Christmas Eve: What Story Are You Telling?

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Christmas Eve Service, December 24, 2008

It’s so simple that a child can understand it and yet it’s so profound that theologians and philosophers have discussed and debated it for centuries. It’s the story of a young couple displaced, forced to travel hundreds of miles because an impersonal government thousands of miles away decided it was time to take a census. And so here on this night, they gather together, cold, frustrated, delegated to a barn instead of a nice, comfortable room and, in the midst of the animals, the hay and, no doubt, the rather pungent smell, they bring forth their firstborn, a son.

It’s a story that’s being told tonight around the world, a story that is known by those who call themselves Christians and those who do not, a story that is so profound, so important that the impact of it is how we divide history itself. It’s the story of God becoming man and living among us. It’s quite a story, is it not? But we all know the Christmas story. So my question to you tonight is, “What’s your story?” We know how the Christmas story ends but how will your story end?

Perhaps your story isn’t all that dissimilar to some of those characters that we see in the Christmas story. For instance, the shepherds. When the shepherds went out that night, I’m sure they expected nothing extraordinary. They expected they would just go out for a relaxing evening so there they are, minding their own business, some of them are watching the flocks, some of them no doubt are sleeping getting ready for the second watch. Some are probably gathered around the fire warming themselves and telling jokes with one another, just an average relaxing night for the shepherds. And then God comes crashing in and we have angels singing and, pretty soon, the night sky is lit up like it’s high noon. All of a sudden, all their plans for the evening were thrown out the window. Nothing about this night would be ordinary.

Maybe tonight, you had planned a relaxing evening. Maybe you were sitting next to the fire. You weren’t roasting chestnuts but certainly you were contemplating toasting the holidays with a little bit of cheer. You thought, “Tonight is just a night to kick back.” You finally have a couple of days off work. It was almost a Norman Rockwell-type scene as you sat there settled into your recliner, ready for just a nice, easygoing evening and then the family rushed in. And there were stories about, “It’s Christmas Eve. We have to go to church and we have to sing all of the familiar hymns.” And with a heavy sigh, you traded in your slippers for your dress shoes and here you are. But, after all, if it makes the family happy, it makes you happy. It’s only one night out of the year. It’s not the night that you had planned or expected or maybe even desired, but here you are.

Now the end of the story for the shepherds is interesting because, although their night was interrupted and it wasn’t the one they had planned or expected, the bible tells us, by the end of the evening, they are praising and glorifying God and they are telling everybody who will listen to them all about this baby Jesus and everything the angels had told them about Him. So that makes me wonder how your story will end.

Perhaps you can key in with the innkeeper. You know, we don’t really hear anything about the innkeeper but a little bit of conjecture tells us that certainly, he was seizing an opportunity. This was an economic boom for him, the census that Augustus ordered because now Bethlehem is swelling with all the people that are there and he has every room booked up. He has to keep his eye on the ball. He has to take care of all of his guests. He doesn’t want to lose any one of them because opportunities like this, they don’t happen very often. It makes you wonder when Mary and Joseph showed up, did he grudgingly say they could stay in the stable or did he shrewdly tell them that they could have the barn view room at a discount price? Either way, the man was busy. There are things that had to be done, guests to be attended to. He didn’t have time for the family out back and he didn’t have time for his family downstairs.

Perhaps you have a different view of Christmas. You look at Christmas more as a hassle than a holiday. You look at Christmas as just an economic barometer to see just how good or just how bad things really are this year. After all, these are uncertain times and business doesn’t take a holiday. It doesn’t take a time off. There are always decisions to be made. There is always work to be done. I wonder have you already at least once tonight checked your Blackberry? Will you be getting up early tomorrow morning? Not to check in on the kids but to log in at work? You see, you’re too busy. You’re too busy to mess with the child in the manger and maybe too busy to pay attention to the child next to you.

We don’t know how the story ended for the innkeeper. Perhaps he listened to the shepherds and the story they had to tell or perhaps he was too busy keeping his eye on the ball. I wonder how your story will end. Mary and Joseph, of course, are the most well-known characters of the story. Scripture tells us that Mary and Joseph were righteous in the sight of God. They were religious folk. That means they were in church every Sunday. They said their prayers every night. They were faithful to God and they trusted in God. And then their whole world got turned upside down by an unplanned pregnancy. Certainly, the angels had come in and explained the situation to both of them. But that was nine months ago. Now, as they sit among the damp straw and animals and smell, they wonder, “Is this how God rewards the faithful?” And then almost to add insult to injury, the baby decides to be born tonight. Of all nights, it has to be born tonight. It couldn’t wait until Joseph could procure a better room. It couldn’t wait until they were surrounded by maybe a little bit of family or even a midwife. No, tonight, while they’re all alone, no friends, no family, no midwife, she gives birth to her firstborn. And this young couple struggles with, “How do we handle all the labor and all the rest?”

Are you religious folk? Are you in church every Sunday, say your prayers every night? You’re faithful to God and you trust in God and yet, your life is falling apart. Is this the time when everything seems to be tumbling in on top of you and this Christmas is not the Christmas that you dreamed about. Is this the Christmas the first one that you’re going to have to spend alone? Or is this yet another Christmas that you have to spend alone? Is this how God rewards the faithful?

