Introduction
Christmas Eve…it’s finally here. The holiest night of the year.
I am not sure, but I think I begin my Christmas Eve sermon each year with those very words. If anyone has picked up on that please let me know. But I say it because Christmas Eve is but once a year and it holds a holiness unlike any other day or night of the year. It is the night when everything around us—the air, the mood, the space, the time, the sensation all feels… different. It’s as if the world has stopped for a few moments and we can just “be” in this space where everything slows down, maybe it even stops, and there is a peace and calm—given permission by the haunting powers of every other night—that gets to be the most prevalent feeling.
I am not sure if that makes any sense because how can you put into words a feeling that comes but one night a year? How can you put into words a sense of being that is so rare? Hopefully you know what I am talking about, and hopefully you understand why I can’t very easily put it all into words.
Christmas Eve is finally here and we can let it be just as it is supposed to be all around us. And that is a good thing because oh, how we need it.
Move 1
Christmas Eve is the holiest night of the year, and holiness is certainly a gift we can all use after the year we’ve had because for many of us 2020 has been a year to forget.
It’s a familiar theme we often hear around this time of year: “Thank God this year is almost over! Next year has to be better.” There are several versions of this sentiment. Some more exasperated. Some more desperate. Some more bitter. Some more colorful. But they all have the same message—this year has been tough, it has been hard, it has been sad, it has been scary, it has been filled with pain, heartache, and loss.
I know many of your stories and sentiments about this year, and your hope for the new one. I share in them as I too have my own stories of sadness, pain, and loss from this year. It has been a tough year.
Personal stories aside, it has been a year unlike any other most of us have experienced, which makes it understandable that earlier in the month Time magazine dubbed 2020 “The Worst Year Ever” with the cover of its issue showing 2020 with a big red “X” crossed over it. Not an earth shattering cover story, but it is actually a significant statement when you understand that the use of the big red “X” on the cover of Time magazine has happened only five other times in the magazine’s long history.
The first came in 1945, marking the death of Adolf Hitler. In that same year an “X” was placed over Japan’s rising sun, signifying the end of World War II—although in this instance the “X” wasn’t red, it was black.
Time magazine didn’t use the red “X” again until 2003 when it was used to cross out Saddam Hussein and the beginning of the Iraq war. Three years later in 2006 the “X” was used when U.S. forces killed Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi. And the red “X” was last used in 2011 when Osama bin Laden was killed.
The cover story backs up this statement about the year 2020 by citing natural disaster destruction—fires and hurricanes; the nationwide protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd and others; and the nation’s economic turndown. The cover story also mentions the deaths of notable figures such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and actor Chadwick Boseman. And then of course there was the contentious presidential election and the ongoing the coronavirus pandemic.
Time wrote, “There have been worse years in U.S. history, and certainly worse years in world history, but most of us alive today have seen nothing like this one. You would need to be over 100 to remember the devastation of World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic; roughly 90 to have a sense of the economic deprivation wrought by the Great Depression, and in your 80s to retain any memory of World War II and its horrors.”
And then writer Stephanie Zacharek says about those of us who have not had the blessing of living that long, “The rest of us have had no training wheels for this.”
No training wheels. A fitting analogy I think.
Time magazine’s use of the “X” is done to symbolize “the end of a long struggle”. But it does so acknowledging that some endings are not the final ending—such as with bin Laden’s death. It marked a milestone end of an era, but not the end of the struggle against terrorism. Time’s use of the red “X’ here in December 2020 marks the end of a historic year, but not the end of the battle to curb the spread of a deadly virus or the end of our divided society.
But on Christmas Eve, as the clock tips over into Christmas morning, and all is calm and all is bright, we get to breathe in a space that is unlike any other the rest of the year. The holiness of it all, for a moment, puts a red “X” over all the pain and fear and worry that surrounds us, and it reminds us—it shows us— that though the struggles are not completely over, how we will endure the struggles changes forever.
Move 2
Throughout the season of Advent we heard how the people of God endured and found a way through the years of struggle—the years that were the worst years ever.
In each year, in each struggle, God was at work responding with hope, peace, joy, and love—offered through the gift of grace that is unearned and undeserved.
