“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

Whose Faves are you in? Or should I say whose “IN network” are you in? How many of you know what I am asking?
Faves, IN network, and Friends and Family, (AKA BFs &Fams) are different phone company plans to get your business. If you are in someone’s Faves list, IN network, or friends and family plan then it doesn’t cost anything to call you. It’s free.
The people you put on your free phone plan are those you are closest to. The people you speak with often or the people who mean the most to you. We all have them, a small group of people whom we are most interested in and most intimate with. It is evident in every area of life, even in church. Many of you sit in the same pew every Sunday because of the relationship you have with the people who sit around you. I am willing to say that I could tell you who you will sit with this morning at fellowship hour. We each have our own “in” crowd. There is nothing wrong with that. Even Jesus had his Faves or IN network.
He trained 72 people to go in His name. Within the group of 72 were the 12 disciples with who He had a more intimate relationship. Amidst them Jesus had a closer relationship with Peter, James & John.
But while Jesus had His favorites, he never had un-favorites. Let us not forget that Jesus was ridiculed because He hung and cared for the outcasts of society. He had dinner with sinners. He went to the home of a tax collector. He cared for the prostitutes, the ill, the lame, the crazy, the ignored and shunned members of society.
It’s because of Jesus’ example of radical love and acceptance that Paul exhorts,

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

His exhortation addresses the tension with the New Testament church in Roman. It addresses the tension between Jew and Gentile. Most importantly it addresses the tensions that exist today in our society brought on by race, lifestyle, culture and even Christmas.
There are groups calling people to boycott shopping at certain stores because they refused/omitted using the word Christmas in their Holiday Gift Catalog. Or they have instructed their sales people NOT to wish shoppers Merry Christmas. Town councils are being forced to make decisions between feuding citizens with regards to displaying the nativity on public grounds. This year one town council had to make a decision about the color lights people could use when decorating their homes.
Am I wrong or wasn’t the purpose of Christmas to celebrate the establishment of “Peace on earth and good will to all.” Why is it the we, and I include the church, try so hard to drowne out the message of the angels. Why is it that we find it so hard to get along and love one another.

“Accept one another,
then just as Christ accepted you,
in order to bring praise to God.”

Recently I received an email that contained Jesus’ wish list for Christmas. It read:
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of or along with writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home.
2. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put a Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.
3. Visit someone in a nursing home. They just need to know that someone cares about them.
4. Instead of writing President George Bush complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year.
5. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.
6. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.
7. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.
8. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.
9. If you really want to make a difference, support your church or a missionary—so that My love and Good News will be preached to those who have never heard My name.
10. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.
11. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

If we all choose to follow Jesus in this way, the result will be the very message of Advent – hope. Hope that a baby in a manger has truly welcomed us into His eternal family. Hope that our Christian claims work themselves out in harmonious community. Hope that a watching world will know that we are His disciples because we have love for one another.
Will you dare to hope?

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”