Christmas Evangelism 2010

CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE
December 25, 2010
Luke 2:1-20


This is the very same passage from Luke that I used for my sermon last Christmas Eve at St. Martin’s in Pahrump. When I first realized that I would be preaching on this same piece if scripture once again, I looked back with interest at my thoughts of last year. I was amazed at how differently I perceived the passage this year

Last year my sermon focused on how lucky we are to have Christ in our lives, and what a waste of time it is to feel sorry for ourselves when we don’t get the gifts that we had hoped for.

This year, I am not even thinking about gifts.

This year, I am thinking of our many, many brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world who are suffering, oppressed, and exposed to illness and brutality.

I am thinking of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who this year have become financially destitute, homeless, and who do not have much hope for a brighter future.

I am thinking of the many natural disasters that have occurred this year, and the toll that these events have taken on both our environment and our economy.

I am thinking, we need to try our very hardest to bring Luke’s birth story and all that it means to those who either have not yet heard it, or to those who need desperately to hear it again.

This year, I am thinking that we, who are lucky enough to remain, as yet, untouched by disaster, are called by Christ, more fervently than ever, to be his disciples – to seek and serve Christ in all people and to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.



This year, in composing my sermon, I prayed that I could summon the creative juices that might, in some small way, take this birth story and breathe energy into Christ’s evangelism call to all of us here at Grace in the Desert. I prayed that I might compose a sermon that would help us all hear the angel of the Lord loud and clear when he says:
“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 Savior, 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 favors!”
When I become passionate about something, I hear what I am trying to say musically in my head. So, I decided that, today, I would use verses from hymns that we sing each year at this time to highlight Luke’s story and to inspire us in our role as God’s messengers.

Hymn #101; verse 1

Away in a manger, no crib for his bed
the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
the little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay.

Mary and Joseph had travelled from Nazareth to Galilee to register for a census. The purpose of the census was to ensure that everyone was accounted for and taxed appropriately. Their journey was a long one – about 90 miles each way. Whether on foot or by donkey, it must have been a very difficult and unpleasant journey for Mary who was pregnant.

Once in Nazareth, exhausted and knowing that Mary might be about to deliver her child, the couple stopped at an inn seeking lodging. All the rooms were taken. Mary and Joseph were offered an alternative place to stay – the manger, a space normally reserved as a shelter for animals. It was in this very humble space that the birth of Christ took place.

The baby Jesus - God incarnate; Son of God; our Savior and our Redeemer - was born not in the comfort of a fancy palace or temple. His parents were given no special consideration. The innkeeper did not move an existing guest and give them a real room instead of a dirty animal shed. No grand and glorious welcome befitting a king here. No, Christ was born in the most humble of settings among the poor, the needy, and the vulnerable – among those whom he would serve, teach, and encourage to become his followers, his disciples. Ordinary people just like you and me.

Hymn #94, verses 1 & 2

While shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground,
the angel of the Lord came down, and glory shone around.

“Fear not,” said he, for mighty dread has seized their troubled mind;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all mankind.”

Shepherds were not rich. Shepherds were not educated. Shepherds had little, if any, social standing. Yet, God chose them to be the first to learn of Christ’s birth. God revealed himself and the birth of His Son to the most ordinary of men – not to kings or emperors.

Imagine these tired and dirty men out in a dark field, perhaps cold and hungry, minding their own business and tending their sheep when all of a sudden an angel appears before them – an angel in a cloud of glory! They were terrified!

But the angel said, “Fear not.” And then, miraculously, “The glory of the Lord shone around them.”

Somehow the shepherds understood the grace that had befallen them. They heard God. They listened intently and in awe as the angel said, “This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”







Hymn #83, verse 1

O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him, born the King of Angels;
O come let us adore him, O come let us adore him,
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

The sheep were forgotten. The shepherds knew in their hearts that they had to see for themselves this miraculous “Thing that had taken place.” They dropped everything, including their livelihood – the sheep – and hurried off to Bethlehem.

These shepherds foreshadowed all those men and women who in the coming years would lay down their worldly goods and gifts to follow Christ – the fishermen, the tax collector, and all the saints who have given their lives to proclaim the Good News of Christ.

As Jesus said to the man who was asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

Once we have seen the glory of the Lord, there is no hesitation, no concern for what others may think or what the consequences of our commitment to Christ might be - no hesitation at all - we simply love, or adore, him with all our hearts, and all our minds, and all our souls.

Hymn #88, verse 1

Sing, o sing, this blessed morn, unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, God himself comes down from heaven.
Sing, O sing, this blessed morn, Jesus Christ today is born.

The shepherds were amazed at what they had been told, and what they saw when they finally arrived at the manger scene in Bethlehem. These very ordinary people served as witnesses to the Incarnation, just as other very ordinary people would later become witnesses to the resurrection.



Other than the angels, the shepherds were the first to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ birth. Not CNN or Fox News, not the New York Times, not Newsweek or Time Magazine – just ordinary folks like you and me, singing praises from door-to-door.

Today, it is very ordinary people like you and me who have, once again, witnessed the birth of Christ.

As we consider in awe, just as the shepherds did over 2000 years ago, the profundity of this miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ, let us open our hearts and our minds to the wondrous gift of God made man

Let us pray that we may be so blessed that our hearts and our minds, guided by the Light of Christ, will be used as his instruments in the healing of this troubled world.

Hymn #101; verse 3

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay
close by me forever, and love me I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.