"A Memory that Lives" - Christmas Eve 2020

 

watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnlvyWETRQ

Christmas Eve, 2020

 

            Fisher Court, in Clawson, MI, a suburb of Detroit is where I spent my childhood.  From the end of our short driveway, you could see the elementary school a half block away to your right and town hall a full block and a half to your left.  On the other side of town hall was the baseball fields where I played little league.  The fields were on the grounds of the junior high school.  We call it “junior high” back then, 7^th and 8^th grade.  The junior high was connected to the senior by our town pool, a wonderful, indoor poor.  It had a high dive and a 12-foot deep-end.  One of the great accomplishments of my life was touching bottom in that deep- end. 

            A Christmastime, when it would be completely dark by 6PM, we would drive one mile to my grandmother’s house.  As we passed the town hall, we kids were thrilled to see the town’s nativity set-up illuminated by neon lights, with glimmering letters that said “Noel.”  When we saw the baby Jesus in the manger, whichever one of us kids saw “Noel” first would shout, “Sing for it, Daddy.”   My dad’s baritone voice would belt out “The First Noel, the Angel did say.”  It feels like we made that trip and asked my dad to sing like that about 100 times.  Every time I remember it, the number grows. 

That memory sticks out for me; maybe your family did something one year, one Christmas.  It affected.  Twenty years later, forty years later, you look back and you swear, “Oh we did that every year.”

What stuck out from that night in Mary’s mind?  Was it how tired she was, making that journey to Bethlehem by donkey while pregnant?  Was it the kindness of the innkeeper?  Our tradition slants the story, casting the barnyard birth as one more misfortune.  Poor Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, relegated to a night among farm animals with no room in the inn.  We forget that hospitality was an ultimate value in the ancient near east.  Joseph and Mary may have been grateful that someone gave them a safe, warm, dry, private place for the baby to be born.  We cast our modern sensibilities, but Jesus was certainly not the first or last to be born in such hard circumstances.  The story shows his humble beginnings.  His entire life, he would identify with peasants and he would alienate governors, priests, and kings. 

What did Mary remember?  The visit by excited shepherds?  The nearness of angels?  Relief at a healthy birth?  The steadfast, quiet compassion of her new husband Joseph? 

What sticks out for you as a Christmas memory, something that transcends time and becomes bigger with each passing year?  How we experience events in our memory impacts us as much as the original event.  When this time of year comes round, what thoughts, unbidden creep into your consciousness?  What memories flood your mind, blindsiding you?

Some are wonderful memories? When I remember yelling “Sing for it, Daddy,” in my memory, my father is an opera-quality baritone belting out “The First Noel.”  I know my dad, in actuality, is a passable church-choir bass-baritone, but not a professional singer.  Knowing that does not change my memory, where my dad sounds just a little better than Josh Groban as we drive and he sings.

I know many of our stories of the birth of Jesus have taken on legendary status that more resembles rich story-telling than precisely recorded history.  Yes, Jesus was born of the virgin, Mary.  Yes, his birth was in a Bethlehem stable because Joseph and many other Bethlehemites were forced to go there by the edict of a Roman census.  Beyond these barebone facts, a story surrounds the birth of the Savior.  In churches like ours, in grand cathedrals where thousands worship, in candlelit, third-world village chapels where less than a dozen gather, and in numerous other places worldwide, God moves in the telling of the story just as God moved in Mary and Joseph and shepherds and the innkeeper the night of Jesus’ birth. 

We have our memory and our memory defines us in powerful ways.  Our entry and re-entry into this story that we hear and believe shapes us.  Part of who we are as God-worshippers is tied to the hearing and telling of the birth of Christ each year.  It’s no longer the year from Hell, 2020!  Not tonight.  Tonight, it’s Christmas Eve, and we are transported to Bethlehem.  Like a thousand Christmas Eves prior, we are gathered with church and family once again for the birth of Christ. 

Moments stand out in our memory.  My mind is fixed upon a moment in 1986 or 1987.  I am not sure of the year, but I remember the moment vividly.  We were staying at my Grandmother’s house on 7 Mile Road in Detroit.  We had gone out.  When we got back to the house, I can see my grandmother’s face as she opened the front door.  Something was wrong.  Someone had broken in and robbed her while we were out.  She lived in a high-crime city, Detroit, and crime came her way Christmas Eve.  It didn’t feel very good at the time, but what I take away from the moment is our family was together, and the feeling of being violated did not last.  The love of family and the spirit of making it a merry Christmas anyway is what lasted.

