Sermon Seeds: Christmas Eve/Christmas Day

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Year A

Proper I
Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Proper II
Isaiah 62:6-12
Psalm 97
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:(1-7) 8-20

Proper III
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)
John 1:1-14

Sermon Seeds

Focus text:
John 1:1-14
Christmas Eve reflection questions

Reflection:
by Kathryn Matthews Huey

At Christmas, we look at the manger scene, we sing songs about what happened long ago, we re-tell — again and again — the ancient story of the birth of Jesus. We celebrate at Christmas, filled with joy at what God has done. Our psalm reading for this day, Psalm 98, calls us to sing “a new song” because of what God did in the past but also because of what God is still doing today and will continue to do in the future. At the core of their religious observance, the people of Israel remembered God’s faithfulness in their history, but also recognized the presence of God in their midst at that moment, judging the people, judging the world God had created: in a sense, then, continuing to create and re-shape, to re-create it all along. We might be taken off guard by this notion of judgment entering our Christmas celebration, but in her New Proclamation Year B 2012 commentary, Beth Tanner reminds us that the warmth of the Christmas season “gives way to the long, cold winter,” a good time to “change how we live so that others can live.” Simply put, she says, “The psalm calls on us to party for the equality of all.” That certainly brings our celebration this morning into coherence with our longing for God’s justice and healing and peace, not just for some but for all of the world that God loves so well. That surprising note of judgment reminds us, too, of Mary’s beautiful song, the Magnificat, when the high will be brought low, and the hungry filled. No wonder Mary’s son would talk the same way, one day.

On this Christmas Day, then, we look back, but we strive to open our eyes, too, to the presence and the workings of God’s promises, the unfolding of God’s will just as much for all of us and the world today as for one young woman, full of grace, long ago. The psalm calls us and all the world, not just our congregation, not just the wider church, not just folks who believe as we do, but all the world, all creation, to sing this new song. As nature breaks forth in praise and a melody of its own, the singing of birds and brooks, the music of the spheres, the hum that lies beneath all life, our voices raised in Christmas carols are joined with the rest of God’s good and beautiful creation, opening our hearts to the One who is Gift to us all, the One John speaks of in the opening to his Gospel as “the Word,” “the life,” and “the light.”

Christmas seems to be a time when we linger on tender memories of joy that had no material reason but was deeply spiritual and profoundly connected to all that surrounded us at the time. There have been times in our lives, hopefully, when it was impossible to contain our joy, when, as the old song goes, we couldn’t “keep from singing,” not unlike the psalmist or the evangelist, John, as he begins the story of Jesus. The first verses of John’s Gospel, after all, are often heard as a kind of hymn rather than simple story-telling. Music, like other arts, expresses our feelings better than spoken or written words. It seems that the world almost verges on “getting” this, each Christmas that some common ground is almost found, or is found, fleetingly: our common hunger for joy, and generous sharing, and peace. We may even dare to hope for reconciliation in our personal relationships and families, just as we dare to dream of peace among the nations. We suspect that this is the deepest longing of the human heart, and in the midst of Christmas celebrations, underneath and through them, that’s the longing we’re trying to express with each twinkling light (a star in the sky?), each colorful ornament, every carol sung. Do you agree with this claim, or do you think we have wandered too far from “the true meaning of Christmas”?

We celebrate Christmas in many ways, among them gathering with family and friends, exchanging gifts, holding pageants, and sending cards. Perhaps the most moving and memorable way we celebrate Christmas, however, is singing Christmas carols. Our musical memory lasts through the years, from our childhood into our old age, the melodies familiar and comforting, the words hauntingly beautiful and instructive at the same time. The readings for this morning are like songs, too, and their lyrical celebration of God at work in the world, saving, vindicating, calling, and comforting, links us to our ancestors in faith who shared our common hope and longing. We sing along with them today.

What is the good news we are waiting to hear, or waiting to see fulfilled, on one more Christmas morning? Perhaps we are waiting for a messenger who will tell us that the tide has turned, that the day of vindication and hope has arrived, that God is still with us. Or, perhaps we have secretly, privately, given up hope, in spite of our best efforts at decorating, cooking, visiting, and even gift-giving. Worse, we may reached the point of assuming that it is all up to us to bring the peace our hearts long for, all up to “little old us” and our best efforts, with God not bothering to intervene at all. Can we even begin to make everything right? And yet, isn’t Christmas about God intervening in human history? Isn’t Christmas about God telling us not to give up hope after all, telling us not to despair that we are all on our own?

