Pastor Dwaine Bruns
December 24, 2006
What kinds of thoughts come to mind for you when you hear the word, Christmas? I suspect that for many of us, it creates a sort of soft glow in our hearts. We remember images of placing the decorations on the tree in our childhood home or the smell of a turkey baking in grandma’s oven. We picture the gentleness of a quiet snowfall covering the ground or the joyful laughter of excited children. Lots of the songs we hear this time of year encourage those thoughts. “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” “I’ll be home for Christmas” At the mere mention of that magic word, Christmas, everything becomes nostalgic and sweet.
I suppose it even happens here in church. The familiar carols and the glow of the candles are comforting and familiar. And the story we tell brings a gentle peace to our minds. The star in the heavens, the animals and straw of the stable, arrival of the shepherds, the baby and his mother enveloped by a sort of holy light. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
You and I might say yes, but I suspect that Luke, the Gospel writer who gives us this story, might beg to differ. Maybe it’s because we have heard these words from the 2nd chapter of Luke so many times, that we miss the message that Luke is giving us. The setting into which Jesus is born is not warm and fuzzy at all. It’s a world where politicians named Augustus and Quirinius rule with an iron fist and are so intent on keeping track of their subjects that they force of all of them to travel to their ancestral home to register – even subjects like Mary who are pregnant and ready to give birth. And when Mary’s baby arrives, he strikes such fear into another ruler named Herod, that all the baby boys in Bethlehem are murdered.
And there is nothing sweet about the circumstances of this birth. Jesus comes into the world in a cold barn because nobody is willing to welcome him and his mother. If you know anything about barns, you also know that the sights and smells you find there are nothing to get nostalgic about. And those shepherds who first come to visit, they are men who don’t usually show up in places like Bethlehem because while they might know how to act around sheep, their social skills around other humans are a bit lacking. Besides, after a few months of sleeping in the fields with their flocks, the smell alone was enough to drive people away.
As Luke tells this story, it is a violent world, and a dark situation into which this child is born. Now maybe you’re wondering what this preacher’s problem is that he seems intent on putting a damper on your Christmas celebration? But that’s not my point. Instead, I think that what Luke wants us to know is that Christmas is not some fairy tale that happened once upon a time. Nor does he want us to be sentimental about what happened in Bethlehem. Instead he shows us that this is an event that happens in the real world. A place where people’s lives are haunted by tyranny, pain and poverty A place not so different from the one that you and I inhabit.
The truth is that even amid the Christmas specials and the happy songs, all we have to do is watch the evening news to know that the world is all too often still a dark and violent place. And even on a personal level, for many people this will be a painful holiday. They will gather around tables where beloved faces are missing. Or perhaps the perfect picture of what Christmas should be will only make more obvious the reality that their lives can’t match those images of the happy rosy-cheeked family all gathered around the tree. Which tells me that if Christmas is nothing more than warm feelings and a nativity set, it won’t make much difference a week from now.
And I think that what all of this means, is that whether in Luke’s day, or in our own, the event of Christmas is not centrally about stars, stables or shepherds. It is not even most importantly about nostalgia or familiar carols, as wonderful as those things can be. It is about Jesus. It is about God choosing to enter our world in our flesh. It is about a birth that is, as the angel announces, “good news of great joy for all the people.” Amid everything else in this story, Luke’s intent is that we focus on that good news, on that baby – the one whose light is stronger than all of the darkness in Luke’s world, or in our own.
In his stories of Lake Wobegone, Garrison Keiler sometimes speaks of the Norwegian bachelor farmers that inhabit the community. In the community where I grew up, there weren’t many Norwegians, but we did have a couple of German bachelor farmers who lived down the road from our farm. As a child, I remember visiting the home where the Krienke brothers lived. I was surprised by the fact that while they had electricity out in the barn to run the well and the milking machines, they had never gotten around to putting electricity in the house. I wasn’t as surprised by the disarray that I saw in their farmyard and especially in their home. There was machinery scattered haphazardly all around the place, and the clutter in the house was what you might expect from a couple of bachelors for whom housekeeping was not high on their list of priorities. But they were always friendly to me and I enjoyed visiting them.
