+ Christmas Eve December 24, 2008
Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20 (Gospel Procession)
“She Didn’t Know”
Jesus is born among us!… and let the people of God say, “Amen!”
We live in a time when the following story, sadly, does not surprise us:
The pastor was serving a congregation that held a live nativity every year… you know… an outdoor stable scene with real animals and church children dressed in costumes as the Holy Family, and angels, and shepherds, and magi.
A local newspaper sent a reporter to cover the event, and she sat down with the pastor to talk about the history, experiences, and related details about the living nativity. The reporter was about twenty five years old, bright, articulate, and well-educated. But as she began to ask the pastor questions, it quickly became clear that she did not know the Christmas story. At one point, when the pastor answered a very basic question about Christmas, the reporter stopped and confessed with surprising honesty, “My grandmother would be so embarrassed with me right now!”
She Didn’t Know the story of our Lord’s birth. She Didn’t Know the events that brought Mary and Joseph to the little town of Bethlehem. She Didn’t Know the angels sang to the shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. She Didn’t Know the magnitude of the events that draw people together on this night that brings joy to the world.
She Didn’t Know!
Sometimes we’re not sure what draws us to Worship on Christmas Eve. It might be that someone you love asked you here, and to make them happy or keep the peace, you came. It might be that for as long as you can remember your family has Worshipped on Christmas Eve and you didn’t want to break that tradition… especially since this year the family circle is missing someone and you didn’t want to contribute to the sadness by not being here. It might be that you have been looking forward to this holy night all Advent long because you have been longing to welcome the Savior of the world into your heart… and now you can. It might be that this Worship contains your favorite music.
It might be that you have had a relationship break apart and you were wondering if Christmas might help mend your aching heart. It might be that you are praying for a miracle this December… for yourself or a loved one… that the diagnosis might be wrong, or that the tumor will go away, or that the chemotherapy will work.
There are as many reasons for being here as there are people in this place tonight, each carrying a burden… some obvious, some we try to hide. But we need to be clear about the story. When the story of what the church proclaims at Christmas is made clear then some of the unrealistic expectations we put on this holy night might be dispelled and the true message find a place in our heart.
Tonight God fulfills his promise. God said he would save his people and that “Promise” takes flesh at Christmas. Saint Paul puts it so well in his letter to the church in Galatia: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman… to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters.”
Tonight God is giving his only Son to the world. God becomes a baby born of Mary. This child will grow, be baptized, gather disciples, teach, perform miracles, suffer, die, and be raised from the dead so that through his sacrificial death on the cross we will be forgiven all our sins and receive eternal life. Whatever we have done wrong God will make right. The One whose birth we celebrate tonight accomplishes all this for us. That’s the message of Christmas. Now you know!
Does that understanding correspond to the reason you’re here? Or does it miss the mark completely… not touch it, pass it by, seem frivolous, or maybe you’re thinking it really doesn’t matter because you weren’t holding out much hope of being helped by a little dose of God on a rainy winter evening? Or are you thinking that too many things are too far out of whack in your life, and in the world, for this crazy season to make any difference at all?
You’re not alone. One pastor I heard about got fed up with all the frivolous stuff of Christmas. He saw that the people he loved and served were in danger of losing the very “reason for the season,” Jesus, amid all the distractions that this time of year puts in the way of God’s gift. The pastor feared the people were missing the message of Jesus’ simple stable birth, missing Jesus’ life lived for others, missing the suffering and death that Jesus endured for all people.
So this pastor did something… unusual. He went through the Worship room, just hours before the Christmas Eve service, and spread manure all over the floor --- nasty, stinky piles of dung. As folks came in that night in their fine clothes and full bellies to a place that smelled like a stable, he preached… and did he ever! He preached about how the original story was not about malls and decorations, food or presents. He preached about a story that was not pretty. He preached about a God who enters the “stuff” of this world and redeems all that is hurting and broken. It was a story… and a smell… that they long remembered.
The message of Christmas is that God has entered our stinking world and specifically, our smelly lives, to make us new, clean, and sweet-smelling, so that from our new hearts we can share with others the joy of believing.
Howard Thurman, author and poet, includes this brief, but pointed Christmas poem in his book, The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations,
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.”
To know the story, really KNOW the story of Jesus’ birth, means you know, really KNOW that your life and whatever happens in your life… life however it comes to you… life with its ups and downs, its health and its sickness, its tragedies and its joys… isn’t just your life… it’s also Jesus’ life born in you so you can carry on “the work of Christmas”!
The story of this holy night is for you. You’re part of the story. In a few moments you’ll be taking Jesus into your hand in the Lord’s Supper… taking Jesus into your body so that his Body is now in you… to forgive you all your sins, to strengthen you for living each day with its questions and problems, to give you a foretaste of the banquet we will have in heaven.
This is quite a story tonight. It’s a story for your heart It’s the story of God’s love for you come down from heaven so that we can reach out to the world in peace and healing and make music in the heart.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
