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December 24, 2009
“See Who’s Here and There”
Luke 2: 1-20
Christmas Eve, 2009
My Grandparents used to call it “rubbernecking”. It is the act of looking around to see what is going on or who is here. Our Christmas Eve Service at Faith usually provides a good opportunity for Rubbernecking, for putting your head up and looking around to see how many old friends are here. Some of them now live far away but have returned to celebrate Christmas with their families and with us.
Some may be visiting, looking for a place to Worship on Christmas Eve. Whatever your reason for being here, we welcome you with Joy as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
But now that I have given you a chance to see those who are worshipping with you this evening, I want to call you to take a journey with me to Bethlehem some 2015 years ago and see who is there. We are with them or they with us as we worship the Christ child this evening.
Watch where you step, because we are in a barn and there are animals all over the place. Most of them are donkeys, beasts of burden because this is a barn of a hotel for travelers and caravaners. Some of you are very familiar with the sounds and smells of animals and I invite you to imagine those sights and smells. There may be a few small sheep present, brought by the Shepherds.
The Shepherds who are present were given a special invitation by God through Angels. This is very interesting because Shepherds were not considered to be very religious because they could not often leave their sheep to attend weekly synagogue services.
The Magi or Wisemen will come later but are with us in spirit. It might have been on Christmas or Christmas Eve that they first saw the star and started their journey to Bethlehem.
Near the feeding trough we see Mary and Joseph. Mary was blessed by God to be the mother of his son. Joseph was entrusted with the safe keeping and raising of God’s son. He would have the divine Son of God grow up in his home, but for now, having this baby so far away from their home in Nazareth was probably a nuisance.
And the center of Attention in this scene is the baby who has been unceremoniously plopped down in the feeding trough. His arms and feet are bound up in the swaddling cloths. The only visible difference between this baby and all other babies born in that time and locale is the sign given to the shepherds: He is lying in a feeding trough.
In all other ways he looks exactly like any other Jewish baby born in that vicinity and time. But we know who he is. He is the one who was from the beginning. He is the one who will bring eternity to light and establish an eternal kingdom. I could go on for quite a while about all that that baby is, but we need to get back to West Lafayette near the end of 2009.
And here we are, back in our sanctuary, Worshiping the Christ-child. But look who’s here! On the table under that cloth are the bread and wine of Communion. They represent the very real spiritual presence of the risen and ascended Jesus. He is with us as we worship the much younger version of Himself. And as we take the bread and wine into our bodies, he will give us grace to more faithfully follow Himself. And he will bring us closer to Himself and to His Father.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at December 24, 2009 10:56 AM