I went to see Narnia on Friday night. From the first moments, my attention was fully engaged because the Narnia stories took place
during World War II.
The movie opens with the Bombing Blitz of London. I think that every parent has an inside fear that they cannot take care of their children. So my heart and eyes were full to see a troop train empty and parents put labels on their children with names, and train station 
to which assigned and then waved as the child train pulled out of Victoria Station.
The story of the good news is just like the story of Narnia, good news born during a time of peril. This is how life is – all of human life. We don’t get to divide our lives into the good times and the bad times. All of the times get mixed together.
As the Kingdom of Aslan moves into Narnia, the Reign of the White Witch holds on desperately. One incredible scene is the river ice breaking after 100 years of being frozen. In the book, the White Witch gets stuck with her sleigh when the runners get caught in melting snow and mud.
The four children are resistant to the thought that they have been sent as Kings and Queens to prepare for the return of Aslan the King of Kings. Even during the battle, Peter says to his brother, this is hopeless. Get your sisters and try to escape back to England. Edmund gets wounded after that. When he is miraculously healed, Peter says, ‘You never have done what I told you to.’
We also live in a time of good and evil. American Christians were slow for a long time to name evil because we felt proud of the American system. That system has accomplished many things which rejoice the heart of God. Protection for older people through Social Security, College grants with the GI Bill, increased life span, the internet for cheap communication and many other morally wonderful achievements. These accomplishments were not political accomplishments. Doing well for older people is on God’s heart. The Bible records it. [Psa 71:9] Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent. This is not a Democratic or Republican accomplishment to provide nutrition for senior health, Medicare, and sidewalk corners that permit wheel chairs.
But that same system has allowed great evil. A younger America allowed slavery and injustice to women and those traces remain. But the current year has brought us clear evidence of torture of prisoners and an uncaring President. In the worst example, we kidnapped German citizen vacationing in Greece last year, Khaled Masri, took him to Afghanistan, realized that he was not the right person and held and tortured him anyway. That issue was why the Secretary of State recently went to Germany.
Perhaps you, like me, have seen the name Jack Abramoff a lot in the news lately. He seems about ready to end the careers of a number of congressional representatives because he paid more bribes than anyone has in a century. I couldn’t get excited with all the other issues. Until this week, I realized that one of his deals was to bring Chinese workers to a US territory, pay them less than minimum wage, beat them and force abortions of anyone who got pregnant. One witness says, in the year I was there, 11,000 women were working at the factory and not one had a baby.
Friends, like Narnia, we are living in a beautiful land where there is both good and evil. This struggle by God to reclaim creation is recorded in the Bible from the beginning of Genesis. And like the four kings and queens in Narnia, there is a role for you and me to play.
All countries have embassies to represent their viewpoint in another nation. The embassy is a visible sign of an unseen power. In Cambodia, the saying has always been, if you are in trouble, run to the French Embassy. The power is not in the physical structure, but the gleaming white sign is a warning and welcome that France is very interested in Cambodia and might move aggressively if provoked.
Today, in the Scriptures, we are going to see that you and I are ambassadors for the Kingdom of Christ. The birth of a baby is a visible sign of a power not always seen. The promise of Christmas is that God is on the move, but the salvation does not happen without a job for you and me.
In almost every service, I announce the word of grace for the day. We will hear that in today’s service. But I also bring you a Christmas commission in this service. We must be Christmas Ambassadors at a dark moment in history.
John’s gospel makes a big distinction between Jesus and John the Baptist. Jesus is spoken of with poetry at the beginning and John is described in plain language. One of the first issues of John’s ministry is that people think that he himself is the Messiah. John is more famous than Jesus in the early days.
John repeats firmly that he is not the anointed one that will restore peace. The work of Jesus is so above us that John says, I am not even worthy to touch the shoe of the Prince of Peace.
Because we are anxious people, we tend to doubt the promises of the Bible. Anxious people exaggerate their fears and minimize their hopes. So when we start to look at the fact that there is evil and well as good and what we have to fight it are the promises of God, it’s a scary thought.
So John’s entire gospel often returns to a legal proof, text, and argument approach and ends with the great trial of Jesus as to whether he really is the King who will save the world. John understands our fears. The gospel of Mark presents quick pictures of Jesus in acts of power, but the gospel of John uses the power of signs and argument.
The good news friends is that the birth of Christ is a visible sign of God’s interest in our world. Never lose hope that God is on the march, both to reclaim and whole world and to touch your life.
Chapter one of John is all about the power of Jesus. In verse 51, Jesus said to Nathaniel, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." We can work on the problems of our community, country, and world because God’s power is that great.
But chapter two is the first miracle of the book and it is about Jesus dealing with a couple at their modest wedding when the wine ran out. The love that Christ has for us is so precious, we need to claim it. God says that the best human picture of the love of God for us is the act of sex. That is why the Bible protects the act of sex as something that is never casual.
So many of us look on the love of God as divine friendship when God is more concerned about you than you are yourself. God watched over you last night while you slept. We fear that God will love us in an occasional way that won’t be there for us when we are in need. But God loves us with a committed love just like the love in a marriage. It is intense and it is devoted to us whether we are happy or sad, and whether we have done wrong or right.
John the Baptist says I am a witness to that kind of love. John the Baptist knew Jesus well, because Jesus is his younger cousin. They grew up near each other. So his witness is based on knowing Jesus for thirty years.
John says again and again I am not the light. I am the witness to the light. John is the ambassador. So must you and I be.
Many of our neighbors are lost in their lives. The confusion of the war and the news of the world unsettles people. This morning we hear of these blasts in London. What does it mean? I believe all of this unrest and problems takes the problems of our personal lives and adds uncertainty and stress.
Working together as the church, we offer special programs, the regular worship, and materials. But after all the other advertising is in place, what really works is your personal invitation. I believe that every Christian should try to get someone else to come to church with you. I ask new members to commit to trying that at least once a quarter. Four times a year. The next two weeks, we have everything from a formal organ concert, to a march, a musical, and Christmas Eve. None of that replaces your calling as an ambassador. It is you and I who tell our friends how great God’s love has been for us.
And then in Chapter one of John’s gospel, the emphasis is on the power of Jesus to set the world right. The birth of Christ should be warning to all in our government who are stealing, torturing, or starting wars of choice. Today, CBS News is lamenting that United Methodist Bishops do not support the war in Iraq. Gratefully, we accept their charge as true.
We must follow John, who cried out to the ancient world, Prepare the way of the Lord. In verse 23, he said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,'" as the prophet Isaiah said. Our nation has strayed in some ways from that highway of holiness. But all is not lost. The same God who desires to love and restore you has that same determination with the nations. We simply need to speak to these powers with the same love and justice as ambassadors.
The darker the world and the deeper the virus of hate the more glowing must be our Christianity and the more triumphant the note of our faith.-- Rufus M. Jones, The Radiant Life.
So I ask as your pastor to follow me as I follow Christ next Sunday as we participate in the Peace Walk. We will be in the sanctuary. The Peace procession will approach our church. And I want Christians to stream from every door as a sign that the Christian community has the welfare of our nation and the desire for peace on our hearts. I am asking that you cancel any other optional activity. Call friends who do not always come to church. This is our Christmas gift to give our community new heart and hope for peace.
Isaiah says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