What moments were fixed in Mary’s mind from that night?  What moments come back to you with instant recall when it is Christmas Eve and you sink from the immediacy of the present into the fullness of your entire story?

From moments and memory, we have to move forward, but not too quickly.  We don’t rush to what’s next. We take our time.   Christmas Eve is not time to rush anywhere.  But calmly, deliberately, we know tomorrow comes and life continues forward.

Mary and Joseph would settle in Bethlehem, but not for long. Within a year, strange visitors from the East, the Magi came.  These Persians gave extravagant gifts to this poor family.  God told Joseph in a dream that had to leave, and so they fled to Egypt, to avoid the murder of Jesus at the hands of Herod’s soldiers.  Then, finally, God told Joseph in a dream they were to return, and they did, settling in Nazareth.  They raised Jesus there. 

We savor the moments that live in our memories.  We also move forward from those moments.  We move forward in faith.  That’s what Mary and Joseph did.  They cherished the baby Jesus, and, in faith, raised the child Jesus.

Think on cherished memories Christmas Eve evokes in your heart.  Take a moment. Ponder them.  Consider what memories might be made tonight, Christmas Eve 2020.  God is here and loves us.  God has you in His hands.  On this very night, His spirit can bless you so that you’re empowered to face whatever life brings next.

As we close our service and sing “Silent Night,” open yourself to God.  Receive what God gives.  Open your heart to receive God’s spirit.  You don’t need to ponder moving forward right now.  Just sit in this moment before God.  Receive his love as His Spirit washes over you. 

Leaving worship full, you will have all you need to go forward in faith. 

AMEN

To You is Born a Savior (Hebrews 1)

View here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVc26bzIz10&feature=youtu.be

“To You is Born a Savior” (Hebrews 1-2)

Rob Tennant, Hillside Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Christmas Eve, Dec 24, 2019

            We’re coming to you live from Chapel Hill, North Carolina!  Merry Christmas!  We live in heart of great learning and great college spirit and sports; Chapel Hill is home of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

Suppose a few months from now, springtime, when 60 degrees feels down right balmy after a couple of weeks where the high is 35 – suppose you walk across campus.  After months inside huddled up avoiding the cold, people will be out all over. 

So, walking across campus on this wonderful spring day, you survey people.  Each one willing to talk to you, professor, student, maintenance worker – everyone; you ask, “Who is Jesus?  What do you think of him?”

You’ll hear a variety of answers.  Some might say “He’s the baby born in the manger,” but I don’t think you’d get that answer too often.  You would if you conducted this survey right now; Christmas is on everyone’s mind.  We’ve heard “Away in a Manger” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” about 100 times by now.  But right now, no one is on campus.  Imagine asking this question months from now.  Who is Jesus? What do you think of him?

Some might say something about Easter.  You’re asking this in March. 

Some might say vile things just to rile you up because there are people on college campuses who love agitating just for the sake of agitation! 

Some will say something like Jesus is the Son of God and savior of the world.  Contrary to popular belief, there are true Jesus-followers on UNC’s campus. 

Questions like this posted to random people help church insiders see the varied opinions people in the world have about Jesus.  On Christmas Eve, most people talk favorably about him.  Radio stations play Christmas music on an endless loop from Thanksgiving through the end of the year.  Pop stars, country music stars, R&B stars, rappers, hard rockers – they all do a Christmas album at some point.  They all perform on TV Christmas specials. 

There on the holiday special is the singer who shocked the nation with her see-through dress as she sang about lurid sex on stage at one of last year’s awards shows.  Now you see her dressed just a bit more modestly and she’s singing, “Hark the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the new born king.’”  That’s worship music!  She’s Christian!  Ah, the second verse … “Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord.”   Who but a follower of Jesus could sing such words?  Now hear this.  It is possible she does indeed believe in Jesus and at the same time lives hedonistically and as a bit of an exhibitionist.  Christians are not perfect and even in church, we are not perfectly consistent in living our faith.  We try. 

