CHRISTMAS EVE

A Reading:       Isaiah 9:2-7                                                        

                               

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—   on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. 

For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders;  and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 

Reflection

Thousands of years ago, people longed for something to change. They spoke of it in their poems and songs, they gathered around fires and told stories. One day, things would be different.

We are not so different. We all want things to be better next year than they were this one, we all want to believe in the idea that there is something more.

And so we gather with our families, on one of the darkest nights of the year, to believe in miracles...

I saw an ad on Kijijji yesterday, it is an online place where you can sell stuff, and the ad was offering Christmas spirit. It said, if you have no one to spend Christmas with, come to our house, if you have nothing for supper, we have a ham we can give you, if you have no gifts, we have gift certificates for the stores... then I read how the power is out in half of Moncton today, so the Crown Plaza, one of the nicer hotels in town, is offering rooms to anyone without power for 30 bucks.

Life will not get you down, Isaiah said, There is such goodness in the world that we will see light shining in the darkness... and tonight, we see that light. Here. Now. In the faces of those who have gathered.

A Reading:    Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.      

Reflection

It all starts with this... with the baby in the manger... and we can see it in so many different ways; God bending near the earth and coming to live among us... God’s love showing up in unexpected ways in unexpected places... a moment when someone was born that would change everything...

But it is Christmas. And it is worth noting that it happened in an out of the way place and the first people to recognize why this was important were not kings or queens or professors or priests, it was ordinary people, like you and me, like the shepherds, who were able to see in what was happening, something amazing.

A Reading:    Luke 2:8-14                                        

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘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 Saviour, 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.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’

Reflection     

I love the idea of Angels bending near the earth. I love the idea of thin places, of those times when heaven and earth seem very close together. I mean that poetically – like when you see a sunrise, or walk on new fallen snow in the starlight… When you hold a baby or see someone sound asleep with a smile on their face. I love the times when we see God.

I have a romantic notion that the shepherds just could not live without seeing this baby for another second. That it was as if they knew that something magical, something divine was happening and they just had to be a part of it. So much so that they just left… they ran down the hillside to get there in time… they did whatever it would take to be with God.

I have always felt that Christmas was a magical time of year, and I guess what I have always been trying to say is that I feel the magic of God’s presence in these moments. I am not sure how, concretely, that happens… I am not sure what, exactly, I am feeling at times such as these… but it is as if I know that everything will be all right, that I am loved, that goodness really will save the day.

You see, I have seen the stranger push the car out of the snowbank; I have watched someone give 100 dollars to a homeless man on Christmas Eve; I have read stories in which Christmas has the power to change lives and I have seen evidence.

And I think it really is that simple. We all want to believe. We all want to know that we are loved. We all want to have hope. We all want to sing with joy… but we need a reminder every now and again that these feelings are ok. We need to be shown that there is goodness and hope and mercy and love and that in the end, these things do make a difference.

Perhaps it is too simplistic, but I see that in a Christmas Eve service. I see friendly faces, I see candles burning nostalgically, I see lights aglow and new fallen snow… and well… I see God.

Christmas Eve makes me want to run down that hillside too. It makes me want to go and see what God has done, and then take that out into the world... I want to be a shepherd.

                                   

Conclusion

We are like the Shepherds. We are the ordinary people living our lives on the hillside... but every now and again, the miraculous, the holy, the magical breaks through....

We catch a glimpse of God and we see love breaking through... Hopefully tonight in this service, or at home in the morning with the gifts under the tree, something stirs your soul, and you can go from here and take God’s news. Be the messengers and share the love...

And so I send you forth with hope, with peace, with joy, and with love.

Know that the light of Christ goes with you.

May this lovely season of Christmas bring you blessings in abundance.

May the love of God work its magic in your life.

May your heart be filled with hope and joy. 

May you touch every life you meet.

Merry Christmas and peace for you this New Year.

Christmas Eve 2011

The Story Thus Far

Isaiah and Luke 2:1-7

We have all heard the story, if not at church in the last few years, then maybe on television, or you read it in a book, or something. It seems part of the collective consciousness to say that once a long time ago, in a little town, in a stable behind an inn, a baby was born.

