Christmas Eve Family Service Is 62.6-12; Ps 97; Titus 3.4-7; Luke 2.1-20
Tonight
we've just heard Luke's story about how Jesus was born. For some of us for the
hundredth time, for some of us it may be the first time.
It's
one story of MANY that we hear - especially at Christmastime, there seem to be
a lot of stries out there.
Some
of them we think are great, some maybe we don't like as much.
But
these stories - they give us a LOT of information - but they don't give us ALL
the information.
They
give us the words, and then invite us to use our imaginations to fill in the
gaps. We make it our own - we imagine how tall someone was, or what colour
dress they were wearing, or what the something smelled like or how warm the
room was. When someone says "a dog walked across the street" I might
think of a big old black dog, and someone else might think of a tiny little
brown puppy.
And
this is part of what makes a story a GOOD story - because it invites people to
make it their own, reflecting their own interests and experiences. When a story
activates out imaginations, we want to make it even better.
That's
why some stories get really complicated. The more characters there are, the
more likely we'll relate to at least one of them. The more descriptions of the
setting, the more we can feel what's happening. The more action, the more we
can visualise the events unfolding.
And
sometimes, the more we get into the story, the more it grows bigger and bigger,
every time we tell it. Sometimes with many people there, we might interject
more and more details. Think about family stories - those good, funny,
tell-it-every-year stories. Every time they're told, they get a bit bfunnier, a
bit more descriptive, a bit more fascinating. They get more fun as more and
more people get involved in the telling and hearing and re-telling.
Well,
our Christmas story tonight does this for us too. For some 2000 years we have
been hearing it, imagining it, and telling it.
And
WOW do we tell it! We - Christians - always have done. Because this is the
greatest story of all time.
Not
because of the words on the page - let's be honest, those words aren't the
greatest themselves; I can't imagine any English teacher being happy with the
little information that we get as words on the page.
The
whole birth is ONE VERSE. One sentence. No special effects, no exclamation mark
- just that Mary gave birth, wrapped the child in cloth, and laid him in a
manger.
BUT!
The impact is HUGE. We know that every child is a miracle; we celebrate every
birth. And THIS birth - despite it's few written words - changes the world. Jesus's
birth is where the story begins.
Immediately
the story starts to grow. Even before Mary and Joseph can get word to their
relatives that the child has arrived safely, the angels come and tell it to the
shepherds.
Then
the shepherds go and verify it - we know it's always best to tell a true story,
to make sure it's not just rumour. And this story seems so fantastical to them
that they want to make sure they've got it right!
And
then the shepherds tell it - as much as they can.
And
then the people who hear it tell it.
And
then those people also tell it.
So
each time it gets bigger and bigger, more people hear it, more people imagine
what it was like (what colour were the bands of cloth Mary used? Where was the
manger she laid him in? Who else was there to help with the birth?)
And
over the years - the 2000 years - this has also become our shared story. We've embellished it with a stable, and
animals, and a flowy angel at the birth scene, and all other sorts of imagery.
And
now - NOW - tonight - we celebrate this as OUR story. It's the story of a baby,
small and vulnerable, who would grow into a great teacher and leader. Someone
who would preach love and forgiveness and peace and joy. Someone who would
remind the world to find ways to be kind to one another, to look for ways to
get along, to always seek out the light. Someone who promised us that the light
is ALWAYS there.
And,
divinely, someone who offers to us the gift of forgiveness of sins, redemption
and salvation for our souls, and the hope of eternal life with all we love and
have loved.
THIS
is our story. This is the story that we have been told.
This
is the story that we have been invited to connect with.
This
is the story that we have been challenged to relate to.
A
story that has been trusted to us, given to us, gifted to us. A story for us to
tell - to everyone we encounter. Using our words, using our prayers, using our
actions.
This
is a story of love - the perfect unconditional love that comes from God.
May
we live the story of love.
May
we continue the story of love.
Like
the shepherds, may we go into the world bearing this love and this light - glorifying and praising God for all that we have
heard and seen, as it had been told to us.
Christmas Eve 11pm Is 52.7-10; Ps 98; Heb 1.1-12; Jn 1.1-14
We live in a world
of words. They're everywhere. Really - we are bombarded with them. We are a
profoundly literate society. It's a gift - but it also means that sometimes we
can be distracted by too many words.
Think about how
many words you saw today. Words on a Christmas card. Words on the TV commercials.
Words on your social media feed. Words on the street signs. Even words in your
worship bulletin tonight.
Words. They're
everywhere; all vying for our attention, all begging to be noticed, all wanting
a tiny speck of our time.
And yet - this holy
night - in this world where we are surrounded by words, where we are distracted
by words, we are called to look for THE WORD. The "Good News of Glad
tidings for all the people"
And it's there. THE
WORD is there. The GOOD NEWS is there, waiting to be known! It's up to us,
however, to be ready to receive it - and that's where we sometimes drop the
ball. Now, this distraction is NOT a new phenomenon - we're not unique here,
this isn't just from social media or smart phones or Google.
Throughout the
ages, throughout the scriptures, we have been promised that THE WORD is coming
- and we, as God’s people, have slowly slid into obliviousness.
Even our scriptures
tonight invite us to recognise that this is a common theme, that we need to be
shaken into awareness.
Isaiah declares that the GOOD NEWS is
coming!! There is a special messenger announcing peace!
The
people were excited!! ...and then they got distracted by their normal lives
again.
Then we hear the good news from the
psalm - that there is so much goodness happening by God that we are invited to
sing and rejoice, in a new song!
The
people were excited!! ...and then they got distracted by their normal lives
again.
The letter to the Hebrews is
encouraging an entire community that KNOWS about Jesus to listen to God;
sharing the history of how God spoke of good things, good things which were
literally embodied in the person of Jesus the Christ!