The problem with Christmas praise of Jesus is after Christmas day, the deeply moving confession of faith is stored in a box with the tinsel and artificial boughs of holly.  That faith will be kept in the closet to be brought out next year at this time.  It is a faith that does not lead to life change.  Is that kind of faith truly faith at all?

Who is Jesus?  What do you think of him?

Know this!  The shepherds mentioned in so many hymns and carols sung by pop stars and by us were in search of something more.  Those shepherds stationed in tableau on fireplace nativity sets across America did not rush out of the fields and into Bethlehem to see a baby.  They worked with animals.  They watched thousands of births.  They knew the earthiness of birth, the messy beauty, and the wonder.  They appreciated new life, but they weren’t enamored with a peasant couple’s first child.  They had seen human and animal babies born in stables before. 

They ran through the Bethlehem night whooping and hollering and waking everyone up as they praised God because they had been visited by an angel.  The heavenly messenger promised “good news of great joy.”  Babies are beautiful, a wonder, but millions are born every day.  This baby, the angel said, is a “Savior [the Savior], the Messiah, the Lord.”

I’ve talked before about lectionaries – cycles of scriptures readings.  One of the passages scheduled for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in the Roman Catholic lectionary is Hebrews chapter 1-2.  I’m asking “Who is Jesus?  What do you think of him?”  We’ve already identified that he’s the baby we sing about and a Heavenly messenger proclaimed him Lord, Messiah (which means promised, anointed one), and Savior. 

Let’s put those questions to the writer of Hebrews and the reading for today.  Who is Jesus?  In Chapter 1, verse 1, he is identified as the Son – the son of God.  Verse 2 - he is the heir of all things and it is through him that God created all worlds.  God the Son didn’t come into being at the birth of Jesus.  He always existed.  When Jesus was born, God the Son entered human flesh.

Verses 3-4, and I quote: “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.  When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become as much superior to angels the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.”  That’s a mouthful and I won’t try to unpack all the theology contained in these verses.  I simply summarize by saying the baby in the manger in our nativity sets is Jesus the savior and sustainer of all things.  The world would not turn and the universe would not hold together without him.   

In Hebrews 1:8 God is quoted as saying to the son, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”  The final words to the hymn “Silent Night” are, “Jesus, Lord at thy birth.”  Hebrews chapter 1 is the Biblical foundation for this faith claim that Jesus was Lord even before he was born. 

The incarnation is a mystery.  How could God Almighty, the ultimate power and ultimate personality in the entire universe step out of divinity, empty himself as it’s described in Philippians 2:7, and enter the body of a human newborn?  Did the baby Jesus know he was God?  I don’t think so.  I think he did what all babies do.  Cry, sleep, eat, poop, and repeat.  He was fully human.  At the same, he was fully God.  How that fits together I cannot perfectly explain.  I just believe it. 

Reading Hebrews alongside the Gospels, we see who Jesus is.  Tonight, an equally important question is what do you think of him?  I don’t know what the pop star who sings the songs on the TV Christmas special thinks of Jesus.  Her faith is out of my jurisdiction unless she happens to be in this worship service tonight!

I am concerned about your relationship with Jesus.  He loves you.  The whole Christmas story is the opening chapter of God’s love letter to you.  That’s why God the Son stepped out of Divine space and restricted himself to the confines of our world in human flesh.  Jesus is God’s declaration of love for you.

You can enter into a real relationship with God by putting your faith in Jesus.  You can do that tonight.  We have a few moments of worship left.  Acknowledge your need for God’s forgiveness.  Confess your sins and ask Jesus to come into your heart as your Savior and Lord.  Turn away from sin and to Him.  No matter what’s happened in your life, he’s welcoming you with a divine smile and arms outstretched.  He’s got a heavenly embrace for you.  He truly the Savior the angel promised the shepherds.  Give your life to Him. 

We end our service by singing “Silent Night” by candle light.  Our candles are lit from the flame that burns on the Christ candle.  If you have never entrusted yourself to Jesus and you want His light in your life, after the service, I’ll be happy to pray with you and talk you through the process of inviting Him into your heart. 

Let us Pray.

