“WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS THROUGH”
Luke 2:1-20
Faith United
Christmas Eve, 2007
I have a confession to make
I don’t like Christmas
Wait a minute, let me rephrase that
I don’t like the Christmas SEASON
Maybe part of it is because I’m a pastor
and before that I was a pastor’s kid
so all my life Christmas has been one of the most
insane times of the year in our family
the most stressful
the time when we see each other in the family the LEAST
because everyone is running in opposite directions
I don’t like what happens to people,
they get crazy
they get rude and obnoxious
and they cut you off on the road
as if I’m in New Jersey
they look miserable and burdened
stretched beyond their limit
and over and over again I hear frazzled people say,
“I’m not ready!”
as if there’s some big boss in the sky
who will reign down fire and brimstone
if we don’t have our tree up
if we haven’t bought that gift for that cousin
we never did like anyway
or if our house doesn’t look like a Hallmark card
I find myself in the middle of WalMart
suddenly wanting to turn into John the Baptist
in the wilderness and just start screaming
“What are we doing?? What do you want??
Why are we doing this???”
Maybe I’ve been a preacher too long…
Fortunately, I’ve suppressed the urge so far
People have been asking me for weeks,
“are you ready?”
And always my answer seems to be
an amused kind of snort
and a “no, I’m not”
And I’m still not
yet here we are, ready or not
In 1993, Larry and I decided that it was time
to have a baby
I was in my very first full time church appointment
and I just couldn’t wait any longer for a more practical time
to have a child
So we got pregnant
A lot can change in 9 months
My first church appointment turned out to be somewhat
of a disaster
and by the spring it was clear we had to move
But it was ok
Sarah was due to arrive in the world in late June
in plenty of time for us to be in our new home
We were moving to Tilden, Nebraska that summer
and so we went to Norfolk to make arrangements with the hospital there
My parents came out to help with the move
and to be supportive
We had everything in Superior ready to go
while Larry went to Annual Conference without me that year
One day, he came home from Conference earlier than usual
and suggested we drive to Grand Island to treat my parents
to a real Nebraska steak dinner
It was about an hour and half drive or more
for a very pregnant woman who had to make some
occasional stops along the way
We went to Dreisbach’s
and my father was appalled that anyone would drive
for 90 minutes just to get something to eat
so, in his own words, by the time we got there, he was “famished”
We ordered our meals
I still remember seeing the waitress come through the kitchen door
carrying our salads
my father already had his fork in hand
ready to launch in
but before the woman got to the table
I experienced something I’d never experienced before
my water broke
My father had salad on his fork, midway to his mouth
when he stopped and looked at me and said,
“are you alright?”
When I told him I think my water broke,
he said kind of painfully, “are you sure?”
My Dad is pretty out of touch with the ways of women….
I was pretty sure
Everything went into pure chaos just then
My mother took me to the restroom
Larry informed the waitress that we would have to leave
because his wife’s water just broke
and on hearing that,
she dropped an entire basket of dinner rolls
and started pushing Larry towards the door
while he’s trying to explain that his wife was still in the restroom
We made it all the way back to Superior to the hospital there
and it wasn’t till morning
that Sarah made her entrance into the world
Three days later, we moved to Tilden
on a day that was 98 degrees
with high humidity
and we drove 80-some miles to our new home
We weren’t ready
but Sarah arrived anyway
It was a very inconvenient time for her to arrive
but she came
We seem to have an idea
that that first Christmas
was a tranquil, lovely scene
We assume the whole world stopped and heard the angels
saw the star
and knew that heaven had come down to earth
But I don’t think that night was any less stressful
and except for the clothing and other details
I think that first Christmas
was just as hectic and stressful
Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem
when she was nine months pregnant
just because the government decided
it was a good time to take a census
And the census was for tax purposes
so they were doing this so they could be taxed
It took about 5 days for Mary and Joseph to travel
to Joseph’s home town
Bethlehem was a small, insignificant town
that didn’t impress anybody
My father would call it Po-dunk
or some other derogatory name
depicting a town where nobody wants to live
But that night, the place was bustling with people
everywhere
it was like WalMart on a Saturday during the Christmas season
only a grander scale
Mobs of people
all kinds of people
Not friendly, Midwestern types, necessarily
who will stop and talk to you whether they know you or not
People shoving, cursing, scrambling
People in the marketplace bargaining over deals
all the hotels were full
Ellsworth Kalas, a Christian writer and preacher
suggests that there was most likely a lot of seedy stuff
going on at the hotels
People doing what people sometimes do at hotels
having a party
having an affair
even prostitutes offering their services
loud, raucous people
keeping their TVs on too loud
or stumbling in at all hours of the morning
People far from where they live
maybe doing things they wouldn’t normally do at home
Nobody was happy to be there
they were forced to be there by some ludicrous government decree
Military officers passing through were given free room and board
at any hotel
so the innkeeper didn’t make money off of everybody that night
The innkeeper has always been depicted as a bad guy
an insensitive buffoon
who SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that this woman
was carrying the Savior of the World
I mean, what was his problem??
But I don’t think he was any different than you or me
The man’s hotel was full
He saw this desperately poor couple
the woman obviously uncomfortable
I like to think he really wanted to give them a room
but he was full
he couldn’t kick anybody out
and ever hope to stay in business
There really was no room
And how could he know who they were?
How could he possibly know?
He was just doing his job, trying to stay in business
trying to keep the crowds from destroying his hotel
he was frazzled, he was pushed beyond his limit
he was angry and frustrated
like everyone else was, at some of the actions of the government
Maybe he felt bad,
when he looked at the obviously pregnant Mary
and said, “I’m sorry, there’s no rooms available.”
