Luke 2:1-14 Christmas Eve 2019
All this Advent season we have been noticing beautiful darkness and joyous light, and that was the theme of our Christmas program this year. Some of you were in it!
And the story we told together, I’d love to have your help to tell again…
Only A Star by Margery FacklamBefore anyone knew of Jesus’ birth… the light from the star transformed the smallest creatures and the most ordinary objects into glorious ones… all of these creatures lives in the Holy Land when Jesu s was born... so let’s tell this story together!
What were the trimmings that first Christmas morning? What brightened the stable to
welcome the Child? Only a Star.
But it glistened on dewdrops and turned them to diamonds.
Spidery threads became ribbons of silk.
Even the hay in the hard, wooden manger
gleamed satin-soft surrounding the Babe.
A dragonfly hovered on wings of clear crystal
Scattering the light in a rainbow of gems.
A scurrying scarab caught in the star glow
Added an emerald to trim the Child’s bed.
Doves preened, feathers drifted,
Like guardian angels on watch overhead.
Tired from its journey a donkey stood silent.
Its worn copper bell glowed like gold for a King.
Three chubby jerboas danced in the starlight—a ritual of joy for this holy day.
A snail left a trail that glittered like tinsel.
Dust sparkled in banners of heavenly light.
Cradled by down in the nest of a nightingale,
Eggs became ornaments made for this birth.
What trimmed the stable that first Christmas morning?
Only a Star, but it dazzled the earth.
When we get done talking here - you’re invited to go over to the coloring table & choose a paper & sticker sheet. You can put the stickers of Mary & Joseph & Jesus in the stable… and then, you can use your imagination, just as Margery (the author) did, and draw in who else you imagine might visit the manger.
There are lots of opposites on this night… 1) there’s darkness and light
2) There’s the quiet of night… but also noises – animal sounds, maybe the sounds of lots of people gathering, and for the shepherds… suddenly a whole “host” of angels (imagine a sky full of warriors and the brightest light… you can see why they were terrified.
3) There’s high and low… in a time where one ruler thought of himself as the supreme ruler (because after all, he had the power to make everyone in the country go somewhere else and be counted…)… but God appeared to those in the low places – a stable, a hillside… and reversed everything.
That is why we get together tonight… to remember together that even though some of us are really looking forward to presents or family or something just ahead, God is often present just where we least expect God to be.
It can be confusing… the high are low, the low are high… but it also can inspire us to see this day and each day differently.
When we are very sad and lonely – Jesus is present, we are not alone.
When things are very noisy, when we are worked up – Jesus is present, giving deeper peace.
When things are not what we expect – Jesus is present, willing to walk with us.
I wonder what you’re most excited about tonight?
I wonder what you’re most afraid about tonight?
All of the people in the story of Christmas—Mary, Joseph, leaders, shepherds… they all were afraid and excited, too.
But they came to the manger and saw Jesus—and that filled them with joy that took away their fear. In a few minutes, we will come to the Communion table and we will receive the bread & cup in our hands, cupped to receive Christ just like the manger held Jesus.
Then, we’ll light candles… not only because they’re beautiful but because they show us how through God’s spirit, the flame of love can move from one to another.
And before you leave tonight, I hope you’ll also pick a star to take with you and remember the star that gave light and direction… how God is still doing that—giving light and direction in this high-low time—and how God’s light not only shines on you but from within you. Create a manger, light a candle, remember that you are God’s own star… in and through you, God is singing, “Do not be afraid… for today, once again, Christ is born. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.”
As the children are moving to the coloring table to get stables and stickers and stars… and then back to you, families… in closing, let me share these blessings…
Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light(by Jan Richardson)
Blessed are you
Who bear the light
In unbearable times,
Who testify
To its endurance
Amid the unendurable,
Who bear witness
To its persistence
When everything seems
In shadow
And grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
The light lives,
In whom
The brightness blazes—
Your heart
A chapel,
An altar where
In the deepest night
Can be seen
The fire that
Shines forth in you
In unaccountable faith,
In stubborn hope,
In love that illumines
Every broken thing
It finds.
How the Light Comesfor Christmas Eve (by Jan Richardson)
I cannot tell you
How the light comes.
What I know is that it is more ancient than imagining.
That it travels across an astounding expanse to reach us.
That it loves searching out what is hidden, what is lost, what is forgotten or in peril or in pain.
That is has a fondness for the body, for finding its way toward flesh,
For tracing the edges of form, for shining forth through the eye, the hand, the heart.
I cannot tell you how the light comes, but that it does. That it will.
That it works its way into the deepest dark that enfolds you, though it may seem long ages in coming or arrive in a shape you did not foresee.
And so may we this day turn ourselves toward it.
May we lift our faces to let it find us.
May we lift our faces to let it find us.
May we bend our bodies to follow the arc it makes.
May we open… to the blessed light that comes.
