Christ Lutheran Church
1701 Arroyo Chamiso
Santa Fe, NM 87505-4775
(505) 983-9461
Sundays
8 am: Spoken Holy Communion
9 am: The Forum
10 am: Sung Holy Communion
Wednesdays
services begin at 7 pm
7 pm: Evening Prayer, Rite of Healing
(Last Wednesday of each Month: Holy Communion, Rite of Healing)
December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve
7.00 pm
The Mass of the Angels
(Complete
with
the Preacher’s Notes.)
GOSPEL: Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
In Those Days
+ In nomine Domini. Amen.
(The
settling-in period whereby those who have come to worship tonight are
here for
many reasons, for many memories, for many hopes and dreams. The beginning of a Sermon on Christmas Eve
should allow for a time of resting and then listening.)
I.
In those days … begins the Christmas
Story as told by the wonderful Gospel-Story-Teller Luke.
We do not know precisely who he was, this
master
Story Teller … yes, there are legends and traditions aplenty: Luke the
Physician, Luke the Companion of Saint Paul, Luke the First
Iconographer (who
painted the first Icon of the Virgin Mary), Luke the Greek born in the
City of
Antioch, Luke the resident of Troas (where the ancient city of Troy
stood) …
but these are in the end, legends and traditions, and who he was
exactly we do
not know.
(Now, we are
ready to listen, and so the Proclaimer (another term for “preacher”)
should get
to it with haste.)
II.
What we do know, however, is the story he
told, his gospel, his account of the Good News
about Jesus. We have been reading this
story and telling this story for nearly 21 Centuries, we hear it every
Eve of
Christmas … and those of us who have been around for several years have
it
nearly memorized, we would not need the page in front of our eyes to
repeat the
story that is told in the Gospel of Luke, the Second Chapter.
In those days … the words grab us from the
beginning, they take hold of our imagination, they bring the story –
the
ancient story – and our story – our present-day story … together
… attached (as it were) in such a way that we find
ourselves entering into the story itself tonight.
We hope that in
those days will also have something to say to us in
these days. Luke was
writing in the reality of his time with all the uncertainties and
issues and
problems and concerns before his eyes.
And, we come here tonight in the midst of our time with all the
uncertainties and issues and problems and concerns before our eyes …
and we
come to listen to a word (no, more than a word … to a drama)
where in we are included not in the audience but in the play
itself. For this Christmas Story is to
be our Christmas Story as well, now,
here, in these days, in this time, in this place.
III.
Perhaps we find ourselves among the angels
and the
shepherds, out in the darkness of the night illuminated with a light
that
cannot be described, and echoing with a sound beyond anything we have
ever
heard. Maybe in the darkness of our
life, in its fear and dread, in the apprehension and trepidation that
controls
our days … we can see that illumination, and hear that reverberation
with the
bold pronouncement Do not be afraid … and
that will stir us again to hope and live with the joy and cheerfulness
of life that we want and need now and not
in some tale
from the past.
Perhaps we find ourselves standing next to
Joseph,
maybe placing a hand on Mary’s shoulder as we admire the baby in her
arms,
nursing at her breast, wrapped in swaddling cloths … the cloths that
went
around a newborn infant, a warm blanket tied together with strips of
cloth to
keep him warm. Maybe in the chill of our
lives we yearn to feel again that swaddled warmth of our mother and her
love
and gentle kindness, to be held, to be understood, to be listened to,
to be
accepted, to have a place, a secure dwelling, a home.
Perhaps we find ourselves among the
onlookers, those
who are curious about what is this fuss that is being made by field
hands who ran
from the hillsides to the city, to the birthplace with a story of
angels’ voices
in their tale of good news. Maybe it is
our curiosity that comes along with us and sits beside us tonight and
in this
story is set afire tonight as once it was when we with all our
curiosity began
to learn and discover the wonder of creation.
Or maybe we find ourselves just sitting
outside the
door, listening, watching, waiting, perhaps resting … just resting from
weariness on this silent night, holy night as we pray for our world,
our homes,
our lives, to have the peace which permeates through this Christmas
Gospel,
which bubbles up like the bubbles in those old Christmas Tree Lights on
Trees
of Christmases Past, a Gospel bubbling up to bring to our weariness the
tranquility we need and want and pray for every day.
In those days … Luke begins, this
wonderful and quite poetic way of telling the story that is not just
for a
people in a far away place and a far away time, but in our time. It is at the beginning, throughout, and into
the future a living story about a Caring and Compassionate God.
In the baby, “…we celebrate God’s reaching
out to
all humankind, none written off, none despised, none too strange, too
bad, too
inhuman.”[1]
It is where heaven and earth meet and we are
in the
middle of it all where it is possible as it was in those
days now in these
days … possible to participate in the life of God and the peace of
God
which does indeed “pass all understanding” but does indeed enclose us
in its
grasp.
In the baby, in Jesus, we identify the God
who comes
near to us, seeks us out from the infant cry in the manger, and wants
nothing
more than for us to be near to what is Holy (God) and also near to what
is
human (each other).
(That’s
enough, it’s Christmas Eve and time to bring the words proclaimed to a
conclusion of hope and promise.)
IV.
When that happens … when all that is yearning
in us
is touched by all that is holy and tonight loving with an infant
kindness and
generosity and compassion … and when that is given as a gift, when that
holy
touching is shared with those we love and even with those unknown to us
… when
that happens, we have experienced for ourselves the Christmas Gospel,
and can
indeed with the angelic chorus proclaim in song and word and gesture Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on
earth peace …
(And
now, the Prayer.)
IV.
Let us pray.
O God who delights in the presence of all of your children,
grant us grace so that we can accept this great gift
you have bestowed upon us,
the gift of Jesus Christ.
Let us embrace Jesus.
Dispel the world's burden,
remove oppression,
bring good news of your peace to all.
Amen.
+Deo Gratia
The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III
Pastor