Well each Christmas, our 4-H club would go Christmas caroling around the township. I remember the year we went to sing at the Kreinke’s farm. As we drove into their yard and got out of the cars, we were greeted by darkness. With no electric lights, it was hard to see anything but shadows. But as I looked at the house, in the front window, I could see a light. It was the flame of a kerosene lamp sitting on the kitchen table. To this day, I can close my eyes and see one of the brothers; Willie was his name, reading a newspaper by the light of that small flame. But that night it didn’t seem small at all. That single light overwhelmed all the darkness that surrounded us. Oh, I suppose I knew the clutter of the farmyard and the untidiness of the house was still there. But it was that light, that flickering flame that led us into a home where we could sing of the Christmas message.
And for me, that is a picture of what Luke intends with his story of Christmas Eve. His story is neither naïve nor sentimental. He has no illusions about the darkness of the world into which Jesus is born. But he wants us to know that in this baby, something amazing happens. God is offering the world a gift of love that is stronger than the pain and loss that too often surrounds us. Through Luke’s words, our eyes are drawn to the light of the child of Bethlehem. It may seem like a small light, but it shines brightly with God’s assurance that darkness will not be the last word in our world or in our lives.
Maybe this story told by Gregory Green can help us to understand this gift. About 30 years ago a boy named Tony was born blind. But when he was 7 years old, his doctor read about a new surgical procedure that had been developed at Massachusetts General Hospital for correcting this particular eye problem. After communicating with the young surgeon who had developed the procedure, the family headed for Boston.
Tony, the boy, had a favorite Teddy Bear that he kept with him wherever he went. Because of this, it had begun to show some signs of wear. One eye was missing; one ear was chewed off, and the stuffing was leaking out through several holes. Tony’s mother had offered to buy him a new bear, but he said no. So the old one was by his side through all the X-rays and tests. In fact, it didn’t leave his side until he went into the operating room.
When the surgery was completed, it was several days before the bandages came off. But when they finally did, for the first time in 7 years, Tony was able to see the faces of his parents. His vision was blurry at first, but as the days passed it improved until it was finally time for him to leave the hospital and go home. But before he did, the surgeon came to see him one last time. He gave Tony a big hug and said, “Listen, I own stock in you. I expect to get letters from you regularly. OK?”
Then Tony did something unexpected. He said to this surgeon, who had also become his friend, “I want you to have this,” and he handed him his Teddy Bear. The surgeon’s first thought was to say, “No, I can’t take that.” But something stopped him, as he wisely understood what Tony was seeking to do. Because his heart was full of love, Tony wanted to give his dear friend the most precious gift he had to give. So the surgeon accepted the gift, and assured Tony that he would take good care of his friend.
For over 10 years, that Teddy Bear sat in a glass case on the 10th floor of Massachusetts General Hospital – one eye missing, one ear half chewed off, and the stuffing oozing out of several holes. In front of the bear was the surgeon’s card and just beneath his name he had written this caption, “This is the highest fee I have ever received for professional services rendered.” A little boy had given the most precious item he had, out of a love-filled heart.
And it seems to me that in this story we see a parable of Christmas. 2,000 years ago our gracious God, with a heart filled with love, looked out upon a dark, sin-marred and tear-stained world. If you or I had been in charge, perhaps we would have just walked away from the brokenness and pain, to begin over somewhere else. But God’s heart was too full of love for that to happen. So God gave the most precious gift that could be given. It was the gift of God’s son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…”
And through this precious gift we know how treasured we are in God’s sight. In Jesus, because of his life, death and resurrection – we are given the promise that our sins are forgiven and that there is nothing in all creation that can overcome this love God has for us. As Jesus shares our flesh, our life, even our struggles and sadness – we come to know that no matter what we face, we are never alone. There is always a loving savior who walks beside us, inviting us to lean on his love and grace. It is that good news that the angel announces. It is that light that shines in all the dark places of our world and of our lives.
As we come near to the end of our worship today, we will light these candles as we sing together the words of Silent Night. The light we hold in our hands will be a reminder of the light that Jesus has brought into our lives. But it seems significant to me that we don’t just keep this light to ourselves, we pass it on to those around us. That’s because it is only as we share the light of Christ that the darkness of our world is overcome.
And that’s what God invites you and me to do on this Christmas Eve, to take this light that we’ve been given and pass it on. Every time we reach out with God’s love and care to the lonely, hurting and broken ones around us, the light of Christmas shines a little brighter. The love we give and the light we share allows others to see that they too are valued as God’s daughters and sons. They too, have received the best gift that God had to give.
Tonight, that gift is unwrapped once more. And as this baby rests in Mary’s arms, we receive with him all of the love in God’s heart. May this good news be a light that shines in our lives each day that we live.