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Grace, mercy and peace be to you …
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! It’s time! It’s time for a celebration! It’s time to come in from the wet, cold, dark winter out there! Come in from all the distractions of the holidays… Leave all those things at the door … and come in … and join in the pure, wonderful joy of celebrating Jesus’ birth!
The awe, the solemnity of Christmas, the pondering of the night’s events we’ll leave to later this hour and for our 11 o’clock service tonight. But for now … it’s just time to pull out the stops… and let our rejoicing know no bounds!!
“Today… in the town of David… a Savior has been born to you… he is Christ the Lord.”
That message is a reason enough in and of itself to have something like “Thunder over Louisville” on the 24th of December!
Or how about this part of the Christmas message? “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace among those with whom His favor rests!” Angel voices … speaking to the shepherds, and to us!
What news! What a blessing has come: Jesus! And with Him, Peace with God! A Peace we could never, ever, in a million years achieve on our own!
… And now that peace that mankind perhaps seeks more than anything else in the whole world HAS come… by God’s love, mercy and grace in this baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger!
Hurray!
Think of it… that’s something that’s a lot more newsworthy than some horse winning the Triple Crown! It’s really the most exciting and greatest news ever proclaimed to mankind … And when the shepherds in the fields nearby heard it … they reacted to that great news by glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard!
Well the time for them to do all that was back on that night, back in Bethlehem. … The time and place for us is HERE and NOW!!
For many of us, this is a day we’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. So again, the call from Scripture is to do nothing less than celebrate!
And so, what’s really neat about celebrating this or any event… is doing it with others who are of a like mind and spirit. We get quite a taste of those kinds of celebrations this time of year when we happen to watch football or basketball on TV.
Especially football. You see what happens when a team scores… or when they win the game? The crowd cheers and shouts… Many people jump up and down… Someone is apt to run around with a huge flag bearing the team’s name and colors … Some fire off cannons, some ring bells, and some ride the mascot around the field … all kinds of things happen!
And all that goes to all those people being of the same mind and spirit. Having personally sat in the Big House, the football stadium at the University of Michigan, and having had an allegiance to a very underdog opposing team … you get a real sense of what NOT having that kindred spirit with the rest of a crowd of 109,000 can be like.
And that’s why, even though you may watch a football game at home on Television in HD with many better vantage points and instant reply angles… the experience of celebrating with a like-minded crowd is what makes people want to pay high ticket prices and brave the weather and traffic to be part of that excitement and celebration.
And that’s why also tonight we have braved the elements, even all the last minute Mall traffic, to be gathered here. And it’s not Sunday… it’s Thursday night! How many Thursday nights have you been gathered like this in Church?
We’re here because this is the special night that Jesus came… and although we could stay at home and watch the story play out on Television … it’s so much different as we experience here it together and give Glory to God as one.
So celebrating is something we’re doing tonight… and something we ought to do more often as God’s people in this place. Truth be told, God’s given us a lot of things to celebrate in this past year, and yet none as great as the gift of Jesus as Savior and Lord.
And so, once again we’ve heard those familiar words from Luke’s Chapter 2 … the Good news of Jesus’ birth. And we have sung and will sing even more of the hymns and songs that we have known and loved since we first can remember celebrating this event as children.
And later, we’ll even do that by candle light … as we do take a moment, as Mary did, to ponder the love of God expressed to each and every one of us on this night of nights.
And there’s one other thing about this celebration tonight we might touch on. Chances are, your neighbors can see your Christmas tree through your windows. But lots of people have Christmas trees.
But, chances are, your neighbors also know where you are tonight. They know you’re out at church … celebrating God’s coming in the babe of Bethlehem. And so, they see that your being here was important enough for you to gather everyone up, brave the weather and the traffic, and take the time to join others of a like mind and spirit in worship. Not everyone with a Christmas tree does that.
Your being here says something to your neighbors about your priorities. It says something to them about what’s important to you. About Who’s important to you. It’s a powerful witness to the Babe of Bethlehem.
Now, maybe some of your neighbors are doing the very same thing tonight around a different altar. But maybe some are not. Maybe your silent witness to your faith tonight will give way to an opportunity to make a more intentional one in the future.
And so … let’s get on with it, tonight. To be like the shepherds who heard the good news from the angels and then went and saw Jesus for themselves … And then, they could hardly contain themselves as they went on their way glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it was just as they had been told.
May it be so for us as well this evening.
In the name of Him who came this night, Jesus, our Savior and King.
Amen.
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