Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Eve 2010

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Luke 2:7
Theme: An Unassuming Entrance

Dear Gatherers at our Lord’s nativity,

The nativity is a rather unremarkable domestic scene. Granted the circumstances were more strained than normal. Still, the Almighty chose a very unassuming entrance into the world. “She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”1But God doesn’t concern Himself with human perception. He takes no thought for how people may appraise His actions. Imagine if God held focus group meetings to determine how people might perceive His proposals; or if He hired consultants to gauge public acceptance of His work? Will people come on board with His plans? Will they approve of His ways? Yes, how easy it is to want to limit God to our framework. It makes Him much more manageable.

But to pretend to ‘manage’ God is a fallacy. It’s like children only playing games. Playing cops and robbers is all harmless and relaxed until real danger appears. Then the amusement of little ones comes to a stop. Next to God we’re never more than children regardless of how mature our egos become. We soon get off track if we try to domesticate God. That’s one of the dangers of the nostalgia of the nativity.

You see, God is truly an unwieldy character. He stirs our thoughts and nudges our hearts. Bland clichés about His love and misrepresentations of His tolerance cannot cover up His sobering presence. Yes, there He lays, a small, vulnerable infant, born into the world like all others. Yet He is someone to be reckoned with. More to the point: He does the reckoning. Our lives adjust accordingly.

The individual and collective memory of even the Christmas narrative is fading in Western society. Yes, many still know the contours, the basic content; but in the details we often stumble. Angels, shepherds and good news; a mother and child and a manger. But what does it mean and what real impact does it have? We must be honest in assessing whether nativity plays are a sign of the vigorous present and future faith of Christians, or a waning relic of the faithfulness of past generations. That is, is Christmas Eve participation a mark of the church’s current and future vitality or a symbol of sentimentalism for by-gone days? We need not reflect long to recognize the answer.

Some would say it’s an unnecessary analysis that dampens the spirit of the season. Yet it’s an honest one that the Holy Spirit uses to call us to repentance, humility, and faithfulness. How shallow do celebrations of Christ’s birth become if we have long since ceased believing there are truly any sinners left to save? What need for a Redeemer if there is nothing to be rescued from? Do we come to the Christ Child as sinners seeking forgiveness, or merely as admirers who would otherwise remain aloof? Our peace only comes in knowing that this Messiah reconciles us to the heavenly Father.

The angelic beings proclaim a message pregnant with peace. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace...”2 It was a peace achieved through struggle. A peace achieved through sacrifice. A peace achieved through death. It is a peace gifted to those who have not earned it. It is the peace of blood shed and atonement completed. It was blood shed as a result of voluntary determination and obedience- the first drop more crucial than the last. During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said that he could get any number of men who were "willing to shed their last drop of blood." The problem, said Lincoln, was that he found it difficult to get anyone willing to shed that first drop!

For Christ, a humble and fragile birth would eventually end in a humiliating and devastating death. But at the resurrection the vulnerability of the manger is done away with.
We’re fond of saying-especially preachers- that peace and hope are found at the manger and certainly at the cross. It’s a manner of speaking. The destitute come to the manger for endowment. The addicted come for freedom. The guilty come for absolution. The wayward come for guidance. The despairing come for hope. The downtrodden come for acceptance. The sinner comes for forgiveness. Everyone comes out of different variations of the same reason. But as a pious manner of speaking it only goes so far. We’re talking here of historical events.

Your access to God isn’t limited to the historical remembrance of Bethlehem, regardless of how vivid or beloved. Neither is your responsibility in His kingdom met by this annual observance. Jesus always has admirers-and it’s easy to adore the Christ child in the manger when it is fashionable- but He summons followers. Admirers schedule for the occasional feast but followers seek per diem sustenance. Faith lives or dies by its daily bread. Christ meets His baptized children each day. He quiets them with His word. He feeds them with His sacrament. He cradles them with His love.

The humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth show that God is not concerned with appealing to public opinion. This is true in all that He does. The Holy Spirit gathers to Christ a people for Himself. God doesn’t wait for our approval. He forges ahead with His work. He still intercedes with the Father so that our prayers and needs have access to His ears. This beloved Son, who had no place prepared for His birth, prepares for His people a place for their eternal dwelling. “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you: He is Christ the Lord.”3 Hallelujah! Amen.
+ in nomine Jesu +

Nativity of Our Lord- Christmas Eve
24 December 2010
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 2:7 2 Luke 2:14 3 Luke 2:11