Pastor Ronald Wesemann Christmas Eve, 7:30pm, 2011
What are we all doing here tonight?
That question is easy! We came here to celebrate!
Celebrate what? God’s many blessings? The many things that
bring to us joy?
So, let me think; what (then) are the things that bring me
joy? Newborn babies, puppies and kittens, a beautiful sunrise and a beautiful
sunset, my wife, my kids (at least most of the time), my grandson, good milk
chocolate, a good soft pretzel, a sky filled with stars, a view from a country hillside
and a view of the city skyline, a full church, a family reconciled, children
playing, sometimes even when they are bad, beautiful art work and craftsmanship
and comedy (most kinds of comedy) and seeing someone else made happy. It seems
that when it comes to things that bring me joy, I can go on and on. Life itself is a joy. Oh, Cathy will tell you that I
don’t always act all that joyful and she’s right, but I’ll tell you a secret,
sometimes when I’m grumpy and when I’m miserable I ‘m faking it and sometimes
I’m just enjoying the feeling of being miserable. I really do enjoy life, and
sometimes I even enjoy life through others, by watching their joy. I can’t help
but to smile seeing someone else brought to a moment of joy. I am blessed; I
think it is a special gift of God, to feel another person’s joy.
And when we think of joy, consider the season that begins
late tonight; this is certainly the season for joy; Christmas is the season of
giving, of hope and of celebration.
I think the only thing that really puts a crimp in my joy,
during the month leading up to Christmas and the few weeks following Christmas,
is seeing so many people struggle with the stress of seasonal expectations and
my kids would tell you, also watching the dollars fly out of my wallet and bank
account (they tell me I’m cheap.).
But think of all the giving that takes place and (happily) a
lot of this giving is directed also to people who really need it and who live
with very little reason for joy.
Joy and this season belong together. Maybe that is why two
of my favorite and other’s favorite Christmas Carols are “Joy to the World” and
“Go Tell It on the Mountain”. “Joy to the World” because it speaks of nothing
but joy at the birth of Jesus and “Go Tell It on the Mountain” because it gives
off such a feeling of joy that would make you want to share the joyous news of
Jesus’ birth your self. The Christmas story itself brings joy and so here on
Christmas Eve, I want to tell the Christmas story so that you will have a good
reason for joy.
You might have noticed that in my list of joys, I left out
the Christmas story; I didn’t forget it; I was saving it for now.
The story begins months before the day we call Christmas in
the village of Nazareth. At that time Mary was visited by an angel and told
that she was “the favored one of God” and told that it was God’s plan for her
to conceive the Messiah of God, God’s only Son. Mary scared as she was,
expressed also a feeling of great honor; she was willing and so Jesus began his
journey within Mary. But this news of Mary’s pregnancy did not bring joy to
Joseph; it was a hard thing for him to believe and accept that his betrothed
was carrying the Messiah of God, but God would not let Joseph suffer such, an
angel of the Lord appeared also to Joseph, but in a dream, and Joseph believed
and Joseph joyfully took Mary to be his wife. Eight, nine months passed and a
decree was sent forth, from Caesar, that all Israel was to return to the
ancestral home towns of their families and register. Joseph and Mary, being of
the lineage of David, made their way to Bethlehem, Mary riding on a donkey and
Joseph walking beside her. It was a difficult trip, made even more so by the
overcrowded conditions that they found when they finally reached Bethlehem.
You see many people traced their ancestry to David and so there
were too many people seeking shelter, people who crowded the Inn and the homes
of the people living in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph could only find shelter in a
stable. Surrounded by the quiet noises of the animals and making use of the
clean hay, they made for themselves a bed and set themselves down to go to
sleep. But sleep would have to wait; there joy was about to be realized; the
baby was getting ready to be delivered.
What a glorious, what a scary, what a joyful moment. Without
the help of midwife or doctor, but with the help of God, Mary and Joseph safely
welcomed into the world the Messiah of God, God’s only Son Jesus. Alleluia! It
was a tired joy that Mary and Joseph and now Jesus shared. They set down again
to sleep. But sleep was not on the minds of the angels; out above a hillside
just outside of Bethlehem, a chorus of angels sang the joyous news, proclaiming
the good news of the birth of God’s Son. Below them sat a group of shepherds. There
with fear in their hearts, but also excitement they listened to all that the
angels sang and to the joyful news told them. It was very good news; the long
awaited Messiah of God was born; and he was born not far away in the city of
David, in the city of Bethlehem. Joy and excitement overcame them. They must go
and see this thing; they must go and see the newborn king. They penned up their
sheep and went as quickly as they could to Bethlehem and the stable where the
child was said to have been born. Oh happy day! In Bethlehem, in the stable,
they found all, as the angels had told them. Joyfully they told to Mary and
Joseph all that they had seen and heard from the angels; with joy they bowed
down and worshipped Jesus. And when they were finished they went on their way,
with great joy in their hearts, telling all who they saw the good, the joyous
news of the birth of the Messiah of God.
Others also came to see the new born Jesus. Wise Men, some
say they were Kings came; they had traveled for as long as three years looking
for the newborn king of Israel, to welcome, and to pay homage to him. Finding
Mary and Joseph and Jesus was the joy of their lives. They brought with them
and left for Jesus, what might be considered the first Christmas presents,
gold, frankincense and myrrh. They worshipped Jesus and then they too went on
their way with joy in their hearts.
Celebrate this night along with the angels, the shepherds
and the Wise Men, with Christians of the past and Christians everywhere around
the world; celebrate joyfully the birth of God’s Son, the Messiah of God, the
Savior of us all.
Of all the joys that I can list, the one that brings to me
the biggest smile is Christmas. It is to our joy that to us this night, Jesus,
the Messiah of God, our Savior is born.