We are also told that the heavens rejoiced, that kings trembled, that wise men searched him out.

It happened to fulfill a prophecy…

It happened so that the people who walked in deep darkness might see a dawning light on the horizon… It happened so that God might increase the joy of a people struggling in a time of uncertainty.

Legend has it that a German Priest by the name of Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees. 

One crisp Christmas Eve, around the year 1500, he was walking through snow-covered woods, thinking about the Christmas sermon he would preach.  Time slipped away from him and it began to get quite dark. Luther began to get nervous as the shadows lengthened and he could hear the howls of wild animals around him. 

Just then, he looked up at the night sky to see it filled with tiny pricks of light – twinkling blue and silver stars. As he looked around, he was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches were dusted with snow and shimmered in the moonlight. 

He was no longer afraid

. 

When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lit in honour of Christ's birth. All of a sudden the image of the birth of Jesus as God's light shining in the darkness for everyone made more sense to him…

This is the same light that the prophet Isaiah talks about when he tells us that God sends light to those who walk in darkness. It is as true now as it was then.

Wonder

Do you know what an Angel is? Most religions have them, but we in the Jewish Christian and Islamic tradition know them as Messengers.

Angels come to bring a word from the Lord - When Mary first conceived, it was the Arch-Angel Gabriel who broke the news to her and helped her to be excited about what would transpire. Joseph moved from anger to understanding about the whole pregnancy situation only when an angel appeared to him in a dream.  

And after the birth of Jesus, it was a choir of angels that brought the good news to the shepherds, and in that moment, “the glory of the Lord shone around them…”

I see that as awe… everything lit up, it overwhelmed them, God was present…

I don’t know what most of you do tonight when the presents are wrapped and the kids are asleep and everything is ready… I remember when I lived with my five brothers for a brief period of insanity that the 11pm on Christmas Eve was magical.

We would sit in the living room, only the lights on the tree illuminating the world. Outside would be dark and quiet. No one would be fighting, we were usually allowed some rum in our egg nog… and it was somehow, momentarily, perfect.

The Celtic folk call this a thin place – a time where the line between heaven and earth is a little blurry. A time where you realize there is more than meets the eye going on. Those moments are indeed quite rare, but they often happen on Christmas Eve.

Whether it is as a child waiting for Santa, or seeing the presents under the tree, or the quiet of a night filled with significance…. If we are open to it, the Angels are still bringing a message from God.

And the message is the same as it always has been, a message of God’s glory and of peace for us.

Treasured in the Heart

In the 119^th Psalm we are told that God has hidden love deep within our hearts. In fact, there is a tradition that says we spend our whole lives searching outwardly for that love, and it is only when we realize it is hidden within us that we become capable of loving fully.

I think too often we forget the last words of the Christmas story, that Mary “Treasured these things in her heart.”

I was listening to an interview with Rabbi Harold Kushner the other day and he was talking about how it is a good idea to go to the graveyard and read the tombstones every now and again. He pointed out that never once will you come across ones that say things like: Brett Anningson, good with numbers; or exceptional preacher; or anything remotely like that… what you will see is devoted wife, loving son, you will see expressions of the heart.

Too often we have those moments in front of the fire, or sitting around the tree, or opening presents, or feasting with family, and then go back to work the next day as if it is all over. We forget to treasure those moments that allow us to see the world from a different perspective.

Christmas is a time that we can let seep into our soul. It is the coming of the light into an otherwise darkened world. And it is not just right now, it is forever.

So enjoy it, revel in it, relax in it, but let it seep into your very soul. Tomorrow the light is dawning.

 Words of Reflection:  Sharing the Light & Blessing

Look around this sacred place and see all the lights that are burning. 

See the light that shines in each of us.

From the Light of the World comes light for every one of us to take into our corners of the world. 

Take this light with you tonight and remember who you are and who has made you.

Tonight, light has broken through the darkness.

New life is starting right now!

Go forth and live in the light.

Go forth in peace to love and serve our God.