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| ANGEL AND SHEPHERDS by Hyper Pixels
Media |
Good
Christmas Eve to you all. We are so glad
you’ve joined us on the cold, dark night to celebrate new light and love
breaking into our lives.
In tonight’s
Gospel reading (Luke 2:1-20) we’ve heard about shepherds led by angel to gather
with Mary and Joseph to behold the newborn child many years ago. Let’s get a sense of who has been led to our
gather here tonight. There’s no shame in
answering honestly to these questions – as we’ve heard, the good news we share
tonight is for all of God’s people.
Who are the
regulars – those who we’re likely to find here every Sunday morning? Who’s been here before, but this is their
first time back in a long time? Who is
here for the first time? Of those how
many have come as guests of someone who knows this place? Who is here for the first time, not really
knowing anyone in particular, but seeking something sacred on this holy
night? Who here has had a kinda rough or
challenging journey to get here, either literally or emotionally? (pause…) and who here, if we’re being really
candid, is yearning for a momentary break from the noise and haste of this
often frantic season so that you can find again the light of Christ… so that
something tender and holy tonight will re-kindle something tender and holy in
you?
ALL of you
are most welcome here. Look around. If you recognize someone you don’t know, or
see someone you’ve haven’t seen in a while, greet them with the warmth of Jesus
in your heart and the recognition of Christ’s spirit in theirs. It’s our hope
that everyone will find what you’re seeking, here in our family. May tonight be the beginning of some new
relationships in Christ’s name. May no
one leave this place a ‘stranger’ tonight wondering if they belong – we all
begin as invited/expected guests and then members here in Christ’s church.
You see,
tonight we’re gathering here to remember a story about ordinary people who
receive extraordinary revelations about God’s relationship with us and then gather
together to make sense of what has been revealed to them.
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| “The Angel and the Shepherds”James Jacques Joseph Tissot |
These are not
people of any consequence in the world and time that they live in. They are average folk going about their daily
routine – God finds them there and invites them to see and know more about God’s
love for everyone.
Luke wants us
to see that God’s profound revelation of love for us is not really associated
with royal and imperial powers; nor does it come to us through any specific religious
rituals and special sacrifices; heck, the most profound moments we’ve heard of don’t
even take place in a temple or church. We
gather in here to remember the stories so that our eyes and hearts are more
open when we go out there to love and serve our Lord.
A simple
country couple, Mary and Joe, are making due with the only shelter they can
find on this dark and crowded night in the city. Certainly there has to be room
in a respectable place, even if one someone’s floor… alas, no one has shown
this unknown couple even hospitality of that sort. While this will be a holy night, as we know..
this ain’t likely a silent night for our wearied travelers – she’s now in the
throes of labor; he’s alone with her and they’re gonna have to figure this out together
in a mostly dark, cold and smelly barn shelter.
With the warm, ripe breath of curious lifestock on their shoulders, they
will have to make due with putting their newborn child in the feeding tough to
keep him off the dirt-n-grime that they themselves will end up sleeping on
tonight. Just when they might imagine
they’re ready for some rest….
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| “The Adoration of the Shepherd”James Jacques Joseph Tissot |
Shepherds
(dirty, edgy migrant laborers) from the fields are inspired by news that a
child is being born that will change everything. They leave their fields and travel to the
outskirts of the city to see if it’s true.
Guided by angels, they find Mary and Joe huddled together around the
trough in which they’ve placed their newborn child. Are our new born parents freaked out by these
rough visitors who have come in from the night, wild-eyed with wonder and awe
as they enter this vulnerable scene? Other
Gospel writers will tell of yet more strange visitors arriving from foreign
lands into this most unseemly of scenes.
What must
this gathering group of strangers in the midst of this barn be experiencing as
they come together and somehow manage to look past the natural messiness of
what has just taken place, over the unlikely chances of them having encountered
each other otherwise, and begin to see each other, by the radiant light that
this newborn child brings, as members of the same family in God’s eyes?
Luke tells us
that the shepherds left this unifying human experience glorifying and praising
God for all they had heard and seen… these often looked-over laborers from the fields
become our first models of evangelism for the Good News of God’s kingdom come
through Jesus Christ.
What does this
scene of utterly ordinary people being chosen for such extraordinary encounters
say to us about where God’s priorities are in coming into the world anew in
this way?
