2021 12 24 Sermon

Sermon for December 24, 2021 Christmas Eve House of Prayer Lutheran Church

Luke 2:1-20; Isaiah 9:2-7 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

Last year on Christmas Eve I said in my sermon that “this year we all get to be shepherds” because, like them, we were out in the field keeping watch at night. Only, our field was a parking lot. Our sheep were our loved ones, our friends, our community, ourselves, as we all were making so many sacrifices to try to keep safe and healthy. Many of us had a feeling of weariness, like the shepherds watching their flock at night might feel—after all, we had been at this pandemic thing for 9 months at that point, and vaccines were only just beginning to be distributed.

It was because of our weariness that many of us came together to share a dose of joy on a cold Christmas Eve. 14 degrees Fahrenheit cold to be exact. And windy. We fired up our short-range FM transmitter and microphones. We fired up the heaters and radios in our cars. We fired up the batteries in our electric candles. We bundled up in the warmest layers we could find. You may remember that Melissa and I walked from car to car to distribute Holy Communion. Did you know that when we went back to our makeshift altar to receive Communion ourselves, our wine had actually frozen? I didn’t realize that wine could freeze!

BUT—I, for one, and I know so many of you as well, felt thankful and happy that we found a way to celebrate Christmas despite all the obstacles of the pandemic, either in person here in the House of Prayer parking lot, or online, or in your home. God showed up, and his Holy Spirit connected us as we gathered in faith and prayer, surrounded by the communion of saints in heaven and on earth, with the angel’s song echoing in our hearts, the Christmas lights shining on our faces, the elements of God’s creation blowing all around us on that cold winter’s night.

It was a challenging Christmas, but we sang the Christmas carols with joy because that’s why Christ was born—to bring joy into challenging times. And I thought to myself, “surely a year from now this pandemic will be behind us!” Yet, here we are. This year’s Christmas is challenging too; different than last year, but still challenging.

And let’s not forget that the very first Christmas was a challenging time, too. Joseph was from Bethlehem, but had moved all the way up to Nazareth. Why would he have done this? Luke’s gospel doesn’t say why, but we can make some guesses based on the study of history and archeology. Just a few walkable miles away from the little village of Nazareth where Joseph had settled there was a growing city called Sephoris, the provincial capital. For a carpenter like Joseph, that would have been a good place to find work.

Presumably, then, there wasn’t much work for him back home in Bethlehem. But now Emperor Augustus was throwing his weight around from Rome, and he made a decree that a census had to be taken, and all had to go back to their hometowns to be counted. So Joseph had to make the trek, some 80 miles back to Bethlehem. This was not a very good time for a very pregnant Mary to be traveling, either, but he couldn’t very well leave her alone.

I wonder if Mary and Joseph said to each other, “why can’t we just stay here in Nazareth and live our normal lives?” I wonder if Joseph was annoyed? I wonder if Mary felt frustrated? I wonder how stressed they felt when it came time to give birth and they learned that there was no room in the inn? Did their joy at welcoming a baby boy who would become Savior of the world, mix with worry and uncertainty because of their current conditions?

The joy of Christmas that we want to experience every year may feel elusive to some of us. Maybe you’ve found yourself to be more stressed than usual, more easily annoyed, or frustrated by others. Maybe you’ve been more tired or cranky than you’d like to be. Maybe another year of living through a pandemic has produced cracks that need to be patched. Maybe your worries and uncertainties are always looming in the background, when more than anything you just want life to be normal again.

In a time like this, can we get to that place of great joy? Of course I cannot tell you how to feel. But I can tell you that God finds great joy in you! So much so, that God chose to enter the world exactly as it is, full of it’s challenges and difficulties and worries. And he entered our world not as an Emperor Augustus-type throwing his weight around, but as a vulnerable baby, who needed to be wrapped in simple bands of cloth and laid in a manger for his bed. And he did this so that you would be able to trust that God knows exactly what you’re going through, and wants to help you.

Heaven and earth meet in the strangest of places: A feeding trough in Bethlehem; shepherds in the field in the middle of the night; even in our own worry and frustration. If God promises to show up with his love and mercy in times and places like that, then where isn’t God to be found? The message of Christmas is that God is found in the stuff of life; and that Christ comes among us just when we are weary and offer our weariness to him in trust and hope. So do not be afraid. There is good news of great joy. Christ was born for you! Amen.