all is calm


all is bright


Christmas Eve Sermon on the Christmas Eve Scripture


Merry Christmas!
I’m so glad you’re here!
I’ve been looking forward to it all week! And probably longer!

I’ve been looking forward to tonight because the truth is, this night is ALWAYS something of a miracle. A miracle…

For an hour or so, everything is just perfect. 
All of us here, together. Dressed to the nines. Buzzing with Christmas cheer. Sharing seasons greetings with old friends. 
Then, in about _______ minutes, we’ll cap this night off by singing “Silent Night,” by candlelight.

*When we do, take a moment to look up from you hymnal and into the faces of your loved ones, bathed in the soft candlelight, as they sing, “Jesus, Lord at your birth.” 
It’s as close any of us can hope to get to see one another the way God sees us…

…I will confess, though, I haven’t always looked forward to this night…

The scripture is so unequivocal This Night. 
Mary and Joseph, who are by no means, the ideal family; run out of options. They have to lay The One for whom angles laud his birth, in a feeding trough because there is no place for them in the inn!

The shepherds, who had to take that job because they couldn’t get a more respectable job in the city, are the ones the angel of the Lord stands before and the glory of the Lord shines around!
The message this night is clear, Jesus, God in the flesh comes, not to the ones who have it all together, not to the ones who are making something out of their life!

Instead, Jesus makes his grand entrance in a barn, to an unwed couple! And the message of this glorious birth, is first told to folks who are working the night shift because they never been promoted!

Scripture is clear This Night, it is to the unlikely, the unwed and the altogether unlovely that Jesus comes!

But the rub is; on this night of all nights, that’s a little awkward to preach!

After all, you DON’T look unlikely or unlovely to me tonight!
Why, you look like the first kind of folks I’d want to share this news with. You look downright lovely this evening…

So I used to feel funny standing up here telling you lovely folks, that Jesus comes to the UNlovely. 

But since then I learned better…
Because None of us live such charmed lives, that we don’t wrestle with unlovely moments from our lives. Do we?

In fact, on a night like this, those are the moments that can haunt.

If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to feel like a fraud on a night like this. 
Sure, I might look like an angle bathed in candlelight. But, if you only knew the real me; you’d know better. 
The Good News, though, is God knows about those unlovely places in your life. And those are precisely the places God sends Jesus to every time!

We’ve all heard tonights scripture too many times to count. Haven’t we?
Every Christmas you’ve been here. And, every time you watched The Peanuts Christmas Special all the way through. 
And yet! 
And yet, we still lean in a listen carefully every time it’s read. 

Familiarity hasn’t dulled our heart to the plight of Mary and Joseph. Has it?

Knowing the angel is about to startle the wits out of the shepherds, doesn’t diminish our wonder that it is to them, of all people, that the glory of the Lord shone around! Does it?

We still wonder, we still sympathize. Even after all these years…

We still wonder, and we still sympathize because we can relate. Can’t we?
We know what it’s like to stand in Mary and Joseph’s, in the shepherds shoes — well, sandals…

We’ve all had times in our lives when we ran out of options. When we had to make the best of a bad situation. 
*And on those days, a trough and barn would have been a big improvement. 

We’ve all had to work some shift we’d rather not, to try and make ends meet. We’ve all punched the clock, instead of being there with family.

And yet! And yet It is right to those times and places that Jesus shows up!
That’s what the angels mean when they say the message they come to deliver is Good News of great joy for ALL the people!

We’re all shepherds trying to make ends meet. We’re all Mary and Joseph, not a little crestfallen because everything didn’t come together the way we imagined this Christmas.
And the Good News of great Joy is, that it is unto the likes of us, that the Savior is born!

Yes, it is a miracle we’re all here tonight. 
But not just because you’ve pulled it off so well. *And you have. It’s a miracle we’re here because, wonder of wonder, it unto us that Jesus comes! That Jesus draws to himself!

You ARE supposed to be here. 
Not in spite of those unlovely patches of your life, either! But in all truth, because of them! 

For they are the places your Lord and Savior comes to you! 
They are the barren fields, God turns into the amphitheater of the heavenly chorus! They are the places Jesus is denied room, so that there would always be room for you!

That’s the promise that breaks through everything else tonight. Isn’t it? 
It’s why every year we’re attracted to set aside everything else, make our pilgrimages here and hear that news that:
Unto us is born, this night, in the city of Burlington a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord! 
And this will the a sign for you; you will find the child wrapped up in those places your life we all find ourselves in from time to time! The unlovely ones. And there, he will be busy giving to you the peace and joy he brings with him wherever he goes!

Yes, it’s a miracle you’re here tonight. 
The real miracle, though, is that all along, Jesus has been busy wrapping himself up in your life. Giving himself to you, to be your savior!
Nothing can change that!
Not any unlovely moments in your past, or future-for that matter. 
Neither can any cracks in your family. 
Neither can working the night shift, instead of being here!
*That’s the message of God’s wondrous love you’re commissioned to go back home and share with loved ones who weren’t here tonight. 

Merry Christmas! 
It’s a miracle any of us are here! 

With that promise ringing in our ears. With the glory of that promise shining all around us, let’s do like the shepherds and glorify and praise God!
Our hymn is “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” Hymn Number 290

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