Christmas Eve - Lessons and Carols Service 2023

Come to Bethlehem and See[i]

Luke 2:1-20

“Our hearts are forever restless until they find their rest in God." A brilliant, articulate university professor, St. Augustine of Hippo, made that statement more than 1,600 years ago.  A cover story in Newsweek magazine on September 5, 2005, entitled “Spirituality in America"- I know it is a little dated but think the conclusion they came to is still true. Their conclusion was “There is a hunger in the human heart for a transcendent experience of God." There has been this hunger since the beginning of humankind. What does “transcendent experience” mean? People want to experience God beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience. It's Christmas Eve, the pandemic is over, and churches are open. Whether or not it is clear to you, we find our way to church because we are spiritually needy and want to experience God more. Some of you know that. Some of you are surprised by that. You who doubt that, need to hear it the most. Right at the core of our being there is a hunger for something that is hard to define, almost embarrassing to confess, but which remains when the world has given us its finest things and every tangible fear has been driven away. Philosopher, physicist, and mathematician Blaise Pascal says there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every human being.

The least likely of all visitors to the manger that first Christmas had to be the shepherds. They were not stargazers. They did not attend worship. They were not the religious leaders of their day. They were tired, old sinners trying to earn their dinners by tending sheep by night. But when the glory of the Lord came upon them, the angel of the Lord told them the good news of our Savior's birth. Even the shepherds had sense enough to go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that had happened. Will you join the shepherds at the manger tonight?

I. COME TO BETHLEHEM AND SEE THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

Once more we gather for worship amid the great noises of war, dramatic descriptions of misery, and sensational expressions of human cruelty that leave us numb. The culture wars of “Merry Christmas" versus “Happy Holidays" make me sick in my soul. The fact that we lament murders on the evening news and then turn to crime for entertainment later in the night worries me.

Of course, there are battlefields of our own making. Some families that won't gather this Christmas because they can't get along, and families that will gather in such tension that it becomes uncomfortable for everyone. As a person confessed once, “Every holiday at Grandma's house is the same. Although I look forward to it, after three days with my sister's family I am ready to strangle someone."

Ultimately, the tug-of-war that goes on in my soul does not declare a truce for Christmas. The conflict deepens as I struggle with my needs, my disappointments, my hurts, and my fears. Hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah tonight in Isaiah 9:6 (NRSV): For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

The peace of God comes from peace with God. Meet the Prince of Peace tonight. He will give you a self you can live with, a love you can relate to, a hope you can dream of.

II. COME TO BETHLEHEM AND SEE THE LIGHT OF LIFE.

“Get a life!" Exactly how do we accomplish that imperative? I have expressed that I like to read sermons. In response to that I have heard “Doug, you need to get a life!” Maybe I do.

Pistol Pete Maravich thought fame would give him life. Some of you remember his dazzling basketball performances at LSU. In his autobiography Heir to a Dream, Pistol Pete wrote: “I considered basketball to be the ultimate supplier of all my needs. I was wrong. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ brings true meaning."

John said in John 1:4, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all people.” Life is small, fragile, tender, vulnerable. No plant will survive without tender loving care! I would like to introduce Jerry. He is a young struggling baby Spider plant. He belongs to my granddaughter’s college roommate. We are plant-sitting. Poor pathetic Jerry. We have repotted him, fed him, watered and misted him and he is beginning to grow.

What is more helpless than a baby? There in a tiny manger lies the Lord of lords and King of kings! He is the Savior of the world. Let Him bring you life, abundant life, meaningful life, eternal life. To be alive is to ask questions, ponder the possibilities, and consider the options. But most of all to live is to embrace the present. Because of that baby, I can embrace the moment, without the oughts and shoulds of yesterday loading me down. Someone has said: “Because of that baby, I can face tomorrow, not asking “What if" but rejoicing in “Who is."”

III. COME TO BETHLEHEM AND SEE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

If God has a refrigerator in heaven, I am sure your picture will be on it. How many of you do that? Hang pictures on your fridge. There is on my refrigerator, held by a magnet, a picture of me on a hike with my son and my grandson DJ when he was about 2 years old. Now he is a finely tuned 18-year-old athlete.  However, I just can’t remove the picture. Are you on God’s refrigerator?

In my years as an educator and minister, I have gotten my share of letters and e-mails. Some are meant to set me straight on some blunder I've made in the pulpit or the classroom, or to question some leadership decision I have made.

Every pastor would like to receive an email like this: “Pastor, My last few years have been empty and held no hope. Then I discovered this church, where I am loved, lifted, and given the word of God. Here I can relax, learn, and receive the fellowship of others. Thank you." It was signed “A lost sheep now found." My desire for First Presbyterian Church of London is for us to be a church where people are loved, lifted, and given the word of God. Where people can relax, learn, and receive the fellowship of others. I want this to be a place, to borrow the words of Cheers, “where everybody knows my name.”  If we create a place where people can satisfy the hunger in their human hearts for an experience with God, we won’t have room for everyone. How do we do that? We become willing to let go and let God move in our midst. We need to stop hiding behind our Presbyterianism and open ourselves to the supernatural. We need to become Bethlehem to the shepherds in our community. O, that all of us who hunger for God, who want a transcendent experience with God, could find our way to Bethlehem tonight and have our hearts strangely warmed by the One who loves us regardless of who we are. Thanks be to Christ our Lord. Amen.

Image by Freepik