Luke 2:1-20 

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph 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. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And 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.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And 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!”

15 When 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.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

In our church traditions, we read this passage almost every Christmas Eve.  Growing up, my dad would read this to our family…from the King James Version no less.  One thing about my dad, he was pretty consistent!  It’s a good tradition, it’s the Christmas story…and it’s the promise of new birth coming to us in the darkest of nights, the darkest of days.

This year, many of us have had to ponder on a deeper level what Christmas is about, it’s about something new being birthed…in us and in the world around us, and that can be hard, even painful, in very uncertain and troubling times we often live in.  Childbirth isn’t easy, it’s painful as I’ve been told…yet, what do we call babies after they’ve arrived?  “Little bundles of Joy”.  Possibility, mystery, love, struggle, suffering, growth, and presence are all wrapped up into babies.

December 25 was decided by the early church fathers and mothers because it is close to the annual winter solstice.  The winter solstice is also known as the “longest night”.  It is the day of the year where it’s darkest the longest.  It is to remind us of the darkness of life that we all experience.  And also that there is hope, because after the longest night, when it is the most dark, the light shines forth, dawn comes…and we can see what is being  birthed in the night more clearly and we can see something of the path ahead.  Kind of like giving birth!  

Tonight, let’s slow down a bit and ponder on the darkness of  the first Christmas night…there is a great stirring, a birthing, a movement towards something new that brings joy, hope, peace, and love. 

The passage that we read tonight is also full of subversive beauty!  Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor was the head of a political cult that set him up to be divine, a savior, the lord, one who claimed to not have any failings, in his ego, Caesar was a winner at all costs…and he lived in imperial power exacting a census that was a sign of his authority and ability to collect taxes and contribute to the wealth of Rome, and especially his own wealth.  Yet, Jesus comes to us impoverished, on the run, and in a dirty stable.  His coming is announced to a group of outsiders, literally, shepherds and not some great proclamation to the entire empire, this proclamation came from the heavens to a few shepherds and wise men and women (side note:  there is speculation that all of the wise men were actually women) so that it can be carried to and for all of creation.  Amazing!  As we said last Sunday, this is a different kind of power from God…not power that is top down, but bottom up!  It is subversive power that emerges out of unforeseen places.  

Into that dark night, a baby is born.  Emmanuel or “God with us”!  Jesus, Emmanuel, born in and through us, humanity.  God, entrusting God’s self to us, in darkness, and to a couple of young folks who were still trying to figure things out…talk about pondering!  God, who gives hospitality and relationship receives hospitality and relationship and is being birthed into the world by a teenager!  

Into the night, a small light came on to the scene of history that grew to a blazing fire illuminating hope, peace, grace, friendship to ALL…a birth that changed history from a dirty stable…a birth that we all experience.  

One of our Christian mystics from the middle ages, Meister Eckhart, says this:  “What does it avail me if this birth takes place unceasingly and yet does not take place within myself?  It is quite fitting, however, that it should take place within me.

We have opportunity after opportunity to meet God in the deepest darkness of our lives, in the stillness of the night metaphorically, this night and every night…really every moment.  May we lean into the darkest places, the deepest innermost place of our lives, into the dark night of our souls as another mystic from the middle ages, John of the Cross would say, and grow as we experience Christmas every moment as we are birthed from darkness into people of radiance, a shining forth forth people, even as we wait for the morning light!  

Friends, Westwood First is birthing new life, as we, together, embark into new chapters, may we too ponder and wait on God’s time that is shedding light at just the right time in unforeseen places…even dark places.  My goodness, we have some amazing stories being written and told in this season at Westwood First!  As we allow ourselves to embrace what the night brings, there is a light shining and leading us into a future.  A future that is emerging, birthing right before us with wild, sometimes weird, and wonderful possibilities. 

So friends, into the darkest nights of our lives as Christ is born again in us and around us…may we proclaim and rejoice in this king, this savior, this lord, this friend, this ever deepening Presence being born in us with the world!  And, in this looking in, may we experience the birth of Christ that is happening within us, all of the time.  

May the joy of the promise of new birth, the story of Christmas, be with you every day, every moment of your life.  Merry Christmas!