Christmas Eve 2016

Luke 2:1-20

2In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

It is a good and right thing to be gathered in this house of worship this evening with each of you to celebrate the hope and joy that is being birthed into creation on this most holy night. Especially as my first Christmas as your pastor, it is a privilege and delight to share in celebrating the birth of the Christ child with you and your family.

Every morning in my household, as soon as the coffee pot gets to work, my wife or I turn on the morning news, partly to stir out of slumber and partly to catch up on the goings on of the world. News 2. Good Morning America or the Today Show. Matt Lauer, Robin Roberts, or George Stephanapolous. There’s surely to be news coverage of politics and governmental developments, updates on acts of terror by ISIS, the worldwide displacement of refugees and war in Aleppo, Syria, plenty of coverage anticipating the weather pattern for the week, stories of crime and violence in metro Nashville, and maybe a viral video of a dancing bear, a dog and a deer playing together, or a heroic act performed by an ordinary person caught on a cell phone.

And if that were not enough, I’ll keep my feed on my tablet full of news stories from the leading newspapers, media outlets, and journalists to keep tabs on world events. This way I have news on demand when I’m ready and willing to read it. I imagine among us there are quite varying degrees of news saturation in our lives but one thing is fairly evident in the stories we tell and hear day in and day out.

We are overwhelmingly hungry for hope and joy. We want to hear and celebrate good news, the kind of such magnitude that it changes the course of life in an instant. We want to share in the good news that comes to a couple that has waited years for an adoption to become complete. We want to feel the joy that overcomes a young person reading a college acceptance letter. We want to stay standing in awe of a couple exchanging vows of marriage. We want to stand beside a family as relief washes over them when the oncologist pronounces ‘remission.’

We yearn so deeply for a good word that even as messed up as things might seem that the grace of God is not going to leave them this way.

Maybe it’s not your lot in life at the moment, but someone seated around you is deeply yearning for a story of good news, for once, instead of despair, loss, and dead ends. Whether it’s part of your story or someone else’s, the deep yearning of the heart for good news is never far away. If you could write a story of good news for you, your family, or a loved one, what would the story entail? A life of prosperity and peace? Restored relationships? Health instead of difficult diagnoses? A transformative experience of God’s grace?

In this evening’s gospel narrative, the pronouncement of God’s entry into human history as Savior and Messiah, born in the city of David, takes place among homeless social outcasts tending livestock during the graveyard shift. Angelic spirits come from heaven to meet those tending the sheep and to announce that the kingdom of God was breaking into the world and the shepherds are terrified by the power and awe of God. The angels announce, do not be afraid. Here is good news and this news is full of joy and hope for all who are willing to hear it.

This announcement isn’t made in Jerusalem’s temple or the Roman marketplace. There are no preachers, priests, notable public officials, or highly esteemed community leaders anywhere in sight when the angel of God appears. Humanity’s first hearing of heaven’s good news is made in the back woods to people who are hardly perceived as being worth much of anything at all. This pronouncement of good news, euangelion in Greek, is a far cry from the other type of good news that Jesus’ family and community would have been used to hearing.

Messengers of good news would come into the city to declare that Caesar and Caesar’s legions of soldiers conquered, exiled, and decimated people throughout the known world. Good news meant that Caesar and Rome were in control and they would exert great violence to keep it that way. Good news from Rome meant that a privileged few kept their hands on the reigns while vast portions of the community edged out a daily existence in poverty, suffering, and exploitation. This is how our Christmas story unfolded this evening-Caesar declared that all the known world must be registered so that they then could be heavily taxed to prop up Rome’s military exploits and oppression of conquered people.

Instead of a story rooted in violence and heavy handed power, the good news proclaimed by the angels of Almighty God in a sheep field outside Bethlehem is that a infant, born to two fairly ordinary folks, is bringing hope, joy, and peace into the world. For people who are hope hungry, this is the story that is going to nourish their souls and shine light in dark corners. The Christ child, lying in a feeding trough wrapped in pieces of cloth is a sign that God is coming toward us in love and with grace to make us whole.

Throughout Luke’s gospel, the story of God in Jesus Christ coming into the world always reverses our expectations. From its first telling to the shepherds in the field to the Messiah offering up his own life for the least, last, and unloved, the good news of God hardly makes sense according to our conventions. And this is why it’s a powerful transformative story because it speaks hope and joy to those whose lives depend on good news. The socially outcast are called beloved. The biggest screw up in the family is welcomed home, given a place of honor, and immersed in unconditional love. Forgiveness is given to all the wrong people. This wide expanse of divine grace is demonstrated when God moves from heaven into our very midst as a child so that all might know the depth of transforming love. Bless you this night as you celebrate the good news of the Christ child. Amen.