There is a special feeling from being in church on Christmas Eve. For many of us it feels like coming home for Christmas. We come to hear the familiar story of Mary and Joseph making their way to the little town of Bethlehem. We hear once again of Baby Jesus born in stable. Soon after an unexpected encounter with angels, the shepherds head to the manger to see Jesus for themselves. Children have creatively acted out this story for generations complete with the wise men offering their gifts. Living Nativities complete with live animals are portrayed in church parking lots in many communities. The story of Jesus’ birth has become part of who we are; it is our story. There is something very familiar as well as comforting about being in church tonight.
Unfortunately some people never move beyond viewing Jesus as a cute infant lying on a bed of straw. They see nothing more than a little baby wrapped in “swaddling” cloths, lying in a manger. To truly celebrate Christmas we need the rest of the story, to view Jesus not only as an infant but also as our Lord and Savior who calls us to follow him. For our lives to truly be changed by the birth of Jesus requires that we examine his entire life and teachings, so that we can see the whole picture.
The apostle Paul was writing to one of his traveling companions, Titus, to encourage his friend and the other believers on the tiny island of Crete. There was controversy as the believers struggled with questions of law and how to deal with others whose view of faith was quite different from their own. Paul heard of their present difficulties and wanted them to remain focused on Jesus. It is so easy for us to become distracted with so many other matters. There are times when we need to be reminded of who we are and what we believe; that is one of the reasons we are gathered here tonight.
“For the grace of God has appeared,” Paul wrote, “bringing salvation to all.” According to Paul’s understanding it was God’s intent from the very beginning to bring salvation to all people. Christmas serves to remind us that Jesus came for all people. The angel told the shepherds, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.” “Great joy for all people” was God’s goal from the moment of creation. The early church struggled over cultural and ethnic differences; however, Paul and others believed that the good news is that Jesus came for all people. That is why people with different life experiences are always welcome in church.
Further we are able to “renounce impiety and worldly passions” knowing that we are to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.” Elsewhere Paul teaches, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). It is easy to fall into the trap of “worldly passions,” and forget that Jesus calls us to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.” We do not follow the ways of the world as much as we live our lives for Jesus. We must remain focused on Jesus.
We respond to God’s grace by responding to Jesus allowing him to enter and change our lives. Our goal is to be more and more like Jesus each and every day in all of our conversations and actions. With Jesus in our lives we cannot help but be changed and transformed, here and now, “in the present age.” We are transformed people when we serve others in the name of Jesus.
Rose recalls the Christmas when she was thirteen years old, her father was ill and in the hospital and would not be able to spend Christmas with them. Because of the circumstance, she says, “Christmas for our family was very different from those in the past.”
She does not remember if they even had a Christmas tree that year or if there were many gifts. What she does remember is spending Christmas Day at the hospital. It was difficult to see her father in the hospital. When the family had finished their visit she remembers walking through the lobby where there was a large Christmas tree. In that setting the tree seemed stark. Yet, she remembers thinking as they walked out the door, “This is the best Christmas I ever had.” She was mystified by that thought. It had been a sparse Christmas and a season filled with anxiety concerning her father’s health. But on another level she realized that what made Christmas special was being with people you love. Even though her family was in a trying situation, they had spent the day together.
It would take months for her father to fully recover; during that time her mother had to work. Her meager salary did not cover the family’s needs, so the church gave food for Christmas and Thanksgiving as well as other things to help.
Many years have passed; Rose is married and has her own children. She longed to try something different at Christmas. She suggested that instead of buying expensive gifts that they help meet someone else’s needs. At first her husband was not too keen on the idea. She made the same suggestion the next year and the next. When her children were older she made the same suggestion but they were not interested either.
One day she explained her desire to make Christmas less commercial and more a time for family to give of themselves to people and families in need. It was a moment of clarity for Rose; she realized that her family did not have the experience she had as a teen, a father ill in the hospital over Christmas. It was then Rose says that she discovered the really important thing about Christmas is people, “and that reaching out to them in love and caring warms the heart and nourishes the spirit. When that happens,” she claims, “Christmas is the best it can be.”[1] In striving to be like Jesus we see human need through his eyes and we respond as Jesus would.
We come tonight to once again receive the gift God has given us — Jesus Christ. To accept God’s gift means welcoming Jesus into our lives. The adult Jesus calls us to follow him and makes demands upon us to reorder our priorities as well as change the direction of our lives.
We still acknowledge the future dimension as well. Paul claims that “while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” we are transformed here and now. We wait as people of faith for that future glory. As people of faith we live our lives believing that the best is yet to come.
As we are about to celebrate Christmas we must remember the rest of the story, how Jesus suffered and died on our behalf and how God raised him to new life. That sense of the future is found in the closing verse, “He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.” This is the basis of our hope. All we need to do is welcome God’s grace into our lives. Grace is a gift to us, not something that we earn, but a true gift given freely.
A gift is a gift because it is given without guarantee of an appropriate response on our parts. What God has done in Jesus is a free gift that inspires an appropriate response in us. God has acted in sending Jesus to us, “bringing salvation for all.” On Christmas morning we will open gifts that will bring us temporary joy; however, when we claim Jesus as God’s gift to us we experience a profound and lasting sense of joy.
When Derek was attending college he claims that he experienced a crisis in faith. Three days before Christmas he explains, “I suffered a near panic attack when it dawned on me that I had yet to experience even a morsel of a twinge of genuine seasonal peace.” In a rush of homesickness, he blamed the palm trees and the green grass and Florida’s warm nights for the way he was feeling. He was convinced that the only possible road to receive Advent peace required a trip down memory lane into Christmas past.
He arranged a last minute flight home to London. His parents met him at the airport and welcomed him home. That day he walked to the town center like he used to, remembering the festive decorations and atmosphere of his youth. “I wanted to jump up and down stomping my feet and clapping my hands,” he says.
It had been a long night of travel, he had not slept a wink, and admits to being “breathless with excitement because I couldn’t allow myself to understand that I felt so empty inside because I had forgotten about Jesus, the only authentic source of hope, peace, love, and joy I could really ever know.” Traveling thousands of miles as well as the familiar surroundings and the comfortable feeling of his hometown were unable to give him the seasonal peace he was looking for. Nothing seemed to be working for Derek.
Not ready to give up, still feeling empty, Derek found a church that offered a late candlelight service. “Sometimes it takes a moment or more of desperation to achieve the kind of clarity necessary to hear God’s voice,” Derek reflects. Christmas finally hit him as the congregation sang a carol. At that moment he explains, “I felt relieved and forgiven and free.” It was then that he received what he was looking for, receiving the peace of Christ. Christmas is about peace and God’s grace.[2]
Christmas Eve is a time to receive the gift that God has for each one of us. Just as Jesus was born on this night long ago, so may he be reborn in our hearts and lives. To receive God’s gift in our lives anew we must make room for this most precious gift. We come to the manger to embrace the story of Christmas, not as a once a year tradition but as a call upon our lives.
Christmas Eve is a time to recommit our lives to Jesus Christ. We respond to God’s Christmas gift for all people by reordering our lives engaging in what Jesus would want us to do, and paying attention to the down and out just as Jesus would. God’s gift of Jesus brings out the very best we have to offer. Tonight is the night to receive the gift! Amen.
1. Rose Zuzworsky, “The Best Christmas Ever” Christmas Remembered Ron DelBene, (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1991), pp. 35-36.
2. Derek Maul, In My Heart I Carry A Star (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2008), pp. 52-55.