Christmas Eve Sermon

As given on December 24th 2008:

Prayer:
Lord God, Thank you for having us here together. Tonight we have gathered to sing, to read, to pray and to enjoy your presence. We hope you are well pleased.

While we always wish to remember the work you did on the tree, tonight we propose to celebrate your birth: in order that we may gather some lesson about the character of your ministry from the nature of your birth.

May the story of your birth teach us how to make our stories line up with yours, may the Gospel narrative enliven and be reflected by the life of the church. May we never cease to draw our sustenance from your generous gift of the Ghost, whom counsels us daily,

Father we thank you for the gift of your Son. In your name, in Jesus’ name and in the name of the Holy Ghost…

Amen.

Homily:

Hello friends! Thanks so much for joining us tonight, the night before the day which a heck of a lot of people have celebrated the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We have done this as the church, and indeed as world culture, for well over a millennia and a half. It’s nice to have precedent.

By the way, since I have editorial control: 3 seminary geek things I like about Christmas time:
1) Laughing when I hear that people steal baby Jesus from nativity scenes. Funny because people get so upset about their graven image and funnier still because it brings new meaning to “personal savior.” Someone at Bible Study said it would be smart to put a Lojack in Baby Jesus. Insert joke about Omniscience here.
2) Protestants talk just a little more about Mary than usual around this time. Not too much…but a little more.
3) People who are not typically generous, are around this time of year. More on that later.

Of course, Christmas Eve comes at the tail end of what many in that millennia and a half plus time span have called Advent. Advent, within the church being the liturgical time we set aside before we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. So. Here we are at the end of that time. Many see a service like this one as the church’s way of saying “Hey! I’m not done with you yet!” Many would probably be right and I must confess that sentiment will become all to clear as I continue this homily.

When I started writing this homily, I came to a stopping point ad looked back on my words. I must admit that I was ashamed upon further reflection of the words I had so carefully parsed and committed to screen. In order to give you a better idea of the timbre of my message, imagine a birthday party where some of your closest friends showed up. Now imagine this was an open invitation and there were some people there who you’d like to know, but had thus far been unable to garner much of their attention. Now imagine the guy putting on the birthday party taking the time to yell at the finds al the while making the invited strangers feel really awkward. Imagine how you would feel when you walked into the party and found Angela from the Office dressing down the whole room. I was being Angela from the office: my least favorite character.

There was a bit that I liked that did not completely miss the point and that is where we will start tonight: I want to reflect a little on some people in the nativity accounts besides Jesus, Mary, and Joe. In Matthew, we are introduced to the Magi. In Luke we journey with shepherds. By looking at these groups and how they interact with Herod, angels, and One Messiah, that we may get a interesting idea on how amazing Jesus’ birth was and what it meant to the whole world.

Without going into too much detail, time is limited after all; the Magi were gentiles from the east. As such, they were outsiders to the revealed work of God insofar that they might be aware of the Hebrews and their peculiar monotheism but they would not be, say, “in the tent,” having working knowledge of the books of Moses and so on. How fascinating is it then, that Matthew, probably writing to Jews, has these gentile astrologers taking the time out of their busy stargazing schedule to come and recognize the Messiah being born. The Shepherds of Luke, are pretty much the scum of the earth as far as Israel is concerned; smelly, dirty, haggard, ceremonially unclean, and basically the last guys you would want to be around as the incarnate Lord is born…

But they are treated to an ancient outdoor extradimensional arena rock concert by none other than the angelic hosts. Something must be up with this whole incarnation thing when dudes that smell like sheep are invited over to see this Messiah person.

But this is at the poetic heart of the Gospel isn’t it? Quality time with Christ is open to all; for Matthew, especially to these crazy gentile astrologers, for Luke, especially these dirty old ranch hands. The miracle of the incarnation was meant to be experienced and enjoyed by all people regardless of race, station, or smell. It still inspires awe in modern day Magi and Shepherds who come to hear the voice of the Master.

Now, we could go a certain rhetorical direction and try to see if our personal stories line up with these ones. This is called ‘spiritualizing.’ I have looked down this road and found it to be dangerous, mostly because this road bypasses the point. In fact, I think the real hero of the nativity story is Mary anyway. What would you say to God after he sends an angel to tell you something crazy like “virgin birth?”

Practicality aside, the point here, now, is not so much whether you are a Shepherd or an Astrologer, or the Blessed Virgin. The point is that the greatest miracle of all time, even more astounding in my opinion than even creation, even more spectacular than parting the red seas, and way more long lasting than turning water to wine, although maybe as awesome as his resurrection, happened that night so long ago in the most humble of places. This miracle, not just the birth by a virgin, but the coming of God in the form of a man, this mysterious incarnation, is somewhere close to the theological heart of the Gospel.

I don’t want to get to technical with the ins and outs of this profound reality, but I do want to explore what the generosity of God and his gift of Himself in His Son. It is by this gift humanity receives the invitation to be reconciled, to have its relationship fully restored, to its estranged Creator. It is by this gift that humanity may be reconciled to itself, with the fullness of what it means to live together in due time. This gift holds the promise that even the thrills of modern technology, democratic elections, and even Nintendo Wii cannot even touch: the restoration of what humanity was supposed to be all along. In Jesus, we have life as it was meant to be with the grace from the Father to make it a reality in a fallen world with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to keep our feet planted when the ground is prone to shift.

It is God’s generosity that we model on Christmas. Therefore, for all of our bluster, so long as people give on Christmas, the point is always at least symbolically referenced, and thus Christ will never be expunged from Christmas. So long as there is good will towards men and generous tidings, no whim of culture can exorcise the will of God as imprinted on this season. If you would oblige me a suggestion: Be generous materially this season, especially for those in need. For if God had to become man of flesh and bone in order to fulfill His plan, what good is generosity in words only. Furthermore, Jesus came to give good news to the poor. What news is it to the hungry to be saved only after death? What better news is it to have the opportunity to eat or be safe or to be comforted? Thus, we as people following after God’s gift in Jesus are again able to reflect God’s generosity by caring for those whom he guards and loves but the world so easily forgets.

And perhaps here we can connect our stories to Magi and Shepherds: as they were people who had no business entering into fellowship with the God of Israel. And perhaps we are thus. But the fact remains that Jesus was born. He left the comforts of eternity and stepped into linear human history to bring us back. Christmas 2000 years ago was the beginning of the work of redemption wrought by Christ in his earthly life, work that culminated in his death on the cross and his the work that continues in his church all these years later. If perchance you are here without knowing that Jesus has come to meet you too, I hope and pray that the Christ we have sung to and about, prayed to and reflected on, is someone that you would care to know and perhaps to love.

Thanks for listening, Christ’s peace be with you.

Benediction:
The Lord Bless you and Keep you and make His face shine upon you, And may he bring you peace:
Go in the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.