Christmas Eve 2023

Please enjoy our Christmas Eve service. May the hope, joy, peace, and love of the season be known to you and all whom you love. 

Scripture: Luke 2: 1-20

Is the turkey in the oven?

Are the stockings hung by the fireplace in the hopes that someone will soon be there?

Are those chestnuts roasting on the open fire?

Fire, what do you mean the turkey’s on fire?

Kids get ready! We have to leave, quick get in the car!

Wait, don’t forget to pack the presents!

What happened to all the Christmas cookies I baked? No, I didn’t make them for you, we were bringing them with us!

Christmas, that most wonderful time of the year, can be so busy! I often feel like Kevin in the opening montage of the movie Home Alone. I’m surrounded by the magic and busyness of Christmas, every moment filled with some element of Christmas magic. I often don’t know where to look or how to get involved and I’d just like a moment of peace. Maybe some quiet.

The first Christmas was also a hectic and chaotic time. Oh, there was no celebration planned. Just a census that the Romans were running, making the people travel back and forth. Jospeh and his pregnant wife Mary had to travel some distance to Bethlehem.

We don’t know a lot about that journey, but it couldn’t have been pleasant. A chore that needed to be undertaken, rather than a trip one looks forward to. We are told there was no room at the inn, most likely it was that Joseph as a younger member of his family was relegated to the manger. The more senior members of the family received the good beds.

We associate a good amount of pageantry to the nativity story. It’s fun thinking of all the angels and shepherds. The sheep and other barnyard animals. Somehow a kid with a drum always shows up.

When we read the passages that lead up to the birth of Jesus, we do not find the holy family at rest. They are on the move. They are uncomfortable. They are surrounded by people.

It is loud, it probably smells bad, and Mary and Joseph are probably afraid.

The shepherds arrive, singing hosannas. Proclaiming everything that the angels have shared with them. They followed a star.

Or did they? The Wise Ones followed a star, the shepherds they went door to door, a loud energetic mob, looking for a young couple with a newborn baby. Can you imagine? It sounds terrifying to me. This, unknown to anyone, was the first Christmas. It was loud, busy, uncomfortable, and frightening. And yet after the shepherds left, as Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart, the silence of the night descended.

We try to hold onto the silence. To capture this holy moment and savor it for as long as possible. To glean something of its meaning.

Soon, all too soon the silence will fade. The dull roar of everyday life will resume, and we will be left grasping at something we cannot fully describe.

For you and your family, the silence of this night may endure. A quiet evening may be in store for you, followed by a restful time tomorrow. Or perhaps after a brief rest the noise and commotion will return but still, you might ponder what is this all about? What happens at Christmas, what does this old, old story mean?

It’s an interesting story, probably written by a man, written primarily for men, historically interpreted by men and yet where we place much of our attention tonight is on a young mother and the child which is born. It’s interesting isn’t it. The story is so familiar we almost forget to read it. We assume we know it and as a result we tell ourselves the parts we enjoy. It’s such a busy time that we forget to stop and read every word.

What do we lose when we are so busy? What can we gain by slowing down and reading the story again? We can read the story and ask what the trip to Bethlehem urgent or were they able to take their time? We can read the frustration of not finding a place to stay. We can sense the fear of Shepherds and the anxiety that new parents must have experienced.

The busyness of this season mirrors that urgency, anxiety, and desperation and sometimes the familiar details of the story cause us to miss and gloss over the message that the gospel writer left for us.

That God chose to take flesh and live among us. That despite all the uncertainty God chose to come among us as a babe, vulnerable and trusting.

So don’t be afraid to slow down. Hold onto each moment as if it might be your last. Don’t let the haste of the season overtake you. Look around you, see familiar faces, allow a smile to form on your face and know that this is good. For Love came down at Christmas, as Christina Rossetti wrote,

Love came down at Christmas,

Love all lovely, Love Divine,

Love was born at Christmas,

Star and Angels gave the sign.

 

Worship we the Godhead,

Love Incarnate, Love Divine,

Worship we our Jesus,

But wherewith for sacred sign?

 

Love shall be our token,

Love be yours and love be mine,

Love to God and all men,

Love for please and gift and sign.

And Mary took all of this in and treasured it in her heart. May you also take all of it in and treasure it in your heart.

On this Christmas, as we welcome the light of the world once again. As we meet the Christ-child may we create a space in us to treasure the gift we received.

On this Chrimstas may we trust in the love of God, just as they did on that First Noel. Amen.