Sermon for Christmas 2019

The reading

Luke 2:1-20

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 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. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 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.

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 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: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The message



This is my 11^th Christmas here at St Jacobus.  In December of 2009, I was serving as the pastor here (or anywhere) for about 2 weeks before Christmas Eve.  I had gotten to know only a handful of people by then. I think a decent number of people here now were there that night as well.  I wanted things to be awesome but I figured people would give me some slack, everyone seemed nice enough and I was a new pastor in a new church community.   


I can’t really remember what my sermon was about that night (I assume something to do with the birth of Jesus).  I do remember sharing a story.  It was connected to a friend’s mom and her work in the public library with teaching adults to read.  One of her students had been through a rough life, he was sick with HIV at a time when that was a death sentence. The man got in trouble throughout his life and had limited to no opportunities for good work or education.  He was determined to have an impact on something before he died.  What he wanted most was to be able to communicate with his young children, to write letters to them, something to remember him by. He did learn to read and write and was able to send those letters.  As a thank you gift for my friend, he made an art project. He took a pile of different stones and glued them together in a bowl.  He died a few months after giving it to her.


My friend held on to this rock sculpture for years. She didn’t keep it to herself, this was too important of a gift to be left collecting dust on a shelf, too much care went into this to just leave it in a box in the basement, there was too much to be shared in this story to just forget about it.  Over time, whenever a rock fell off, she would give it to someone and tell them the story.  A few weeks before I started here, a group of us were hanging out.  She pulled me aside, gave me a few rocks and told this story.  Over my years in ministry, I held unto them tightly and secretly but eventually, I realized that’s not what they are for. Now, I have shared a few of these rocks with people and one still sits someplace on my desk (That is not an easy place to spot things).              


I did not share this story tonight because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I share it again 10 years later because we can think of Christmas like that rock sculpture. Christmas has all different sized, shaped and colored parts and pieces fit together and Christmas needs to be shared.  


The first few rocks in the bowl, the shiny ones on top that get people’s attention is social Christmas, A time of  gifts, popular gifts, expensive gifts, cheap gifts, regifted gifts, badly wrapped gifts, all sorts of gifts, office secret santas, fruit cakes, crowded malls, overworked delivery people, open bars, carols that powerfully share the gospel but just sound like happy background music, I had dinner with a few friends. One of them mentioned he makes a series of about 15 Christmas stops to see friends, doctors and co-workers. My friend never seemed too religious and I was curious so I asked “are all these people you go see Christians, do they celebrate Christmas”, he told me “oh no way” without it seeming odd.  Social Christmas is what inspires those “keep Christ in Christmas” car magnets and bumper stickers


Then there is church Christmas, the rocks in the rest of the bowl, to quote another bumper sticker, the reason for the season. Church Christmas is not the fulfillment of wish lists and letters to santa, it is the fulfillment of prophesy.  In Luke’s Gospel the story of Christmas starts with a census, Luke includes this detail about the census primarily to show and explain how Jesus fulfills the prophets words about the Messiah, that the savior would be from King David’s family line (the genealogy presented is hard to verify) and the savior would be born in little old Bethlehem of Judea, which is not where Mary and Joseph lived.   


Social Christmas might be a party but church Christmas is shock and confrontation, Christmas offends. Those are rocks, hard to see, way on the bottom of our Christmas bowl.  Jesus birth is a historical event and it has a context, It happened in a particular time and place, one that even today, does not treat non-tourist Christians well.  Jesus is born to a people oppressed by Rome, Jesus genealogy including women and non-Israelites. Mary is a pregnant, unwed mother, Jesus is born on the margins, born in a cave since there was no room anywhere else, In Matthew’s Gospel, we learn right after Christmas, Jesus, Mary and Joseph become refugees in Egypt, hunted by King Herod, chased down by their own government and certainly not protected by the religious authorities.  Today, some churches and people around the country have put up Nativity scenes with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in jails or cages, a confrontational reminder of where we might put those kind of people today. God comes to us in a very unexpected way, a sign that to God, everyone counts.  


Social Christmas is about being the life of the party but Church Christmas is rooted in death, Those are the rocks we always talk about but often don’t really think about.  The hymn we will sing after this message is the same one I’ve used in that spot for 11 years (anyone notice that). It’s there because I really like the song but also for the verse, “How Jesus the savior was born for to die, for poor ordinary sinners like you and like I”, that this the ultimate reason for Christmas, the work of this child born tonight. Jesus was born for us, Jesus died for us, Jesus resurrected for us.   


Social Christmas with quiet days at work (well not for me), trips home and 10 or 12 days off from school is a break. Church Christmas is not a vacation, its work, its what we do with the bowl. It’s the decision that Christmas is too important to keep on a shelf or in a storage box. I wanted to share a short poem, literally called “the work of Christmas” by Howard Thurmann. 


 When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone, 

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins: 

To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among all To make music in the heart.

Tonight, we celebrate Christmas but every other hour, we are living in the time when the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home and shepherds back with their flock, that’s what we go home to and God is still with us.