Christmas Eve - 2019

St. Luke 2 The Message (MSG)

The Birth of Jesus

2 1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

An Event for Everyone

8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!

Meditation for Christmas Eve Lessons & Carols 

“Reverent, Loving Silence”

Grace and peace to you as we celebrate the Word made flesh.

We are dependent on words in our relationship to God.  The words of Scripture give stories and pictures of God.  Holy Writ gives us many images of God so that our imaginations might take flight:  father, mother, creator, potter, king, mother bear, mother hen, a still small voice, spirit, rush of a mighty wind, wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

We are too dependent on words whenever we get stuck on one image and make it ‘the’ image of God.  Excessive certainty about God can make it difficult, if not impossible for us to grow in our faith and relationship to God.

That is a danger at Christmas time.  Each year we may enter our Christmas cul-de-sac and circle the manger several times in celebration of Christ’s birth and then be on our way…life goes on…no change…no transformation.

Even though we’ve heard it all before, it is good to have rituals and hear the story once again but realize that these stories of Christmas are not a sentimental journey but words that take us beyond themselves and into the presence of a divine mystery.

Words are inadequate to convey the mystery of God among us in Christ Jesus.

So, faithful people, our words are pressed out – pushed to the limit in the poetry, prophesies, and stories of scripture you are about to hear.

So tonight our inadequate words are stretched out into music and art.  You see when we human beings move beyond words into wordless communication we come ever closer to the divine. 

Words are being put to the limit when we set them to music – thus the hymns we sing convey the nature of God’s love more adequately then mere words.  So God’s people sing their way into a relationship with God.

Words are being pressed out beyond their limit when pure music takes our imaginations into the divine mystery of the birth of Christ. 

Yes, organist and instrumentalists are often times better at speaking of God than preachers – no words – but music!

Dance and the arts are wordless expressions that can bring us into the presence of divine mystery.  Indeed our relationship with God is a divine dance.  If we could pull it off we should get rid of pews in all churches and dance our way around God’s altar.

Art – painting – sculpture – invite us into the divine presence in ways that words never can and so we will show you some art work – along with our singing of carols tonight.

Music, dance, art ---all move us away from words into the divine presence.  There is yet another way out of our annual Christmas cul-de-sac.

Silence – we sing about it every Christmas Eve and we will again tonight.  Silent, Night, Holy Night – but are we up to moving beyond words and into reverent, loving silence.

Sometimes reverent loving silence is the best response to the presence of God among us.  Silence is not just a nice sentiment or a place to simply relax. 

No, silence before God is like:

§  the silent Moses being transformed in the presence of the burning bush;

§  Job with his hand on his mouth after his encounter with God;

§  Elijah encountering God in the still, small, voice;

§  Mary encountering Gabriel;

§  Joseph contemplating what to do with an unwed mother;

§  the silence of shepherds on their way to see the Christ child;

§  Wise Men contemplating a journey that changed their lives;

Words, music, art, dance and silence are all about transformation – transforming us into the image of God made known in Jesus the Christ.

Lessons and Carols move us from words, to music, to art and into a silent night.  Sometimes reverent, loving silence is the best response to the mystery of the Word made flesh.

Amen