In some ways, we might experience ourselves, or at least our culture, our nation, the world, as “a city in ruins,” like Jerusalem so long ago. How does this image strike you? And yet, God is still speaking good news to us, today, in the “ruins of Jerusalem,” in every broken dream, every heart-breaking loss, every contentious public issue, every insurmountable obstacle….God is speaking still, God is bringing good news. What are the broken things, the malfunctioning systems, the things that need to be made right? How does Christmas morning do more than remind us of what God has done but instead proclaims that God is active in the world today, in this setting of history? What is the new thing that God is doing in the life of your congregation, in your own life, in the life of the United Church of Christ? In this day, how is God revealing God’s own self in the life of the community?

The reading from John’s Gospel is more familiar than many, but its profound meaning often goes over our heads. On this Christmas morning, what is the Word that we long to hear, that we long to feel anew in our lives? The baby is small and vulnerable and sweet, yet the God revealed in this human flesh is clearly, our readings tell us, a mighty God, above our imaginings or description. We can hardly begin to relate to such a Presence and such a Reality. And yet we can relate to a baby, a mother, and, strangely enough, the shepherds who came to give homage.

Perhaps this paradox explains why the practice of singing the carols begins to express the inexpressible: we cannot put into words the incredible mystery of God-made-flesh, and yet we have known it in our bones. We have felt God with us even when we could never explain how that could be. Christmas is our communal recognition, our shared celebration, that God is with us still, God is still speaking, God is still acting in our lives and in the life of the world that God loves so well. God is still with us, and we celebrate, and we sing our songs this Christmas morning. But how will we continue to sing these songs, in the days ahead? How is this morning not only unlike all other mornings, but indeed like every other morning of our lives?

Christmas Eve reflection questions:

At so many points in human history, people have felt that they were walking in darkness, carrying heavy burdens, and feeling the rod of an oppressor. What are the burdens borne by those in your congregation in this season, in this hour? How do folks feel pressed down, lost, in the dark? What are the “empires” that rule over us – materialism, militarism, consumerism, racism, nationalism?

The reading from Isaiah presents a portrait of a people lost, afraid, depressed and demoralized, a people on whom a light then shines, and whose spirits are lifted up. The promise of peace is dramatically depicted in the burning of the boots of warriors and the bloody garments of those who have suffered violence. What is the deepest longing of the people of your church? What is the deepest hunger in the people of your community, in your setting of the church? Where, in that longing and hunger, is there a call for your community of faith? How is God still speaking to your congregation and to the United Church of Christ in this hour and this place? In what ways can we be people of peace in this world, embodying the promise of peace that we hear on this night, year after year?

Psalm 96 reminds us that “the gods of the peoples are idols” and again, we might ask, what are the gods that we have shaped in our own culture? Do we ever think of ourselves as guilty of the sin of idolatry? To what do we truly give our hearts? In this Christmas season, what is the word of true hope, what is the truest promise that we have received? What is the true gift of this season, and how do we experience that gift as enduring beyond a holiday season or few weeks of celebration?

Fear and glory: God is still speaking to us today, in the midst of our fears and uncertainty, and saying, as the angel did: “Do not be afraid.” What are your greatest fears? How do you experience the comfort of God when you are afraid? What is the glory of God shining around you, even in the midst of your everyday work, like the shepherds? How do you hear the voice of God reassuring you and bringing you good news? Does your community of faith hear this good news afresh in this Christmas season, and give glory to God themselves? How does our anticipation of Christmas relate to our anticipation of the love and promise embodied by the child, Jesus?

Lectionary texts

Proper I

Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness —
   on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
   and the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
   and all the garments rolled in blood
   shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
   and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
   He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Psalm 96

O sing to God a new song;
sing to God, all the earth.

Sing to God, bless God’s name;
tell of God’s salvation from day to day.

Declare God’s glory among the nations,
God’s marvelous works among all the peoples.

For great is God, and greatly to be praised;
God is to be revered above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but God made the heavens.

Honor and majesty are before God;
strength and beauty are in God’s sanctuary.

Ascribe to God, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to God glory and strength.

Ascribe to God the glory due God’s name;
bring an offering, and come into God’s courts.

Worship God in holy splendor;
tremble before God, all the earth.

Say among the nations, “God is ruler!
The world is firmly established;
it shall never be moved.

