"This Night" - Sermon for Christmas Eve 2014

Sermon: "This night"

Text: Luke 2:1-20

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who enters the dark to bring peace and calm.

I was trying to remember if I had been a shepherd in Sunday School Christmas Programs when I was growing up. I have no real recollection of doing so, so I decided to call my Mom about it. She didn’t quite remember either, but told stories of her brother, who is a Pastor in Grand Forks, talking about taking care of the sheep on the farm, or when she was a kid and my grandmother bringing a baby lamb into the house when it was really cold. I somewhat know my way around a farm, going to visit both grandparents on their farms when I was growing up. But, I never had to do the work involved with caring for animals.

I’ve always been intrigued with the shepherds though, even if I didn’t go as one for Christmas Programs, they were always the ones I identified with in the Christmas story growing up. I always thought that life would be interesting, going out and about with the flocks of sheep, caring for them, flinging stones around in my slingshot like King David against Goliath. Leading the sheep from one field to another, over hills and into valleys. Camping out around a fire at night, or in the opening of a cave with the sheep penned inside.

I always assumed that since King David was a shepherd before being chosen as King that meant that being a shepherd was a very desired position. You’d be a shepherd as a kid, and then become a soldier or worker when you grew up. But, being a shepherd was really a life-long occupation. And it’s not the glamorous position that I thought it was. They were not the step below becoming a powerful member of society, they were on the bottom rung of society. You were a shepherd because you couldn’t really do much else, or in some cases your whole family had been shepherds for generations and you owned no farm land of your own, no homes of your own. Their only possessions would be the sheep, the clothes they wore, their staff, a sling and some food. Some say they could be more described like gypsies or Roma, traveling around with no place of their own, and with most of the stereotypes associated with those groups. They had to stay out of town for the most part, just coming in to trade wool and milk, as people thought they might steal. They weren’t allowed to be witnesses in court because they were called untrustworthy.

And yet, these are the first witnesses that God chooses to appear to and tell the good news that Christ had been born. It really speaks about why Jesus came to earth. Jesus came not for the rich and powerful, but to tell the down-trodden and low, the poor and the lame, that God hears their cries and now enters into their lives, living as they live, and eventually dying like they will, and in so doing destroying the power of death, and throwing right-side up what it means to be important. Being chosen by God is what’s special, not how much you have or what you control.

That’s why its so special that the angels appear to the Shepherds. 

I love that the whole scene occurs in that field by night. One thing I definitely have in common with the shepherds is looking up at the stars in the sky. Taking a moment when I’m getting home at night to pause, and wonder at all that God has done and created.

But, there are multiple thoughts about night, and the dark. We talk about it being scary and terrifying, things that go bump in the night. I imagine that the shepherds fall in that category, wondering what’s out there, what dangers lay just out of view, masked by the dark. What fears take hold of them when they sit waiting for sunrise to come? Are they going to be able to go to town in the morning to restock on food? Have any sheep been lost over night without their knowledge? Is there enough grass left for another day or do they need to start packing up to move on?

Suddenly an Angel bursts forth in the dark. Do Not Be Afraid! 

In that moment, fear surrounding, dark nearly overwhelming, when the angel’s light shines, bright as day, giving them comfort and peace. “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 if that wasn’t enough, the rest of the sky is then filled with Angels from horizon to horizon, all praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

“Let us go, to see this thing that has taken place!” Let’s go to the place where we are not welcome, to be the witnesses we are not allowed to be, to see the thing that has taken place, that has already changed who we are, and how we understand ourselves. In just showing up to the shepherds in the field and declaring that Christ has been born, the shepherds are declared worthy. No longer the bottom rung, but now they see themselves as children of God, those who are beloved and cared for by the God who comes to them.

They return to their fields, again to the same night as before the angels appeared, but I imagine it’s a little different. It’s no longer that scary dark place, fear around every corner and in every barely seen shadow, now it’s a grand open sky, filled with point after point of light that reminds them of those angels. It’s no longer a place of fear, but a place of peace. Of quiet, calm, and harmony.

That’s the Christmas message to us on this dark evening. We ourselves often live in darkness, real darkness, or darkness of the mind, emotions, or fear. Things go bump in the dark of our lives, we can’t see where we are to go. We find ourselves on the bottom rung, pushed around by those more powerful than us, and by the culture around us that tells us it’s the price of gifts we give that matters, it’s the amount of money that we earn that says our worth, it’s who we know that tells us who we are. This night we see that God says differently.

This night, God declares that we matter, because God comes to us.

This night, angels erupt into the darkness of our lives, and announce to us, Good News! Christ the Savior is Born!

This night, as we close our service with Silent Night in candlelight, we see the lights of the stars of night that the shepherds saw so many years ago, and we again see that with Christ, it is a place of calm and peace, not filled with the noise of the world, but with the silent presence of our new born king.

This night, and all others, may you know that peace, may you feel the presence of Christ in your life, may the dark be a place where fears subside, and grace abounds.

Amen. And Merry Christmas.