Apparently the man did had some amount of compassion
that he feebly offered them the stable out back
offered to have some of his workers
clear a space for them
gather some hay together for a bed
and bring them some extra blankets
It was something….
You can’t blame him, his life was full
and I look around me at this Christmas season
where I go to WalMart and hope that nobody’s carrying a weapon
where you see plenty of unhappy, stressed people
who are trying to fulfill some expectations
as if the wrath of God will come down on them
if they don’t have the perfect Christmas
I don’t think it was so different the first time
People pushed beyond their limits
going to places they didn’t really want to go
Going through motions
and not always knowing why they’re doing it
People’s lives were hard, the government was oppressive
put undue stress on a lot of people
in various ways
People didn’t have any hope
they saw a lot of injustice, senseless violence
and lonely people
It was a very dark time
it was a very stressful time
life was hard, and sometimes it only seemed to get harder
We’re not so different from that innkeeper
we can’t help ourselves
we’re full, our lives are full, sometimes to bursting
Sometimes we are so stressed that we can’t breathe
we get to feeling pushed and shoved around
feeling as if our lives are not our own
We have 24-hour news coverage to remind us
that the world is very dark and often frightening
A lot of people are spending Christmas this year
missing someone that died
maybe a little afraid of the future
But that first night,
in the midst of cow manure and sticky hay
a terrified, lonely, clueless teenager
gave birth to a little boy
Most of the world at that time
had no idea that a miracle had just occurred
that the world had changed with a baby’s first cry
that light had come through the darkness
People still stumbled in the hotel drunk that night
there was still injustice and cruelty in the streets
The government was still corrupt
but in one little corner
a bunch of smelly shepherds awkwardly entered a stable
and stuttered and and wrung their dirty hands
as they told the impossible story of the angels lighting up the sky
singing, and telling them to stop being afraid
that the hope of the world had just arrived
Nobody was ready for Jesus to be born
least of all, Mary
but he was born anyway
The world wasn’t ready for him
but he came anyway
He was born in the midst of human stresses,
human insanity, cruelty, fear and injustice
even violence
It was a dark time, but the light of Christ broke through
a lot of people missed it
the miracle that was right under their noses
The innkeeper missed it because he was full
he couldn’t help it
you can’t blame him
Don’t our lives get too full?
Too full of activities, THINGS, obligations, jobs,
expectations that we have to fill?
Are we too full to receive the light of Christ?
Do we have room in our lives for the mystery?
the inexplicable joy?
Or are we too full?
You can’t blame us
we have jobs, we have families
we have kids with all kinds of activities
we have relatives that have expectations
we’re pushed beyond our limits
we don’t have room for one more thing
much less a miracle
I didn’t want Christmas to come this year
Especially after the two funerals we had in November
too much pain,
too much darkness
too MUCH
But last week I had to do the nursing home service
and I brought my guitar
For a half an hour, I sang Christmas hymns to those that gathered
Most of them looked like they were asleep
none of them seemed to be moved by my music
and yet somehow in the midst of that simple setting
playing guitar and singing Christmas hymns
to a dozen nursing home residents
well, the light seemed to break through to me
and in those moments it was Christmas
Or yesterday in church, when three little girls
just couldn’t contain themselves
the music that we were singing just got into their bodies
and wouldn’t let them go
and so they DANCED
danced out of simple joy, not caring what anybody else did or thought
just dancing, and giggling and swirling their skirts
and in that moment, the light broke through again
and I realized,
we don’t have to be ready
we don’t have to be feeling good or cheerful
we don’t have to have everything in place
for the light to come
for Christmas to come
we don’t have to be ready, actually, we never are
Christmas comes, JESUS comes
whether we’re ready or not
whether we’re laughing or crying
whether we’re with a group of happy family members
or feeling lonely in a crowd
Not everyone can see it
Not everyone heard the angels sing that night
in fact, I’d suspect the majority of people in town that night
missed the glory
missed the music
missed the Light
but a bunch of homeless shepherds who didn’t bathe often
were invited to stand in the Light
God’s creatures were gathered around the miracle
mooing and baaing and whatever they do
God’s creatures made room where there was no room
while the rest of the world carried on in its oblivious insanity
and for centuries since,
the light goes on, permeating the world
visible only to those who are ready to see it
visible to those who make room in their lives
for the light to come
I don’t like the Christmas season
but I love Christmas Eve
because it comes, whether I’m ready or not
and it comes to us in whatever shape we happen to be in
tears on our faces,
or so full of joy we can’t stand ourselves
As it was then, so it is now
a very dark, confused world
Just the details are different
Tonight is a night for dreaming
a night for hoping
a night for suspending cyncism just enough
to step into the starlight
A night when the membrane between heaven and earth
is very thin
and you can almost hear the angels singing
a night when we light a candle in the dark
because we believe that the darkness cannot overcome that light
When we light our candles tonight
we may remember someone who is on the other side
of that veil between heaven and earth
someone we miss very much
or we may remember all the pain of the world
countries at war, families separated
senseless violence breaking into our everyday lives
and we light a flame and hold it out into the dark
to say with trembling hands
we are not afraid
because we know that the light of the world has come
and that light keeps on coming
and someday, as promised,
that light will light up every dark corner of our world
and there will be no separation between heaven and earth
And whenever you’re afraid
or burdened by grief or fear
or just plain emptiness
light a candle in the dark
and remember that all the hopes and fears of all the years
are met through the coming of Christ once again
don’t let the flame go out
but always, always, look for the Light of Christ breaking through...
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