Emmanuel – Love is Left with UsRev. Ann Beaty December 26, 2004 Text: Luke 2:8-20 So here they are, the shepherds, “watching their flocks by night”, and suddenly, the darkness of their ordinary night is interrupted by the astounding appearance of an angel and the glory of God Almighty around them. The shepherds are terrified. But the angel tells them, “Fear not,” He has an announcement and it's good news! “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.” It is a burst of God's glory into the ordinariness of a regular dark night. Once a year we share with the shepherds this burst of glory we call Christmas. Once a year, heaven comes down to earth, at least for a little while, on Christmas. Just like the shepherds, our darkness gets dispelled for a little while anyway, in the radiance of the season. Our darkness is dispelled when we come to church in Advent to hear the special music provided by the choir. Our darkness is dispelled when we listen to beautiful Christmas music on the radio and watch sentimental old movies. Our darkness is dispelled when we hang greens and put ornaments on the tree and sing carols. Our darkness is dispelled when we exchange gifts and attempt to give a little more attention to the people we love during the holidays. And then, for at least one evening, on Christmas Eve, our darkness is dispelled as we light candles and bask in the glow of our beautiful sanctuary as we celebrate the gift of God's love made known in the birth of this baby. I must admit, I'm not ready to leave that scene just yet. I want to hang out in the warm glow of our Christmas Eve candles and feel that love for a while longer. I want to continue to experience those moments of joy when the angels are with us and the heavens are singing. The Messiah is born. God is here with us. I don't want to think about what it all means or what it might demand of me or how it's going to change my life. I want to celebrate, and dance, and sing with the angels...at least for a while. I want to hold on to that moment, but Luke won't let us. He very quickly moves on to another scene. Too soon he says, “When the angels had left them.” How long were the angels there with the shepherds? Minutes? Hours? A celebration like that had to last longer than this brief summary Luke offers. But, we really don't know how long they were there. I can imagine that the angels themselves are still celebrating and living the glory of this news. But, it didn't last for the shepherds and it doesn't last for us. We get it only in brief glimpses and for fleeting moments, once in a while, maybe only once a year. I just wish we could hold on to that Christmas glory all year long. But that is not our human experience. We all know it won't last as long as we wish. Soon enough, we will pack up the decorations and put away the lights and the trees, our vacation days from work and school will be over. The Christmas CD's and DVD's will be put away again. We will be back to business as usual and Christmas will be past – until next year. So, how do we hold on to what we have received in Christmas? It seems to me that the shepherds can help us answer this question… Luke says, “ When the angels had left them, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place. '” (Luke 2:15) They talk among themselves for a while. But, then they do respond with another move. They decide to take the risk to step out of the fields, and go see about this baby for themselves. They travel to Bethlehem . They find the baby. They see Jesus. They see the Christ. They discover that the news is true, the celebration is right, and they can believe what the angels said: The Savior is indeed among us, however strange it may seem in this poor smelly stable in crowded Bethlehem . It seems to me that the good news Luke wants to give us is this: When the angels have left us, God is still with us. When the angels have left us, God is still with us…Emmanuel…God offering us the love we need to go back to our human living following the celebration of Christmas. The Savior, born in poverty, is with us in our times of poverty and sometimes our poverty is spiritual. The Savior is with us in times and places of physical and emotional fragileness. The Savior is with us in those times and places when the world pushes us aside and rejects us. The Savior is with us in the difficult circumstances of this life and in the losses we know we can't bear alone. Luke tells us that the shepherds then make another move. They go and “make known” this good news they have heard and experienced. “They made known what they had been told about this child, and everyone was amazed.” Once we have experienced for ourselves this good news from the angels we can't keep it to ourselves. You know how news is; especially when it comes to sharing those profound, life-changing experiences with others. We can't keep them inside. We have to tell people about them because telling them allows us to appropriate the experience and make it more real for us. Telling others keeps the experience alive for us and offers a way to share our human joy and our human pain with others. As a pastor I have the sacred privilege of listening to people tell their stories of profound life-altering events. Some of those events are joyous and filled with gift and opportunity. Some of those events are sad and tragic and full of pain. Some are events that happened years ago, and sad or happy, those emotions are as fresh as if it had happened today. “We moved when I was in Jr. High and it changed my life…” OR “There was a tragic accident…” OR “I met my future husband at my sisters wedding.” “The baby's surgery was successful…” And each one is a life-altering, profound event. But for those of us here who celebrate the glory of this birth, ONE event stand out above all others: “Our Savior was born in Bethlehem .” “Our God came to us in person”. “God's love was left with us.” The way to hold on to Christmas year round is to let Christmas happen in your heart and soul. It is to let God with you be born into the core of your being and live in the mundane realities of your life so that you are never the same. Then the glory of the Lord will surround you and sustain you each and every day. And when the decorations are packed away and you go back to school or work, God will be with you. When you mentor a student, or teach a Sunday school class, or sit in a committee meeting, God will be with you. When you're driving to the office or you're stuck in a traffic jam on Mopac or you get home exhausted from the day, God will be with you. When your success is more than you expected or your loss is more than you can carry alone, God will be with you. Wherever you go, whatever you do, God will be with you. And the glory of the Lord will shine upon you. Someone sent me a Christmas card some years ago that I have saved because of the poem on the card. The shepherds remind me of it. It is by Howard Thurman:
The work of Christmas remains for us to do, and it is even more important than our work to get ready for Christmas. Like the shepherds, we can go out looking for those places where God's grace surprises us…places like schools where children need to be mentored, places like hospitals and prisons where people need to be visited, places like Honduras, or Mexico, or East Austin where homes need to be repaired. Like the shepherds we can share the news of what the God has done for us, encouraging others and reliving it for ourselves. We can share the good news by cheering on others and by praying for them, by sending kind notes and cards for encouragement, and fixing a meal or offering a ride. Like the shepherds, we can leave this place no longer the same because even if the angels don't stay with us, their celebration still echoes in our ears and resonates in our souls every time we re-live the story of Christ. We share that story when we offer ourselves to others. As Christians, we are all called in some way to be God's angels, carrying the good news out into the world. The news is true, the celebration is right, and we can believe what the angels said: “Fear not, for behold I bring you glad tidings of a great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. Glory! Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace, good will towards all people.”
Let us pray,
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