"Entering our Story" : Sermon for Christmas Eve 2016

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who enters our story.

            I have this little wooden manger scene that I got as a Christmas present when I was just a few years old from my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John, who are two of my baptismal sponsors. I take it out every year and set it up, at some point I lost baby Jesus, no idea how or where, and so my dad who does some wood carving carved a little replacement piece. It’s all made pretty simply, just board cut into shapes, it’s not a 3d model, just flat pieces. But, I remember putting it up for as long as I can remember. I would play with it, change them around in the scene, sometimes I’d slowly move the wise men around as they got closer and closer to the stable. It’s a part of Christmas for me.

            I’ve always been intrigued by nativity scenes. I like seeing what kinds there are. My sister has this sort of fancy one that another aunt and uncle gave to her and would give a piece or two a year to fill it up. We have two different ones here at church, one out in the entryway another in the social hall. How many of you have one at your house? Either inside or an outdoor one? Good.

            Last week for our service that was cancelled due to cold I had decided that I wanted to just tell the Christmas story to the kids during the children’s sermon, and decided to not just use one of the sets that were already put out so nicely here at church, I wanted to get a new one. So, I went down to family Christian Bookstore in Sioux City because I couldn’t find one at Walmart in Vermillion. I looked at a couple of other fancy ones, but they were all pretty expensive and ornamental looking, not really kid friendly. I asked a clerk about other options and he brought me over to the kids section, where they had a Fischer Price Little Peoples nativity set. It’s little figures made of tough plastic, sort of squishy, the set is all tough plastic as well. It’s meant to be used. It has the full scene, angel, Mary, Joseph, shepherd, wise people, two donkeys, sheep, a camel and of course, Jesus. If you put the angel on top and push down it will even play music. But, because my nieces are here playing with it and I value my own and my family’s sanity it does not have the batteries in it right now.

            The clerk who helped me told me a story from the week before. A mom came in with her small daughter, the daughter then stood a played with the manger scene for around an hour as the mom shopped there. She talked to the figures, interacted with them, told the story of Christmas, told other stories with them, put herself into that place, she became part of it.

            I read a commentary this week about nativity scenes, it started, “At Christmas, we gaze at the manger scene, we sing songs and re-tell the ancient story of the birth of Jesus: we celebrate, filled with joy at that amazing gift of God so long ago.”

            And we do do that. We gather, we gaze in wonder at what God is doing here again. We see the sparkling candle lights, the stars at night, the joy in each other’s faces.

            But, do we do more than that? Is our involvement more than simply gazing.

            Another manger scene I heard about this week is an advent calendar, each day had a little pocket in a sheet and in each pocket was a different manger scene character which you could place each day into the stable.

            The thing I love about that advent manger scene and the Fischer Price one is getting involved with it. You become part of the story, you are a character in it. That little girl in the store didn’t just gaze at the scene, she was part of Christ’s story.

            And that helps us see the true meaning behind Christmas. It’s not that a baby was born, but that God is born in this baby Jesus. God through this birth doesn’t just gaze at us, God becomes a part of our story. God becomes one of us. God becomes active in our lives, in our world. God doesn’t just look down upon you, God walks right with you.

            You on this night are a part of God’s story.

            And what do we do with that? We go out to share it. In the text we encounter the shepherds, they are sitting out in the dark, when all of a sudden the angels erupt into the night. The shepherds hear of the wonder of Christ’s birth. “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

            They hear of this good news, and then they go to see it, they go to gaze. They reach Bethlehem and encounter Jesus laying in the manger. But, they don’t stop with the gazing, that gazing is not the end. They get involved, they take action, they make themselves part of the story by going out and telling of what they heard and saw.

This night we become like the shepherds, who come to see this wonder the angels told them about, and then they don’t just stay there to gaze, they go back out in the world to tell all they had heard and seen.

What we are to do with Christmas is become active in it, don’t just gaze at Christ born to you, become a part of the story, put yourself in it, go out and tell it to the world.

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May Christ who is born to us tonight be a part of your story, and the story of everyone you tell. Amen.