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The True Meaning of Christmas
The Reverend Alice Marcrum
December 25, 2003
Isaiah 9:2-4, 6-7; Titus 2: 11-14;
Luke 2 1-14(15-20)
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We’ve made it through the onslaught of Christmas shopping and preparing. Gifts have been given and unwrapped. Cards have been mailed and received. Those special Christmas traditional foods have been prepared and eaten or will be soon. The Christmas pageant has been performed once again in all of its joy to the sheer delight of all. The choirs have sung the songs of glad tidings to all. Now we come here in the midst of the excitement of Christmas to reflect on the meaning of it all.
We don’t want this Christmas to pass us by without knowing the joy of the Christ child being born anew in our hearts. For is that not what Christmas is truly all about? The birth of a child in an obscure country over two thousand years ago into the humble family of a carpenter, who just happened to change the world, confronts us once again with the age old question. Is there room in our hearts for Him?
In all of the rush to prepare for Christmas, now that it is here – have we received the gift that lasts forever? The gift of love from our Father above was wrapped in bands of cloth and placed in an animal trough. It was such humble beginnings for the King of Kings, to come to us in such an unpretentious way surrounded by barn animals and cushioned with hay. Who would look for a king in such an unassuming environment?
His first visitors were shepherds, who were not known as the gentle loving pastoral figures they have been come to be known as over time. Instead, shepherds were known as a despicable lot who were derided for grazing their sheep in other peoples’ fields. They were among the lowly and the outcasts of the Judaic world.
Yet, it was to them that the angels appeared and sang the first Christmas song of glad tidings. It was to these poor folks who struggled for a living that the promise of the ages was first proclaimed. No angels appeared at the nearest palaces to invite the royalty to come and see the precious gift from God. No, the invitation went to those who tended the sheep and lambs on Shepherds Hill on the outskirts of town.
It seems like such an unusual group to invite to visit the King of Kings; but did not the prophet of long ago compare us all to sheep that have gone astray, because we have no Shepherd to lead us? So it makes perfect sense that the Shepherd King would come to us in such a humble way. Born among the animals and placed in an animal trough the Shepherd King came to us to lead us and to protect us through the darkest nights of our souls. Like a good shepherd, the child whose first visitors were innocent lambs, the Shepherd King would one day become our sacrificial lamb.
Through this innocent and vulnerable child came the hope of the world. Born during the reign of Caesar Augustus, who was known as the Emperor of Peace, the true Prince of Peace came to us not in a palace with royal servants, but in a poor stable attended by the poorest of the poor. The Prince of Peace came to not conquer the world with earthly means, but to conquer our hearts with love. It is the love of God that is our gift today that keeps on giving.
Of all the gifts we have received or given this Christmas, the gift of the Christ Child is the most costly. For this gift to come to us the Father God’s heart was first broken over our shortcomings to live up to His expectations of obedience and love on our parts. He looked upon us and wept as we wandered through life lost in the darkness of our souls trying to find our way. He tried to hold us in his arms, but we ran from Him because we were ashamed. He called out to us by name and we refused to answer Him, because the noise of this world had hushed His quiet voice of love.
Our Father God knew that we needed a Shepherd to lead us, protect us and eventually lay down His life for us. Determined to bring us back to Him, our Father God searched throughout Heaven for someone to be our Shepherd. There was no one who could go, because no one was worthy enough. Then He heard a quiet voice say, “Hear I am Lord, send me”. His heart broke at the sound of the familiar voice who spoke those words for He knew they came from His only begotten Son who was the delight of His heart and the joy of Heaven. Surely someone else could go? Not His beloved Son!
Yet, in His heart He knew that His Son was right. So the Father God gave His consent and sent us His most precious gift. The robes of glory fell away as the Son of God changed His appearance and entered the womb of a virgin to be born as a human baby. He could have been born to a king, instead he chose a carpenter to be His earthly father. He could have had a queen for a mother, instead he chose a simple poor daughter of Israel to tend His earthly needs.
Quietly and unassuming, He entered into this world in the most poorest of circumstances. Born to seek out the outcasts and give them hope of God’s love for them, He came as one of them. He came as a sign of our Father God’s abundant grace for all of humanity for there is no one too unfortunate who is not welcomed by God.
Unable to keep quiet, the Father God sent the best of His heavenly choir to proclaim the good news of salvation for all. It is fitting that the angels sang to the outcast shepherds as they tended their flocks by night. A royal audience would not have lowered themselves to enter a dirty stable to find the Christ Child. Instead, they would have accepted the angels’ appearance as something owed them for their high rank among earthly men; or worst, they would have reacted to the angels as new enemies for them to try and conquer.
The shepherds responded in fear for they had no armies to protect them - only their wooden staffs and simple sling shots. So when the Angel of the Lord told the shepherds to not be afraid, they listened and received the heavenly message. Then the shepherds ran to meet their newborn king. They came as they were in all their poverty and filth. They carried the lambs in their arms to keep them from any harm. Then when they saw the newborn Shepherd King, they rejoiced and praised God for His miraculous gift of love.
Today is the day of salvation. There is still time to receive the most special gift of all. We too are invited to kneel before the Christ Child and worship Him. We too are invited to receive Him as the King of our hearts. No longer do we have to wander through life without guidance, because the Shepherd King has come to lead us back to a loving relationship with our Father God.
May we accept our Father God’s gift of love anew on this most blessed of mornings. May the Christ Child reign in our hearts and fill us with His love. May we leave this place rejoicing like the shepherds of long ago for we too know the true meaning of Christmas.
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