St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – Nativity of Our Lord
Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:1-20
Gospel: Luke 2:1-20
1In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.]
8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
14“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
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Celestian Dissolution
Grace to you, beloved children of God, and peace from the Savior of the world, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Welcome home to the community of all the saints.
Before you hear about the event that birthed God into the world for us, I would like to introduce you to another kind of savior: my phone. For you to have an idea about the magnitude of its importance to my current existence, without it, at this time of the year when it is most dark out there, I would miss that turn from IL-17 into county road 2700 E all-the-time. Never fails.
That is not all. It does other brilliant things for me, literally. It is the first light I see when I wake up, shining my new day into existence with beautiful angelic melodies. If the sun has not risen yet, it guides my path by illuminating any obstacles on the way to the restroom. Upon my return, it helps me to find the things I am looking for without flipping the light switch. I thank it every Sunday morning, for it saves me from my wife’s wrath.
Talking about guidance. I had to use it not long ago to find Chuck’s house west of Main Street.
So, you can see how this thing is paramount to keeping the natural order of my world. It tells me what time it is. It reminds me of every task, appointment, birthday, anniversary, and sports event. It answers anything I ask for without caring about where I am or what I have done, as long as there are enough signal bars. It can improve my mood in myriad ways. I can listen to podcasts, audiobooks, and radio stations, stream my favorite shows, and even watch live TV. It can bind me together with family, friends, and you, beloved children of God, through voice, text, email, and various social media platforms. Because of it, God’s word is instantly revealed to me through hundreds of different versions of the bible in multiple languages. It can place the biblical Greek word for manger at my fingertips. I am lost without it, dead in the wilderness.
It is, however, no substitute for what God did in Bethlehem and one of its surrounding fields many years ago. Isn’t it amazing that this story has survived and is still told? Isn’t it amazing that after all this time and despite the advent of these miraculous gadgets made to make our lives better, the Spirit still brings us together to hear about the celestial light that came down to walk alongside all humanity?
I don’t need to tell you they didn’t have these things back then. Instead, they had the sun, the moon, and the stars. It was all they needed. These celestial bodies are absolutely reliable; there is no need to worry about finding a power outlet to recharge them. The day began with the warmth of the sun rising in the east after the cock crowed, and it ended when it set in the west. There is north, and there is south. The four winds or corners of the earth are set, and the angle of the sun and the duration of the day would tell what season it was, the time to plant, and the time to harvest. The moon would set the weeks and the tides, informing when it was best to get into the sea. When it was full, its light would provide extra visibility if travel during the cool of the night was necessary through the waters, deserts, fields, or forests. The stars, oh the stars, not only could one wonder about the promise of Abraham’s heritage, but their beauty also renewed the soul, and their positioning could get anyone anywhere. Because of them, no one would be hopelessly lost in any kind of wilderness.
But what if all their light was seized in a complete celestial dissolution. It would be terrifying, total disorientation, and disruption of the natural order of everything. There would be isolation, loss of crops and livestock, and boats not being able to go into the sea to fish for fish. Famine would take place everywhere; wars would rage for the last crumble of bread. It would be the end of peace and safety and the beginning of a time of death and deep sorrow.
For the longest time in the scriptural history of our salvation, this was the scenario that the people feared the most when God would be revealed in the day of the Lord in the company of all the heavenly host – or angels – amid thick clouds that would make it impossible to look to the skies for guidance, warmth, and light. This would be the day the nations would fall upon God’s judgment for distrusting the covenant and trespassing against God’s people.
See, while still in the wilderness, after freeing the people from Egypt and giving them the commandments as a gift of life and guidance, God said, when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, and all the host of heaven, remember me, what I have done to you, what I gave you, don’t fall the earthly things you’ve seen elsewhere (Deuteronomy 4; especially 1-2, 19). But we never listened very well, did we? As my pastor used to say, we know, and we know God knows. Therefore, instead of hoping for the day the Lord would come to deliver us, we began to anticipate a day of dread when we would be no more. The end of the ages. The prophets had proclaimed that much:
“See, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity (Isaiah 13:9-11).”
“The sun and the moon [will be] darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The LORD [will] utter his voice at the head of his army; how vast are his hosts! … the day of the LORD is … terrible indeed—who [will be able to] endure it (Joel 2:10)?”
So, imagine the terror of the poor shepherds -if they have heard about these things before – when the glory of the Lord was revealed in the sky above them in the middle of the night on the outskirts of Bethlehem. I get it. Like them, when it comes to the day of our Lord’s coming, we are more likely to anticipate the doom than to hope that the sun will rise again. They were probably so terrified that the first thing they were told was not to be afraid. This is different. This is not the end. This is good news for you and for all the people.
See, God also had made some promises that perhaps they were missing. God said:
“Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do something new; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:18-19).”
“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. [A voice will cry]. “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken (Isaiah 40:1, 4-5).”
Yes, God was about to do something new, extraordinary, and magnificent. The skies were open not to curse the earth but so that hope, peace, joy, and light could be born for us. God interfered in our history to change forever the natural order of everything.
A child was born in the wilderness, unclean. The child cried, and the child lived, and the child did everything necessary for us to be saved by faith in him, sins no longer remembered. Yes, this is indeed good news of great joy for all the peoples, for everyone who believed in him will never perish, will never be put to shame, but have eternal life. Merry Christmas everyone. Your true Savior has come. Amen.
Bridging Faith 