Christmas Eve Sermon, 2016

During Advent—which means “coming”, we lit the candles, one-by-one each week, symbolizing the important events in the events leading up to the Nativity.  With each candle lit, the light became brighter.  Tonight we light the Christ candle.  Tonight, we celebrate the coming of Christ.

In John 20, Jesus said blessed are those who have not seen and believe.

You, the faithful believers, have gathered with us to hear the Christmas story once again.

Isaiah said, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." (Isaiah 9. 2)

Isaiah spoke of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder. . of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

The world has been waiting for this for over two thousand years.  While we await, we celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Saviour.  The New Testament is abundantly clear that the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and that is the way in which Christian tradition has always understood them. The promised child is the child of Bethlehem, Emmanuel, which means “God with us”.

In the Gospel of John we read   ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Christ’s humanity and humility is symbolized by the circumstances around his birth.  We know where it occurred:  not in a house but where the animals were put up to stay.  Look at his worshippers, sent by the Angels to witness the Good News:

From the Second Chapter of the Gospel of the Blessed St. Luke:   ⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14        Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace,

Good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Beth-lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.[1]

Tonight, we retell an ancient story.  A story of a baby born in the humblest circumstances who changed the world forever.  We can point out the proof of the changes Christianity brought in the development of Western Civilization, its achievements in art and literature, in the construction of millions of churches and holy sites.  All because of the birth of a newborn child who was both the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Writing the Christmas Eve sermon is one of the most difficult tasks a minister faces each year:  how can we, called to preach, give a message that is worthy of the occasion?  It’s certainly a daunting task.  We can do far worse that look back at what Anglicans of the past have said about the Incarnation:  Bishop Lancelot Andrewes preached a sermon on Christmas morning in 1606 where he explained just why the Son of God had to also be born the Son of Man. 

To paraphrase, this is what he said, in words that are a little more understandable to modern ears:  “All (Jesus’s) life you see both His divine nature and human nature.  At his birth, you see a cradle for a child and a star for the divine Son; the shepherds honor the baby boy, the choir of angels celebrate the birth of God’s Son.  In His life you see Him hungry, showing His human nature and yet, still feeding the 5,000, showing His divine abilities.  At His death, He dies on the cross like any man, and yet opens up Paradise as only the Son of God could.”

The gift of Christmas is the change that his coming has brought inside each of us, as the book tells us, the change that He has inscribed upon our hearts. 

The world is not kind.  Many of us have been hurt, in one way or another.  All of us have hurt others out of ignorance or malice.  Any of us can forget the burdens of others in our focus on ourselves.  A wise writer once defined what the word “ego” means by defining it by a word standing for each letter.  Ego he said, means “Easing God Out”.

But tonight, we have a new beginning:  we can turn to God and confess our sins and ask for grace and mercy: God knows us fully:  our light and our shadows. God loves us despite our failings—despite our weaknesses. We are not expected to make ourselves into mansions before God will accept us.

Look at the manager, in a stable, with straw on the floor and the curious animals looking at the birth that unfolds. God comes willing to fill that emptiness inside each of us, to lighten our darkness and to give us light and peace.

But there’s much more to this story that we will trace through the lessons of the New Christian year, Sunday by Sunday.  We’ll hear those stories in church.  And week after week we’ll say the prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples.  Each of us are candles of the Lord, sharing the Christ’s story with the world.  Now we’ll break the bread and pour the wine as He commanded us to do in memory of him.

Unto us, all things are born tonight.  Come, let us prepare a place within.

            

And now unto God the Father….

The offertory Hymn is:  Hymn 27, “Hark the herald Angels Sing”

Remember the words of Our Lord:

“14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt 5:14-16 (KJV) 

---

^[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Lk 2). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.