December 24, 2024
Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-20
Introduction
In those days a decree went out… In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night…
When I was kid I loved hearing this story read on Christmas Eve—this story about Mary and Joseph, shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, an angel’s good news of great joy, and of course the newborn “child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger.”
We all know this story so well. It’s the story we sing in our hymns, portray with nativity scenes, reenact in pageants, and read to our children and grandchildren. And it begins, “In those days …” and it happened “in that region.” “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus ….” “In that region there were shepherds living in the fields ….”
This story, and all its “then’s” and “there’s”, its “in those days” is engrained in us, woven into our spirits so much so that we have to have it as part of our Christmas customs and practices. And this is certainly wonderful and faithful, for sure… but I have to admit the older I get, the longer I live, and the more I experience the beauty and pain of life, the less interested I am in the “thens and theres,” the “in those days” and any “in that region” aren’t as big of a priority anymore.
To be certain, it’s a nice story, certainly important, but I’m nowadays I am much more interested in, and concerned with, what is happening “here and now,” in “these days”, and in this “region”. That’s the Christmas story that really matters and makes a difference to me—and I’d be willing to bet that’s the Christmas story that really matters and makes a difference to you. So I don’t want us to settle for just telling or celebrating the “then and there” Christmas story. I want us to live the “here and now” Christmas story. And no, I’m not talking about whether you and I have been born again—that’s not what tonight is about. Rather tonight is about whether Jesus has been born again in us.
If the Christmas story is going to have any relevance or power in our lives, in the “here and now” that is what tonight must be about. Otherwise… what good is the Christmas story?
Move 1
That is the question we need to ask ourselves if we want to get to the “here and now” Christmas story… What good is the Christmas story then?
What good is it to us if the angel announces good news of great joy to the shepherds living in the fields if that good news is not also announced to us in the dim night fields of our lives? What good is to us if Jesus is laid in a manger in Bethlehem if he is not also born anew in us and cradled in the manger of our lives? What good is it to us if the shepherds go see this thing that has taken place if we do not also see in our lives this thing that has taken place? What good is it to us if Mary treasures and ponders how these things can be if we do not also wonder at the mystery of God-with-us in our time and place?
I want to find the child lying in the manger of my life here and now, don’t you? Isn’t that why we come here this night every year? Don’t we want to hear the Christmas story because we want it to have an impact upon us like it did Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds? Don’t we come here on this holiest of nights because some part of us is hoping against hope that a multitude of angels will crack open the sky… or at least crack open our weary spirits just a little.
Move 2
The Christmas story tells us how Mary is chosen to the be the mother of Jesus. It tells us how Joseph is called to be brave in the face of uncertainty. It tells us the first to hear the news of the new born king was not a royal court but a group of lowly shepherds. And it tells us how there was no room in the inn so Mary and Joseph found the only shelter available—a barn, where the Prince of Peace was born and laid in a manger.
And we know a manger is a feeding trough—a dirty, a last resort, and a completely unexpected and unfit place for a new born king to be placed, let alone the Son of God. But let’s go deeper into the idea of Jesus, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the newborn King being laid into that manger and consider…
What if you and I, our hearts and spirits, are the manger in which this Holy Child, the Messiah, the Lord, has been laid? What if you and I, our relationships, the circumstances of our lives, are the manger in which the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the newborn King, has been laid? How might the Christmas story change if we looked at the manger with that perspective?
If you want to know the Child born again, born anew, in your life tonight, look at the manger of your life. What do you see? What manger have you brought here tonight?
Is it a manger of dimness and shadows? Tonight it is filled with the Light of Life. Is it a manger of confusion and self-doubt? Tonight it is filled with the Wonderful Counselor. Is it a manger of weakness and impossibility? Tonight it is filled with the Mighty God. Is it a manger of orphanhood? Tonight it is filled with the Eternal Father. Is it a manger of chaos and conflict? Tonight it is filled with the Prince of Peace. Is it a manger of loneliness and abandonment? Tonight it is filled with the one who said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Is it a manger of cruelty and violence? Tonight it is filled with the Most Gentle One. Is it a manger of guilt and regret? Tonight it is filled with the Merciful One. Is it a manger of fear and lostness? Tonight it is filled with the Good Shepherd. Is it a manger of hunger and poverty? Tonight it is filled with the Bread of Life. Is it a manger of thirst and desire? Tonight it is filled with the Cup of Salvation. Is it a manger of grief and sorrow? Tonight it is filled with the one who said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Is it a manger of death and loss? Tonight it is filled with the Giver of Life.
Jesus’ manger, our manger, holds all this and more. His manger has never been emptied of its power and meaning, and never will be. It’s the place where God’s life and our life meet and intersect. Let’s not forget that a manger is a feeding trough. It’s the place where our lives are fed, sustained, and recreated in the midst of our life’s circumstances.
Conclusion
What good is the Christmas story? I mean… Can this child’s birth really change our lives? Well, let’s consider this… Did your birth change your parents’ lives and re-create their world? If you’ve had children, or have had children come into your life in ways that were more than superficial, did the birth of your child and/or the presence of that child in your life change your life and re-create your world? I gotta think we all have had this happen in more ways than we can count.
So whatever the manger of your humanity holds tonight, tonight your manger is filled with divinity. And it’s filled with divinity because the promise of Christmas is that we will not and cannot leave here unchanged. It might take us a while to recognize and live into this change, but the promise is trustworthy and true, because to us “is born this day in the city of David… a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
And that “good news of great joy for all the people” in every time, in every place, and in every life; especially here and now, in these days and in this region, for you and for me, is what is so good about the Christmas story. May we know and hold this truth this day, and in all the days to come. Merry Christmas! Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, Christmas Eve, 2024
Holy God, on this Christmas Eve we are reminded of your angelic message to Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, to all who had been waiting and hoping and praying for the Prince of Peace to bring good news of great joy for all the people.”
And we are reminded the same angelic message of good news and great joy is given to us as well, for tonight, on this holy night that transcends all other nights, we are given the greatest gift we will ever receive—the gift of the Christmas story, and the promises that because of tonight, we no longer have to live in fear, because of tonight our hearts don’t have to be troubled, because of tonight the bread of life and the cup of salvation is given to all, because of tonight the Light of life shines in our lives forever.
So we pray you help us receive again these gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love that comes to us in the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Help us to open our lives and receive Him into our hearts and spirits, so all that comes at us in this world can be faced not with fear, but with faith.
And we pray too, you will reveal to us opportunities to share Jesus with anyone who lives are not yet aware of the Christmas story. The lost, the homeless, the widow, the parentless, the partner-less trying to raise up children, those struggling to find breath due to illness, those imbued with financial struggles, the immigrant, those cast aside because of race or sexual orientation, the hungry, the poor, the naked.
Help us to see, truly see, all who need to hear the angelic message, Do not be afraid so that your hope, peace, joy, love, and new life can guide all your children through their fears.
So may the angels sing again tonight; may the star shine and guide us; and may the Christ child affirm again that because of tonight there is always a faithful way through.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus—Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. Amen.