Christmas Day

A sermon given for Christmas Day 2011 at United Church of Acworth, Acworth, NH.

Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-12
Luke 2:1-20


The first Noel looked quite a bit differently from today’s celebrations.

I know it may surprise people to find this out, but the response of Mary and Joseph to Jesus’ birth was not to set up a Christmas tree.

The shepherds didn’t go out and buy lights to decorate their sheep or lawn ornaments for their fields.

The first Christmas was not full of toys and wreaths and mistletoes.

“Well that doesn’t sound like any fun.”

I think we all can agree that the Christmases that we celebrate for all of their activities and decorations and music and gift-exchange and food are fun and worth continuing.

But I think we can all equally agree that the Christmases that we celebrate, for all of their activities and decorations and music and gift-exchange and food are exhausting and we should just quit making such a fuss.

Some hate Christmas others love it. Some hate it some days and some hours and love it other days and other hours.

And perhaps there are some, bless their souls, who love it all the time and can’t stop smiling when they hear the first Christmas song in the beginning of November.

I don’t know all of the history of how we came to celebrate the day in the way that we do. And I don’t jump on the bandwagon of Christmas-haters who want all of it to cease and desist.

I like cinnamon buns and stockings and trees and presents and santas and eggnog and all those things.

But I do think that every Christmas needs a Linus-moment.

Frustrated with Christmas as he sees it, Charlie Brown yells, “Isn’t there someone who knows what Christmas is all about?!”

And Linus says very confidently, blanket in hand, “Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

Linus proceeds to quote Luke 2:8-14.

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

He turns to Charlie Brown and says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

Every Christmas needs a Linus-moment. Otherwise the carols can become empty words. Celebration can lose its heart.

We respond to Christmas in a variety of ways, singing, eating, decorating, gift-giving, welcoming family, fighting with family, did I mention eating?

I want to look at how those who are part of the story respond to the first Noel.

So Luke 2 is where it all happens.

In verse seven the nativity happens: “And [Mary] 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.”

The verses that Linus tells speak of two main groups: angels and shepherds.

Angels announcing, and shepherds hearing good news.

Two responses to the first Noel. When the one angel finishes telling about Jesus’ birth, the rest of the angels burst out singing: “GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO! ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’”

The angels MUST sing. They are witnessing a great thing that God is doing in history. God is going to deliver humanity from sin and death and all of the evil consequences of sin and Peace will begin to be manifest among human beings wherever they experience God’s salvation.

The angels so full of wonder at God’s goodness and grace, sing boldly and excitedly and triumphantly the new song of God’s salvation.

The angels respond with praise and joyous song.

And so the shepherds hear the news and their initial fear at being confronted by celestial aliens turns into hopeful curiosity as they believe that what they just heard was not a hallucination but a revelation of God’s action.

They decide to go check it out.

When they arrive at the stable they “found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child.”

When they went and saw that there really was a stable with a manger with a child wrapped in swaddling cloth they were amazed and just started blurting out all they had seen with the angels and to their astonishment Mary and Joseph were not freaked out! They were amazed and Mary treasured their words.

Something was happening and the shepherds had somehow been allowed to witness it.

The shepherds went out “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

The shepherds were so full of excitement and amazement at all they had seen and heard from angels, from Mary, from Joseph. They could not BUT got out praising God, amazed at this new hope.

The shepherds respond with glorifying and praising God.

And this is THE Christmas response: worship and praise.

C.S. Lewis says this about praise:

“all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise -- lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game -- praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians and scholars…I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” (Reflections on the Psalms, pp. 93-95)

And so with the shepherds and angels we might respond this Christmas in praise of God not because we are told to or feel like we have to give our dues to the “reason for the season.” But maybe because we recognize in the nativity something special, something world-changing, something full of possibility and full of goodness, the goodness of God’s love made known to a world in need of that kind of knowledge.

“O sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvellous things.”

The songs of the angels and the shouts of the shepherds are shouts and songs of praise for God’s new marvelous work in the world.

The new song is the change from advent expectation to Christmas celebration.

The good news of great joy for all the people” has come
“for us and for our salvation” “is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The Messiah, the light in darkness, the one who will break the curse and reign of sin and death and usher in light and life and love. That one has been born. Gloria In Excelsis Deo.

Let us ponder these things with Mary and let us enjoy all that it means: God’s life-giving gift, God’s entrance into our world, God with us.

And perhaps, with the angels and the shepherds we’ll respond to this event with a new song of hope, of joy, and of praise for God’s peace to us in Jesus. Amen.