It’s safe to say that, for many of us, this will be the first Christmas Eve in our lives that we do not bundle up, pile into cars and head off to church for a joyful, chaotic worship service. For many of us, church will be coming to us instead, zooming right into our living rooms. I feel so strongly that my congregations need to worship together this year, instead of masked, distanced and fragmented, not singing carols in nearly empty buildings, that I’ve had candles and consecrated wafers delivered to every household for a unifying element as we gather online. We pre-taped our pageant on a farm in October, and when the carols roll around, we can all mute and sing to our heart's content in our Covid bubbles, and then unmute again.
Welcome to Christmas Eve 2020! Will we miss the familiar routine, or will we find ourselves discovering this amazing story in a new way precisely because it comes to us differently? It may help to remember that that holy, not-so-holy night was unprecedented for every one of the characters in it.
Mary and Joseph never dreamed that she would be giving birth in a stable, warmed by the breath (and stench?) of farm animals, in a town far from home.
Those animals probably wondered at these intruders, and the terrible noises that one was making, and then the greater noise emanating from the small one.
The shepherds, drinking on their hillside, blitzed by a celestial son et lumière show, could never have anticipated the racket made by a multitude of heavenly host, singing praises to the Most High God – or the news they told of a savior born in Bethlehem that very night.
I can’t guess at what angels think, but maybe they were enchanted by the chance to visit this earth they’d heard so much about.
Oh, and Jesus? He left the safety of his mother’s womb, having already left the safety of his Father’s realm – everything was new for him, the all-powerful now made completely vulnerable.
Like the magi following that star, we don’t know what we’ll find, only where we’re headed. I pray that this story breaks open in new ways for you tonight, that you are touched and awed by the overwhelming love God has for you. For above all else, tonight is a love story, one that's never been told in just this way before.
We hear the Christmas angels their great, glad tidings tell…
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Emmanuel!
You are welcome to join my service tonight online at 6 pm (Here is the link - passcode LPWay; or watch on Facebook)
No comments:
Post a Comment