The Lord Is Come!

Joy to the world, the Lord Is Come! We have sung the Advent hymn, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” and Jesus, long expected, has been born to set us free from our fears and to release us from our sins. And we are invited to find our rest in him, our strength in him, our assurance in him. For he is the hope of all the earth and the joy of every longing heart.

Christmas Eve sermons are usually a conglomeration of poetry and light-hearted stories about presents and family. The one that stands out in my mind as the worst had as its central message that Jesus didn’t have a bed in Bethlehem, which was his ancestral home, so no one who had come home should complain if they were sleeping on an air mattress.

Here’s the thing, you aren’t here to feel better about your sleeping arrangements tonight. You aren’t here to listen to flowery language and to be nostalgic about a time long ago. You are here and I am here because we have a longing in our hearts. And there is something about that baby, born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea, that satisfies our longings.

We long to be welcomed. We hear the Christmas story and remember that Jesus welcomed the lowliest of workers, the shepherds who lived in the fields with their animals as his first visitors. They were keeping watch over their flocks by night. It sounds nice. But, no one was a shepherd who could get a better job. In the hot desert sun and the cool desert nights, the shepherds searched with their animals for enough grass and water to survive. They slept on the ground, and they smelled like their animals. And they were the first to receive the news. A savior is born – for you – the Lord is come. Jesus welcomes you.

And we long to be loved. We hear the Christmas story and imagine Mary bringing forth her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. We imagine the love of a mother for her newborn and the chill of the manger hewn into the stone and the itchiness of the straw poking through the bands of cloth fades as we idealize the scene. Surely, the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes. Yet the love that is amazing in that stable is not the love of a mother for her baby boy. The love that is amazing is the love that has been born. God, the Word, the one who speaks light and life into being, has become flesh.

According to Levitical law, a mother who gave birth to a son was unclean and was not to come into the Sanctuary or in contact with anything holy for forty days. Yet, Mary gave birth and the Holy One, the God of Israel, laid in her arms. It did not matter that she was unclean. It does not matter that you and I are unclean. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God loves you.

You are here and I am here because we have a longing in our hearts to experience Jesus’ welcome and God’s love. And there is something about that baby, born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea, that satisfies our longings.

And we are also here tonight because we long for our world to be made right. The “church” language is the “Kingdom of God” – we long for things to be the way God meant them to be and God wants them to be.

This week I read an article titled “12 Days of Christmas: 4 Ways to Get Christmas Eve Service Attendees Back in January.” It’s no secret that many people only go to church on Christmas Eve and/or Easter Sunday; and it is no secret that those of us who are active in churches would like to encourage those folks to come more often and get involved. But, I struggled with the parts of the article. It encouraged linking visitors to the church’s social media through things like a tacky Christmas sweater photo booth or a real-time contest for people in the service to “like” your Facebook page during the service for a chance to win a prize at the end of the service. It encouraged adding something that would cause children to beg their parents to come back. And it suggested starting a practical preaching series in January and lifting up something your church is involved in to celebrate the mission of Jesus.

Now, there is nothing wrong with “liking” us on Facebook so that you can enjoy the photos of welcoming and love happening here or children wanting to come to church here. Sermons should always be practical and the church exists to serve.

But the reason there is a little white church on this hill is that we long for our world to be made right, and because of our longing, we work together to make it right where we have influence and capability – with children in the Day School, with families in need, with those in need of food and clothes in the larger community of the metro area, with indigenous families in the Yucatan who lack clean water – we seek to make the world around us right, to fulfill hope.

You are here and I am here because we long for things to be the way God meant for them to be. We hope for every Tiny Tim to see a table full of food and declare “God bless us every one.” We hope for every night to be silent as the world lies in the stillness of peace. We hope for justice and for right to win over wrong, and for power to be used for good. We are here because our hearts long to hear the message of the angel, “Good news of great joy which shall be for all people.” The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.

As we come to this table, we are welcomed by our Lord. We are invited to this table because he loves us, and so he says, “Take and eat.” The bread of life and the cup of salvation sustain us as we answer the longing of the world to be made right. Here our deepest longings are fulfilled. The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King.