During these weeks leading up to Christmas, I’ve been remembering how I prepared for Christmas when I was young.
For me, preparing for Christmas didn’t begin on the first Sunday of Advent. For me, it began when the Sears Christmas catalogue arrived in the mail. I would open it up to the toys section and dream about all the gifts I wanted Santa to bring me for Christmas.
Toy soldiers, an electric football game, a hot wheels race track, a space ship, a nerf football, a real football, spinning tops, dart guns, a GI Joe, board games. And while lying on the floor gazing intently at all of these pictures of toys from that catalogue, I would circle everything that I wanted. I did this all the time during those weeks leading up to Christmas!
Of course, I never got all the Christmas gifts I wanted or circled in that catalogue, but somehow Santa knew which of those gifts to bring to our house on Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas morning… WOW! I was able to find some of those gifts under the tree.
In a similar kind of way, these four weeks leading up to Christmas have given us the opportunity to focus on thee most important Christmas gift we can ever receive which is the coming of Christ into the world.
Think of the Bible as the Sears catalogue that arrives in the mail. And instead of turning to the toys section, we turn to the pages of the Old and New Testaments and the various ways that the biblical writers describe the gift that God has promised to give to us, the gift of God’s Son.
Like these past four Sundays of the Advent Season, our scripture readings tonight continue to describe the gift of God’s redemptive love for the world.
Here’s a quick summary from these past four weeks of some of the descriptive words that the biblical writers use in describing this gift.
The prophet Jeremiah says that when this gift comes, we will be saved and live in safety.
The prophet Malachi says that the Lord will suddenly come to his temple and purify us.
The prophet Zephaniah announces that this gift leads us to rejoice because God is bringing us home.
And last Sunday, the prophet, Micah announced that this gift will provide security and peace.
These are the words that describe God’s amazing gift… Safety, purifying, rejoicing, coming home, and peace.
On this Christmas Eve, the prophet Isaiah gets even more specific about this gift when he says, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The gift that has been described for us all of these weeks is the gift of God becoming one with us through the person of Jesus Christ. This is what our Advent catalog has been pointing to all along, the coming of Christ into the world. We no longer need to stare at the picture of this gift because as our Gospel reading says,“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
Sometimes, it’s hard to shift from anticipating the gift to receiving the gift of Christmas, and this is what we are invited to do tonight. John says, “But all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
The gift is under the tree. The gift is here! No more waiting! This is the night to receive it, and not just tonight, but every day of the year.
More times than not, when Penny and I clean out a drawer, we will find a gift certificate to some restaurant tucked away. Some of those gift certificates are over a year old! We like to save these for special occasions. The problem is that when we finally decide to go to that restaurant, we forget to bring that gift certificate with us and we end up paying full price!
John is wanting us to not tuck this Christmas gift back in the corner of some drawer. John is inviting us to receive the gift of God’s Son now. Celebrate the gift of God’s salvation now! Don’t tuck it away for some future time when we might forget about it especially when we need it the most.
Our Titus scripture reading encourages us to receive this gift as well when he says, “He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.”
Everybody is wanting us to receive this gift! Jeremiah, Malachi, Zephaniah, Isaiah, John, Titus. All of these scriptures are inviting us to receive the gift of God’s redemptive love for the world.
Hearing about a gift and receiving a gift are two different things. And tonight, the scriptures are inviting us to receive The Gift that we have all been waiting, watching, wanting, and wondering about for these past several weeks, The Word made flesh and who now dwells among us.
What does it look like when we not only wait, watch, want, and wonder about the gift of Christmas, but also receive it?
In one of my previous churches, about everything that could have gone wrong for our Christmas Eve worship service went wrong that night. I’ll never forget it.
First of all, about an hour before the service was to begin, the director of the children’s nativity play called me to say that she had a flat tire and wouldn’t be able to make it to the church on time. And so, we called some parents to see if they could do their best to cover for her.
The service started ten minutes late because one of the worship leaders hadn't arrived on time. The soloist who was supposed to come on stage near the beginning of the service never appeared.
The bulletin listed the name of a former pastor as one of the leaders of the service. The main microphone hadn't been turned on making it difficult to hear what the worship leader was saying. It was also difficult to hear the children saying their lines during the play.
But then, an amazing thing happened. As we stumbled our way through the service with everything not going as planned, we finally made it to the end when it was time to light our candles.
As the congregation began to sing, "Silent Night" each worshipper raised their lit candle into the darkened sanctuary. In that moment, nothing could keep us from receiving the gift of Christmas. Somehow, we had forgotten about the microphones that didn't work, the bulletin that had several mistakes, the soloist who never appeared on cue.
After the benediction and as people began to leave the Christmas Eve service, I was surprised to hear several people say what a beautiful and meaningful service it was. The Christmas Eve that I thought would be one I would want to forget, became the one that I will always cherish and remember.
If you think about it, that first Christmas didn’t go as planned either. An untimely birth while Mary and Joseph were traveling far away from Mary's home town. No-vacancy signs all over Bethlehem leading Mary and Joseph to their only option which was to use a feeding trough as a crib. A jealous king who feels threatened at the news of a newborn king. Wow, a lot of things didn’t go as planned that first Christmas.
But notice how the shepherds who had the best seats for that first Christmas didn’t seem to let these problems distract them. No, we are told that they ended up returning to their fields that night glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. And the Christmas story ends with Mary, not focusing on the things that didn’t go as planned, but instead treasuring all these words and pondering them in her heart. Treasuring and Pondering.
Even if we were somehow able to offer our very best Christmas Eve service that has well prepared Christmas music, carefully worded prayers, and a sermon that is even a little better than above average, here is what I have learned about this holy night.
As long as you have some candles or glowsticks and sing “Silent Night,” there’s not a whole lot more we need to help one another receive the gift of Christmas. And even if we attend a Christmas Eve service every year, and know the Christmas story by heart, there is just something really, really special about this story. It just never gets old!
For a little girl named Jessica, she had a wonderful Christmas. She got every single gift she wanted. Her favorite cousins were there to share the holiday with her. She had eaten her favorite foods all day long. As her mother tucked her in for bed, she looked up, smiled and she said, “Mommy, I sure hope Mary and Joseph have another baby next year.”
What a joy it is to receive the gift of Christmas every year!
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