Luke 2:1-20
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
A few weeks ago I told some of you how I only discovered the author Madeleine L’Engle a couple of years ago. A storyteller best known for writing A Wrinkle in Time L’Engle also wrote this book, The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas. In this story, a young awkward girl, a middle child named Vicky is going to be in the church Christmas play and she has been given the role of the angel who announces the birth of the baby Jesus. In Vicky’s own words, L’Engle tells us about her worries and fears and how she prepares. We also hear about her mother who is preparing for their own baby’s arrival.
On the twelfth day before Christmas Vicky is practicing her lines when one of the grown-ups wonders out loud if Vicky’s mother will be home at Christmas, or if she will be at the hospital with the new baby. And suddenly, all of the little girl’s expectations for the Christmas play, and for this new baby, are turned upside down, and she is afraid. She even tells her daddy, “Let’s not have the baby!”
On the twenty-third of December, the children have their dress rehearsal, everyone is beautifully prepared, and snow begins to fall, promising a white Christmas. But the snow doesn’t stop, and by the next day, on Christmas Eve, the snow is too deep for anyone to travel and the play is cancelled.
At the end of the story, Vicky and her family are at home together when their new baby arrives early Christmas morning, and after he is born, when Vicky looks out her window, she sees the bright Christmas star shining in the clear, dark sky.
Expectation, waiting, fear and wonder are all part of our Christmas stories too.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, ancient Israel had been expecting the promised Messiah or Savior to come and set them free from the oppressive Roman empire. They remembered the stories of David and they were waiting for a new Shepherd King to bring about a new realm or Kingdom here on earth and challenge the rulers and governors.
Truly, I tell you, hope is born on earth tonight as a tiny baby whose name is Jesus.
But the advent or arrival of this Messiah upends all expectations:
Instead of being clothed in majestic purple robes, he is wrapped in bands of simple cloth;
instead of laying in a gilded cradle, he lays in an animal trough,
and instead of being celebrated by royal officials,
his first visitors are humble shepherds who leave their flocks to go to Bethlehem to see what God has done.
Luke and Matthew are the only gospel writers who tell us anything about the birth of Jesus. Luke especially is careful to locate his gospel in history and draw our attention to the people to whom God first brings the Good News of Great Joy. Beginning with Mary and her relative Elizabeth and then the shepherds, Luke shows how God works in the lives of powerless people whom the world would like to ignore, turning the world upside down to invite us into a new Kingdom that is being born.
And the shepherds, like Mary before them, first are terrified, and then express wonder and amazement and in the end praise God for coming into their lives.
Tonight as we are here singing and listening again to the story of Jesus being born into the world,
we are filled with the hope found in faith in Christ Jesus,
and we are invited to share in all of the responses that the people felt that First Christmas:
to acknowledge our fears about what is happening in the world or things we do not understand;
to enjoy the wonder and awe of seeing God’s promise of salvation — forgiveness and grace — fulfilled;
to look upon the world amazed that God includes us in the
unfolding story of God’s Kingdom on earth; and,
to glorify and praise God even as we return to our lives and work in the days ahead.
Let us pray:
Holy God,
Thank you for the gift of Your Son Jesus, born this night to save us from our sin and sorrow;
May we know hope this Christmas as the Holy Spirit, the Wonderful Counselor, makes the good news known to us and through us.
Amen.
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