Christmas at Seven Zero Zero

Christmas Eve Year A

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

St. Matthias

December 24, 2019

It had to be seven zero zero!  We know it better as 7:00 am and this was the time when me, my brother and sister could leave our rooms on Christmas morning. My sister kept the time.  I usually had been awake since 5:00 am or before.  The anticipation had been building to new and unbearable heights of excitement.  After months of planning, wish lists sent to Santa Claus, and a mile of wrapping paper - it took mere moments to discover the true mysteries inside those boxes.  Countless times in the weeks leading up to Christmas morning, we would shake the presents as each new one appeared under the tree.  There were a thousand and one guesses.  It was the season of expectation and anticipation.  And we had no idea what would happen!

Isn’t it wonderful!  You wait and worry and dream and hope and then it all happens.  Mary and Joseph had known for close to 9 months that they would have a son.  Not just any son but the Messiah, the Christ child who would come to save the world.  First the Angel Gabriel had appeared to them with news of great joy.  Mary and her cousin Elizabeth had celebrated this immaculate conception which was nothing less than a miracle from God.  There was the journey to Bethlehem to register for the census and there in a stable behind an Inn with no room – the child had been born.  Angels appeared to the shepherds who came to worship the newborn King proclaiming Peace on Earth.  Later wise men from the East would come with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  It was a Holy Night with a star brightly shinning in the east.  Joy to the World, the Lord had come!

And now we gather this night over 2000 years later to celebrate Christmas – The Feast of the Nativity – the Mystery of the Incarnation.  And if you don’t understand it - don’t worry because no one does.  All we can say is that God so loved you and me and the whole world that God became one of us.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem and in Him love came down at Christmas. Take all the love you have ever known, ever given, ever received and multiply it by an infinite number of times and that is Christmas.  Remember the time when you held a child in your arms and felt that amazing sense of life. There you have what happened in Bethlehem on this night so many years ago and this was life eternal and the greatest gift of all and God gave this life – this child – to you and to me.  And so we gather this night and we Celebrate!

But let us not make THIS just about another moment long past in history.  What if Christ is born again tonight?  Imagine a birth in a hospital or a stable.  In Alabama or Pakistan or Norway.  To a woman named Mary or Elizabeth or Sarah.  Could it happen?  Imagine a God who loves us just as much tonight as God has loved the whole world on every night including that first Christmas in Bethlehem.  You see – if we believe that God acted only long ago then Christmas happened only once, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died on a cross in Jerusalem and that was that.  It was history and tonight is just a time when we remember.  But can you believe that God still is! That God still love us.  If you can then you are ready to celebrate Christmas tonight. 

There is a poem by Henry Van Dyke, Keeping Christmas I read again every year. It says: 

There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day and that is keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you… to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness – are you willing to do these things even for a day?  Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask yourself whether you love them enough …  are you willing to do these things even for a day?  Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem is the image and brightness of Eternal Love?  Then you can keep Christmas.  And if you can keep it for a day, why not always?  But you can never keep Christmas alone.

Christ is born tonight!  Celebrate Christmas.  Christ is born again in you!  So, Celebrate Christmas.  And when you do, share love just as God loves you.  Expect – Anticipate – Celebrate Christmas.  Celebrate Christmas every morning at seven zero zero and all day every day.  For Christ is born in Bethlehem - everywhere Bethlehem may be.  And we know what can happen!   AMEN.