Christmas Eve 2008
Shepherds and angels and us.

Christianity isn’t a private religion. Here in the darkness, in the privacy of this place on this night it may seem cozy and intimate. Just as after her labor, the relative safety of that stable may have seemed to be a private place to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But this private moment, the one Mary rested from 2000 years ago has world shattering consequences. The peace that the angles told the shepherds about, the peace that Isaiah prophesied about wasn’t (and isn’t) a private peace, an individual accomplishment. It isn’t heralded by a quiet inward calm. It is a public announcement, what we really mean when we wish for “Peace on Earth.” No more blood-stained uniforms, no more threats of mushroom shaped clouds on the horizon, no more homes torn from the inside out with people’s selfishness and violence and fear.
When we look around the world today, we see the results of what happens when we make the Gospel of Jesus Christ into a private religion that is only for old people and little children. Society is cast adrift with no where to turn for morals and ethics. So money and power rule, the weak and the poor are savaged and taken advantage of and the world cries for a savior, for someone to solve the problems and make everything all right.
Brothers and sisters, hear the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: the Savior has been born and we each have a vital part to play in working for His Kingdom.
Hear the angels sing again:
Luke 2:9-14 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!"

What did the angels’ song mean to those shepherds long ago? What does it mean to us today? And what would it mean to begin to sing that song into our world today? What if we believed and lived like we believed the words of Isaiah 9 and the words of the angels here were literally, really true? I believe that it is true. I believe that neither George Bush nor Barack Obama can save the world, our economy, the problems in the Middle East, the hunger in the Sudan, the war in Darfur, the apathy of America and Great Britain or the appalling poverty of the Two-Thirds world. The Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace is the Son of God, the Mighty One.
That is a huge claim but it gets lived out in small ways, in small steps taken by individuals that combine into larger movements, waves of public opinion and action.
Think of it this was, on a cold Judean night some 2000 years ago, there was a baby born who was the Son of God, fully human and fully divine. And he lived and taught, healed people, eased their suffering and showed them how to live. Turn the other cheek, he said. Love your neighbor as yourself, he told them. And with stories and miracles and showing them the Father, he taught them and us the better way. But the powers and principalities couldn’t stand it. And they brutally murdered him on a shameful Roman cross. But this man, this Jesus, this Son of God conquered death and the grave for himself and for us. And here we are, 2000 years later thinking about and celebrating his birth and how that humble, quit event forever changed the world.
Is it the “Greatest Story Ever Told?” Perhaps. But better still it is the greatest story ever lived. And our lives, yours and mine, are part of that same story. Through the shepherds, the angels sing to us. And through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, we can sing the angels’ song into a world that is dying, a world at war. How do we sing the song?
• By turning the other cheek.
• By putting other people before ourselves
• By sitting in the stillness that we carve out of our lives and listening to God.
• By stopping before we act and asking what could happen if we acted in God’s best interest instead of in our own best interest.
• By simply doing the next right thing.

Rooted in God’s word, empowered by His Holy Spirit, walking with His people, we sing a song that even the angels cannot sing, a new song of peace and hope and joy and love that is not for ourselves alone but is to be sung to the world and for the world.
Will you join in the song?