Is It Christmas Yet?

The texts for Christmas Eve can be found by clicking here.

Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord, Year B

December 24, 2014

The Rev. Christopher L. Caddell

While they were there, the time for came for her to deliver her child.  (Matthew 2:6)

The time has been fulfilled.  The waiting is over.  A child is born.

In the family and house that I grew up in, Christmas began on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  While much of the rest of the world was out shopping or watching football games, in the Caddell household “Black Friday” was the day that we pulled all the decorations down from the attic.  There was no time to waste.  Box after box was brought down, one after another, and soon the living room was filled with dusty boxes. 

In my family, the entire day was spent putting it all out.  There were lights to be put out, Santa Claus figures and nutcrackers to be placed where they go, stockings to be hung, and nativity scenes to be arranged.  There were garlands and bows to be strung and wreaths to be hung.  And, of course, there were the Christmas trees.

In the house that I grew up in, we had five…one in the formal living room, one in the den, a tall skinny one in the breakfast room, and one in both my sister’s and my bedroom.

My family (or my mother) really liked Christmas decorations.

By the end of the day, all the decorations were up, and at the Caddell household, it was Christmas…well, sort of Christmas.

For a young boy growing up in this household, all that early decorating seemed to make time stand still.  For the next month I would be surrounded by Christmas, but it was not yet here.  Packages began to appear under the tree, and I had such a reputation for sneaking around, sizing up and shaking packages, that one year my mother used a coded number system to label the packages so that I couldn’t tell whose packages were whose.

The heightened anticipation was all a boy could stand. Growing up in that house, Christmas seemed to take an eternity to finally arrive.

Now that I am an adult, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to fly by and it is my own children that I watch who are shaking and sorting and sizing up packages.  They are the ones who ask, ‘how much longer until Christmas’?

Tonight we hear the story, once again, that we have heard so many times.  The Emperor has ordered a census, and Joseph and a very pregnant Mary travel from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea because Joseph is a descendent of the house of David.  And while they are there, the time comes for Mary to have her baby.  The baby is born in the lowliest of places simply because there was no other place for them to be.  Wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a feeding trough, this new baby has arrived. 

The news is shared with some shepherds who were in a nearby field with their flocks.  An angel appears to them, tells them that a Savior has been born in the city of David.  They are to go and they will find this baby wrapped in cloth, lying in a manger.

The shepherds go, finding the scene exactly as the angel had described, and going out from that place they went about praising God and telling others what they had heard and seen.

The joy of Christmas is complete.  It has finally arrived and we rejoice.

That is the story we remember indeed, and one that I know we could never forget.  It’s been called “The most wonderful story ever told.” 

And yet, tonight is not just about remembering what happened so very long ago.  This isn’t just a story about what happened to Mary, or Joseph, or the shepherds.  It isn’t even a story simply about the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem of Judea.

It is our story, relived year after year, and one that has deep implications for our lives.

The miracle of this night, of course, is the Incarnation.  In Jesus, God becomes one of us. The Creator takes on the very nature of His creation.  Heaven and earth are joined in a very real and tangible way.

Isaiah’s words are fulfilled:

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…For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

One does not have to look very far to see a people who walk in darkness.  In the world and in our own lives it sometimes seems that darkness is all there is.  Brokenness and separation from God abound.  Our world is still racked by war.  Civilians and police are resorting to violence all too often.  And even in our personal lives, we know all too well the darkness that hides there. 

And into that darkness, a Savior is born.  The separation between God and humankind is broken down by the fulfillment of God’s promises.

This is not something that happens only in a stable for Mary and Joseph and the shepherds.  It is for us too…a child has been born for us.

While they were there, the time for came for her to deliver her child.  (Matthew 2:6)

The time has come.  The waiting is over.  A child is born.

As you look around you tonight, you see a church that is well decorated. The boxes that have been stored in the attic all year have been brought out.  The trees are up, garlands and wreaths are hung, the bows are tied, and the joy of Christmas is here.

The question is, is it?  Is it really here?

Tonight my prayer for you is that you, like a child, will long for Christmas.  That you will ask yourself, ‘how much longer will I wait’?

I pray that tonight will not be for you simply about a son born to Mary in the presence of Joseph and the shepherds.  That it will not be a savior born to them, but to us, to you.

I pray that by your presence here, in your seeing, you will know that the separation between you and God is no longer.  That in you dwells the very presence of God, longing for you, calling you into a closer and deeper relationship with him.

I pray that in a world full of confusion and pain you will see Christ’s light and allow it to be seen through you.  That you will choose to see and participate in God’s kingdom here on earth.

And finally I pray that you have a Merry Christmas!  That on this night a Savior is born to you and to me.  Amen.