Christmas Eve 2015 Sermon Notes

Christmas Eve  2015

Luke starts his little story  by placing it in the political world. With the long campaign season, we may have grown tired of Campaigning already. Luke is drawing an explicit contrast between empire and the birth of Bethlehem.It is the dawn of God’s political program,
God’s way,  in the shadow of empire, unseen unnoticed, except by shepherds and a choir of angels.We want Christmas to offer some peace from the noisy frantic world around us. I am so sick of the St  Louis news being driven by violent crime stories.We have gotten to the point when people complain that enough coverage is not being given the atrocities that touch us almost daily it seems. No amount of Christmas tinsel can divert our eyes enough.-Is. 59:8. With all of the Christmas carols, too many Christians have been raising public voices of aggression and revenge.

We need to hear the words of peace again. The Roman Empire was built by violence. Here God’s heavenly army has turned into a choir, singing of peace. I am sick of violence, or bloodshed, in the streets or across national borders. I hate the idea that the Oasis shelter is geared up for the holidays.Our girls were in the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, and their big Christmas program was called Angels sing. It is easy to fall into the innocent romance of children singing beautiful music, but the first christmas angel choir sang of peace. (silent Night)

Peace of new life, not the Pax Romana. It imagines that the meaning of the life of Jesus will run parallel to Roman power. The angels sing not as God's battle-tested heavenly host, but as a choir, as when the Air Force will bring a group of musicians to sing here this spring.

Maybe the great hymns sings of heavenly peace in sleep as it is seen and felt so rarely in our inner turmoil and our blood-soaked  world. The first Noel sins of peace on the earth-

the Lord’s Prayer on earth as it is in heaven  includes the divine desire for peace on earth good will among us, no? Luke places Jesus in a list of bloody rulers. A baby could be a threat to their method of violent domination in the world. When we excuse or defend violence we take the side of those listed in the beginning of this story not only as date markers but decided contrasts.Shepherd image was used for leaders in the ancient Near East. Abraham and David were shepherds. By this time they were at the bottom of the heap socially, but they hear the angelic choir and no one else.Pushed off to be with the animals to deliver a baby, Mary then gets a surprise visit from shepherds. Why do they angels sing to them and not in the manger? Luke tells us that she mulled this over, and I would bet for some time.It is possible that the stable was a marriage chamber built in housSupper was conducted.

In the end, the Incarnation, the birth of god’s own plan and logic as a human being engages those who carry the name Christian into the world fully.God has a baby born in desperate circumstance right in the middle of human life and situations.We carry the manger within and among us as we seek peace in this life.For about an hour, we will hear words of Scripture that march toward the story of Luke’s Bethlehem. May Christmas peace wash over you and give you a central point to guide the coming days.