Christmas Eve, 2018 (a sermon)

December 24, 2018

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

“An angel of the Lord stood before them.” The refers to the shepherds who were tending their flocks in the fields outside of Bethlehem.  Luke writes, “they were terrified” (2:9). You would be too; so would I be trembling in awe if visited by a divine messenger.  Whenever angels appear in the Bible, humans are overwhelmed. It is the reason the most common first word angels speak is “Fear not.”  To Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist, the angel had to tell him, “Don’t be afraid.” Similarly, to Mary, “fear not;” and the same to these shepherds.  

Can we even hear the words of the message or are we simply too shaken from the encounter with something otherworldly?  Hopefully, we can hear.  “Angel” literally means messenger.  When an angel comes, what he has to share comes straight from God.  It’s a message we need.

That night in the fields near Bethlehem, the message was, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people; to you is born this night in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord (2:11).   All people.  The world is so big.  Life along the North Carolina coast moves at a different pace than here in the triangle; and our daily experiences are not the same as our fellow North Carolinians west of here, in the mountains.  And do some of our traditions differ from the folks in Cherokee, North Carolina? I think so. This vast diversity is just in our state. Think of the numerous cultural expressions in the the rest of the U.S., and the rest of the world!  The angel speaking to those trembling shepherds promised good news for all people - including the millions we never meet.

In the mid ‘80’s our family had only lived in Virginia a few years.  Every December we drove back to Detroit where we stayed at my Grandmother’s house.  My’ mom’s mother lived alone on 7 mile road. On Christmas Eve, we would go out to the suburb of Clawson, where my Dad’s very large family lived.   My mom’s mother would come with us. We stayed out late Christmas Eve every year, enjoying time with family.

One year, we returned to grandma’s Detroit home to discover there had been visitors: robbers.  They opened all the presents and stole anything they thought was valuable. We felt pretty violated, but quickly we gained perspective.  We weren’t hurt. The things they took were just that - things. We had each other. We had just enjoyed a night of great happiness with family.  How broken were their lives that they thought the best way to spend Christmas Eve was to break into someone’s home and steal from them.

I am bringing you good news of great joy.

To you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

It’s a message for all people because all people need a savior.  

We’re here together enjoying familiar Christmas songs.  Not 2-3 miles from here are families struggling so badly they have to decide whether to pay the heating bill or buy food.  Forget presents and a Christmas tree and decorations. They just need to survive. But they can’t forget presents and trees and decorations.  They live hand-to-mouth in this land of plenty; the wealth of others is in their faces as they struggle to make it through each day.

I am bringing you good news of great joy.

To you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

It’s a message for all people because all people need a savior.

Maybe sadder than the desperately poor family is the wealthy one with $50,000 cars sitting in the driveway of their million-dollar home.  Yet, love and laughter is absent from that home. This wealthy family has experienced divorce, suicide, addiction ...

I am bringing you good news of great joy.

To you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

It’s a message for all people because all people need a savior.

Tonight, Christmas Eve, soldiers from our country and other countries are on duty.  They carry rifles and look for enemies. They are far from home, far from the families they love.  Why, why on this night is this the story? Because war doesn’t take a holiday. Nation against nation, man against man, we humans kill each other.  

The angel promised this to all people, I am bringing you good news of great joy.

To you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord, because all people need a savior.

Police are on duty tonight.  Why? As my story from 30 years ago attests, crime doesn’t take Christmas Eve off.  The world is broken and broken people either sit in their own hurt or do things to hurt others.  We need that angel’s word.

I am bringing you good news of great joy.

To you is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

It’s a message for all people because all people need a savior.

We have had a lot of joy in and around our church throughout the holidays.  There have been beautiful worship services, much laughter, meaningful moments, some surprises, and a full share of joy and good cheer.  Our joy comes from the beauty and power of the story we tell - the story of Jesus’ birth. Right in the middle of this story, from the mouth of the angel, we are reminded that we need a savior and promised that he has come, for everyone.  Even if you think you have it all together, you still have as much need for a savior as anyone else in the world.

This war-torn, crime-filled, drug-addicted, heartbroken, lonely world is the way it is because of sin.  Sin cuts us off from God. Sin is the overall category for choices we make that hurt ourselves and others; and sin is the decisions we make in life that offend God and take us off God’s path.  And every one of us sins every day. This is why Jesus had to come and be in the role he was in. To us is born a Savior, Christ the Lord.

