December 24, 2016. 11 pm service: Fr. Carey Stone



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 Christmas Eve A’16 11pm

24 December 2016
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone
 
Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
There was a sign in the shape of a cross that we used to pass on my way to my grandparents house that read “Get Right With God” and just a little further down the road there was another sign that read “Hell is Hot.” Now before anyone starts to leave the service for fear of a hellfire and damnation please be assured that’s not where I’m going in this sermon. I do think the phrase get right with God could be helpful. 
If the bad news for the innkeeper is he missed it then what is the good news for him and for us who miss it we miss God’s outstretched hand. 
 
The power behind us is greater than the task before us if we are relying on God. Maybe part of the innkeeper’s trouble was that he was relying on himself and his own limited resources. Faith can see another possibility because what is impossible for us is possible with God. The innkeeper would have other chance to get things right with God.  
Need the Good News for the innkeeper he may have blown it that night but he had other chances. God doesn’t give up on us just because we keep getting it wrong if it were otherwise then all of us would be in the doghouse
This is the table of the Lord so come;
 
   You that have much faith,
    and you who have little;
 
   You who have been here often,
   and you who have not been here long;
 
    You who have tried to follow, 
     and you who have failed –
     So come!
     Because this is the Lord’s table,
     And it is His will that all those 
     Who want Him will meet Him
     Here – so come!
     
“The task ahead of us is never greater than the task behind us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson