiah 49:16 (NRSV) "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;"

When we turned away from God and chose our own way over God's way, God didn't give up on His Hopes and Dreams for us. God sent prophet after prophet, leader after leader trying to get our attention. And when that didn't work, God decided to come Himself. And God came in the most unusual manner, as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger in a small town of no consequence named Bethlehem. And when God came it made all the difference in the world because God gave us something that mattered, something from the heart.

B. There was a Director of Christian Education at a church who organized a Children's Christmas pageant. She let the children decide what gifts they'd give the baby Jesus in the pageant. Some wanted to give him stuffed animals. Others wanted to give him toys. One little girl named Sally had several conversations with the Director before she admitted what she wanted to give the baby Jesus. Finally the Director asked, "Sally, what do you want to give Jesus?"

"Oh, I'm too embarrassed," said Sally. "I shouldn't tell you."

"That's O. K. What is it?"

"A kiss," she said. And the night of the pageant, that is what she gave him. All the other angels brought their gifts of toys and animals. But Sally bent over the manger and gave the little baby a kiss.

A loving sigh went up from the congregation as they watched. Sally knew the secret of giving. And she gave the baby Jesus exactly what God was giving us when God gave us Jesus in the Cradle, something that matters, something that summed up God's Hopes and Dreams, something from the heart.

That's what God gave, something from the heart. God gave us Himself, when He gave us His Son.

II. THE CROSS:

And Nowhere is that more apparent than in the cross. The Cradle and the Cross, the two are inseparable. In these Post Christmas, Post Easter, Post Christian times, it's important to remember they are both significant chapters in the story or our salvation and you can't have one without the other.

While the Cradle give us Hope and sparks our Dreams, it's really the Cross that gives us the proper perspective on the life and faith that was born and laid in that Cradle. It especially gives us the proper perspective on Christmas.

Show "The Gift of Perspective" Video from www.WorshipFilms.com

III. THE CROWN:

A. The Cradle, The Cross and now on to the Crown. There are actually two crowns, The Crown of Thorns and the Crown of Glory. You see, the Romans jammed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head to mock and belittle him and show how inferior he was. But God twisted that crown of thorns into a Crown of Glory before the tomb was ever sealed. Once again, God took the most ordinary object, a thing of horror actually, and transformed it into a symbol of glory and grace.

B. Did you know that Charles of Anjou, King of Hungary, was crowned three times. The first time he was crowned with an emergency crown because the historic crown of St. Stephen wasn't available. Some people said the value of the crown wasn't the fact that it had been handed down from St. Stephen but had been consecrated by the pope. So papal envoy Cardinal Gentils consecrated a new bejewelled crown and Charles was crowned a second time. Finally, keepers of the original crown, the crown of St. Stephen, released it and Charles was crowned a third time on August 20, 1310.

Like Anjou, Jesus was actually crowned three times: First, with the crown of thorns at Golgotha. Second, while seated at the right hand of God after the ascension. And Third, when you made Him your Savior and crowned him Lord of your life. The Hopes and Dreams of God are wrapped up in that crown.

CONCLUSION:

[23] "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

"God with us," symbolized by The Cradle, The Cross and The Crown. The story creation, the fall, salvation and redemption all wrapped up in God's Hopes and Dreams and given to us, a gift the matters.

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable Gift" first laid in a manger, then hung on a cross and laid in a tomb. But now crowned in glory, alive in our hearts and in our lives .

That's the Hope and Dream of God, that Christ will be Cradled in our hearts, that we humbly accept his gift of salvation, forgiveness and mercy bought with the cross, and that we let God twist the crown of thorns into a crown of glory by crowning Christ, Lord of our Life.

That's what this season is all about.....

1. The Pastor's Story File (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), Dec. 1987

2. www.WorshipFilms.com

3. Adapted, Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).

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Preaching Magazine (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)

Circuit Rider, (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN)

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The New Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1995)

Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Cycle A, (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 2002) SermonPrep Version.

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