This Christmas Eve, as I wish you happiness, I invite you to consider your own need for a Savior.  As you ponder that, consider that the Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the Savior you need.

Throughout his gospel, Luke repeatedly shows his sense of the salvation Jesus brings.  Salvation is reversal of status. We were in tension with God, but with our faith in Jesus, we are in right relationship with God.  We were enslaved by sin, unable to break free. Jesus breaks the chains. He is the truth and when we know Him, we are free. Right now we live in a world of war, crime, addiction, broken relationships, and death.  He brings a new kingdom - the kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and peace. When the Savior visits and we receive forgiveness, we then have new life. We become new creations and a part of a new community as we are adopted as sons and daughters of God.  

When can we hope to begin to see this salvation?  In Luke 4, Jesus, the baby grown up, says “today the scripture has been fulfilled.”  It will be finalized at His Second Coming and we long for that day when pain and death are finally and completely overthrown.  But even today as we live in the world with sin around us, upon giving our lives to Christ, we begin to lean into the eternal kingdom and live a kingdom ethic of love and grace right here, right now.  Salvation begins the day we visit the manger, and recognize that the baby there is our Savior and thus we worship Him as our Lord.

Who is this salvation for? Trust God’s messenger, the angel.  The promise made to the shepherds is good for each and every one of us.  “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.”

Who is salvation for?  For you. Only you know all the details of your story, but whatever the good and the bad, your story needs a Savior - the Savior.  The same Jesus who will save the world from humanity’s attempts to destroy it loves you and wants to save you from the pain and heartache you have to carry.  If you’d like to learn more about how this Savior, born Christmas night, can be your Savior who completely changes the direction of your life, I’d love to hear your story.  Maybe together, we can talk and pray and ask the Lord to come into your life and change your life’s direction. Please see me after the service, or connect with me in the next couple of weeks.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  We will close our service by singing together “Silent Night.”

AMEN

Christmas Eve Sermon (2016)

The Earth Shall See Salvation (Isaiah 52:7-10)

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2016, 5:00PM

            Good news!

            Break forth into singing!

            At the return of the Lord, sing and shout for joy!

            All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God!  Among the other sentiments we share on this night, a reading from Isaiah sets the spiritual mood.  In celebrating the birth of Jesus, we recite the arrival of God’s salvation plan.  The prophet Isaiah bellows words that echo across history, and we Christians believe there is unique meaning in this Old Testament prophet’s expression, and that meaning is found in Jesus.  “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Or as Isaiah says, “All the ends of the earth shall see salvation.” All need it because we are lost in sin, and God loves us and thus sent Jesus for all of us. 

            We sing of our salvation in our Christmas songs.  We also retell the story when we sing these songs. 

When we sing (tune of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’), for Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above, while mortals sleep the angels keep their watch of wond’ring love, we are singing Luke’s story.  Luke’s telling of Jesus’ birth is the point of view that gives us angels and mangers and shepherds.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, meets an angel.  An angel appears to Mary.  Joseph and Mary make the periled journey from Galilee, headed south but also climbing over mountains, thus headed “up” to Bethlehem.  Upon arrival, they find crowded inns and end up, probably in a family home, which included a feed trough for animals, the manger.  This is in Luke.

            Matthew tells of dreams.  Joseph dreams.  The wise men had dreams.  There is none of this dreaming in Luke.  Matthew tells of the visitors following the star and a flight to Egypt.  Wise men, Joseph, dreams, Herod – that’s all Matthew. 

Mark skips the birth stories altogether.  He begins his gospel with Jesus’ baptism. 

John, on the other hand, goes back, way back before even Genesis.  John says, that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  However, after John gives that cosmic perspective, he too skips ahead to Jesus and John the Baptist and the recruitment of disciples. 

            Of the four gospels, Luke provides most of the imagery we envision at Christmas and sing in our songs.  Matthew definitely finds his way into our Christmas songbook.  We three kings of orient are.  Bearing gifts we traverse afar.  That’s Matthew and there are others from Matthew.   But most of the Christmas hymns tell Luke’s story.  Including the ones we’ve sung tonight.