It was never a one and done magical fix for the people of God. It was never a clear cut end, with a bright and perfect new beginning. Rather every time it was God saying, “I am with you. I will see you through this.”
God said this to Abraham and David. God said this to, and through, the judges and prophets. The Psalmist reminds us of God’s assurance to see us through the worst of times when God hears our cries. And now, again tonight, the Gospel tell us how God continues to say, “I am with you. I will see you through this—and this time I do it through, my son, the light of the world, the word made flesh.”
And this is what God has said and done for us throughout this year, another worst year ever, because that is what God has promised to always do—come into the worst of times and put a big red “X” over it all.
Yes it has been the worst year most of us can remember where we have been trained—without training wheels— to endure and persevere and overcome the struggles of this year. But even those we have lost, lost only in this world, for as people of faith we know death never gets to have the last word and no matter what…love and life eternal wins.
We are here at Christmas Eve, breathing in the time and space only it can create as it tips into Christmas morning, and it marks the end of a long struggle, but the truth is it does so much more and it lasts so much longer—and that truth is what we must remember and cling to. Because come Saturday morning many will wake and the sense and air and holiness of Christmas will be gone. But to wake in such a way, to hold the belief that the holiness and miracle of Christmas is over, is to forget that it’s not just on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it is in each new day that God says, “I am with you. I will see you through this.”
Just like a Time magazine big red “X” symbolizes an ending, while acknowledging that some endings are not the final ending, the end of Christmas Day does not mean the power and promise and holiness of Christmas is over, because the truth, again, is God is saying to us every day, “I am with you. I will see you through this.”
Conclusion
Christmas Eve…it’s finally here. The holiest night of the year.
If I say that every year, well, know I’m not sorry—because I believe it. But I also believe—because of this holy night so long ago—every day and every night God wakes us up with, and lays us down with, the assuring truth: “I am with you. I will see you through this.”
The birth of Jesus; his life and ministry; his death and resurrection puts a big red “X” on the worst of life. It doesn’t end all the struggles of life, but it does mark the end of ever having to endure any of it alone.
Tonight we are reminded how God responded to a world seemingly determined to destroy itself—God did not give up.
Tonight we are reminded how God responded to a world that was struggling within the worst years ever—God sent a Savior.
Tonight we are reminded how God responded with love—sending God’s Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it.
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So may we acknowledge the struggle of pain, fear, and loss. May we resolve to respond as people of hope, peace, joy, and love. And may we do so knowing we can because God has already assured us that because of Jesus the struggles of this world are crossed out with a big red “X”.
Merry Christmas. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, December 24, 2020 Christmas Eve
Gracious God… Emmanuel… God with us, God for us, God among us…Once again you have sent the wondrous gift of life and light to all people, and you have come to us as a child, a baby who will set the captives free.
Once again Hope has come to the world; peace has come on earth; and we can rejoice for love has come down from heaven, and sets us free.
God of new life, we come with thankful hearts this holy night. For the greatest gift we will ever know comes again, assuring us that no matter what this life brings, your grace reigns, and your love wins.
And while we know this to be true, we know too that when there is light, there is still shadow.
Keep us mindful Holy God that you did not promise to cast away all shadow, but to push the shadow away so that we can keep our eyes on you.
So when grief and loneliness come, when the pain and sorrow and loss are too great, when candlelight does not seem sufficient to light the way, when the chaos of life gets too overwhelming, remind us of this night, and the hope it promises. Fill us with a peace only your promise can bring. For the Christ child came not only to redeem the world, but to walk beside each of us in our times of loss and show us the way through to better days.
We pray you let us not forget, as gorgeous papers and ribbons clutter our living rooms, what we know here and now.
The ultimate gift is your Son: Christ Jesus, born in Bethlehem, wrapped in the normal blankets of a normal child, yet containing deep within the genetics of joy, the seeds of peace, the will for salvation.
Bless our own gift giving that it, too, be marked with joy and filled with
peace.
Let our gratitude to others show, let our desire to show the world a win be lived out, and let it come straight from our hope, peace, joy, and love for you.
This is our prayer to you God our Creator, offered in the name of the Prince of Peace, Light of the World, who comes to us once again, on this Christmas Eve. Amen.