The
people were excited!! ...and then they got distracted by their normal lives
again.
And then we have the beautiful, mystical,
cosmological message from the Gospel of John - and it is all about the Word.
But not just any word - not just a random collection of letter that's been
assigned some meaning. Nope, this is THE WORD. The word of the Lord. The WORD
become flesh.
This is the Word that spoke creation
into being - in the beginning.
This is the Word that spoke through
the prophets - promising the hope of salvation.
This is the Word that spoke through
the messengers, those angels, that a child king would be born to faithful yet
humble people.
This is the Word that made John (later
the baptiser) LEAP in his mother's womb when he sensed the mere presence of his
cousin, Jesus – who was at that time new in Mary’s womb.
This is the Word that spoke of
healing, of compassion, of kindness; the Word that became the teacher of peace,
of love, of empowerment; the Word that became and remains the LIGHT OF THE
WORLD.
The Word of the Lord.
This is the logos: the powerful
reality of being the WORD that is with God and IS God; and encompasses so much
more than our simple mortal words can convey. It is word and reason and
intention and belief and action. It is the whole heart and mind and soul and
strength.
It is the entirety of God:
It is a
light shining in the darkness that will not be overcome - no matter how dark
the world may seem.
It is a
love burning through the apathy - no matter how angry or hurt the people it
encounters.
It is a
forgiveness offered to every changed heart - no matter what the sins of the
past.
It is a
peace that goes beyond anything we can understand - no matter what conflict
exists in the hearts it surrounds.
This is the logos - this is the
reality - the WORD of God, the good news come to earth in human form, humble
and vulnerable and dwelling among the people!
So naturally, the people were
excited!! ...and then, gradually, they got distracted by their normal lives
again.
This time, though - WE are THE PEOPLE.
We are the folks who are being invited to become excited by this great news -
to truly hear it and believe it and embrace it and be changed by it. We are the
ones being invited to love and serve and continue the sharing of these words -
of THE WORD - of the Light.
This night; this Christmas: May we
delight in the knowledge that this night breaks forth into our normal lives and
challenges us to be changed by its Word and Light.
May we celebrate our shared ministry
to be bringers of THE WORD to those who would hear it; may we embrace our shared
ministry to be light-bearers into any darkness that lurks. May we be excited by
the good news of God in Christ - living and dwelling in the very midst of us -
this night and every night.
May the logos - the Word of the Lord -
forever touch your life.
Our scriptures this morning are such beautiful, wonderful messages. And
they are familiar to us - of course. For some of us, we heard this very same
gospel passage last night,
And they are so familiar, that sometimes we might
take for granted the richness and depth of the message that God is speaking to
us in these astonishing verses.
I'm going to highlight just a few of those today.
So the Gospel passage starts off with Quirinius as
the Syrian governor and Augustus as the Emperor. These are high powered,
important folks. What a way to start off a story; with the height of all
society. These are the folks that make the headlines, that draw attention.
These are important people - the IT crowd - and Luke wants to make sure that we
know who they are, what their positions are - these people demand
respect!
Then we move to the census. Ah, government
paperwork being understood as awkward and inconvenient. Some things never
change! BUT - the census is happening, so that tells the people first hearing
this account the timeline. It was tense. It was busy. Thousands and thousands
of people all had to get to the city centre at the same time. It's a busy
place. There are any number of young couples, any number of pregnant ladies.
Joseph and Mary and her baby bump are just part of the crowd.
The birth itself, at first description, is just as
unimportant. One sentence. One verse. Mary was delivered of her child, wrapped
him in bands of cloth, and laid him in the closest thing to a crib, which was a
feeding trough. One presumes where there is feed, there are animals, and maybe
even the after-effect of what the animals ate. Needless to say, friends, this
is a HUMBLE birth. About as low as it gets.
Then - the birth announcement. That joyous news! An ANGEL from HEAVEN appears to deliver it! WOOHOO! And obviously, something like
this - well GOSH the angel MUST be giving this great news to the hoi poloi, right? Wrong.
God's messenger goes away from all the people, away from the city, away from the benefits of
civilisation, to the shepherds. Folks who have no other employment but to chase
after wandering critters, trying to keep them together and safe. Folks who live
in the fields - meaning they are essentially homeless. And without homes, with
the demands of their work, they are vulnerable to all sorts of attacks in the darkness
of night.
These are the folks who society deems to be
expendable, unimportant, insignificant. Nameless - even in Luke.
Yet they are favoured by God - clearly. They are celebrated
as the faithful. God has given THEM this wonderful message, this holy
visitation, this blessed news.
This is amazing. The entirety of this Gospel,
throughout this Christmas story, is set against the backdrop of the elite and 'powerful',
those who consider their earthly successes and accumulations to be a
sufficiency of goodness. And yet God acts to and through the average, the
lowly, the people society might forget. The people who can most benefit from
good news that transcends the harsh realities of this life. People who will not
take this news as just one more thing that happens, one more goodness. These
people are those who will be overjoyed and overwhelmed by this news - and will
share it widely, living into the magnitude of the angelic proclamations - to
Mary about her pregnancy, to Joseph about the nature of the child, to the
shepherds about the birth - and to all who celebrate this sacred event.
This good news is a game changer - it's a world
changer. And the message is of God demonstrating that things are changing. That
God is here for ALL the people. Not in a trickle-down sort of way; in a truly
grass-roots building up sort of way.
What a POWERFUL message for people to receive - in
those fields, in those communities, in our community. For the past 2000 years
we are blessed to hear how God acts in unexpected ways; in unconventional ways;
even in awkward ways. May we then delight that to us is given good news of
great joy for all the people: to US is born this day a Saviour, who is the
Messiah, the Lord.
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