Well, by the end of the evening, scripture tells us that Mary is treasuring all the things that have happened. She is storing them away to ponder them because, by the end of the evening, she sees the hand of God at work and she is reminded, once again, of His promise and of His given salvation to mankind and so He will remember every moment and every incident of that night. That’s how the story ended for her.

How will the story end for you? Maybe you can relate to some of those characters in the first Christmas or maybe you cannot. But all of you walked in here this evening with a story. Each one of you came here for a purpose or for a reason. So how will your story end? I don’t know. I know how God wants your story to end. Because God wants your story to be His story. God wants your story this Christmas Eve to be His story of Christmas. And God’s story is a story of promises, promises given and promises kept. You see, God’s story started way before that fateful night in Bethlehem. God’s story started thousands of years earlier on another star-filled night as God called out to a man in his 80's, a man who had no children and he said to Abraham, “Come on outside.” And He says, “Look up at the stars in the heavens. Count them if you can,” He said. And then God gave the promise. He said, “Abram, your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.” And He said, “Abram, all people everywhere will be blessed through you. All people will be blessed through your lineage.” God made the promise and then on a night when one star hung over a stable and a baby’s cry was heard, the promise was fulfilled. The promise was kept.

You see, Jesus is a descendant of Abraham. When Abram looked up at the stars, one of those was Jesus. And Jesus came to be a blessing to all people, for He is the Savior of all of mankind. God’s promise is given and God’s promise is kept. That’s God’s story. And He wants His story to be your story because God’s promises are for you. And God promises that all who look to Jesus as their Lord and Savior, to all who believe in Him, He guarantees them an eternal life. God promises that even though you feel alone, you’re not alone. God says that He will be with you to the very end of the age. God promises even when your life is all disheveled, when nothing seems to make sense, God says, “I have a plan for you.” God says, “I will make everything work out for good for you.” God’s promises are given and they’re kept. That’s God’s story and He wants it to be your story.

God’s story is a story of priorities and God’s number one priority is to reconnect with His creation. He wants to reconnect with His people because the connection was severed when sin came into the world. A relationship was broken and there is this wide chasm between God and His people and it was on this night, through this birth that God bridged the chasm because God became one with His creation. That a God would leave heaven above and He would become one of His own creation, He would come into our world, whenever I think of that event, it takes me back a few years. A few years ago at summertime and we were out back playing and, all of a sudden, we heard this awful sound. And we went around to the side of the house and a fawn only about this big had fallen into our window well. And as I looked down at the helpless creature, there was no way it was going to get out of that window well by itself. Pretty soon, a police officer came up and the two of us stood there and we knew that this scared, trembling fawn could not survive. It would never escape and we both knew what had to happen. One of us had to go in. Even though she was scared and she might kick us and she might injure us and bruise us, he jumped in. I’m not dumb. And he picked up that baby fawn and he lifted her up to my waiting arms and that’s what happened this night. Jesus jumped in. Even though He might get hurt and be abused and injured, He jumped into our world so that one day, He could pick us up and He could deliver us to the waiting arms of our Father. God would do anything to reconnect with you. His story He wants to be your story.
And I wonder if tonight is the night that you reconnect with God. Is this the Christmas that you reconnect with your Father in heaven? Is this the night that you will let Jesus pick you up in His arms and deliver you over to your Father in heaven? Is this the night for you to reconnect? Is this the night for you to reconnect with your wife, with your husband, your son or your daughter, your parents? Is this the night for you to reconnect with your brother, your sister or your friend? God’s number one priority, His story is He wants to reconnect. He wants to reconnect with you and He wants you to reconnect with one another. Will His story be your story?

Because God’s story is the story about people, about people who need to hear from God. They need to hear His message. The angels said they had a message and the message was for all people and it was good news for all people, for a Savior had been born, a Savior that had been given to the entire world. We need to hear from God tonight. We need to hear His message, for it’s a message of love. And He’s so serious about that love that He’s willing to become one with us. It’s a message of forgiveness. And He’s so serious and intent about that forgiveness that this babe in the manger would grow up to be a man and this man, Jesus, would sacrifice Himself so that your sins could be forgiven and your conscience could be clear. It’s a story about a God who cares and a God who understands. It’s the message that says that God is one of us, which means every motion, every feeling and every thought that you have, He’s had it also and He does understand.

Will you let His story be your story? Are you dealing with something in your past? Are you uncomfortable being in church even now on Christmas Eve? Will you let it go? Will you give it up to God? Will you simply lay it at the foot of Jesus and know that He loves you and that He forgives you and He accepts you right where you are? And you can start all over again. Will you let His story be your story? Will you know that God understands, even if no one else can comprehend what you’re going through and what you’re feeling? You have a God who can and does. That’s His story and He wants it to be your story.

It’s the Christmas story and God wants the Christmas story to be your story. It’s the story that’s so simple a child can understand it and yet so profound that we can’t even grasp the enormity of God becoming man and dwelling among us. But it is God’s story, God’s story of promises given and kept, God’s story of priority, of connecting with you. It’s God’s story of people and the message that He has for you. It’s the Christmas story and God wants it to be your story. Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church