As one of my
fellow priests has said in one of her semons, “Jesus’ first attendants were from the edges of polite society, not from
the center…. [and Jesus in his ministry continues to] deal kindly with people
on the margins, and tell stories with unexpected heroes, such as the Good
Samaritan. The God we see through the portrayal of Jesus in Luke is a God who
reaches past the boundaries of race, class, gender and religion to touch people
who are on the outside, and it starts with the story of this night…. The birth
of Jesus says to us that God’s desire is to be with us in all times and places,
not only when the house is clean and the children are asleep. Those who visit
him in Luke’s account suggest further that this good news is for everyone, and
perhaps especially for those whose lives on the margins make them most open and
receptive to good news…. this story’s true value comes in its gritty reality,
its affirmation of human experience….” (The Rev. Kay Sylvester, Rector, St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tustin, CA)
How is it for
us tonight… to gather here, some of us initially strangers to each other…all
having been drawn here by something bigger than ourselves… some of us ready to celebrate the Good News
that has been born out in our own lives… some curious about what they’ll
discover at church this time… some wondering if this whole Christian story is
true (and, if so, what that means to them)… perhaps others are here just
wanting some company and not to be alone on this night when deep in our hearts
we’re getting in touch with “hopes and fears of all the years” again on this
profound evening.
"Do not
be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the
people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the
Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped
in bands of cloth and lying in a manger…. Mary treasured all these words and
pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2: 10-12, 19)
In sermons to
come, we’ll be exploring more explicitly the meaning of Christ being born unto us. For now, let’s be a little awe struck by the
truth that God’s love is not revealed to us in intellectual concepts or good moral
principles; rather God’s love comes unto us as a being of flesh and blood like
us to show us how to live with each other as God intends.
As we huddle
together on this dark night, over 2,000 years since the this strange company of
our ancestors gathered on that first Christmas, we’re invited to be open to the
profoundly good news that God chooses to come to us, right in the middle of our
actual circumstances, and invites us join with our neighbors in beholding the
gift of his love made known to us in Christ.
To prepare us
to exchange peace in His name before we go back into this holy night singing
together, carrying our lights back into the otherwise dark world, let’s take
these remaining moments of the sermon time to meditate a little and then see
each other anew in the light of Christ born again through us this Christmas
Eve.
I invite you
to close your eyes and quietly meditate/pray on some of these words that we’ve
already shared in song together and some of the words that we’ll soon sing
together – may the Holy Spirit help lift any/all cold cynicism or unfertile
fear from our minds while inviting the truth in these words be planted even
deeper into ours heart on this holy night:
“…shepherds quake at the sight, glories stream
from heaven afar…”
(Silent
Night)
“…O
hush the noise and cease your strife and hear the angels sing!”
(It
Came Upon the Midnight Clear)
“God
rest you… let nothing you dismay; Remember Christ our Savior was born on
Christmas Day…”
(God
Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)
“…this
is Christ the King, who shepherds guard…. Haste to bring him laud, the babe,
the son of Mary.”
(What
Child is This?)
“…in thy dark
streets shineth the everlasting Light: the hopes and fears of all the years are
met in thee tonight… the dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas
comes once more….”
(O Little
Town of Bethlehem)
“O come, all
ye faithful…. let us adore him.”
(Oh Come, All
Ye Faithful)
Now, as I
read a few final verses from some of our carols, I invite you to open your eyes
slowly and, in silence, look into the eyes of your fellow travelers gathered
here tonight.
With silent,
but nonetheless loving intent, scan the room and meet each other
eye-to-eye.
As you see
each other and hold your glances for a few moments, recognize that no matter
the differences between you otherwise, just like the shepherds so long ago, you’ve
made this journey here tonight to behold something profound – see if you can’t
help but smile with each other as you feel this truth well up in your hearts. Christ being born!
Here these
final hymn words as you greet each other in this silent knowing that God’s love
is born in us and acknowledging that we are to be the ones to take this Good
News out into world that so badly needs the light that we carry in Christ’s
name.
“The
Lord is come…. Let every heart prepare him room…. No more let sins and sorrows
grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow far as
the curse is found…. with truth and grace… and wonders of his love.”
(Joy
to the World)
“…Son
of God, love’s pure light, radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of
redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord at thy birth…”
(Silent
Night)
“……. O holy
Child of Bethlehem… cast out our sin and enter in, be born is us today.”
(O Little
Town of Bethlehem)
“Go tell it
on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere… Jesus Christ is born!”
(Go Tell it
on the Mountain)
AMEN
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