It was a rainy, but unseasonably warm
Tuesday afternoon, November 16th, to be exact. I was sitting at our dining room table,
involved in some preliminary praying and planning for this Christmas Eve
sermon. Reading our Scripture lessons,
well-aware that most of you are well-aware of this birth narrative and that you
have come tonight expecting candle lighting, Christmas hymns, and children (and
Holy Communion.) What does a Pastor
preach about on this most familiar of all evenings? How might this age-old
message fall upon each of us, as though for the very first time?
In
that thought, my wife walked through our dining room and asked: “Did you see the snowman on the neighbor’s
porch?” Jill was preparing to interview that afternoon for our new
I
began to wonder, “Why does our eagerness
for Christmas come earlier each year?” Why do we slash the prices of Halloween
candies and costumes, only to make room for the creative items of
Christmas? What might this all mean, as
we say “Hurry-up!” to the holiday each year? How much earlier might our
Christmas preparation begin? Before Halloween within a few years? Right after Labor Day by our next generation?
Perhaps as far back as Pentecost or as early as Easter? If current trends
continue, might we actually celebrate Christmas year around?
I
wonder: “Might this be exactly what God
intends for His Church?” The Incarnation, God made man, to be an active part of
our every day, rather than the frantic pace of this final month of the
year. Perhaps the world is telling us
what the Church should already know and show? Christians complain that our world
is increasingly secular, and we are equally outspoken when people hurry the
celebration of Christmas. Might there actually be something worse than a
society increasingly eager for Christmas?
As the world enters the Christmas “spirit,” the Church can adopt a
“Scrooge-like” demeanor. We can be so judgmental regarding how people celebrate
Christmas, the birth of the One(I remind us!) who came to save the world, not
judge the world! I am certain that
sharing in worship is a wonder-full way, my favorite way, of celebrating the
birth of Jesus. I am far less certain
that my responsibility is to be a sort of “community Christmas cop” citing the
infractions of people not sharing my belief!
Not
everyone is able, or has chosen, to gather in worship this night. Even as we
have accepted God’s invitation to meet Him in this holy house to celebrate the
birth at Bethlehem, have no doubt, God is out-and-about tonight: with the
single mother who cleans at the hospital, hoping her children are asleep and
that the gifts she has managed to put together for them will be received with
joy; with our police and firefighters spending these dark hours protecting our
community; with soldiers on patrol, far away from home; with ER nurses and
doctors; with road crews working 2-day shifts, with homeless shelter and
nursing home staff; with the grieving who simply could not face the
crowds-of-Christmas tonight. As angels
came to the working shepherds, God comes to these working people as only God
can! The Holy Spirit still flows around
them to remind them of good news of great joy to all people!
The
events of this night are too significant to be relegated to once a year or a
single, specified month. The gift of
Jesus is about all times, all places, all people, and all stages of life. God
did not come and go; God came and stayed… Emmanuel=God with us! Might you and I, as we will soon dismantle
and pack-up our Christmas decorations for another year, keep out one ornament
or decoration, to remind us of Christ’s birth as we live the months ahead? Might we accept the discipline of retaining
in our hearts, and proclaiming in our lives, the deep joy of this miraculous
birth? How long? I cannot say for sure, but I suggest, at
least until sometime next fall when we observe the reminder of an inflated neighborhood
snowman, very likely before Thanksgiving?
Copyright
© December, 2004
Publish by permission
only. Contact Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church