What's The Point? (Luke 2.1-14)


 Why are we here? Today in this church? We’re here because we believe in hope.

Throughout human history there have been times that are dark. Jesus was born into dirt and mud. Into the poor, into the lives of ordinary people, just like us. In fact just like those who now rely on foodbanks. The poor. The unwashed, the unloved.

Jesus was born into a people that were oppressed and downtrodden by an Imperial Superpower. Into a world where very few had much, if anything, and lived hand to mouth.

But Jesus’ people, they hoped. They awaited their messiah. They longed for Him to come, and to save them. God promised She would. God chose ordinary people, Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, to be part of the story.

The light is born into the world of darkness. And the darkness did not overcome it.

Through war, famine and plague, the Gospel has always endured. In times of plenty, and times of little, the hope that the Christ child brings has always been there. The light of it cannot be extinguished. Why? Because the saviour is born!

The one who was promised to the people of Israel all that time ago. The one who brings us into the fold.

The one who loves us so much, that He doesn’t abandon us to death, but gives us new life.

Salvation has come! The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

That’s why Christmas is so important, despite what might be going on in the world. The story of Christmas, what it means is so rich and so wonderful, I just get caught up in it every time I think about it.

At the heart of Christmas we see what God’s priorities are. Jesus is born into a poor family, not a rich one. That. Matters. It matters because it shows who God values. That God values the poor in a way that the world doesn’t.

Next God chooses the Shepherds to be the first to see Jesus. Ordinary working folk. Often disliked, the lowest of the low in terms of status, to see him first!

Isn’t that amazing! God values them, God values all of us, and God doesn’t value what the world values. Power, wealth, privilege. She puts that all aside. It Doesn’t matter.

God doesn’t achieve Her aims like one of the Greek God’s, through violence and power. God just becomes one of us.

The incarnation, God being born as one of us is so wonderful because as that baby cried, God came closer to us than He’d ever been before.

 God threw down the barriers that separate us and said I am one of you. I know you. I want to be with you.

Salvation has come! The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

We might feel surrounded by darkness now. With all that’s going on in the world. I bet after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph worried about the darkness too. They had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod.

Despite this, they survive. They raise Jesus as one of them, and he saves the world.

Sometimes in the inevitable rush of this season, we loose sight of what’s important. Christmas is all about being together with loved ones, family and friends. Christmas brings people together.

So what does it mean when that’s not an option?

Christmas is the hope of something better. That the light has dawned on the world and will never go out. No matter how low or how lonely we might feel. How disappointed we are with Christmas this year. The Christ is still born, and reaches out to all across the years.

We might not be able to have that big Christmas get together we were dearly hoping for, after such a terrible year; but God knows how we feel, and is with us in it.

So even in the midst of all that’s going on. The love of God has dawned on us all. There’s a reason that Jesus is called Emmanuel. That means, God with us.

God’s not going anywhere. God’s love is with us and the hope that has accompanied the birth of the Christ child for over 2000 years has not gone away either.

So I wish you all a hope filled Christmas. The hope of better things to come, the knowledge that God is with us. The assurance that we will get through this, because the light and grace of God will never be extinguished, whatever happens.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

 MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Preached at St Paul's Tuckswood, Norwich.

25/12/2020  

 

Location: Tuckswood, Norwich NR4, UK

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