This past week Non Sequitur had an ongoing cartoon where, due to the melting polar ice cap, Santa’s reindeer were trapped on an ice floe.  Of course, Santa was trying to figure out what to do.  So, here’s one installment that asks a very interesting question (on screen). “Twas 4 nights before Christmas And Santa’s spirits aren’t high.  Unless hitched to his sleigh, His reindeer can’t fly.  With his reindeer still trapped, A thought makes his teeth chatter, ‘Without presents,’ he wondered, “Will Christmas matter?’  ‘We have to go get them,’ Said an elf who’s named Bob.  ‘We can’t give up now, Or we’ll be out of a job!’  That’s when they grasped, With the reindeer afloat, That the task won’t be easy Since they don’t have a boat!”

    Did you catch it?:  Without presents, will Christmas matter?  It struck me that there are many similar questions that we could ask.  With no family dinner, will Christmas matter?  With no pretty lights, will Christmas matter?  With no money for food, and presents a luxury you can’t afford, will Christmas matter?  And if you can’t share it with loved ones because they’re no longer here, will Christmas still matter?

    If I were to ask you this evening, “What is Christmas all about?”, how would you answer? (The spirit of giving; family; love & peace; the birth of Jesus?)  The birth of Jesus has to be the answer, right, seeing as we’re at church?  However, doesn’t everything else actually become more important in practice?  What comes first, family obligations or worshipping the Saviour?  Opening presents, or worshipping the Saviour?

    The reality for many people is that the incarnation - God in the flesh - the baby in the manger - gets lost in the midst of our traditions and obligations and the general stressfulness of the season.  And so, tonight I invite you to peel back all those things that are hiding the tiny Son of God and to experience anew God’s power that is made perfect in weakness.  After all, isn’t it a pretty amazing thing that the Lord of heaven and earth would come among us as a weak and vulnerable baby, born to poor peasants and lying in a manger?  Yet, this same child has the power to change people’s hearts and minds and vision.

    On Christmas Eve in 1914, a strange quiet had descended on the western front as the soldiers sat in their trenches.  The English soldiers were sitting there and talking about their Christmas traditions at home when one of them swore he could hear the choir singing.  As they all stopped and listened, they could hear a few sturdy German voices singing Martin Luther’s Christmas song “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come”.  They listened until the song ended, frozen in silence.

    Then, suddenly a large man with a powerful voice started into a rousing chorus of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” with the entire regiment joining in by the end of the song.  Once again, there was an interlude of silence until a German tenor began to sing “Stille Nacht.”  This time the song was sung in two languages from both sides: “Silent Night, Holy Night!”

    Suddenly a sentry noticed a single German soldier in no man’s land - waving a white cloth in one hand and holding chocolate bars in the other.  Slowly, soldiers from both sides emerged from their trenches, greeting one another and sharing whatever they had with the others.  They even had an impromptu soccer game by torchlight.  Once both the lights and the players were exhausted, they returned to their trenches.  The following day - Christmas Day - they once again got together and even visited each other’s trenches.

    In a few days, the cannons were booming once again and the whine of the rifles was again heard in the trenches.  However, the people on the other side were no longer a faceless enemy.  They were acquaintances who had shared a candy bar, and had sung and played together.  They were also people whom Christ had come to save.  The birth of the Christ child had completely changed how these men saw one another [from Stories for the Journey by William R. White].

    Such is the power of this child in the manger to change how we view other people.  Those soldiers on the other side were not the face of evil, but people for whom Jesus lived and died.  Those shepherds were not worthless scum of the earth, but the first witnesses and messengers of the birth of the Saviour.  The Emperor Augustus was not divine or a saviour or the bringer of peace, as people thought.  Instead, he was just as much in need of a Saviour as everybody else, separated from God by sin and death.  And Mary and Joseph were not just poor peasants of no account.  Instead, they were the ones entrusted with the Son of God – who would care for him until he was old enough to care for himself.

    Truthfully, the baby in the manger has the power to change not only how we view other people, but also how we view God.  While our God is Creator of all and Lord of the Universe, God also loves us enough to be God-with-us - God in the flesh - Emmanuel.  Our God is not out there somewhere, watching from a distance.  Our God is right here among us and with us and in us through the Holy Spirit.

    And so, even if every single one of the usual trappings get stripped away – yes! Christmas matters!  Christmas matters because God tells us that we matter - and so does every other person on this earth.  Christmas matters because God came to earth in Jesus - to live among us, to die for us, and to conquer sin and death, offering eternal life.  Christmas matters because we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Christmas Eve                                Luke 2:1-20
December 24, 2011
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved