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Nativity
Scenes
Christmas Traditions
A Christmas Prayer
Gracious LORD, be the God of our Christmas celebration. We
rejoice with the shepherds over the good news of Jesus' birth. We join in the
praises of the angelic choir, saying: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and
on earth peace among those whom God favors!"
Almighty God, you have favored us with the greatest gift ever
given--your only begotten Son, light of true light, God of rue God. May we
never take this your gift for granted; may our songs of praise never fade, and
may we treasure it in our hearts always and forever. Bless all of us here
gathered in worship as well as our loved ones at home. May peace and joy ring
in our hearts and reverberate through our communities tonight in the name of
Jesus the new-born King. Amen.
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Here
we are on the Eve of Christmas, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside,
celebrating what is undoubtedly one of the biggest reasons to celebrate
in the Christian faith tradition: the incarnation of God into human
form.
But as cozy it may be in this
sanctuary tonight, the one human person who was closest to the
incarnation event, Mary, was probably feeling anything but comfortable.
Tonight I want to pay tribute not only to God, but also to Mary, mother
of Jesus. Let's take a look at Christmas from Mary's perspective
Our Scripture passage starts with
an empirical decree. Everybody in the entire Roman Empire, including
members of Judea had to travel back to their birth place to be
registered for a census. Can you imagine what it must have been like for
Mary to be traveling when she was about to give birth to her first baby?
I know we're all familiar with pictures and film clips portraying Mary
riding on a donkey. However, we don't find a reference to that in the
Scriptures; and honestly, I don't know what is worse when you're
pregnant: walking or being shaken on the back of a donkey.
But consider the other
circumstances: they finally arrive in Bethlehem--Joseph's birth
town--only to find out that there is not a single room to be had
anywhere. How terrible must Mary have felt especially since she had to
have known that the baby was on the way. She was tired, dirty from the
road, probably in pain or discomfort from contractions, scared and
confused. And all they could find for shelter was a stable….a stable!
Just a few months earlier she had
experienced the most incredible calling by God, an event we also refer
to as the “Annunciation.” The famous angel Gabriel himself, chief of the
divine messengers, came to visit Mary to announce that she was the woman
favored by God to bring forth the Messiah of the world. What a
tremendous honor and what a remarkable calling!
Now contrast that calling with the
situation Mary found herself in on the Eve of the Savior's birth. You
would think that when God calls you, things would just fall into place.
But they really didn't, did they?
Far from it....
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Reflecting the Light
a sermon based on John 1:1-14 for Christmas Day Rev. Brian K Eiss
Good morning, welcome, and Merry Christmas. It is not often that we have
the opportunity to celebrate Christmas Day and a Sunday morning at the
same time. We have spent a great deal of time preparing for today -
cookies, wrapping gifts, decorating. Together we hope that the world has
spent a little time preparing within for the coming of the Light of
Christ into our hearts. We begin today with a story.
Two cars were waiting at a stoplight. The light turned green, but the
man didn't notice it. A woman in the car behind him is watching traffic
pass around them. The woman begins pounding on her steering wheel and
yelling at the man to move. The man doesn't move. The woman is going
ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her
steering wheel and dash.
The light turns yellow and the woman begins to blow the car horn, and
screams some choice words at the man. The man, looks up, sees the yellow
light and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns
red.
The woman is beside herself, screaming as she misses her chance to get
through the intersection. As she is still in mid-rant she hears a tap on
her window and looks up into the barrel of a gun held by a very
serious-looking policeman. The policeman tells her to shut off her car
while keeping both hands in sight. She complies, speechless at what is
happening. After she shuts off the engine, the policeman orders her to
exit her car with her hands up. She gets out of the car and he orders
her to turn and place her hands on her car, then handcuffs her and takes
her to the police station where she is fingerprinted, photographed,
searched, booked, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, she is let out of the cell and escorted back to
the booking desk where the original officer is waiting with her personal
effects. He says, "I'm really sorry for this mistake. But, you see, I
pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the
guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the
'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do?' bumper
sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome
plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed you had
stolen the car from a real Christian."
. . . .
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