God will judge the peoples;
God will judge the peoples with equity.”

Let the heavens be glad,
and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult,
and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest
sing for joy before God;

for God is coming,
for God is coming to judge the earth.

God will judge the world
with righteousness,
and the peoples with God’s truth.

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph 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. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And 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.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see — 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 suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Proper II

Isaiah 62:6-12

Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
   I have posted sentinels;
all day and all night
   they shall never be silent.
You who remind the Lord,
   take no rest, and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
   and makes it renowned throughout the earth.
The Lord has sworn by his right hand
   and by his mighty arm:
I will not again give your grain
   to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners shall not drink the wine
   for which you have labored;
but those who garner it shall eat it
   and praise the Lord,
and those who gather it shall drink it
   in my holy courts.

Go through, go through the gates,
   prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway,
   clear it of stones,
   lift up an ensign over the peoples.
The Lord has proclaimed
   to the end of the earth:
Say to daughter Zion,
   “See, your salvation comes;
his reward is with him,
   and his recompense before him.”
They shall be called, “The Holy People,
   The Redeemed of the Lord”;
and you shall be called, “Sought Out,
   A City Not Forsaken.”

Psalm 97

God is ruler! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!

Clouds and thick darkness are all around God;
righteousness and justice
are the foundation of God’s throne.

Fire goes before God,
and consumes God’s adversaries on every side.

God’s lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before God,
before the God of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim God’s righteousness;
and all the peoples behold God’s glory.

All worshippers of images are put to shame,
those who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before God.

Zion hears and is glad,
and the towns of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O God.

For you, O God, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

God loves those who hate evil;
God guards the lives of God’s faithful;
God rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.

Rejoice in God, O you righteous,
and give thanks to God’s holy name!

Titus 3:4-7

But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Luke 2:(1-7) 8-20

Proper III

Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful upon the mountains
   are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news, who announces salvation,
   who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
   together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
   the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
   you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
   he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
   before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth
   shall see the salvation of our God.

Psalm 98

O sing to God a new song,
for God has done marvelous things.

God’s right hand and holy arm
have given God the victory.

God has made known the victory;
and has revealed God’s vindication
in the sight of the nations.

God has remembered having steadfast love
and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth
have seen the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to God,
all the earth;
break forth into joyous song
and sing praises.

Sing praises to God with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the Ruler, the Sovereign.

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.

Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of God,
for God is coming to judge the earth.

God will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?

Or again,
“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire.”

But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever,
     and the righteous sceptre is the sceptre of your kingdom.
   You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
      therefore God, your God, has anointed you
      with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

And,
“In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
     and the heavens are the work of your hands;
   they will perish, but you remain;
     they will all wear out like clothing;
   like a cloak you will roll them up,
     and like clothing they will be changed.
    But you are the same,
      and your years will never end.”

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Liturgical notes on the Readings

In ecumenical liturgical practice, there are normally three readings and one psalm at each Sunday service, in this order:

First Reading: Hebrew Scripture
Response: Psalm (or Canticle) from the Bible
Second Reading: Epistle (or Acts or Revelation)
Third Reading: Gospel

The first two lessons are normally read by laypeople, the Gospel by a Minister of the Word or a layperson. In Roman Catholic, Anglican and liturgical Protestant churches, it is uncommon for an ordained minister to read all of the lessons.

The psalm is not a reading but a congregational response following the lesson from Hebrew Scripture: it is normally sung with a refrain or recited by the congregation as poetry. Occasionally, a canticle is appointed in place of a psalm; it is sung or recited in the same way. The New Century Hymnal provides a complete liturgical psalter with refrains and music.

A hymn may be sung as an introduction to the proclamation of the Gospel.

Notes on the Lectionary and Liturgical Colors

Advent and Christmas

The Violet color for Advent is traditionally connected with royalty and penitence. Blue is symbolic of expectation and hope, not only for the birth of Christ, but also for Christ’s return at the end of history. Rose on the third Sunday of Advent, which was Gaudete (Joy), provided a little relief from the somberness of Advent in earlier times. Some Advent wreath sets include a rose candle. White first appears on Christmas Eve and may be continued through the Sunday after Christmas, Epiphany, and the Sunday after Epiphany (celebrated by many as the Baptism of Christ) to show that all of these events are related in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. White is also used for Easter and Sundays following. (Some traditions use Gold or both for Christmas and Easter.)