            The First Noel, the angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.  That’s Luke.

            Away in a manger, no crib for his bed.  The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.  Again, Luke.  We sing the second chapter of Luke more than any other passage in scripture, except maybe the Psalms.  I find it beautiful.  To me these are some of the most familiar, comforting, and meaningful worship songs we have.  People will refer them as ‘Christmas carols,’ and that’s not bad thing.  I have no problem with that wording.  But I don’t talk about that way. 

To me, Away in a Manger is a worship song.   Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay.  Close by me forever, and love me I pray.  In difficult times, I pray that prayer.  God, please be with me.  Guide me through this.  Help me with the struggles I face and the obstacles to be overcome.  I love that Luke’s moving storytelling has inspired songs so familiar, we can sing them by heart.  In doing so, we tell the story Isaiah prophesied – the joyous proclamation of salvation in the coming of Jesus.

I have to mention that my wife gave me a Christmas warning.  She said, “Listen.  I’ve had enough of the heavy sermons.  They’re good, but, it is Christmas.  I need baby Jesus.  I need Mary and Joseph.  I need a manger.  I need to hear about peace and joy.”  I have been so instructed, and not just by her.  Years ago, before I even started in ministry, I was exploring the idea of being a pastor.  So, I visited a seminaries across the east, including the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.  There, I sat in on the preaching class.  The professor told her students, would-be pastors, “When you’re preaching at Easter, talk about the resurrection.  Don’t try to get too creative.  At Easter, talk about the empty tomb.  When you’re preaching on Christmas Eve, mention Bethlehem and baby Jesus.”

Tonight, I have tried to abide by that professor’s instruction and more importantly, my wife’s direct admonition.  This is the night we celebrate Jesus’ birth.  This is the night we rejoice and thank God for Jesus’ coming.  On this night, we read Isaiah’s words – “Break forth together into singing you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted His people; he has redeemed Jerusalem” (52:9).  And when we read Isaiah 52, we link his promise with the fulfillment in the coming of Jesus.  It all comes together.

As it does, telling moves into confessing.  “To know the risen Lord is not only to give an account of something that happened in the past.  It is an interior knowing that transforms the knower.”[i] 

Church historian Robert Louis Wilken observed that 2^nd century Christians felt that only by believing in God and following Jesus could they understand God.  Their theology proceeded from their belief before it was worked out in their intellect.  When they attempted to explain Christianity, it was never simply an academic exercise in which they developed their theology.  Origin, Tertullian, Augustine – their theology was a product of their personal faith.  In some cases, they died for their confessions of faith in Jesus and were glad to do so. 

The word martyr actually means witness.  Once we decide to follow Jesus, the story becomes our story, and every example of Christian witness comes in the first person.  Beyond sharing information, our telling of the great drama of scripture is our confession what God has done in our lives. 

This night, I have tried to recite the story of Jesus’ birth.  Through our favorite, familiar songs, we have rehearsed the story we know so well.  Even non-church people have some familiarity with it.  We have read the scriptures.  I have spoken of Joseph and Mary and the manger.

Now, in order for this to be true proclamation, more than mere quaint narrating, I have to be a witness.  I have to tell what I have experienced in my own life.  I have to bear my soul because for me Christmas Eve is more than tradition, more than habit, and more than a necessary task of being a church leader.  Christmas Eve worship is a part of my life as a follower of Jesus.  Apart from God, my life makes no sense.

The coming of the Lord in human flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, is the coming of salvation.  And I stand before you as a man who needs, or who needed, to be saved.  I won’t give a line item accounting of my sins.  There are too many – and at the same time, there are none.  I know I have lived of life in which I made mistakes that absolutely cut me off from God.  I know that. 

Yet, I do not dwell on it because this Savior whose birth we rejoice has saved me.  I have confessed those sins and Jesus has nailed my sins to the cross.  That’s where my sins and my death are.  I stand in joy that only grows deeper and richer over time because with each passing year, I grow in my relationship with God in Jesus Christ.  This is not my accomplishment.  I am not bragging.  I am testifying.  I am singing and dancing.  I thrilled.  The life I have in the Lord is a gift God gives and then renews all the time.  The joy that grows is something God is growing in me as a gift to me.  God offers that gift to all.  In addition to testifying, singing, and dancing, I am inviting you.

The birth of Jesus, the birth of my salvation, is the birth of yours too.  Christmas marks God’s announcement.  All who know they are sinners can turn to Jesus, be forgiven and be adopted as sons and daughters of God.  If you have never given your life to Christ and received His grace, you can do so tonight.  You can come talk to me afterward and together, we’ll pray for your heart to be opened and the Holy Spirit of God to come in.  Jesus’ birthday can be the day you are born again.

Then, the story of it will be your story – the memory of your new life.  When you share that story, you are right there with the angels and the shepherds.  Whatever baggage has weighed down your soul is lifted by God’s love as God makes you new.  And like me, for you, telling the story is no longer narrating.  It is confessing.  You become the martyr – the witness – who testifies that the Lord is good and that in Jesus His Kingdom has come.

I titled this Christmas Eve message “The Earth Shall See Salvation.”  This is how it happens.  People like you and me tell the story of God.  This Christmas Eve Bethlehem chapter is but one installment.  When we tell it, we tell it as confession because we are saved and the story is ours.  Our telling is testimony.  People hear our testimony and the Holy Spirit works in their hearts.  They realize their need for God.  They confess their sins, receive Jesus into their hearts, and are born again.  Then they are testifying witnesses.  God is good and we can have life in his name.  And on and on, the Gospel – Good News – spreads until the Earth has seen salvation. 

(We conclude our service by singing “Silent Night”).

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[i] Robert Louis Wilken (2003), The Spirit of Early Christian Thought, 

Faith at Christmas Time

            I am very thankful when I hear my 6-year-old daughter talk about Christmas and I hear her mention Jesus.  We are a Santa Claus household.  My kids do something I never did.  They decorate their bedrooms for Christmas.  There are snowmen, reindeer, and Santa Claus’s all over my house.  Religionists who decry the commercialization and secularization of Christmas would have a field day with my family. 

            I don’t regret a bit of it.  We love the sounds of bells, the smell of Christmas cookies baking, the plans for family to come, and green and red everywhere.  But, when I ask my kids, “What is Christmas really about,” they lead with, “the birth of Jesus.”  Hearing that, I have happiness in my heart. 

            Are they just reciting lines they’ve heard in Sunday school?  Maybe.  And if that’s what they’re doing, that’s OK.  They are living into the narrative we have created.  I happen to think this narrative is true, is a right accounting of reality.  Still, right now, much of what my kids say is parroting.  They are not expressing deep faith convictions.  Not yet. 

            I pray that will come.  With each passing year, as I grieve losing the adorableness of little kids in my home as they grow into big kids and adolescents, I pray the beauty of childhood is replaced with kids that demonstrate a maturing faith and real awareness of the power of God.  Along with that, I pray I will grow in my sense of God’s real presence in my life.

            This year I will do something I don’t always do.  On Christmas Eve I intend to preach an evangelistic sermon in which I urge hearers to come to terms with God by reaching to Jesus for salvation.  The coming of God in Jesus Christ is God’s offer of himself to a world that’s stuck in sin and bound for death.  Jesus is God’s way of changing course for people who will receive the salvation he extends.  Jesus is “the game changer” (to use that overused and often misused phrase).

            Many who come for worship on Christmas Eve will be people who are already believers.  I pray the music, the prayer, the candles, the readings, and the sermon will call those individuals to a deeper awareness and attentiveness to their own personal relationships with Jesus.  And I pray God will speak through the service to seekers who only come to church one night out of the year – Christmas Eve.

            If you think of it, pray for our worship at HillSong on Christmas Eve, 2015.  If you know you’ll be here, see if one of your friends who isn’t really into Jesus might come with you.  Invite a friend.  Let that be one of your Advent disciplines.  That act of extending yourself and inviting a friend who is an “outsider” to Christianity will be an act of discipleship.  It will be an act that moves faith to the center for you this Christmas.

            That’s my prayer for my kids, for myself, for you, and for all who are part of our Christmas as HillSong this year.  I pray faith in the living Lord, the risen Jesus, will cover over and fill all the ways we celebrate and live in the season.